Friday, February 05, 2010
More head-slapping fallout from the Underwear Bomber fiasco on Christmas Day. From Time:
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed attempt to bring down a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas Day has helped to ignite a political battle over how best to handle and question detained terrorist suspects. The debate has brought attention to a specialized interrogation unit that the Obama Administration announced with great fanfare last August but that was not used in the "Undie-bomber" case — a situation that has become additional fuel for criticism.
The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) was intended to replace the Bush Administration's intelligence-gathering procedures for captured terrorist suspects. One of President Obama's first acts after taking office was to suspend his predecessor's controversial detention and interrogation practices, and convene a task force to recommend new ones. When the Department of Justice announced its findings on Aug. 24, among the proposals was the creation of HIG, a mobile team of experienced interrogators, linguists, al-Qaeda experts and others would swing into action to question captured suspects. Intended for deployment overseas, according to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, HIG's purpose is to help higher-ups decide whether or not a detainee should be treated as a case for prosecution in federal courts, as well as to extract useful intelligence.
However, HIG was not activated when Abdulmutallab was taken into custody, as Blair admitted at a Senate hearing in January. He said he was never consulted about deploying the interrogation unit when the young Nigerian was arrested in Detroit; the team of intelligence experts was never summoned. "We should have automatically deployed the HIG," he said. "We will now." More confusion followed: the next day, Blair issued a clarifying statement revealing that the unit wasn't even fully operational.
Not fully operational? Wait a minute: given that we are in an existential struggle against Islamic jihadists, why the heck not?
...HIG was not activated when Abdulmutallab was taken into custody, as Blair admitted at a Senate hearing in January. He said he was never consulted about deploying the interrogation unit when the young Nigerian was arrested in Detroit; the team of intelligence experts was never summoned. "We should have automatically deployed the HIG," he said. "We will now." More confusion followed: the next day, Blair issued a clarifying statement revealing that the unit wasn't even fully operational.
In other words, there's always next time! Is anyone else out there disgusted and infuriated by that feeble response? Heads should have rolled weeks ago over this case and the Fort Hood travesty, in which the shooter did everything but parade around base wearing an "I'm an Islamic Terrorist t-shirt" in the runup to the attack. But to date, the Obama administration has sat on its hands.
But wait: it gets worse.
When committee vice-chair Christopher "Kit" Bond, the Missouri Republican, asked whether HIG would be deployed if Osama Bin Laden were captured, Blair responded. "I would very much hope that the HIG would interrogate him and squeeze all the information out of him." Before reading Miranda rights to bin Laden? Bond asked. "I'm not going to talk about that," Blair said.
Translation: "under the guidance of Attorney General/left wing ideologue Eric Holder, yes, Senator, we would mirandize Osama bin Laden."
You know, it's scheduled to snow some two feet in DC this weekend. I think I'll go bury myself under an avalance. Someone thaw me out in 2012.
Actually, thaw me out in time for Sunday night, February 7, when 'llI appear on the Aaron Klein Show on WABC Radio at 8 pm discussing my recent trip to London. While there, I interviewed Islamic terrorists linked to Al Qaeda,
I'll also be on the Sean Hannity Show on Fox News (tentatively) Monday night, February 8th discussing London jihad and my rather unconventional recent "European Vacation."
And look for my feature story including my interviews with terrorists in London on Tuesday's edition of the 700 Club.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Senior U.S. intelligence officials told Congress today that Al Qaeda is looking to hit the U.S. homeland sometime in the next 3 to 6 months. From Fox News:
Al Qaeda can be expected to attempt an attack on the United States in the next three to six months, senior U.S. intelligence officials told Congress Tuesday.
The terrorist organization is deploying operatives to the United States to carry out new attacks from inside the country, including "clean" recruits with a negligible trail of terrorist contacts, CIA Director Leon Panetta said. Al Qaeda is also inspiring homegrown extremists to trigger violence on their own, Panetta added.
The annual assessment of the nation's terror threats provided no startling new terror trends, but amplified growing concerns since the Christmas Day airline attack in Detroit that militants are growing harder to detect and moving more quickly in their plots.
"The biggest threat is not so much that we face an attack like 9/11. It is that Al Qaeda is adapting its methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect," Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Al Qaeda is increasingly relying on new recruits with minimal training and simple devices to carry out attacks, the CIA chief said as part of the annual assessment of national threats provided to Congress by the top five U.S. intelligence officials.
Panetta also warned of the danger of extremists acting alone: "It's the lone-wolf strategy that I think we have to pay attention to as the main threat to this country," he said.
I documented some of that lone wolf activity from '09 recently on CBN News. Looks like we're in for rmore of the same in 2010.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thankfully, the Obama administration has reportedly decided to move the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed terrorism trial from New York City. Here is a dose of what they may have had in store, had they continued with the insane path they were going on. From Michelle Malkin:
Imagine this nightmare courtroom scenario: Unhinged Jew-bashing, open mockery of American soldiers, juror intimidation, and coldly calculated exploitation of U.S. constitutional protections by a suspected al Qaeda defendant. Well, there’s no need to wait for the Gitmo terror trial circuses. New York City is already getting a glimpse of the future.
