Senators: Designate Pakistani Taliban a Foreign Terrorist Organization

In the wake of the failed car bombing in Times Square, the State Department is pursuing avenues to blacklist the terrorist group behind the attack.

On Sunday, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that there was conclusive evidence that Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistani Taliban) was to blame for the attack carried out by Faisal Shahzad:

"We know that they helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it. And that he was working at their direction."

The Pakistani Taliban has long been a source of concern to the United States government. The group has taken aim at both Pakistani and Western targets since its creation in December 2007. At one point the group's spokesman Maulvi Omar declared:

"Our main aim is to target the US allies in Afghanistan but the government of Pakistan's ill-strategy has made us to launch a defensive Jihad in Pakistan....The government of Pakistan would be paid in the same coin now."

Since then, the Pakistani Taliban has targeted key cities in Pakistan's Punjabi heartland, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Lahore.

But the failed attack in Times Square has spurred interest in combating the group. As State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley recently explained:

"We've been focused on the Pakistani Taliban for some time, but obviously we are gleaning information in this investigation based on the information that the suspect is providing us."

Leading the charge is a group of senators who wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asking that the Pakistani Taliban be designated a "Foreign Terrorist Organization" (FTO). The State Department has designated 45 groups as FTOs, with the most recent addition being the addition of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula around the time of the failed Christmas Day airline bombing.

The formal process of designating a group an FTO is carried out by the State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. Among the factors that the office considers are actual terrorist attacks carried out by a group, whether the group has engaged in planning and preparation for possible future acts of terrorism, and whether the group has the capability and intent to carry out future attacks.

In asking the State Department to designate the group, the Senators explained:

"The Pakistani Taliban is a murderous organization dedicated to killing civilians, harming U.S. interests in the region, and has even taken credit for terrorist acts committed on U.S. soil….Designating the Pakistani Taliban as a foreign terrorist organization would be an effective means of curtailing support for their terrorist activities and pressuring other groups to withdraw their logistical, financial, and political support for this terrorist organization."

Designating the Pakistani Taliban as an FTO would have the effect of making the group persona non grata in the international community—imposing severe travel and financial sanctions on members. It also would make it illegal to provide any assistance to the group.

Hizballah Prepares for Another War

With considerable support from Iran and Syria, the terrorist organization Hizballah is rearming for another war with Israel. Time magazine on Monday published an article by Beirut-based correspondent Nicholas Blanford providing firsthand evidence of the group's efforts to turn Southern Lebanon into an armed camp.

Blanford, a veteran journalist who has written several books on Lebanon and reported from the country for newspapers like the Christian Science Monitor, the Times of London, and Beirut Daily Star, recently visited Jezzine, a town near the Israel-Lebanon border.

He was accosted by a Hizballah fighter carrying an AK-47. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "This is a military zone. You should not be here."

The young radical had been guarding an outpost created by Hizballah on a remote mountaintop. The location was chosen, Blanford writes, because it gave Hizballah a commanding view of the southern Bekaa Valley - an area that is home to one of the world's largest concentrations of terrorist training camps. It is almost certain to be a major battleground if there is another war between Israel and Hizballah.

As far as Hizballah fighters are concerned, the question seems to be when – not if – such a war will occur. But the question of whether such a conflict will take place could well be decided in Tehran, Jerusalem and Washington. An Iranian proxy, Hizballah is a key component of the Islamic Republic's deterrent against a possible Israeli military attack against its nuclear weapons program.

Blanford's recent conversations with Hizballah fighters "reveal an organization at the peak of its military powers with an army of well-trained, disciplined, and highly motivated combatants wielding advanced weaponry, cultivating new tactics, and brimming with confidence."

One, named Ali, told him:

"The next war is coming one hundred percent, but we don't know when. We have big plans for it. God willing, you will see the end of Israel."

Ali, who joined Hizballah's youth program at age 12, said he has dedicated his life to "walking the path of the Prophet Mohammed."

