NPR Story Distorts Counter-Terrorism Training

A National Public Radio (NPR) report Wednesday aimed at showing problems with some unqualified and biased counter-terrorism trainers unintentionally revealed a bias of its own.

The NPR report cited a study released by Political Research Associates (PRA), a self-described "progressive" organization that targets "right-wing" conservative groups. While it focused only on three training providers during its nine-month research period, the study claims widespread findings of abuse in the private counter-terrorism training industry.

The PRA study, however, is compromised by its reliance on people and organizations funded by the Saudi Arabian government and aligned with Muslim groups openly critical of law enforcement counter-terrorism efforts. The study's authors thank Georgetown University professor John Esposito, director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, and Alejandro Beutel, the governmental affairs director for the Muslim Political Affairs Council.

In December, the Investigative Project on Terrorism reported that an MPAC report by Beutel skewed statistics to show that Muslim Americans played a disproportionate role in tipping off law enforcement to terror plots.

While NPR focused on private trainers, the reality is that counter-terror training is multifaceted and private trainers are a small part of a significantly larger process. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) is the U.S. government's primary general provider of law enforcement training to most federal agencies, as well as state and local law enforcement. Its counter-terrorism division describes eight separate programs. Beyond FLETC, the FBI, the military and Intelligence agencies all have their own in-house counter-terrorism training programs using active-duty government training personnel. A 2006 Congressional Research Service report on federal counter-terrorism training programs found no issues of Muslim stereotyping or unqualified private instructors.

Even so, most viable private counter-terrorism training organizations have staff instructors who are former/retired law enforcement or Intelligence officers with counter-terrorism experience and/or academics with advanced degrees in the pertinent field. The PRA report cited by NPR, in fact, found this to be the case in the three organizations it researched.

Liberal Writer Calls Out Liberal Hearing Critics

It might not be surprising to see a liberal writer describe Thursday's House Homeland Security Committee hearing on radicalization within the Muslim American community was "horrifying to witness."

It might surprise you, however, to see why.

Former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani, already on record supporting the hearing's focus on Islamic radicalization saying there are "very serious and real issues of extremist interpretations of Islam."

In a follow-up published by the Daily Beast, Nomani takes on her media colleagues and the Left in general for over-reacting to the hearing and the role played by committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y.

"The hearing didn't amount to the much-anticipated slam against Muslims but rather it devolved, ironically, into a figurative lynch mob by leading liberals on civil rights and women's rights against truth-tellers on radicalization within the Muslim community," Nomani writes. "It was horrifying to witness."

Reporters let Minnesota Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison's emotional conclusion to his testimony obscure the rest of the testimony, she adds, writing that "two minutes have defined the four-hour hearing."

Lost in the mix was testimony from three men who have seen the consequences of Islamic radicalization. Each described resistance they met from mosque leadership or self-anointed Muslim political groups when they sought help or tried to fight radicalism on their own. Two saw relatives – a son and a nephew – forfeit promising futures to seek jihad. One died, the other is in jail.

"To me, their stories resonated." Nomani writes. "They were the same dynamics of intimidation that I and others have experienced trying to challenge the dogma at our mosques."

Committee Democrats, normally champions of women's rights and peaceful causes, "took snide potshots at the witnesses and the legitimacy of the discussion." That was disheartening because intimidation and theological distortion were a part of their struggles, too, Nomani writes. "We should be natural allies. Challenging authority and legitimacy is usually the tactic puritanical Muslims use against reformers."

She places herself in their corner on social issues from abortion rights, to gun control, labor and gay rights. "But, on this issue of challenging extremism inside Islam, the hearing revealed to me that liberals, sadly, are largely out to lunch."

See her whole column here.

Murderous Talk and Action from Tehran

American leaders will suffer the same fate as despotic Middle Eastern rulers, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Thursday. Just as revolution brought about regime change in Egypt and Tunisia, the United States will be defeated by an Islamic revolution, Khamenei said at a meeting in Tehran.

"Not only corrupted and despotic rulers but the United States and other world powers with an aggressive nature will finally suffer a defeat by nations and God's promises will come true," Khamenei said. "Even the US and other global powers, despite their ruthless and murderous instincts, will eventually be defeated and divine promises will be realized," the regime-controlled Press TV said in summarizing Khamenei's remarks.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad struck a similar tone Thursday while visiting the holy city of Qom. "The human society is moving rapidly forward and today's hegemonic powers, which are unrivalled in corruption, pillage, massacre and crimes, are already collapsing," he said.

