Radical Yemeni Cleric Directed Failed Christmas Day Attack

A little over a month after his arrest, the suspect in the failed Christmas Day airliner bombing is cooperating with American law enforcement officials. Although details surrounding Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's assistance remain largely unknown, according to a CBS News report on Friday, he has provided new insight into the leadership and plans of al Qaida.

Among the information being spilled to U.S. officials by Abdulmutallab is the role played by radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. An American citizen, Awlaki is now residing in Yemen and is suspected of playing a crucial role in recent acts of terrorism. According to the CBS report:

"Al-Awalki appears to be in a leadership role when it comes to directing terrorist operations and selecting targets for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula."

Awlaki has previously been tied to the September 11^th attacks and the shooting by Major Nidal Hassan at Fort Hood. Now, according to Abdulmutallab, the cleric directed the failed Christmas day attack.

According to U.S. counter-terrorism officials, not only is Abdulmutallab cooperating, but he may be providing actionable intelligence to locate and capture Awlaki and other members of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Other news reports indicate President Obama has approved military action to target Awlaki if the opportunity arises. During a House Intelligence Committee hearing Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said an American citizen can be targeted if it is determined he threatens the security of the United States.

Emerson in the Daily Beast: Terror Threat Broader than Al Qaeda

In response to a question from U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein Tuesday, the nation's top intelligence officers agreed the likelihood of another attempted terrorist attack against America in the next six months is all but certain.

The Daily Beast website asked terrorism experts for their views on what the country can do to brace itself. Read Investigative Project on Terrorism Executive Director Steven Emerson's take here.

Imam's Contraband Arrest Puts Focus on Islamists in Prisons

A Muslim chaplain with the New York City Department of Correction was arrested Wednesday for carrying scissors and utility blades into a Manhattan jail. Authorities said Imam Zul-Qarnain Abdu-Shahid, who served 14 years in prison for murder, was caught with the scissors and the bades used in box cutters in his duffle bag when he arrived at the Manhattan Detention Complex to begin his shift.

Abdu-Shahid, 58, was arrested and charged with four counts of promoting prison contraband in the first degree – a felony which carries a maximum seven-year prison term. He is being held on $50,000 bond or $30,000 cash. Abdu-Shahid's lawyer James McQueeney, said there is "absolutely no reason to believe" the imam knew the items were in his bag.

Abdu-Shahid, formerly known as Paul Pitts, was one of four men convicted of murder and robbery for the December 9, 1976 holdup of a Harlem supermarket that left a 30-year-old customer dead from a bullet wound. Following his 1979 conviction, he served 14 years of a 15-years-to-life sentence before being paroled in August 1993. Abdu-Shahid completed his parole in 2001 and was hired as a prison chaplain by the corrections department in 2007. He receives an annual salary of $49,471.

According to McQueeney, his client is "completely reformed." A city correction source provided a different perspective, telling the New York Post: "It's a disgrace that taxpayers are funding Muslim chaplains who not only have criminal records, but also are promoting violence."

Abdu-Shahid's arrest is just the latest controversy surrounding prison chaplain programs in New York State. Abdu-Shahid's boss – head chaplain Umar Abdul-Jalil – was hired even though he served 14 years for drug dealing.

In 2006, Abdul-Jalil - who was then being paid $76,602 per year while overseeing 40 other chaplains – was suspended for two weeks without pay after declaring that "the greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House." Abdul-Jalil added that he opposed allowing "the Zionists of the media to dictate what Islam is to us."

Patrick Dunleavy, former Deputy Inspector General for the New York State Department of Corrections, notes that Islamist radicalism in Empire State prisons has been a serious problem dating back close to 30 years. Dunleavy points to many examples of radical Islamist inmates including Warith Deen Umar and El Sayyid Nosair, who were granted significant influence over other Muslim convicts by prison authorities.

