Islamic Radicalism Suspected in U.S. Airmen Shooting

The shooter who killed two United States military personnel in Frankfurt, Germany on Wednesday may have been motivated by Islamic radicalism, according to German prosecutors and an American military official.

"The circumstances raise suspicion that the attack had an Islamic motivation," the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe, Germany, said in a statement on Thursday.

"I don't know if he's tied to a group," an American military official said on the condition of anonymity. "But there is enough information at this point to indicate that he identifies with Islamist terrorist ideology."

German federal prosecutors said Wednesday that it appears the suspect, Arif Uka from Kosovo, acted alone and was radicalized over the last few weeks. Uka was expected to make a court appearance Thursday. Germany's federal prosecutor is working with Frankfurt and federal police and American authorities.

Boris Rhein, interior minister of the German state of Hesse, said Uka told interrogators his aim was to kill American troops. Uka opened fire after ensuring that the servicemen were American military personnel, Rhein said Thursday.

Previous reports say he boarded a bus filled with U.S. Air Force personnel, asked who they were and shouted "Allahu Akhbar" before opening fire.

Family members said Uka was a devout Muslim, born and raised in Germany. However, German police claim he was born in Kosovo. Kosovo Interior Minister Barjram Rexhepi stated Arif Uka is a Kosovo citizen from the town of Mitrovica.

According to an article published Thursday in Germany's Spiegel Online, authorities found a profile on Facebook which they believe could belong to Arif Uka. One post on the Facebook wall links to a jihadist fighting song. The Facebook page also shows links to dozens of people and Muslim organizations that have been recently investigated by German authorities, according to an article published Thursday in the Wall Street Journal. One of Uka's Facebook friends is Sven Lau, deputy chairman of Invitation to Paradise. German officials are trying to ban the group due to its call to impose Islamic law in the country and for its support for extremist ideology. The Facebook page is no longer accessible and appears to have been taken down.

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he was "saddened and I am outraged by this attack that took the lives of two American and wounded others," and vowed to "spare no effort in learning how this outrageous act took place."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters Wednesday that her government will do "whatever is needed to determine what happened" in the "terrible event." Kosovo's government also condemned the attack.

Another Brick in CAIR's Wall of Resistance, Part 2

CAIR expanded its attack on law enforcement Wednesday when it filed a lawsuit against the FBI, alleging it placed a GPS tracking device on the car of a California Muslim. Yasir Afifi found the device on his car on October 3, 2010, which prompted the FBI to demand its return.

Within days of Afifi's discovery of the device, CAIR was by his side, championing his cause.

It's the second lawsuit CAIR filed against the FBI this week. It joined the ACLU in litigation claiming the FBI violated First Amendment rights of hundreds of Muslims through a unrestrained use of informants.

CAIR filed the latest lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., because appellate rulings there require a warrant before law enforcement can place a tracking device. This is in contrast to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco which does not require a warrant for a device that is placed in a public space.

"The biggest thing here is that the FBI is treating American Muslims as suspects instead of partners," said Zahra Billoo, Afifi's attorney and executive director of CAIR in the San Francisco Bay Area.

CAIR's actions toward law enforcement speak louder than its claims of desiring partnership. It routinely opposes terrorism and terror financing investigations

In January, Billoo's CAIR chapter posted a flier on its website urging Muslims to "Build a Wall of Resistance; Don't Talk to the FBI."

The CAIR-Chicago site features an article about an event last month with the "Midwest Regional Conference of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression" at which Civil Rights Director Christina Abraham spoke. The article features a flier headlined "Resist FBI and Grand Jury Repression."

Islamists Flock to Eulogize anti-Semitic Turkish Leader

The death of former Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan on Sunday was commemorated by Hamas and the Turkish-based groupIHH, which is under investigation for its ties to the terrorist organization.

