Prosecutors Say Mehanna Plotted Jihad

Opening statements began Thursday in the federal trial of a Massachusetts man charged with conspiring to help al-Qaida terrorists.

Tarek Mehanna "began translating jihad material … material that would encourage others to participate in jihad, which was itself a service to Al Qaeda," federal prosecutor Aloke Chakravarty told the 16-member jury, the Boston Globe reported.

Chakravarty drew attention to an al-Qaida manual translated by Mehanna called "39 Ways to Make Jihad."

"This is essentially training material to get ready to serve and participate in that fight," Chakravarty said.

But defense lawyers claim Mehanna visited Yemen for religious purposes and his online jihadi activities are protected by the First Amendment as long as they do not involve a terrorist organization.

Mehanna should not be punished for his opposition to U.S. foreign policy, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said defense attorney J.W. Carney, Jr.

"I'm not here to convince you to believe that his view and the view of millions of others was correct. ... I am asking you to find that you can hold that view in the United States of America even if the government does not want you to hold that view," Carney said.

Prosecutors allege Mehanna and two coconspirators traveled to Pakistan in 2002 and Yemen in 2004 with the intent to seek military-type training in a terrorist camp that would prepare them for armed jihad against U.S. forces stationed in Iraq. The trips ended in failure, however, and frustrated with their inability to wage jihad overseas, Mehanna and others turned to plot attacks within the United States, including randomly shooting people in a shopping mall. The alleged mall plot fell through after Mehanna and his associates failed to obtain automatic weapons needed to carry out the attack.

Prosecutors also charge Mehanna and coconspirators with attempting to radicalize others as well as inspire themselves by watching and distributing online jihadi videos.

A graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Mehanna is reported to have become radicalized over the past decade. He faces up to life in prison if convicted of all the charges.

Assad Tottering on the Brink

When demonstrations against Syrian President Bashar Assad began in late March, few expected them to last very long given the dictator's longstanding use of torture and repression to silence dissent. But more than seven months later a revolution has spread throughout the country in spite of Assad's stepped-up campaign of intimidation against his own people.

More than 3,000 people have been killed by Syrian security forces and another 15,000 have disappeared or been arrested since March, veteran journalist Amir Taheri wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

The Assad regime has long sought to portray itself as a secularist bulwark against the Islamist radicalism represented by groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1982, Bashar's father, then-Syrian President Hafez Assad, brutally put down a Brotherhood-led revolt in Hama by massacring up to 25,000 people.

But according to Taheri, the current uprising against the Assad clan is stronger and more diverse. The previous insurrection was largely confined to Sunni Muslims, who comprise more than 70 percent of the Syrian population. This time, the revolt is supported by Sunnis as well as Christians (12 percent of the population) and smaller communities including Syrian Druze, Kurds, and Turkmen.

"A full-scale civil war, with the Alawite minority regime fighting for its life against an armed rebellion by forces based in the Sunni majority population, seemed increasingly possible" as the Assad government stepped up its crackdown in recent weeks, said Elliott Abrams, a deputy national security advisor in the George W. Bush administration.

Writing in The Atlantic, Abrams proposes a strategy for the United States and other Western nations to "isolate the Assad regime and its closest cronies from the rest of the Alawite community, which largely has not shared in the riches Assad has dispensed to close supporters." He argues that Washington should try to send a message to Assad's generals telling them that they can salvage hope for their future "by refusing now to kill their fellow citizens."

Another priority is turning the Syrian business community against Assad. Foreign investment and tourism have fallen by more than half this year and exports by more than two-thirds. The United States needs to drive home the point that if Assad retains power, he will ensure that Syria's economic misery continues, Abrams writes.

Read the full article here.

DHS Appointee Allegedly Played Politics With Database

A member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) allegedly tapped into a state database in hopes of luring journalists to write a story damaging to Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican presidential candidate, Pajamas Media reports.

Mohamed Elibiary "has accessed DPS documents and downloaded them," said Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw. Those include documents with intelligence information marked for official use only. They were part of a Homeland Security database used by law enforcement agencies to share intelligence.

McCraw wants the Department of Homeland Security to determine if "Elibiary improperly handled any sensitive intelligence products," the report says.

Elibiary then shopped a story to an unnamed media outlet saying the department promoted "Islamophobia," writes blogger Patrick Poole. Perry, Elibiary allegedly claimed, was responsible. But the material contained "nothing remotely resembling Islamophobia," an unnamed representative of the media outlet said.