Vanderbilt Chaplain: Can't Argue with Islamic Law's Call to Execute Homosexuals

A Vanderbilt University student has spurred an interesting debate about rigid adherence to Islamic law and its application in modern society. Devin Saucier, a junior philosophy and political science student, attended a university forum on "What it means to be Muslim" on January 25.

The program was part of the university's "Project Dialogue" program, which operates this year with the theme "Civility and Justice for Whom?" During a question and answer period, Saucier asked Vanderbilt Muslim Chaplain Awadh A. Binhazim whether he accepts the tenet that homosexuality was punishable by death under Islamic law.

"I don't have a choice as a Muslim to accept or reject teachings," Binhazim said. "I go with what Islam teaches."

He tried to cast the edict as in sync with other faiths which consider homosexuality "an unacceptable way of life." (See the exchange here.) Saucier refocused, however, asking
"Under Islamic law, is it punishable by death if you are a homosexual?"

Binhazim's answer? "Yes."

Vanderbilt issued a statement Monday distancing itself from Binhazim, who is not paid for his service as chaplain or as an adjunct professor in pathology.The university took no position on Binhazim's actual response:

"No view expressed at a Project Dialogue or similar campus forum should be construed as being endorsed by Vanderbilt. The university is dedicated to the free exchange of ideas. It is the belief of the university community that free discussion of ideas can lead to resolution and reconciliation."

Saucier chronicled his motivation and the event here. He saw the event as "ripe grounds for me to expose the gullibility of leftists who grovel at the altars of tolerance and acceptance." In a subsequent comment, he indicated his motivation was merely to shine a light on the rigid adherence to Islamic law:

"I have no intention of getting him fired or taking any such action against him. I am a big supporter of the First Amendment which guarantees his right to express his religious views."

Queerty, a website on gay issues, isn't as accommodating. It asks a fair question:

"Not limiting the free speech of its chaplains is a fantastic policy, and one we support at any school. But what would happen if a visiting chaplain came along and said his religion called for the extermination of Jews? Would Vanderbilt be letting him return to campus?"

Awlaki: U.S. Civilians Are Legitimate Targets Because Americans Elect "Criminal" Leaders

In an Arabic-language interview published Tuesday and translated by The Investigative Project on Terrorism, Al Qaeda-linked Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki endorsed the Christmas Day attempt to bring down a Detroit-bound airplane and said American civilians are fair game for jihadist attack.

In the interview, an Al Jazeera.net reporter alluded to the fact that Awlaki endorsed the November 5 Fort Hood massacre perpetrated by Nidal Malik Hasan, in which 13 people were killed, because it occurred at a military base.

But Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab targeted a civilian plane on December 25. Al Jazeera asked Awlaki: "Does that mean that the target is the American people in general?"

"Al Qaeda has its choices," he replied. "Concerning the people, the American people live in a democratic regime. And they bear the responsibility for its policies. The American people are the ones who elected the criminal Bush for two terms, and they elected Obama who isn't different from Bush, who had it from one of his first statements that he would not abandon Israel."

"Although there were other choices in the American elections opposing America's foreign wars, these people obtained only a very insignificant share of the votes," Awlaki added. "The American people are a participant in all the crimes of their government. If they don't support this, let them change their government. They are the ones who pay the taxes which supports the army. They are the ones who send their children to be recruited, so they bear the responsibility."

Asked if he supported Abdulmutallab, Awlaki said "I support what Umar Farouk did after having seen my brothers in Palestine being killed for more than 60 years." He added: "Don't ask me if al Qaeda killed - or an American civilian plane was blown up - after all this. Three hundred Americans is nothing in the face of the thousands of Muslims who were killed."

Asked why the United States might want to kill him, Awlaki said Washington sought "to exterminate voices which call for defending the rights of the Ummah [Muslim nation]."

The United States wants to spread "the culture of servility; they want to market a democratic, peaceful Islam which summons to obedience to the ruler even if he is a traitor and a lackey. They want the Islam which consents to occupation and cooperates with it," Awlaki said. "Any voice which summons to this they either assassinate the person or they assassinate the personality. They assassinate the person by murder or prison; or they assassinate the personality by media slander or defamation."