While Erbakan was a former head of state, he also was a blatant anti-Semite. Prior to Turkey's 2007 elections, he claimed in an interview that Jews believe they "will destroy – Allah forbid – Al-Aqsa mosque and in its place build Solomon's temple," and "only then will their messiah come and establish them as the rulers of the world." Jews, he said, had been working for 5,767 years on those goals.

Erbakan, who was promoting his Islamist Happiness Party (SP), said the Muslims, by contrast, "became the masters. We [the Muslims] ruled for 11 centuries. But unfortunately, in the last three centuries the children of Israel have grabbed this material power. Now they control the world that we live in."

The IHH in Gaza set up condolence tents this week, attended by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Hamas hardliner Mohamad Al-Zahar. A banner featuring a picture of Erbakan on one side and the Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood logo on the other was placed at the entrance.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was scheduled to take part in Erbakan's funeral procession, according to an article on Hamas's website. "For his part, Palestinian parliament speaker Dr. Aziz Dweik, along with other Hamas MPs in the West Bank, extended heartfelt condolences to Turkey's leadership and people over the death of Erbakan," the website reports. And, "Dweik and the MPs in a statement on Monday said that Erbakan's demise is a big loss to Turkey and the entire Islamic world."

In the United States, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) issued a statement expressing deep sadness at Erbakan's death and remembering a 1996 speech he gave to the group in New York.

"Mr. Erbakan was a visionary and brilliant leader of Turkey's Islamist movement who devoted his entire life to creating a more peaceful and just world," said ICNA President Zahid Bukhari.

Erbakan founded the Islamist movement Milli Gorus, or National View, in 1969, and became Turkey's first Islamist prime minister in 1996. Thousands of Turks attended his funeral in Istanbul on Tuesday, where crowds chanted "Mujahid Erbakan."

Gunman Kills 2 U.S. Airmen at Frankfurt Airport

Two American Air Force personnel were killed in a shooting attack Wednesday as they rode a bus outside the airport in Frankfurt, Germany.

The gunman is identified as Arif Uka, a 21-year-old man from Kosovo who may be living in the Frankfurt area. Uka was caught by airport security as he tried to run off. He comes from the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica.

According to the New York Times, the victims were part of a busload of airmen who had just flown in from England. They were headed to the U.S. base at Ramstein when the suspect got on the bus. He reportedly asked the men who they were before opening fire. The newspaper cites a local businessman who spoke with witnesses after the attack.

They told him the shooter shouted "Allahu Akhbar," or "God is great" as he opened fire.

The two airmen killed, whose identities have not been released, were based in the U.K. At least two other people were wounded in the shooting.

Mitrovica has been described as "the hottest flashpoint in Kosovo." In an article last year, Stephen Schwartz of the Center for Islamic Pluralism detailed the growth of radical Islamist infiltration since the U.S. intervention there. Mitrovica, he wrote, was divided physically and politically by the Ibar River, which also separates its Serbian and Albanian communities.

In recent years, though, the city has seen an influx of radical Islamists who have targeted the community's established moderates. Schwartz quoted one local resident's complaint that "Foreign religion, foreign traditions appear among us like knives."

New Islamist Group Wants "Sharia 4 America"

Shariah 4 America, a new fringe American Islamist group, advocates converting the White House into the White Mosque and changing the Statue of Liberty to a giant minaret. The group promotes the destruction of all non-Muslim political systems and will be promises its first rally outside the White House on Thursday, supposedly alongside British extremist Anjem Choudary. The date of the rally commemorates the anniversary of the collapse of the last Islamic caliphate and will launch the new group's campaign to revive the Islamic political system, starting in America.

"Have you ever wondered what America would look like under Shari'ah? The ongoing campaign to bring the US and indeed the entire world under the authority of Islam has compelled sincere Muslims to draw up realistic plans for changes that are likely to occur once all obstacles in the way of implementing the Shari'ah are removed," the group's website says. "With the absence of the Shari'ah worldwide, mosques are unfortunately a far cry from their glorious past, and hence the conversion of the White House into one will undoubtedly help restore the iconic status that this building has in the Shari'ah."

