Terrorism in the USA:threat & response

[jmm99]

from Bourbon
I cant help but think that one of these days there is going to be a serious terrorist cell inside our country, and the FBI is going to be judicially hamstrung because they have wasted whatever wiggle room they had - when it comes to entrapment and provocation - on feeble-minded suspects.

Good point.

I'm not a fan of the entrapment defense: subjectively (Another successful sting); analytically in considering individual cases (Augustin Sting Operation Affirmed by 11th Circuit); and objectively in considering its overall failure rate (It usually does fail):

2005 Michigan Law Review, Psychology, factfinding, and entrapment

Although accurate statistical evidence of the frequency with which the entrapment defense succeeds is difficult to come by, anecdotal evidence suggests that it is seldom successful. One survey of practicing criminal defense attorneys described it as "judicially unpopular," (17) best used only "in desperate circumstances," (18) or "in a few cases with ideal facts," where "plea bargaining has proved unsuccessful," (19) and "no other defense is possible." (20) Another survey of State's Attorneys in Chicago reveals a perception that in narcotics sales cases where the defendant pleads entrapment, "the jury will convict almost every time." (21) The author of one police manual on the execution of sting operations states that he has "never, in hundreds of cases, ever lost one to entrapment," and that in all the sting operations he has studied, he has "not heard of a single case being lost to a defense of entrapment." (22)

But, going to the well too often (when the well is already fouled) is potentially not healthy for living prosecutions.

Regards

Mike

[davidbfpo]

The issues around the Somalia community in Minneapolis are familiar here, although other communities exist in other cities and Canada, Minneapolis appears to be the focal point.

This Somali newspaper report indicates that removing young Somali men, long resident, but not born in the USA, are being detained pending removal to Somalia:http://horseedmedia.net/2013/01/24/m...d-as-children/

I expect this is an executive decision and quite legal, if fraught with problems.

Now, the Twin Cities Somali community circulates rumors of scores of their members who have been deported to Somalia and hundreds who wait their fate at detention centers. ICE officials have not confirmed the total number of Somalis who have been deported so far or kept in detention.

Many community members have expressed disappointment in the government’s decision to send people back to the dangerous country they’ve escaped.

[davidbfpo]

A different slant, a research study based on indictments, not convictions:

...there were nine terrorist plots involving American Muslims in 2012. Only one of them, the attempted bombing of a Social Security office in Arizona, actually led to any violence. There were no casualties in that or any other incident.

Link to report:http://tcths.sanford.duke.edu/docume..._final2013.pdf and to short press report:http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013...lim-terrorism/

[davidbfpo]

Caught via Twitter is a new report on the extensively reported NYPD domestic information gathering operation, co-written by CUNY School of Law and an advocacy group. It is 50 pgs:http://www.law.cuny.edu/academics/cl...ng-Muslims.pdf

There is a wide-ranging article in Salon, with multiple links, which is very critical:http://www.salon.com/2013/03/11/new_..._islamophobes/

[davidbfpo]

An abridged edition of a 700+ page research report by the UK branch of the Henry Jackson Society, with a very comprehensive set of figures:

.. shows how the terrorist threat within the U.S. has developed, by profiling all AQ or AQinspired terrorists who were convicted in U.s. courts (federal and military) or who participated in suicide attacks against the US homeland between 1997 and 2011.

Link:http://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-co...WRES-Final.pdf

[davidbfpo]

I suspect the recent shootings of Colorado's prisons and two prosecutors in Texas have prompted the CNN piece by Peter Bergen 'Growing threat of extreme right-wing violence':http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/04/op...nce/index.html

At the start:

While American politicians and the U.S. public continue to focus on the threat from jihadist extremists, there seems to be too little awareness that this domestic form of political violence is a growing problem at home.

From 2002 to 2007, only nine right-wing extremists were indicted for their roles in politically motivated murders and other types of ideologically motivated violent assaults. But between 2008 and 2012, the number mushroomed to 53, according to data collected by the New America Foundation.

The NAF data:http://homegrown.newamerica.net/

CNN and NAF have some interesting facts / statistics and Peter draws attention to important facts:

Fifteen right-wing extremists were indicted in 2012 ...only six people who subscribed to al Qaeda's ideology were indicted on terrorism-related charges in the United States....it's striking that the jihadists charged with crimes were much less likely to have actually carried out a violent attack before they were arrested.

[Bill Moore]

The focus on right wing violence is nothing new, and I suspect the recent announcements (past 5 or so years) calling for a focus on right wing violence is at least partly a recognization we dedicated too much focus on Al-Qaeda within our borders, which gave other groups and individuals in the criminal arena more room to maneuver.

I'm not comfortable with the term "right wing" violence, because too many occassociate it with the far right fringe of our political parties. They have their criminals that attack abortion clinics (though it can and is debated about who the actual criminals are), but for the most I would argue that Aryan Nation, Neo-Nazis, and others along those lines are to the far left much like the Marxists. Hitler was a socialist, and like in many in our far left who embrace burning books, telling others what they can say and think, and even telling families how they "will" raise their kids, the far left terrorists want to impose their way of life upon others. Neither the Aryan Nation or Neo-Nazis represent the conservative branch (even at its extreme) on the far right side of our political parties.

The media focuses on the far right because it has headline appeal, but the reports also mention the traditional whackos from the the far left and the environmentalists. It should also be noted the Aryan Nation despite claims to the contrary is largely a criminal organization, and lot of their violence resembles the violence from Biker gangs. Problematic, but hardly on the scale of risk that a large scale terrorist attack intended to kill as many people as possible.

One of the few things I agree with the President on regarding domestic policy is we need to focus more on mental health. The potential to move that field forward with the advances in science is significant and could potentially reduce a wide range of criminal behavior to include dumb kids that will grabbing a gun and killing as many kids as possible at a local school or movie theater.

More surveillance and arrests may reduce some the violence, but it will continue to come at us unless we address more fundamental issues. Our Law Enforcement focus on the war on drugs keeps the police busy, but it doesn't seem to reduce the demand for drugs. We should all take a step back and reconsider where we need to focus to make our society safer.