"You cannot understand the joy of jihad unless you are in Hizballah," he added

Since the last round of fighting between Israel and Hizballah during the summer of 2006, the terrorist organization has built new defensive lines and firing positions. Local residents say that at night they can hear the sounds of explosions as Hizballah trains nearby. Blanford writes that "the look in the eyes of Hizballah's combatants suggests that not only are they prepared to fight [a war], they actually look forward to it."

Israel believes that Syria has transferred Scud ballistic missiles to Hizballah, and the group is believed to have obtained Syrian-manufactured M-600 guided rockets. The U.S. has expressed concern about the alleged transfers and renewed economic sanctions on Syria.

"The M-600, a copy of an Iranian rocket, can carry a 1,100 pound warhead for a distance of 155 miles, and its guidance system allows Hizballah to target Israel's defense ministry in Tel Aviv from hidden bases in the northern Bekaa Valley," Blanford wrote.

Undercover Officer Tells of Foiled Plots

The Wall Street Journal has published the story of an unsung hero in the fight against terrorism: an undercover New York Police Department (NYPD) officer who infiltrated local terrorist cells.

The officer, who went by the alias Kamil Pasha, grew up in Brooklyn and Queens and began working undercover with a group of Brooklyn radicals several months after the 9/11 attacks. One day in 2004, he was among a group of a dozen men in an Islamic bookstore in Brooklyn. They were watching videos of the "top ten" killings of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

"That made these guys pumped up and happy," the officer said. "It's like a party at a club. They were hitting the walls with excitement. One guy even broke a chair."

One of those celebrating was Shahawar Matin Siraj. In January 2007, Siraj was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in conspiring to plant explosive devices at the 34^th Street subway station in Manhattan, right before the start of the 2004 Republican National Convention.

The undercover spent four years observing the radicalization process take place during small gatherings of men at an Islamic bookstore and various Brooklyn mosques. The men in these groups spoke frequently of jihad and enlisted him to train with them.

By the time the subway bomb plot was underway, the officer had decided to focus on infiltrating another jihadist cell, this one in Borough Park. With that group, he trained for holy war by playing paintball, climbing mountains, and shooting assault rifles. During one of his trips to a firing range, a young man pressed a 9mm handgun to the back of his head.

The officer was able to persuade the man not to shoot him, although he told the Journal that to this day he doesn't know if he was being tested. At police headquarters, his superiors debated withdrawing him from the undercover assignment.

Eventually the officer appeared in court to testify at Siraj's 2006 trial – ending his undercover work.

At the trial, Siraj was heard on recordings talking about his plan to blow up the subway station. Prosecutors played a 45-minute videotape showing Siraj agreeing to take a bomber into the station and instruct him where to plant backpack bombs.

"He loved talking about jihad," the officer said of Siraj, who these days can be found here.

David Cohen, deputy commissioner of intelligence at NYPD, says that such undercover operations have become the city's main defense against terrorism amid the escalation of terrorist plots since 9/11. But despite numerous successes like the Siraj case, the use of informants against Islamist terror cells continues to come under attack from groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Galloway Voted out of Parliament

George Galloway, a British MP for the UK Respect Party, lost his seat in Parliament in Thursday's elections without even showing up to learn the results.

Galloway also is the founder and head of the British-based group Viva Palestina, which supports the terrorist organization Hamas. A Canadian judge is deciding whether a year-old ban placed on Galloway should be upheld. Egypt deported Galloway in January, and he was declared "persona non grata" by the Egyptian foreign ministry, barring him from entering the country again.

Galloway placed third in his re-election bid to Labour's Jim Fitzpatrick in Poplar and Limehouse, East London. Fitzpatrick won 18,679 votes, while Galloway received 8,160 votes.

Galloway expressed confidence a day earlier. "I expect to win and wipe Fitzpatrick into third." British political analysts seemed to have a better read, though, and anticipated his defeat. One wrote, "Galloway is unpopular with Islamist fundamentalists because he's trying to persuade Muslims to vote. And he's unpopular with the BNP [British National Party] crowd for the same reason. He was physically attacked in a punch-up three weeks ago."