The founding of Shariah 4 America formalizes growing ties between American and British Islamists. American-run group Revolution Muslim, now known as Islam Policy, became infamous for its calls to violence and imposing Islamic law. English Islamists used the Revolution Muslim site to call for the murder of British Members of Parliament. Other terror plotters, including Colleen LaRose – aka Jihad Jane –and RM leader Zachary Chesser, have been leaders or participated in the group.

The Islamic Thinker's Society, another American group with members indicted or involved in terrorism, actively calls for Shariah law and is taking part in Shariah 4 America's rally. Shariah 4 America's rally is the first step in educating American Islamists "to take lessons from their Muslim brothers and sisters in North Africa and the Middle East and rise to implement the Sharia in America."

Shariah 4 America's motto is "Communism is dead. Capitalism is dying. Islam is the Solution." Other unusual goals it advocates include replacing the UN with an international Shariah court, and using the Washington Monument to be used to impale pedophiles. The group has even drawn up plans for what America will look like 24 hours after it has taken power, including the destruction of the Western financial system, the joining of all Muslim countries into one super-state, and the elimination of hostile nations like Israel and Britain.

The group tells its followers to ignore Western laws that do not conform to Shariah law and has ties to violent British preachers like Anjem Choudary and Omar Bakri Muhammad. Choudary was a founding member and leader of previous UK Islamist groups, and was also the spokesman for the now banned group Islam4UK or Al-Muhajiroun. He has been widely criticized for his advocating the imposition of Islamic law on Britain and justifying the 9/11 attacks and Britain's 7/7 bombings. Muhammad was sentenced to life in a Lebanese military court last year, but was released pending a retrial. His calls for violence led British authorities to revoke his citizenship in that country, effectively exiling him to Lebanon.

Another Pakistani Blasphemy Law Foe Assassinated

Pakistan's only Christian cabinet minister, and a staunch opponent of his nation's blasphemy laws, was gunned down Wednesday as he went to work in Islamabad.

Police reportedly found leaflets from the Pakistan Taliban near the scene of Shahbaz Bhatti's assassination saying others who shared Bhatti's view on the blasphemy laws will meet his fate. It's the second assassination of an opponent of the law in two months. In January, a bodyguard for Punjab Governor Salman Taseer opened fire and killed Taseer.

Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri immediately confessed, winning a hero's status by saying "this is the punishment for a blasphemer."

The message in Bhatti's assassination is just as chilling. He served as Pakistan's minister for religious minorities.

Last month, he told the Voice of America that he was not deterred by death threats. "This extremism is dangerous for the stability of the country," Bhatti said. "It is the time that the people of different faiths and the Pakistani nation stand united against the forces of intolerance, against the forces of violence. The blasphemy law is being misused to victimize the innocent people of Pakistan."

In a column published by the BBC, Aamer Ahmed Khan wrote that Taseer's murder cowed most opponents of the blasphemy law into silence. But Bhatti continued, despite high odds against any success.

"For the extremists though, it is all about ideology. It didn't matter if Mr Bhatti's battle had proved to be a non-starter or if he was an ineffective and powerless minister," Khan wrote. "What mattered was that he had spoken against blasphemy laws in the past and was likely to do so again if a situation arose. That made him a legitimate target, not to be tolerated, not to be ignored."

Writers see his assassination as further evidence of Pakistan's descent into chaos, and the hopelessness of those working for reform.

Updated 6:20 p.m. March 2:

A bi-partisan group of congressmen met Wednesday afternoon to condemn Bhatti's murder. In a statement, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., called on the Pakistani government "to give Bhatti a state funeral, reflective of the import of his life and legacy. Similarly, I urge our own government to send a high-ranking delegation to attend the funeral and to carry Bhatti's torch in continuing to press for the repeal of the blasphemy laws in Pakistan."