Elibiary's past actions have led to questions about his ideology. For example, he spoke at a December 2004 conference in Dallas paying tribute to the Ayatollah Khomeini and has defended Sayyid Qutb, the Islamist ideologue credited with inspiring the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist groups including al-Qaida.

Elibiary cast the conviction of five former Holy Land Foundation officials on Hamas support as the latest in a series of losses in America's fight against terror.

Libyan Islamists Creating Buyer's Remorse

U.S. policymakers should move cautiously in dealing with Libya's new Islamist leadership, advises Time magazine correspondent Thomas P.M. Barnett. Although many of Libya's new leaders claim to hold democratic and "secularist" views, Washington "should not assume many of the rebel factions that played prominent roles deposing [Muammar] Qaddafi are beholden to values which resemble our own," he writes.

Many in Washington "ignore the long range and utterly anti-American, anti-Semitic, Salafist ambitions of the Muslim Brotherhood, a most radical and militant-leading faction of which is poised to asset substantial influence over Libya from its base in Qatar," the veteran Time correspondent adds.

The Brotherhood and members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a jihadist organization aligned with al-Qaida, have been working to carve out key roles for themselves in the post-Gaddafi era. The LIFG's emir, Abdul Hakim Belhadj, served as Libyan rebels' military commander.

Last year, the Gaddafi government released Belhadj and other radicals from prison, with the dictator's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi insisting they were rehabilitated and therefore " no longer a danger to society." In 2009, LIFG leaders publicly recanted their affiliation with al-Qaida and their support for jihad. But it is questionable that LIFG operatives will consider themselves bound by any earlier pledge coerced by the Gaddafi regime.

Read more about the Islamist role in the Libyan revolution here.

Some who fought to overthrow Gaddafi are already having second thoughts about the new rulers. Libyans interviewed by the Washington Post complained bitterly about Libya's ruling Transitional National Council (TNC), saying its members are tainted by connections with the ousted dictator and made decisions without talking to the people.

"They killed Gaddafi's regime, but Gaddafi's culture, Gaddafi's mentality, is still in their mind," said Emad Almbsoot, an engineer affiliated with a nongovernmental organization that trains people to participate in democracy.

Abdullah Gilani, an architect who did volunteer work for the revolutionaries, said that when eastern Libya was liberated earlier this year, people felt the worse-case post-Gaddafi regime would be an improvement. Eight months later, he talks of leaving the country and warns of a second Libyan revolution to depose the new rulers.

Meanwhile, reports of atrocities committed by pro- and anti-Gaddafi forces continue pouring in.

Shabaab Threatens Retaliation Over Military Campaign

Somalia's branch of the al-Qaida network has threatened Westerners and the neighboring state of Kenya, over successful advances against the militant group. According to several reports, French warships and American forces have joined the bombardment of al-Shabaab.

Kenyan authorities increased security in Nairobi following a grenade attack on a bar early Monday morning. "There is every reason to believe they are responsible and yes we are linking this attack to the Al Shabaab threats," said Nairobi police chief Antony Kibuchi. Authorities also said that the attacker used the same type of Russian grenade as a previous attack on Nairobi bus last year, making the most recent attack the first since Kenyan troops invaded Somali territory this year.

The U.S. Embassy in Kenya had issued a warning on Saturday to American citizens about potential attacks "at prominent Kenyan facilities and areas where foreigners are known to congregate, such as malls and night clubs." The statement added that measures had been taken to limit visits by American government officials and it warned citizens to defer their travel to Kenya. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also warned of a "various serious threat" to Westerners in Kenya, during an interview Sunday on ABC.

Al-Shabaab's retaliatory attack came after a Kenyan advance into its southern Somali territory. France denied a Kenyan claim that French navy bombarded a Shabaab stronghold, but admitted it was providing aid to Kenya's offensive. Kenya has also claimed that the United States had stepped up the aerial bombardment of Shabaab positions over the past few days, although the U.S. ambassador to Kenya said the support was only technical.

Abbas: A Different Kind of Rejectionist

The Obama administration and European governments who hold out hope that the Gilad Schalit prisoner swap could revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are likely deluding themselves, the Washington Post editorialized Friday.

