Terrorism in the USA:threat & response

[William F. Owen]

IIRC correctly this device seems pretty similar to the one left near Piccadilly Circus in 2007. - I would have thought this latest one provides Forensic playground for anyone interested.

[jmm99]

From the NY Times, Militia Members Released Until Trial in Michigan Plot:

By NICK BUNKLEY
Published: May 3, 2010

DETROIT — A federal judge on Monday ordered that nine members of an extremist militia accused of plotting to kill police officers be freed on bond until their trial, saying that prosecutors did not demonstrate that the defendants would pose a danger if released.

The judge, Victoria A. Roberts of Federal District Court, said the defendants would be subject to home detention, electronic monitoring and curfews. Judge Roberts said they were not allowed to have access to weapons or have contact with one another unless their lawyers were present.
....
“They were talking about killing police officers,” Leslie Larsen, the Federal Bureau of Investigation agent in charge of the Hutaree investigation, testified. “I don’t think you can joke around about that.”

Judge Roberts and the defendants’ lawyers expressed frustration that Ms. Larsen was unable to answer most questions she was asked, generally saying that she needed to review her notes or that she had not read many of the reports her colleagues had prepared about the group.

Ronald W. Waterstreet, an assistant United States attorney, told the judge that about 25 Hutaree members had not been indicted and could potentially help the defendants flee if they were released. But Judge Roberts cited the other members who had not been charged with any crimes as reason to believe “the offenses charged against these defendants may not be as serious as the government contends.”

Judge Roberts' official bio and Wiki.

[Schmedlap]

Judge Roberts and the defendants’ lawyers expressed frustration that Ms. Larsen was unable to answer most questions she was asked, generally saying that she needed to review her notes or that she had not read many of the reports her colleagues had prepared about the group.

As my old Civ Pro professor has preached to law students for more than 40 years: law is a lawyer-driven process.

[davidbfpo]

Last night Majid Nawaz, of the UK-based Quilliam Foundation was interviewed on CNN by Larry King and being familiar with his arguments I didn't listen closely. Today in an email circular he highlights:

Nawaz also highlighted the importance of challenging the flawed Islamist narrative that the West and Islam are at war, pointing to the fact that the Times Square car-bomb was first brought to the police’s attention by a Muslim Senegalese immigrant named Aliou Niasse as something that the media and US law enforcement agencies should have drawn greater attention to.

I'd seen footage of Mr Niasse, but missed any details. The CNN transcript is here, although you have to wade past a certain NYC mayor first:http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1005/05/lkl.01.html

[omarali50]

My piece with the above title is posted at Wichaar.com:

http://wichaar.com/news/284/ARTICLE/...010-05-07.html

[Rex Brynen]

My piece with the above title is posted at Wichaar.com:

http://wichaar.com/news/284/ARTICLE/...010-05-07.html

Great piece, and not only for linking Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch to the Caliphate

[omarali50]

This may not actually be true of Faisal Shahzad, but is true enough about many other American educated Pakistanis (its about where "radicalisation" usually takes place)..
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...0-5-2010_pg3_4

[davidbfpo]

A paper from RAND: Would-Be Warriors: Incidents of Jihadist Terrorist Radicalization in the United States Since September 11, 2001 by Brian Michael Jenkins: http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP292/

I've only read the summary, which makes an interesting point that domestic terrorism was higher and killed more people in the late 1970's than since 9/11.

[Rex Brynen]

I've only read the summary, which makes an interesting point that domestic terrorism was higher and killed more people in the late 1970's than since 9/11.

Here's an interesting graphic of US terrorist attacks since 1970:



The full-sized version is here.

Off topic, but GOOD Magazine is a great website for those who appreciate the graphic display of information. The how-the-bill-becomes-a-law graphic is classic. Graphic Sociology is a good site too, as is the Strange Maps blog.

Now, back to our original topic...

[davidbfpo]

A long article, with some new and old themes, for those who have read his work before: http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=23200

This could be posted on the Detroit bomber thread, but has a wider remit.