Unrest Continues in Yemen, Bahrain, Elsewhere

Yemen's president blamed the United States and Israel for continued unrest in his country, as larger crowds took to the streets and a major cleric joined the opposition with a call for a renewed Caliphate. Unrest is also dragging down Bahrain and Oman, as anti-government protests in North African Arab countries move westward into the Arabian Peninsula.

"There is an operation room in Tel Aviv with the aim of destabilizing the Arab world," Yemeni President Ali Saleh told crowds. "It is all run by the White House." Saleh has been perceived as a friend of the United States and received $300 million last year to train the Yemeni military to fight al-Qaida in the country.

Anti-government protesters rejected the allegations and gathered in increasing numbers, but with various aims. "This is the beginning of a new era and there are promising signs of the start of an Islamic Caliphate here in Yemen," said Abdul Majeed Zindani, the leader of Yemeni Islamist party Islah and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. However, students demonstrating for weeks were concerned about the Islah party hijacking the anti-government protests. "We want the Islah to help us but not to hijack our movement. We did not invite him [Zindani] to come, he just arrived unannounced. Many of us were shocked by the things he said," said Adel as-Surabi, a 29-year-old medical student.

"The people want the fall of the regime," shouted thousands of protesters in Bahrain, during a march segregated by gender along the King Faisal Highway. "Dialogue is only an option once the regime steps down," said Mohammed Habib al-Muqdad, a Shiite cleric recently released by the regime after facing terrorism charges. While the protesters have stronger demands than Shiite opposition parties in the Sunni kingdom, the parties pushed for a constitutional monarchy. The Saudis have reportedly also sent tanks to shore up the Bahraini king, fearing Sunni-Shiite strife and the rise of a pro-Iranian state just off the coast of their major oil supplies.

Protests in Oman sputtered as some local residents grew angry with protesters, as the Omani sultan announced unemployment payments of about $390 a month and nearly daily concessions. Although experts say that there is little chance the demonstrations will unseat the monarch, the first protests in 40 years highlight a growing gap between the king and young people.

Smaller protests continue in Jordan, Iraq, Algeria, and Morocco, but do not present serious threats to those regimes. Saudi Arabian unrest has yet to take the form of serious demonstrations, but is rare and "momentous" in the conservative kingdom.

How Middle East "Experts" Got It Wrong

The wave of change now sweeping the Middle East should give pause to those who argue that if only Israel would recognize a Palestinian state, there would be peace, writes James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal.

"In the past few weeks, we've seen revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, a brutal and continuing attempt to put down a rebellion in Libya, and varying degrees of unrest, sometimes violent, in Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Sudan and Yemen," he adds. None of this is related to the Israeli/Palestinian dispute.

Nick Cohen, who writes for the London Observer (described by Taranto as "a British leftist who does not loathe Israel"), criticized others on the left for failing to "stick by universal principles and support a just settlement for the Palestinians while opposing the dictators who kept Arabs subjugated." But few on the left "have been able to oppose oppression in all its forms consistently," according to Cohen.

"Far from being a cause of the revolution, antagonism to Israel everywhere served the interest of oppressors," he adds. Hamas, Saudi monarchs, Syrian Ba'athists, and Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi promoted the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Right before the Libyan revolt, Gaddafi used a tactic his anti-Semitic predecessors would have understood - attempting to deflect popular Libyan anger by calling for a Palestinian revolution against Israel.

To Taranto, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "is largely a product of Arab dictators, a point even Thomas Friedman acknowledges in a recent column." Friedman writes: "The Arab tyrants, precisely because they were illegitimate, were the ones who fed their people hatred of Israel as a diversion."

But, according to Taranto, Friedman "manages to get the story backward" - using the possibility of a more democratic Arab world to argue for more Israeli concessions to achieve peace with the Palestinians. Friedman argues that, if such a peace were achieved, Arab voices advocating conflict with Israel "would have legitimate competition, and democratically elected leaders will have to be much more responsive to their people's priorities, which are for more schools, not wars."