Both Hamas and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas "celebrated the returning murderers and would-be suicide bombers as heroes," the Post noted. Abbas, who is supposed to be Israel's partner in peace negotiations, hailed the liberated terrorists as "freedom fighters and holy warriors for the sake of God and the homeland."

Abbas also called for the release of more terrorists in the future, including Marwan Barghouti, sentenced to five life terms plus 40 years for the murders of five Israelis, and Ahmed Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Abbas (who in 2008 rejected Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's offer to cede land equal to 100 percent of the West Bank for a Palestinian state) said he wants current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make good on a promise Olmert made during those negotiations: to release even more imprisoned radicals if Schalit came home.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority appears poised to reject the resumption of peace negotiations with Israel. Earlier this month, Netanyahu called on the Palestinians to resume direct negotiations "without delay," but PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Thursday that that wasn't likely to happen. "Conditions are not ripe at this time for a meaningful resumption of talks," he said.

And at the United Nations, PA diplomats continue working to win the trappings of statehood without negotiating a peace settlement with Israel. Abbas needs the support of nine of the 15 Security Council members when that body votes Nov. 11 on the PA's application for U.N. membership. As one of the five permanent Security Council members, the United States has said it will exercise its veto of a unilateral PA push for U.N. recognition.

According to Israeli analyst Barry Rubin, the PA behaves this way – opposing any serious security guarantees for Israel, blocking limits on Palestinian refugees returning to Israel, and refusing to agree that a peace settlement means an end to the conflict – because it realizes that when negotiations reach an impasse, the West will blame Israel and demand that it make more concessions.

Rubin says Washington should respond to this intransigence by telling Abbas and the PA: "Since we have lots of other things to do, we'll do them. Good luck, and if you ever change your mind and get serious about peace, you have our phone number."

Read the op-ed here.

Minnesota Women Convicted of Aiding Somali Terror Group

A federal jury found two Minnesota women guilty Thursday of funneling money to the al-Qaida affiliated al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia.

Evidence presented at trial showed Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, both naturalized U.S. citizens from Somalia, sent more than $8,600 to al-Shabaab fighters between September 2008 and July 2009.

Ali, Hassan, and others solicited money from Somali communities in Minneapolis, Rochester, and other cities in the United States and Canada, a Justice Department press release said.

In addition to door-to-door solicitation, the defendants sponsored teleconferences that featured speakers encouraging donations in support of al-Shabaab. The funds were then transferred to al-Shabaab.

Al-Shabaab was designated a terrorist group by the U.S. government in February 2008. The terrorist group has been engaged in a bloody battle against Somalia's pro-Western government forces and African Union peacekeepers for the past four years.

Ali and Hassan are among 20 people charged in Minnesota as part of a wide-ranging federal investigation into the domestic recruiting and financing for al-Shabaab. More than 20 young men of Somali origin are believed to have left Minnesota to join hands with the terrorists in Somalia since late 2007.

In October 2008, Ali sponsored a teleconference in which an unindicted co-conspirator called on listeners to give to the mujahidin (holy warriors) in Somalia. At another conference in February 2009, Ali told listeners to concentrate on "the jihad" and "forget about the other charities."

Following an FBI raid on her home in July 2009, Ali alerted her al-Shabaab handler not to call her.

"I was questioned by the enemy here….they took all my stuff and are investigating it…do not accept calls from anyone," the DOJ press release quoted Ali saying.

Both Ali and Hassan were convicted on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Shabaab. In addition, Ali was convicted on twelve counts of providing material support to al-Shabaab and Hassan was convicted on two counts of making false statements to authorities. The conspiracy counts each carry 15 year prison sentences.

"I am very happy," Ali reportedly told the judge through an interpreter following the verdict. She further rebuked individuals accusing her of criminal behavior, saying "You will go to hell."

Jihad Jane Associates Charged with Terror Support

Algerian-born Ali Charaf Damache and Pakistani citizen Mohammad Hassan Khalid were charged Thursday in Pennsylvania with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

Known by an Internet username "Theblackflag," Damache also is charged with "one count of attempted identity theft to facilitate an act of international terrorism," a news release from the Department of Justice said. Damache has been in Irish custody since March 2010, but officials pledged to seek his extradition to face trial.