Hat tip to Raff on:http://icsr.info/blog

[davidbfpo]

Written by a former Pakistani diplomat, Dr Maleeha Lodhi, who is studying in the USA, entitled 'Chess or chequers' (mistype I say, should be Checkers):http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=242376

Her last paragraph:

The question Washington also needs to ask is whether its anti-terrorism efforts can succeed in an environment of intense and growing anti-American sentiment. The only way to reverse this trend is to move decisively to resolve disputes, heal conflicts and engage with the grievances in the Muslim world that are leveraged by extremists. Until strategies are fashioned to deal with the unjust situations in which Muslims find themselves the danger of radicalisation will increase.

[jmm99]

and call it: Draughts. My uncle Ed's major claim to fame was being California state checker champion. So, I too would say "checker". And, uncle Ed if still breathing would say there is a hell of a lot more to checkers than brute force.

On the other hand, "chequer" for "checker" seems to be regarded here (USA) as a Brit thing (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: "Chiefly British"). And indeed, a very old usage is your Exchequer, which according to the Oxford Dictionary comes from the Old French "eschequier". Thus, we can blame our spelling difficulties on Lagrange.

Levity aside, the longer Hoffman article and the much shorter response look primarily to AQ recruitment (let's say that is either checkers or chequers). Recently (2 Jun 2010), SWJ ran an article by Commander Youssef Aboul-Enein, MSC, USN, Discourse on Pakistan’s Jamaat-e-Islami and Its Founder Abu al-Ala al-Mawdudi: Uncovering the Philosophy and Nuance of America’s Adversary in Pakistan (only 6 pages, despite title length):

Pakistan’s Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has expended extensive efforts in imposing their vision of Sharia on Pakistan’s public life since the founding of the state in 1947. They stand opposed to any secular ideas introduced into Pakistan and are intolerant of other Muslim belief systems that do not espouse their views. JI, like other Islamist groups, confuse secularism as a modern form of religion versus as a mechanism to manage Pakistan’s diverse ethnic and religious (Muslim and non-Muslim) groups. In order to interact effectively with Pakistan, America’s leaders must gain an understanding of the core struggle between two of Pakistan’s founders: the secular vision of Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), and the Islamist vision of Abu al Ala al-Mawdudi (1903-1979). This essay is a distillation of a dozen books written by Mawdudi and published in Arabic, and attempts to get into the mind of an important ideologue of modern radical Islamist movements. Mawdudi’s books are referenced in this essay. Commentary and analysis of Mawdudi’s work, as well as comparisons are listed at the end of this work.

(.pdf download).

Maududi's works (including Jihad in Islam, which I've cited a number of times) do NOT have exactly the same flavor as AQ's theorists - so, he is not exactly "chequers or checkers". The question is whether he (and his many Pakistani and Astani followers) are "draughts" or "chess".

From the Aboul-Enein article:

It is hoped that this work will stimulate debate among counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency specialists using direct Arabic sources, and that among those is a scholar, leader, and writer with command of Urdu who can add to the discussion by exposing us to the purely Pakistani perspective of Mawdudi and JI.

I'm curious what Omarali (if he happens upon this) thinks about Maududi's importance in Pakistan and Astan - vs the AQ theorists that we pay much more attention to.

Regards

Mike

[davidbfpo]

That's the headline and not much detail (rightly so IMHO): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...t-charges.html

The BBC has more, notably both men wanted to reach Somalia and it was a long running investigation, with an undercover officer: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/us_...a/10250525.stm

[Pete]

The question Washington also needs to ask is whether its anti-terrorism efforts can succeed in an environment of intense and growing anti-American sentiment. The only way to reverse this trend is to move decisively to resolve disputes, heal conflicts and engage with the grievances in the Muslim world that are leveraged by extremists. Until strategies are fashioned to deal with the unjust situations in which Muslims find themselves the danger of radicalisation will increase.