Jihadi scientist Aafia Siddiqui is on trial right now in a federal Manhattan court for the attempted murder and assault of U.S. military personnel in Pakistan two years ago....
Siddiqui was identified as an al Qaeda operative, financier, and fixer by no less than 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed during U.S. interrogations. Al Baluchi is KSM’s nephew. Mohammed reportedly enlisted Siddiqui in a Baltimore-based plot to bomb gas stations, fuel tanks, and bridges, and poison water reservoirs in the greater Washington, D.C. area.. Siddiqui was taken into custody in Kabul in July 2008 after attempting to shoot U.S. military interrogators and FBI agents.
Now, the savvy “Terror Mom” of three is pulling out all the stops to win a mistrial. Among her Cirque du Jihad antics:
*Demanding that jurors be genetically tested for a “Zionist or Israeli background” to ensure a fair and impartial jury of her Jew-hating peers;
*Ranting about 9/11/Israel conspiracies during voir dire;
*Screaming out loud during the testimony of U.S. Army Capt. Robert Snyder, who was in the room in Kabul when Siddiqui allegedly grabbed an M-4 rifle and proclaimed, “Allah Akbar!” and “I hate Americans! Death to America!” Before being ejected from the courtroom, Siddiqui shouted to Snyder, “You’re lying!” She also babbled about torture at a secret prison;
*And blurting out “I feel sorry for you” to the witness in front of the jury before being led out of the courtroom again.
Siddiqui’s defense team, funded in part by the Pakistani government, asserts that Lady Al Qaeda is so mentally ga-ga that she should not be allowed to take the witness stand. Bleeding-heart human rights groups have dutifully rallied around Siddiqui. She’s Mumia abu Jamal in a burqa. Indeed, her supporters have launched their own “Free Affia” campaign. But two government-retained psychiatrists, working independently, determined last year that Siddiqui’s so-called symptoms of mental illness were attributed to “malingering” and “manipulation.” The judge in the case concluded that she is competent and understands full well the charges against her.
And just think: the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial would have been a thousand times worse.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Iran's Supreme Leader says Israel will soon be destroyed. Move along, EU, UN and Obama administration. Nothing to see here. From AP:
Iran's supreme leader predicted the destruction of Israel in comments posted on his Web site on Wednesday, in some of his strongest remarks in years about the Jewish state.
In the past, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called Israel a "cancerous tumour" that must be wiped from the map, but the new comments mark the first time in years he has openly speculated about Israel's demise.
"Definitely, the day will come when nations of the region will witness the destruction of the Zionist regime," Khamenei was quoted as saying. "How soon or late (Israel's demise) will happen depends on how Islamic countries and Muslim nations approach the issue." He did not elaborate.
Khamenei, who made the comments during a meeting with the Mauritanian president on Tuesday, also accused Israel of trying to destroy the Palestinians "through continued pressure, blockades and genocide." He said the Jewish state will not succeed.
Meanwhile, President Obama once again refers to the "Islamic Republic of Iran" in his SOTU speech last night, which oinly lends the regime legitimacy and discourages the untold thousands of brave Iranian protestors who are actively working to overthrow these scoundrels. You have to think that Ahmadenijad and co. are feeling pretty confident about their chances right now.
Monday, January 25, 2010
I'm back from a week in Europe, where I gathered some incredible interviews, information and stories that you will be seeing on CBN News in the coming weeks. In the meantime, it seems that the threat level is continuing to rise on the homefront. A well-respected U.S. intel monitoring group says that "Osama bin Laden's word choice in the latest audio message attributed to him is seen as a "possible indicator" of an upcoming attack by his Al-Qaeda network." Here's more, from AFP:
IntelCenter, a US group that monitors Islamist websites, also said that manner of the release and the content of the message showed it was "credible" that it was a new release from the Saudi extremist.
"The Osama bin Laden audio message released to Al-Jazeera on 24 January 2010 contains specific language used by bin Laden in his statements in advance of attacks," IntelCenter said in a statement.
The group said it considered the language "a possible indicator of an upcoming attack" in the next 12 months.
"This phrase, 'Peace be upon those who follow guidance,' appears at the beginning and end of messages released in advance of attacks that are designed to provide warning to Al-Qaeda's enemies that they need to change their ways or they will be attacked," the group said.
In a statement carried by Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden praised the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to blow up a US airliner approaching Detroit on Christmas Day.
He warned the United States that, "God willing, our attacks against you will continue as long as you maintain your support to Israel."
IntelCenter said the audio statement "appears to be exactly what it purports to be, an audio message from bin Laden."
Bin Laden's targeting of Israel is done purposefully. Al Qaeda sees Jerusalem as the centerpiece of a modern day Islamic caliphate governed by sharia law.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
I'm heading to Europe tomorrow. I'll be spending a week there, making stops in London and Vienna. I'll be reporting on the growth of radical Islam there and how British and Austrian officials are countering it.