But in the past, Friedman has advocated that Israel make concessions to authoritarian, non-democratic Arab rulers. In 2002, Taranto points out, Friedman suggested the Arab states offer Israel "full diplomatic relations, normalized trade and security guarantees" in exchange for a total Israeli withdrawal to the June 4, 1967 lines. In 2009 Friedman pushed for a peace settlement involving creation of a Palestinian state and promises by Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia aimed at guaranteeing Israel's security.

What if Israel and these Arab rulers had actually made such a deal? Taranto suggests the results would have been dire for Israel:

"From Israel's creation in 1948 until the 1979 Iranian revolution, Jerusalem had close relations with the authoritarian government of the shah. The current regime in Iran is dedicated to Israel's destruction. It's hard to see how Israel would be better off today if it had entrusted its security to the Arab dictators whose own people have suddenly made them an endangered species."

Islamist Parties Form in Egypt, Tunisia

Tunisia has legalized the Islamist al-Nahda party, while a group with close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to run in the upcoming Egyptian election. While no party is running under the MB name, parties with religious ideologies are trying to make gains in the Middle East's newest democracies.

The al-Nahda party of Tunisia, which was denied legal registration in 1987 and forced to go underground in the 1990s, will be allowed to participate in upcoming Tunisian elections. Rachid al-Ghannouchi, the group's leader who recently returned from 20 years in exile in London, has stated that he will not run for the presidency, but that the party will take part in the parliamentary elections.

Al-Nahda is perceived by some analysts as the flag bearer of a "new model for progressive Islamism," but some secularists and religious minorities are concerned with political Islam in Tunisia. Questions also remain about the radicalism of the Ghannoushi-inspired, Turkish party AKP, his anti-Semitism, and his signing of a declaration in support of Hamas and terrorism.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, Abu al-Ila Madi, the leader of the renewed al-Wasat al-Gadid Party, claims that his party has no intention of pushing religious values on that nation. "We affirmed on many occasions that we are against religious parties that are based on a religious basis, and adopt the theocratic thinking of clergymen, which we totally reject," according to a translation of a 2006 article by "Al-Misryun." Likewise, a 2006 Congressional Research Service report said that the party "received attention among Western observers for its commitment to pluralism, religious toleration, and acceptance of secular political principles."

Questions remain about moderation in the al-Wasat al-Gadid Party. The group broke with the MB in January 1996, although Madi held several leadership roles in the MB prior to his departure. It is unclear if the party is divided in a way that is similar to branches of the MB, where members of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement are radicalized through an intensive educational program but the party branches allow for the participation of sympathetic politicians, women, and non-Muslims.

U.S. Increases Pressure on "Delusional" Gaddafi

The U.S. has repositioned its forces around Libya to provide "flexibility once decisions are made," as the fight for Tripoli continues. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, has labeled Libya's dictator "delusional" and "unfit to lead," as Muammar Gaddafi told Western reporters that he was beloved in his nation and would not step down.

"All my people love me. They would die to protect me," Gaddafi said in an interview Monday, even as fighting raged in Libya's west. "As if anyone would leave their homeland," he replied when asked if he would step down.

The United States has repositioned its forces in the region in preparation of establishing a no-fly zone, but the operation "would be challenging," said General James Mattis. "You would have to remove the air defence capability in order to establish a no-fly zone - so no illusions here - it would be a military operation, it wouldn't simply be telling people not to fly airplanes," he said.

Western leaders have increased pressure on Gaddafi, cutting off military supplies, freezing assets, and calling for his immediate resignation. Despite the actions, The Guardian is reporting that Libya has received some military reinforcements from Belarus.

Libya's humanitarian and security situation continue to spiral downward. It has created an estimated 140,000 refugees, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the nation teeters between developing into a democracy and exploding into years of civil war. Gaddafi has sent troops to retake areas seized by protesters, exacerbating an already serious humanitarian crisis.

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