Delaware Professor Pushes the Terrorist "Narrative"

Maajid Nawaz may be one of the most compelling voices in the fight against Islamist extremism. After spending 14 years with the extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group which advocates creating a global Caliphate, Nawaz re-evaluated his ideology while serving four years in an Egyptian prison.

He co-founded the Quilliam Foundation in London, a group dedicated to challenging extremist ideology in hopes of stemming the path from radical thought to violent action. "60 Minutes" recently profiled Nawaz, showing how he travels to radical strongholds to combat what he calls "the narrative." It's a potent mixture of Muslim supremacy, paranoia, conspiracy theories and religious fanaticism that fuels jihadis. As he told Lesley Stahl:

"In a nutshell, it's that the West is waging a war against Islam and Muslims to destroy Islam. And that the only way to stop this war is for Muslims to start fighting back on all fronts against the West."

He repeated the definition on "Larry King Live" Wednesday night. In a discussion about the failed bombing attempt in Times Square, Nawaz described his own awakening:

"And key to that narrative is the idea that America – this is a false narrative – but key to it is the idea that America is somehow locked in a war against Islam and Muslims. I realize that all of this propaganda was false through my studies and through those discussions. When I left prison, I then voluntarily and unilaterally resigned my position from the leadership of the group....."

Nawaz clearly is needed in Pakistan and in London's Islamist strongholds. Perhaps he can schedule a quick visit to the University of Delaware, where political scientist Muqtedar Khan just published a Newsweek column repeating the very narrative Nawaz is fighting. The column was rooted in threats against "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker for an episode that mocked what happens if someone tries to present an image of the Prophet Muhammad.

Khan calls it disingenuous to discuss the matter solely as a free speech issue:

"Every nasty episode designed to deliberately insult and mock Islam and its symbols, even as Western powers occupy Muslim lands, must be seen in the global political context. The verbal assault on Islam can be seen as an extension of the military assault that is waged everyday in Afghanistan and Palestine, and the legal assault that deprives Muslims of the right to free expression. Words and cartoons can be hate crimes too.

The West has a long history of waging military crusades and systematic demonization of Islam, always in synchrony, so masterfully exposed in the late Edward Said's classic 'Orientalism.' Malice against Islam is a cultural feature of the West no amount of levity can camouflage it."

Khan certainly is entitled to his opinion. But his approach is a striking contrast from that of Nawaz. Khan suggests clamping down on satire directed at Islam, saying "If the threat of terrorism can be used to curtail civil liberties, why cannot it also justify putting limits on the right to mock Muhammad?"

Nawaz, on the other hand, is able to point out how Muslims in America enjoy the freedom to worship as they please, that there's a mosque in every state in the union and, by and large, Muslim Americans are happy and successful.

Which message is more likely to stunt the growth of radicalism?

Conspiracy Theories Dominate Pakistani Media

The arrest of Faisal Shahzad, the alleged Times Square bomber, has been characterized by a Pakistani newspaper as a "conspiracy against Pakistan as evidence provided by [U.S.] intelligence agencies is inconclusive," according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

The Roznama Ummat story argues:

"The FBI at first claimed that a white man was involved in suspected activities but afterward a Pakistani was arrested. The claim of the Taliban that it was their attempt was rejected by the U.S., yet now America is searching for some excuse to declare that the Taliban is responsible for planting the bomb."

MEMRI reports that Shahzad did meet with a commander of the Sunni militant organization Jaish-e-Muhammad in July, according to an Urdu-language daily. Jaish-e-Muhammad has links to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Shahzad also reportedly admitted to spending five months last year in a bomb-making training camp in Pakistan.

A Pakistani journalist and host of a popular current affairs talk show on the GEO television network also echoed the conspiracy theories. The Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jang quoted television host Kamran Khan as stating, "After the arrest of the Pakistani-born American citizen, Pakistan is once again being presented internationally as a center of terrorism."