Awlaki called on Yemeni religious leaders to "issue a fatwa on the basis of their legal reasoning and conditions to kill" U.S. intelligence officers who come to Yemen to help the government fight jihadists. These Americans "have come in to spy and kill, and to train the Yemeni military to kill."

How evil is America in Awlaki's eyes? "America is unjust, and all the unjust [powers] throughout history, their end was hideous. I think that the West does not want to understand this universal truth. Muslims in Europe and in America see what is happening to Muslims in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan. They will take revenge for Muslims everywhere."

Lady al Qaida: Guilty on all Counts

After two days of deliberations, a federal jury in New York found Aafia Siddiqui guilty of attempted murder today.

Siddiqui, better known as "lady al Qaida," was charged with attempted murder following an attack on American interrogators in Afghanistan. The Pakistani neuroscientist had been arrested in possession of bomb-making chemicals and a list of New York City landmarks. According to the six eyewitnesses presented by the prosecution, Siddiqui grabbed an Army rifle and opened fire on American and Afghan officers who were questioning her.

The trial itself was fraught with complications, at many times maintaining a circus-like atmosphere.

The New York Times reports that Siddiqui spoke up as jurors left the court room, holding her index finger in the air as she said "This is a verdict coming from Israel and not from America. That's where the anger belongs. I can testify to this, and I have proof."

During jury selection, Siddiqui refused to take part in the trial and demanded that all Jews be excluded from her jury. As she explained, "I have a feeling everyone here is them [Jews], subject to genetic testing and they should be excluded if you want to be fair." That was only the beginning of jury-related issues.

Midway through the trial, two jurors were excused after they told the judge that a man in the visitor's gallery made a hand motion as if he were firing a gun at them and mouthed an obscenity. One of the jurors told the judge he was "really freaked out" by the incident and another said he could not remain impartial "anything anyone makes what I view as a death threat."

The guilty verdict on all counts means that at sentencing the judge could order Siddiqui spend the rest of her life in a federal prison. The U.S. Attorney's news release on the verdict can be seen here.

Al-Shabaab's New Terrorist Partner

The Ras Kamboni Brigade, a radical Islamist terror group operating in southern Somalia, has joined al-Shabaab and pledged loyalty to Al Qaeda. The brigade has ended its ties with Hizbul Islam, a jihadist group formed 13 months ago whose leader has been linked with al Qaeda.

"We have agreed to join the international jihad of al Qaeda," al-Shabaab and Ras Kamboni said in a joint statement signed by brigade founder and leader Hassan Turki and al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane. "We have also agreed to unite al Shabaab and Kamboni mujahideen to liberate the Eastern and Horn of Africa which are under the feet of the minority Christians."

The groups pledged to revive the mujahideen "to stop the war created by the colonizers, and to prevent the attacks of the Christians who invaded our country."

The Ras Kamboni Brigade was founded by Turki, a former senior leader in the Islamic Courts Union. The brigade is estimated to have between 500 and 1,000 fighters.

Bill Roggio of the Long War Journal reports that "Turki operates terrorist training camps in southern Somalia and was likely the target of a U.S. airstrike in March 2008. He is known to train suicide bombers in camps that are dotted along the southern border with Kenya."

Turki's decision is a blow to Hizbul Islam. The group is led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who last September called for suicide attacks in Somalia – just days after suicide bombers struck an African Union base in Mogadishu.

Al-Shabaab has been successful in recruiting young Somalis in America to sneak out of the country to join their jihad. The Investigative Project on Terrorism explored that connection here and here.

Grand Jury's CAIR Probe Points to Hamas

A federal grand jury investigation into the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) involves possible support to the Hamas terrorist group.

A grand jury in Washington issued a subpoena in November for records obtained by the authors of Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America. CAIR is suing the authors, claiming their internal records were stolen after they were infiltrated by an intern who posed as a Muslim convert.