New information from the battlefield in Afghanistan illustrates one way Iran tries to make this a reality. NATO officials said Wednesday that that they have captured 48 Iranian-made rockets being shipped to the Taliban. British and Afghan troops captured the 122-millimeter rockets, which were being transported in a three-truck convoy, on March 5 near the Iran-Pakistan border.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the weapons were sent by Iran in an effort to bolster the Taliban's "capability to kill Afghan and ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] soldiers." The logistics of the shipment were arranged by a Taliban "facilitator" based in Iran. NATO officials said the rockets were significantly more lethal than the 107-millimeter rockets Iran has sent to the Taliban since 2006.

Read more about Iranian support for the Taliban here.

Clinton to Meet Libyan Resistance, Clapper Predicts Gaddafi Victory

The Obama administration sent mixed signals on its policy toward Libya Thursday. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, National Intelligence Director James Clapper indicated that Libyan ruler Moammar Gaddafi was likely to defeat resistance forces. But hours later, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in congressional testimony that Washington seeks Gaddafi's ouster and said she will meet with unidentified members of the Libyan opposition.

"We are standing with the Libyan people as they brave bombs and bullets to demand that Gaddafi must go – now," she told the House Appropriations Committee. Clinton said the meetings would occur next week, when she visits France, Egypt and Tunisia.

Earlier in the day, Clapper delivered a very different kind of message. Rebels are unlikely to drive Gaddafi from power, he said, and Washington needs to take seriously the possibility that he will win. "Gaddafi is in this for the long haul," Clapper said.

"I think over time, over the longer term, that the regime will prevail," he told the Senate panel, pointing to the Gaddafi's forces' superior weaponry and logistical capabilities. Alternatively, it is possible that the country could split into two or three parts or "you could end up with a Somalia-like situation," Clapper said.

Neither outcome would be a good one for the United States, countered Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz. and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn. It would "signal to rulers across the region that the best way to maintain power in the face of peaceful demands is through swift and merciless violence," McCain said. "Perhaps the greater concern for us all should be what it would mean for America's credibility and moral standing if a tyrant were allowed to massacre Arabs and Muslims in Libya and we watched it happen."

Lieberman said the United States should consider establishing a no-fly zone over Libya and sharing intelligence with anti-Gaddafi forces.

In recent days, the rebels' position has grown increasingly precarious. On Thursday, Gaddafi's forces recaptured the refinery town of Ras Lanuf after a withering attack from air, land and sea – illustrating once again the dictator's willingness to kill his own people in order to stay in power. In Ras Lanuf, Gaddafi's forces launched an airstrike against a hospital and a mosque.

"It's tough these days," said Mohammed al-Houni, a 25-year-old fighter for the opposition forces. "There is no comparison between our weapons and theirs. They're trained, they're organized … We're not any army. We're the people, and even if we had weapons, we wouldn't even know how to use them."

Meanwhile, in Zawiyah, located just west of Tripoli, Gaddafi's forces released three BBC journalists abducted over the weekend. The three, who work for the news agency's Arabic-language service, were beaten and subject to mock executions. They were taken to a military barracks where they saw other prisoners in much worse condition, who appeared to have been tortured. Many had broken ribs and were hooded and handcuffed.

The dictator's son, Saif al-Islam, vowed to crush the opposition and warned NATO against intervening in Libya. If NATO wants to support the opposition "you are going to lose," he said in an interview broadcast on Sky News and BBC Television. "We are not afraid of the American fleet, NATO, France, Europe."

Women, Christians Targeted in Growing Egyptian Violence

Coptic Christians say they are the target of the worst wave of violence to engulf Egypt since President Hosni Mubarak was forced from office Feb. 11. Thirteen people were killed in street battles that erupted in Cairo Tuesday and Wednesday after Copts (who comprise about 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million people) blocked streets to protest the destruction of a church. While some reports say as many as five of the dead were Muslims, Copts maintain that all 13 were Christians.

The Copts have long complained of pervasive discrimination at the hands of Egypt's Muslim majority. Reports say the church in Sol, Egypt, was destroyed by arson and hammer-wielding radicals last week in response to a feud involving Muslim and Christian families. This year began with a suicide attack on Coptic worshippers as they left a church in Alexandria: 21 people were killed in the attack that occurred just after midnight Jan. 1.

That attack followed months of anti-Christian incitement by Egyptian Salafists who staged regular demonstrations outside churches in Cairo and Alexandria. The Salafists accused the Coptic Church of kidnapping two Christian women who were rumored to have attempted to convert to Islam.