According the MEMRI, Khan continued:

"The noteworthy point is that the arrests of the Pakistani-born American citizen came when the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the [Times Square] incident. Everything happened on the same day a court in Mumbai was declaring a Pakistani guilty of the Mumbai attacks [of 2008]."

The Pakistani Khan is referring to is Mohammed Ajmal Mir Kasab, who was sentenced to death by an Indian court on Thursday.

As a result, "Kamran Khan is of the view that commentators are observing that a conspiracy is being weaved around Pakistan once again," Roznama Jang reports.

Pakistani conspiracy theories against the West are not new, but they have resulted into widespread anti-American sentiment. Following the February conviction of Aafia Siddiqui, a 37-year old Pakistani scientist who tried to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan, thousands of Pakistanis protested, holding signs such as "US Attack Against Islam and Muslims." The protestors believe Siddiqui is innocent.

Sole Surviving Mumbai Gunman Sentenced to Death

Mohammed Ajmal Mir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman in the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people and left hundreds more injured, was issued the death penalty Thursday. A special court judge sentenced Kasab to death on charges of murder, conspiracy, and waging war against the Indian state.

"The death penalty must be imposed," said Judge M. L. Tahiliyani. "Kasab has lost his right to get a humanitarian judgment."

Earlier in the trial that lasted about a year, Kasab had confessed to the charges but later retracted his statement, saying that he had been framed and the confession had been obtained under torture. After pleading not guilty, Kasab reportedly told the court: "Yeh sab kuch galat hai. Hamein kabul nahin hai" (All this is false. The charges are not acceptable to me).

The Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is believed to be behind the Mumbai attacks. The attacks were orchestrated by Lashkar handlers—watching the scene live on television from several thousand miles away in Pakistan. Defense lawyers argued that Kasab acted under pressure from Lashkar.

Kasab's now famous picture shot firing indiscriminately at passersby, including women and children, at the Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai's main railway terminal, that was caught on camera by photographer Sebastian d'Souza, provided key evidence against him. D'Souza recalls that when the picture was presented at the trial, Kasab told the judge "'I want to go back to the cell.' He started to cry."

Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam was ecstatic about the trial's outcome, saying "I'm very happy with the judgment. I have been successful in my attempt to put a balm on the wounds of the victims." In a reference to Pakistan-based terrorists seeking to wage jihad against India, External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna said that the verdict will "send a message to those who want to wage war with India."

The execution is not likely to take place anytime soon. The death sentence first has to be approved by the Mumbai High Court, which can take a long time. Kasab also has the option to file an appeal with the Supreme Court or seek a presidential waiver.

Syria Stocks Hezbollah's Arsenal

President Barack Obama renewed sanctions against Syria Monday for another year, continuing a policy first imposed by President George W. Bush in 2004.

Syria's "continuing support for terrorist organizations and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and missile programs, continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States," the President said in a message to Congress.

This assessment was reinforced Tuesday when the Israeli Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Hezbollah, Syria and Iran was briefed by the head of the Research Department in the Intelligence Directorate, Brig. Gen. Yossi Baidatz.

Baidatz explained that Syria regularly transfers weapons to Hezbollah, and "therefore, it should not be called smuggling of arms to Lebanon – it is organized and official transfer."

Hezbollah, the proxy terrorist group of Iran, has consistently received weapons, arms, political, and financial support from the Iranian regime since its inception, and Israeli officials reported last month that Syria had delivered accurate long-distance Scud missiles to the terrorist group.

That prompted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to express her concern last week about Syria's transfer of missiles and other weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon: "'Transferring weapons to these terrorists, especially longer-range missiles, would pose a serious threat to the security of Israel. It would have a destabilizing effect on the region.'"

Both Syria and Lebanon have denied the allegations of the transfer of scud missiles, whereas Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nassrallah stated, ""We do not confirm or deny if we have received weapons or not, so we do not comment and we will not comment.'"