I'll be back blogging again the week of January 25th and will have many stories to share from the road. Stay tuned.
Monday, January 11, 2010
I've interviewed former U.S. counterterrorism official Matthew Levitt and appeared on panels with him. I've consistently come away very impressed. Now at the esteemed Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Leviit is one of the very best when it comes to analyzing trends in Al Qaeda and the global War on Terror. His latest study addresses a topic that I've heard rumblings about for some time: the possibility of Al Qaeda setting up shop in Gaza. From the New York Times:
-- Palestinian militant groups are trying to link with al-Qaida, but Osama bin Laden's terror network has so far snubbed Hamas and its offshoots for infighting and failure to prove their global jihadist intentions, a new study says.
Al-Qaida has granted formal ties with insurgent organizations in Yemen and North Africa but doesn't yet appear to believe that Hamas and its splinter groups are sufficiently focused beyond Israel to the Western world, according to the study by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The study, which was obtained by The Associated Press and is scheduled to be released next week, suggests al-Qaida may be waiting patiently for one of the Gaza-based terror groups to establish itself -- perhaps by successfully attacking Western targets.
''Al-Qaida likely remains unconvinced of the ideological commitment of groups like Jaish al-Islam,'' said Matthew Levitt, co-author of the study. ''Al-Qaida may also have concerns about the survivability of such groups,'' including their susceptibility to infiltration by Israeli intelligence.
Levitt's co-author is Yoram Cohen, who until recently served as the deputy director of the Israel Security Agency, Shin Bet.
Their report quotes one militant leader as saying, ''We are waiting to carry out a big jihadist operation'' dedicated to bin Laden. ''If al-Qaida asks us to pledge allegiance to it, we are completely ready for it.''
The study goes on to suggest that an influx of foreign fighters into Gaza could be a deadly game changer.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) was established after 9/11 to help the U.S intelligence community connect the dots when it came to identifying Islamic radicals and terror plots
Now the NCTC is enlisting some dangerous help in its efforts to battle Islamic jihadists.
Yasir Qhadi has made a series of inflammatory statements about Christians and Jews and has even admitted to being on a terror watch list.
But that hasn’t stopped NCTC from using him as a “de-radicalization” expert in the U.S. Muslim community.
Is NCTC using an Islamic radical to “counter” the radicals?
One terrorism analyst called it “insane.” You can watch my report by clicking on the viewer below.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Happy New Year to everyone. Sorry for not checking in more frequently the past two weeks. Between the holiday, covering the continuing progression of the Flight 253/Yemen story, and planning an upcoming trip to Europe, I've been insanely busy as of late (as opposed to my usual "ridiculously busy"). I had a 5 minute story air on the 700 Club today that I think you will want to see. It is called 2009: The Year of Homegrown Jihad. In the piece, I run down all of the plots that took place on US soil this year--and there were many. It also includes my on-the-ground reporting from Chicago and Springfield, IL , where two Islamic terror plots were recently broken up. After the report, I do live Q and A with Pat Robertson, the content of which will surely be dubbed controversial (that is, by liberals and Islamists). Check it out by clicking on the viewer below.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Here is yet another homegrown jihad plot that has been overlooked this week amid the Flight 253 debacle. From the Memphis Commerical Appeal:
A man who allegedly claimed he wanted to start a holy war in Memphis will return to court Jan. 11 on charges of threatening to blow up several businesses on Christmas Day.
Mohamed Ibrahim, 35, is charged with commission of a terrorist act, false reporting and disorderly conduct. He is in the Shelby County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
The case has been referred to the FBI in Memphis for further investigation, according to the charges.
Friday afternoon, Memphis police dispatchers issued an alert that a man driving a black Chrysler PT Cruiser had threatened to "blow up the business" at 300 Poplar, a BP gas station.
A Memphis officer stopped the vehicle at Front Street and Jackson Avenue.
The driver refused to identify himself to police, and appeared to be hiding something, according to the arresting officer.
After Ibrahim was arrested and placed in a police cruiser, he began cursing police and attempting to kick out the windows, according to the charges. Officers subdued him with pepper spray.
Police determined that Ibrahim had earlier that day made threats to blow up seven other businesses around town, according to the charges.
And what were his motivations, which the Commercial Appeal waits until the very end of the article to reveal?
An FBI agent called to the scene recovered three cassette tapes described as "Islamic" in a police affidavit, and took the GPS from the vehicle.
Court records show that Ibrahim had been arrested two days earlier with a 10-inch butcher knife concealed in his jacket sleeve and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon. He was released on $100 bond.
That day, Ibrahim had threatened other businesses and "stated he was a Muslim, and wanted to start jihad here in Memphis," according to the weapon charge.
Yes folks, it sounds like this "violent extremist" (President Obma's favorite term) is actually a violent Islamic extremist. Surprise.