Tuesday's fighting began hours after hundreds of men roughed up female demonstrators who had come to Cairo's Tahrir Square (scene of scores of protests that ended Mubarak's 29-year reign as president) to celebrate International Women's Day, the Wall Street Journal reported. The women had gathered there to demand greater rights and opportunities. Some were reported to have been sexually assaulted.

Later in the day, 500 Christians who gathered in downtown Cairo were surrounded by a crowd of several thousand Muslims. Young men then set a factory and nearby apartment buildings on fire. Christians who witnessed the fighting said soldiers stood by for hours, and some claim the police fired on Christian protesters.

"What have we gotten from this revolution?" asked Rifaat Atif, a Christian pharmacist who watched the fighting. "We don't trust the army anymore. The money has stopped. There's no security."

On Wednesday, soldiers carried out "cursory patdowns" of demonstrators at a Cairo rally in front of the state television building in Cairo, where Copts vowed to stay until their church was rebuilt, the Washington Post reported.

Witnesses Keep Touting Flawed Studies

During his testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Muslim radicalization Thursday, Rep. Keith Ellison continued to repeat the flawed findings and interpretations of two studies issued in recent months.

Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat and one of two Muslims in Congress, cited a study that said 40 percent of terror plots since 9/11 had been prevented by Muslim Americans. That was a reference to a report by the Muslim Public Affairs Committee that actually claimed that almost one-third of al-Qaida-related terror plots were thwarted with help of the Muslim community.

However, as IPT reported in December, that study overstated the role of community assistance and selectively defined a terrorist incident. It also ignored the value of standard law enforcement techniques, such as the role of informants.

Ellison also mentioned another study released last month by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security in North Carolina. That study said there had been a drop in 2010 in terrorism-related incidents involving Muslims.

But IPT pointed out last month that a closer reading of that study revealed that "with Muslims comprising about 1 percent of the population, it is clear that Muslims are engaging in terrorism at a greater rate than non-Muslims." Although the number of terror incidents tied to Muslims did decline from 2009 to 2010, the total for 2010 was still higher than in all but one year since 9/11.

Islamists Target King Over Radicalization Hearing

Police and federal agents say House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-NY) is correct in saying they don't get many tips from Muslims. In interviews with the New York Daily News, counterterrorism and intelligence officials with the FBI and NYPD explained some of the similarities - and differences - between radical Islamists and criminal organizations like the Mafia, drug cartels and the MS-13.

"Criminals are criminals. It gets dicier because Muslim extremists wrap their work in religion, but the smokescreens, the silence and intimidation are similar," an FBI source said. What makes Islamist terror different "is the risk – the extent of the damage, the number of people who can get hurt."

Islamist groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim American Society (MAS) deride King for investigating radical Islam in the United States, calling Thursday's hearing a "political stunt" by a lawmaker who is biased against Muslims.

King counters by pointing to the security threat posed by jihadists operating on American soil. He points to the case of Bryant Neal Vinas, a Queens native who pled guilty to providing al-Qaida with information on the Long island Railroad and participating in jihadist attacks on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Vinas had spoken at Long Island mosques about his jihadist aspirations, King said, but no one reported this to law enforcement.

Terrorism analyst Patrick Poole cites other reasons for strident attacks on King like one by James Zogby suggesting that "Islamophobia" is a greater threat than al Qaida and another by Elaine Brower of the Coalition to Stop Islamophobia, who implied at a New York rally against the hearing that Muslims could die as a result of the congressional investigation.

One is that the hearings challenge the Muslim Brotherhood's political monopoly. Since the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, groups like CAIR the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) "have enjoyed a monopoly on political access to Congress and the White House," Poole writes.

That domination has been undermined by revelations from the Holy Land Foundation trial "that CAIR is a front for the terrorist group Hamas. As a result of that evidence, the FBI severed ties with CAIR, but continues to work with" groups like ISNA, Poole writes. If members of Congress begin to carefully examine the role Islamist groups play in denying the threat posed by radical Islam, it could threaten their longstanding political domination in Washington.

The Islamist groups leading the opposition to King and the hearings "are not part of the solution [to] Islamic radicalization, but part of the problem," Poole contends. "Their opposition is really driven by self-preservation in the face of leading members of Congress and an American public that are no longer willing to buy their excuses and justifications for Islamic extremism."

Read the full article here.

Guilty Pleas End Two Homegrown Terror Cases

Two separate homegrown terror cases ended with guilty pleas this week. Colorado resident Jamie Paulin-Ramirez pled guilty Tuesday to providing "material support" to a terrorist by marrying him; Awais Younis, a 25-year-old who threatened to blow up the DC Metro system and place a bomb under a Georgetown sewer head during rush hour, was expected to change his plea to guilty Wednesday.