Gosh, if Dr. Lodhi is correct all the U.S. has to do to bring about an end to terrorism is resolve all the disputes, conflicts and grievances in the world. Apparently Francis Fukuyama spoke a little too soon when he wrote his book The End of History.

[davidbfpo]

With a sub-title:

Nine years after 9/11, we still don’t know how to deal with radical Islam.

Interesting article I thought:http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/17/a...rrect-war.html

I agree with:

Yet both law-enforcement agencies and the FBI have traditionally been ineffective at probing the deeper causes. In order to do that, the FBI and other U.S. authorities need to... establish liaisons at the grassroots of the various Muslim communities in the U.S. They need to develop relationships at the level of the mosque and the imam and the community organization,

and disagree with this

..as is being done with some success in Britain’s “Prevent” program.

Listening to grievances or 'probing deeper causes' is not principally a law enforcement role, it may help establish empathy and enable policing. The people and institutions who should be listening and probing in the Political realm.

[davidbfpo]

This article 'The FBI: Foiling its own plots since 2001' is sub-titled:

Many failed "terrorist" attempts would never have gotten off the ground without aid from the authorities.

And ends with:

Both Newburgh and Detroit are, indeed, instances of "unterrorism," as the Newburgh judge said of the "plot" before her. Yet both are starkly framed by the on-going war on terror, both involve elaborate set-ups arranged by federal informers and covert agents, and both ensnared inept, virtually destitute black people scrambling to get by in post-racial America.

Link:http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/fe...errorism_plots

The author is: Stephan Salisbury a cultural writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer. His most recent book is "Mohamed's Ghosts: An American Story of Love and Fear in the Homeland" (Nation Books.

Hat tip to http://www.schneier.com/

[jmm99]

and I'll take an APC for my headache. Briefly, Salisbury, Salon and TomDispatch (where the article first appeared) have an agenda - in very basic terms, everything the USG does in the "GWOT" (whether under the Bush II or Obama administration) is wrong and probably illegal.

I've learned not to credence anything said about these cases unless it is borne out by the court records - and that means what the original documents say and not what Salisbury or some other writer claims they say.

And that is why I always cite to the court record so that readers can judge within the actual context.

Cheers

Mike

[davidbfpo]

A long report by the Congressional Research Service, with details of all the known plots and on a quick read a useful document to keep in view:http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/R41416.pdf

Some frank comments on the intelligence problems, but I suspect some here will know of them.

[davidbfpo]

No doubt the US media will be reporting this, so just a couple of links: the BBC states:

A teenager has been arrested in the US state of Oregon after allegedly plotting to carry out a car bomb attack at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

Somali-born Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested after reportedly making a telephone call he thought would set off the bomb in the centre of Portland.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11852953

The NYTimes:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/us...HDt06ve78774Mg

Yet again a lone radicalised American comes to LE's attention, via email traffic to Pakistan and then the FBI befriend him ensuring the plot comes to naught. Two immediate points: his desire to launch an attack at home, not going to Somalia and a local target.

It will be interesting to see if there was any community or public involvement in alerting the authorities - parallel to email interception.

Mod's Note this post and the next two appeared in a separate thread and were merged on 6/12/10; partly as the episode illustrate aprt of the US CT approach at home.

[Kevin23]

No doubt the US media will be reporting this, so just a couple of links: the BBC states:

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11852953

The NYTimes:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/us...HDt06ve78774Mg

Yet again a lone radicalised American comes to LE's attention, via email traffic to Pakistan and then the FBI befriend him ensuring the plot comes to naught.
Two immediate points: his desire to launch an attack at home, not going to Somalia and a local target.

It will be interesting to see if there was any community or public involvement in alerting the authorities - parallel to email interception.

I read about this earlier and was actually going to post it.

However, I did realize this plot was as far along as actually attempting to complete the final stage of it, as I thought the "bomb" to detonated which caught this individual in question was another practice run?