Industrious Politico reporter Josh Gerstein discovered the investigation's focus in an otherwise routine filing in the civil suit. More than 40 pages into the filing was a letter from a National Security Section attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington.

The letter's reference line mentioned the subpoena and a statute: 50 U.S.C 1701-1706. Gerstein looked it up and discovered "Those sections are part of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law under which President Clinton banned dealings with groups he determined to be disrupting the Middle East Peace Process."

Hamas is among those groups. Gerstein notes there's no indication whether the grand jury's focus is on Hamas or other designated terrorist groups. But the record is clear that the FBI suspects CAIR has worked in support of Hamas.

An official said as much last spring in explaining why the FBI no longer engages in "outreach" communication with CAIR.

Its case agent called CAIR a Hamas front during testimony at the terror-financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. In that case, numerous court exhibits tied CAIR founders Omar Ahmed and Nihad Awad to a Hamas-support network in the U.S., including a telephone list of "Palestine Committee" members.

Gerstein again found a needle in a haystack. Last fall, he discovered that the judge in the Holy Land case quietly denied CAIR's request to be removed from a list of unindicted co-conspirators.

Whether this grand jury investigation leads to charges or not, it provides another example of the depth of evidence linking the self-anointed civil rights organization to intransigent terrorists who actively seek to thwart American peace efforts.

PA Sermon calls for Killing Jews

A sermon calling for the death of the Jews was broadcast last Friday by PA TV, which is controlled by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) said in a report released Monday.

The speaker delivering the sermon first incites hatred towards Jews:

"Even if donkeys would cease to bray, dogs cease to bark, wolves cease to howl and snakes to bite, the Jews would not cease to harbor hatred towards Muslims."

He then states:

"The Prophet says: 'You shall fight the Jews and kill them… This land will be liberated, these holy places and these mosques will be liberated, only by means of a return to the Quran and when all Muslims will be willing to be Jihad Fighters for the sake of Allah and for the sake of supporting Palestine…"

PA TV has a long history of inciting hatred towards Jews, and encouraging acts of martyrdom – even among young children. PMW also reported Monday that on January 14^th PA TV news included a clip of a young child stating:

"We will liberate it with our own hands, with our weapons or our stones. We will liberate Palestine!"

When President Barack Obama met with Abbas in May 2009, the President told him that "…it was very important to continue to make progress in reducing the incitement and anti-Israel sentiments that are sometimes expressed in schools and mosques and in the public square," Obama added, "because all those things are impediments to peace."

Abbas recently claimed that incitement no longer occurs in mosques, despite evidence to the contrary. See the sermon and its translation here.

Deter, Disrupt Degrade: Treasury Renews Focus on Informal Terrorist Financing

"We need to redouble our efforts to combat the financial support networks of al Qaida and the Taliban." That's the word from prepared remarks made by David Cohen, assistant secretary for terrorist financing, before the Council on Foreign Relations Thursday.

U.S. efforts have been quite effective at depriving terrorist organizations of money. Detailing the multi-pronged approach that the United States has taken to countering terrorist financing, Cohen explained the goal of his agency in simple terms:

"If we can deter those who would donate money to violent extremist groups, disrupt the means and mechanisms through which they transmit money, and degrade their financial support networks, we can make an extraordinarily valuable contribution to our national security."

Cohen highlighted the developing threat posed by the informal financial networks. While the government has been successful in preventing the abuse of the formal financial system, the unintended consequence has been the shift by terrorist groups into less transparent banking methods. Consequently, Treasury will expand its focus on the informal financial sector, including hawalas and bulk cash smuggling.

While the threats posed by the informal financial sector are not new, renewed interest in combating the abuse of these informal systems will go far in the war on terrorist finances. As Cohen explained, "money is an essential ingredient in their operations, every bit as important as fighters, weaponry, and extremist ideology."

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