Despite the U.S. sanctions against Syria, and the administration's admonishment of its support for Hezbollah, Baidatz argues that Syria is playing its cards well: "Syria continues to march to both tunes, without being forced to choose between them by the international community. On the one hand, it is improving its ties with the West, with Arab states and with Turkey, and is also regaining influence within Lebanon, and on the other hand, it is intensifying strategic and operational cooperation with Iran, Hezbollah and the Palestinian terror."

Drones versus Hit Squads

The debate over the CIA's use of Predator drones to carry out targeting killings took a new turn this week with the revelation that the attempted Times Square car bomb may have been in retaliation for such attacks.

Having admitted that he was responsible for the failed bombing, Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen allegedly provided details regarding his motives. He claims to have trained in Waziristan—an area rich in Taliban and al Qaida militants—and may have witnessed the American campaign against terrorists via targeted killings first-hand.

We have previously reported on the CIA's use of drones and the Obama Administration's legal justification for it. They have become an incredibly effective tool for U.S. counter-terrorism officials. And considering the alternatives, there is little chance of the government stepping back those efforts.

At an event sponsored by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security, the former Acting General Counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency, John Rizzo, gave some context to the controversy.

Recognizing the potential for loss of innocent life with the use of drones, Rizzo explained, "the better way would probably be 'hit squads."' But as many will remember, when it was revealed last year that that the CIA had plans to dispatch small teams overseas to kill senior al Qaida terrorists, the public outcry was overwhelming.

That program was:

"designed as a more 'surgical' solution to eliminating terrorists than missile strikes with armed Predator drones, which cannot be used in cities and have occasionally resulted in dozens of civilian casualties."

Despite a strong possibility that such a program would work, and without the collateral damage associated with drones, it was scrapped by Panetta early in the Obama administration.

It is doubtful that decision will be revisited based on this one episode. But if the same targets can be taken out with fewer collateral casualties, perhaps it should.

Love Your Dad, but be Honest

Sami Al-Arian's eldest daughter has given a new interview on a news website based in Turkey in which she laments her father's fate in the American judicial system and lashes out at those whom she thinks did him wrong. Chief among them is Investigative Project on Terrorism Executive Director Steven Emerson, whom she accuses of treason as an Israeli agent and of general prejudice toward Muslims.

A daughter should stand by her father and Laila Al-Arian's passionate defense of Sami Al-Arian is understandable and even commendable. But this is an intelligent, well-educated woman. If she wants to defend her father, fine, but she shouldn't make empty claims and misrepresent the facts to do so, as she does in the World Bulletin interview:

"My father was an activist. He wanted to give the American people a different perspective on the Palestinian issue. So, he would organize rallies, write articles and regularly give speeches on the Palestinian issue. During the late eighties and early nineties he made some enemies from the pro-Israeli lobby and the right wing, hawkish supporters of Israel. Especially Steven Emerson, a very well known islamophobe, and according to some, an agent of Israel, made it his cause to attack al-Arian. Eventually the FBI began investigating; they wire trapped our phones for more than ten years. It was a very stressful and miserable life."

Her father was more than an activist. He was a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a terrorist group responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis and several Americans. FBI wiretaps show he spent much of early 1994 trying to keep the PIJ from imploding after Iran stemmed the flow of financial support to the group. The presiding judge in his 2005 trial noted the evidence showed Al-Arian was a PIJ officer, an assessment shared by Al-Arian's host at a 1991 fundraiser, who called him the head of the PIJ's active arm long before supposed "enemies from the pro-Israeli lobby" had ever heard of him.

He arranged visas for other PIJ board members, including the man who has run the group since 1995.

An honest defense would say Sami Al-Arian was a member of a terrorist group, that a jury did not convict him of any crime, but that he pleaded guilty to conspiring to serve that terrorist group rather than roll the dice on a retrial. That's not what Laila Al-Arian offers. Instead, she makes baseless smears against Emerson for having the tenacity to expose this in 1994.

In "Jihad in America," Emerson cited law enforcement sources to call Al-Arian's operation "the primary support group in the United States for Islamic Jihad." Subsequent disclosures have proven that assertion many times over.

It is not surprising that she chooses to lie and obfuscate, instead. It's a family tradition.

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