Khalid, a Pakistani citizen with a green card living in Maryland, has been in custody since July and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Using the Internet to communicate, recruit and solicit funds, the pair is accused of conspiring with "Jihad Jane," also known as Colleen R. LaRose, and Jamie Paulin Ramirez to develop what the indictment described as "a violent jihad organization … divided into a planning team, a research team, an action team, a recruitment team, and a finance team, some of whom would travel to South Asia for explosives training and return to Europe to wage violent jihad."

LaRose pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to support terrorists, and to kill people in a foreign country, lying to investigators and attempted identity theft. Notorious for her exploitation of the Internet, LaRose faces up to life in prison when sentenced.

Similarly, Ramirez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide support to terrorists in 2011.

The indictment details correspondence among the group, including efforts to recruit people to wage jihad or European women with passports who could travel in support of the effort.

For example, in August 2009, Khalid allegedly sent a questionnaire to LaRose, "in which he asked another potential female recruit about her beliefs and intentions with regard to violent jihad," the indictment alleged.

Tehran's Long History of Murder in the West

Some analysts have expressed doubt that the Iranian government was involved in a recently uncovered plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States. Skeptics have questioned whether the Iranian regime would participate in such a scheme carried out by non-intelligence professionals and have even suggested that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was "set up" and knew nothing about the conspiracy.

But Roya Hakakian, author of a book about Tehran's transnational terror campaign against dissidents, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the alleged plot bears striking parallels to an earlier crime committed by the Islamist regime: the September 1992 massacre of four Kurdish dissidents at Mykonos restaurant in Berlin.

One of the Mykonos shooters was Abdulrahman Bani-Hashemi, an Iranian hit man. Hashemi (who flew to Turkey later that night before boarding a bus and escaping into Iran) had assassinated an Iranian exile in Switzerland in 1989. The following year, he was arrested and briefly held by Swedish authorities after attempting to kill the Saudi ambassador there.

Several weeks after the Mykonos slayings, German authorities arrested one Iranian and "a ring of small time Lebanese crooks" in connection with the attack, Hakakian wrote. Iranian Minister of Intelligence Ali Fallahian tried unsuccessfully to persuade German authorities to derail the legal proceedings in the Mykonos case.

During the trial, which lasted nearly four years, an Iranian intelligence official defected. He testified that Tehran had a list containing 500 "enemies of Islam" who were targeted for death. In 1997, five men - four Lebanese and an Iranian - were convicted of the Mykonos murders. The trial judge found that Khamenei and Fallahian were among those who ordered the killings.

Interpol has issued a warrant for Fallahian's arrest in connection with the Mykonos case and several other assassinations ordered by the Iranian government.

Writing in the Weekly Standard, Stephen Schwartz notes that Iran has an extensive history of carrying out political murders in the West dating back to the 1979 revolution. These include the 1980 killing of Ali Akbar Tabatabai, who had been an Iranian Embassy press attaché under the Shah. As in the alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador, the man who gunned down Tabatabai at his Bethesda, Md. home on July 22, 1980 was no intelligence professional. David Belfield, a security guard at an Iranian diplomatic facility in Washington, carried out the hit and successfully fled to Iran, where he currently lives.

Read more about Tehran's record of targeting opponents abroad here.

Indoctrination and Attack Follow Schalit Deal

A female would-be suicide bomber, recently released under the prisoner exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, encouraged a crowd of Gaza schoolchildren to follow her violent example. Wafa al-Biss was serving a 12-year sentence for an attempted suicide bombing in 2005, in which she exploited permits allowing her to receive medical care at an Israeli hospital.

"I hope you will walk the same path we took and God willing, we will see some of you as martyrs," al-Biss told a group of children, before mentioning her plans to pursue her educational goal of a degree in psychology. "We will pursue our struggle and (Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu) knows that. Arrests will not deter us from our strong battles and confrontation in the face of Zionist arrogance in the land of Palestine."

The children responded by chanting, "We will give souls and blood to redeem the prisoners. We will give souls and blood for you, Palestine."

Meanwhile, the Israeli army prevented a stabbing attack Wednesday by a Palestinian woman in the town of Gush Etzion. The woman pulled the knife as she approached a group of Israeli soldiers and civilians, and shouted "Allahu Akhbar" and "Kill the Jews." She was subdued before anyone was hurt.

She told security forces at the scene that she had waited until after the prisoner exchange deal to carry out her attack, ostensibly to avoid interrupting the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners for the one kidnapped Israeli soldier.

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