Paulin-Ramirez traveled to Ireland in September 2009 at the invitation of Colleen LaRose, aka "Jihad Jane", to attend a training camp for terrorists. The same day she arrived, she married an Algerian terrorism suspect planning to train with the Algeria-based al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghrib and recruit for Pakistan's terror-linked Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The crime of material support "can be as basic as supplying emotional support and comfort," according to Jeremy Ibrahim, Paulin-Ramirez's lawyer. Her marriage, which her lawyer said was "for the love of Islam, not for the love of her husband," was part of the group's plan to participate in terrorist training and attacks.

"Today's guilty plea by Jamie Ramirez, coupled with that of Colleen LaRose last month, underscores the evolving nature of the terrorist threat we face," said acting Assistant Attorney General Hinnen.

Younis is expected to plead guilty plea to a charge of "threatening interstate communications." The allegations stemmed from several online rants threatening the DC Metro system and other targets, in which Younis described how to build a pipe bomb and targeted the third and fifth cars of a Metro train because they "had the highest number of commuters." $22,000, large quantities of drugs, and a loaded hand gun were also found hidden in his home, according to prosecutors.

Bridges TV Executive Sentenced for Beheading Wife

A New York judge Wednesday handed former Bridges Television Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan the maximum sentence for second-degree murder - 25 years to life in prison - for stabbing his wife to death and beheading her in February 2009.

Hassan has written letters from jail insisting that he suffered from battered spouse syndrome and that he "broke down under years of abuse" in killing his wife. But Erie County Court Circuit Judge Thomas Franczyk told Hassan he had no doubt the killing was a "premeditated act of violence."

"Justice demands that you receive nothing less than the maximum possible sentence," Franczyk told Hassan, convicted by a jury last month.

Evidence presented during the trial showed that on Feb. 12, 2009, Hassan lured his wife Aasiya to the couple's Bridges TV studio in Orchard Park, stabbed her more than 40 times with a pair of hunting knives, and beheaded her. A forensic pathologist testified that Aasiya Hassan may have been conscious when the beheading started.

That evening, she had promised her children she would take them to a restaurant for dinner, but would first have to drop off clean clothing for their father at the studio. Mo Hassan was barred by an order of protection from coming to the family home, and he had told his wife he would not be at the studio.

She didn't know that he went to a local store to purchase hunting knives. Video showed him lying in wait in the darkened studio attacking his wife when she arrived. He was angry over her refusal to withdraw divorce papers she had just filed after years of abuse.

Ironically, the couple had created Bridges TV in an effort to debunk negative stereotypes of Muslims.

Under New York law, Hassan cannot receive a parole hearing until 2034.

Read more here and here.

Misreading the Danger of "Stealth Jihad"

In anticipation of Thursday's House Homeland Security Committee hearing on radicalization of American Muslims, National Security Adviser Denis McDonough spoke about the subject to the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS Center) in Northern Virginia.

President Obama is determined to make sure that the United States does not "play into al-Qaeda's narrative" about its fight against freedom, McDonough said.

"There is no one easy profile of a terrorist," he said. "But based on extensive investigations, research and profiles of the violent extremists we've captured or arrested, and who falsely claim to be fighting in the name of Islam, we know that they all share one thing – they all believe that the United States is somehow at war with Islam, and that this justifies violence against Americans."

In response, the Obama Administration is moving to expose "the lie that America and Islam are somehow in conflict. That is why President Obama has stated time and again that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam."

This argument is deficient on a number of critical points, according to Family Security Matters contributor Bill Siegel, who writes that the White House is deluding itself about the reality of the Islamist threat. By artificially limiting the threat to a band of "radical extremists" like al-Qaida, the administration is ignoring the other dangers posed by radical Islam.

Al Qaida is only "a piece" of the terrorism threat, according to Siegel. "The second level, the 'Civilization Jihad,' is a term used by the Muslim Brotherhood to describe its long term effort to peaceably infiltrate American and Western society at all levels in order to bring it down from the inside.

By pretending that the Islamists' war against the West is confined to violence, Western political elites seek to retain a greater measure of "control" over their fate, Siegel maintains. They minimize the danger by deluding themselves into believing that if they behave in a more enlightened way towards Muslims, Islamists will realize that the West is not their enemy. The problem is that the Islamists reject the premise.

McDonough's statement that the United States isn't at war with Islam may sound nice "but does little to eliminate the fact that the enemy has declared it so. We can walk away and pretend there is no war" and "follow the deceptive words of those in this country engaged in Civilization Jihad who attack us," Siegel writes. "Yet that path leads only to further the cause of the enemy."

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