Justice for the Victims of the Lod Airport Attack

American victims of the 1972 Lod Airport terrorist attack go to a federal court in Puerto Rico today to try holding the North Korean regime responsible for its role in supporting acts of international terrorism.

In May 1972, terrorists from the Japanese Red Army (JRA), in concert with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) carried out a devastating attack on Lod Airport in Israel. The terrorists placed automatic weapons, ammunition, and grenades in their luggage and upon arriving in Israel opened fire, killing 26 people and wounding 80. Many of the American victims of the attack, including the named plaintiffs in the litigation Carmelo Calderon-Molina and Pablo Tirado-Ayala, were Christian pilgrims visiting holy sites for the first time.

Both the JRA and the PFLP publicly claimed credit for the attack, in which two of the three JRA terrorists were killed. According to the complaint, however, the attack could not have happened without the weapons and financial and logistical support provided by North Korea, a country that was designated by the U.S. State Department in 1988 as a state sponsor of terrorism.

As the State Department has recognized, "without state sponsors, terrorist groups would have much more difficulty obtaining the funds, weapons, materials, and secure areas they require to plan and conduct operations." In this case, lawyers for the plaintiff will argue that in the months up to the massacre, JRA and PFLP met with North Korean officials who provided:

"Military and other training; training bases; facilities for, inter alia, training, storage of weapons and explosives and the maintenance and operation of a leadership command and operational infrastructure; safe haven; lodging; means of communication and communications equipment; financial services, including banking and wire transfer services; and means of transportation."

Although the plaintiffs are likely to be victorious in this battle, it remains to be seen whether they will ever be compensated for their injuries. As we have previously reported, a major hurdle in similar suits against the Iranian regime has been recovering damages.

The complaint in Calderon-Cardona v. Democratic People's Republic of Korea, can be found here.

For background on civil suits against state sponsors of terrorism see here.

French May Release Terrorist Bomb Plotter Next Year

Willie Brigitte, a jihadist imprisoned for his role in a plot to blow up an Australian nuclear reactor, may be released from jail next year - less than halfway through a nine-year sentence - the London Daily Telegraph reports.

Brigitte, a French national, trained at a Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT) camp in 2001 and 2002. Before that he ran a camp near Paris offering survival training for jihadists wishing to fight for the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In 2007, Brigitte was sentenced to nine years in prison by a French court for participating in a plot that included bombing the Lucas Heights nuclear plant in Sydney, the Australian national electricity grid and/or a military base. With credit for good behavior in prison and three years spent in jail awaiting trial, Brigitte could be set free next year by the French Justice Ministry.

Attorney Jean Claude Durimel said he recently visited Brigitte to give him the news. He says his client remains "very angry" because Brigitte believes he "was not a terrorist" and was prosecuted for political reasons.

In a new book, former French magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere, who specialized in investigating Al Qaeda and terrorist activity in Pakistan, makes a powerful case to the contrary, showing that Brigitte was extensively involved in terrorism. Bruguiere, who currently serves as the European Union's representative to Washington dealing with terror-financing issues, writes that the Brigitte case illustrates the role of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in supporting terrorism.

In a review of the book, which thus far is only published in France, the Los Angeles Times noted that after September 11, Al Qaeda operatives enabled Brigitte to travel to Pakistan to train with hundreds of Westerners and Arabs and several thousand Afghans and Pakistanis in Punjab. The training was conducted at a camp run jointly by LeT and Pakistani security forces, which supplied arms and instructors.

CIA officers made four inspections of the camp accompanied by Pakistani officials. They were part of an agreement in which Pakistan promised to stop foreign jihadists from training with LeT. But the foreign recruits were alerted beforehand and they evacuated the camps before the CIA arrived.

Brigitte testified that his military handler was a Pakistani military officer identified as "Sajid," who dispatched him to Australia to join a terror cell plotting to bomb the nuclear facility and other targets. (Sajid also sent militants to Britain and Virginia. Some of the latter - Brigitte's fellow trainees - were part of a group called "paintball jihadis" who were convicted and sentenced to long federal prison terms for terrorist activities.)

In May 2003, Brigitte traveled to Sydney and made contact with Faheem Lodhi, who in 2006 was sentenced to 20 years in Australia for plotting a terrorist attack and gathering information on the nuclear facility and the power grid. Another key contact for Brigitte in Australia was Abdul Hasan, who provided him with safehouses.

The plot was at an early stage "when French authorities realized that Brigitte had traveled to Australia and requested from the Australian Embassy any details of his travel. The request was ignored so the French sent ASIO [the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation] a message, but it was a public holiday and the fax for urgent assistance was left on a machine in Canberra," the Australian news website News.com.au reported. Brigitte was eventually arrested in Australia on immigration charges and deported to France in October 2003.

In March 2007 he was convicted in France for his role in planning terrorist attacks in Australia. It is unclear where Brigitte will live after his release.

The FBI's Communication Breakdown on Hasan

Miscommunication between agents in two FBI field offices may have contributed to the failure to detect Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan's contacts with a radical cleric in Yemen, National Public Radio reports.

The FBI's Washington field office received a file on Hasan containing two of his emails with radical imam Anwar Al-Awlaki last February, NPR's Dina Temple-Raston said, citing sources familiar with the Hasan investigation. But there was no communication between the Washington office and the San Diego field office – which sent the original file – for three months.

By the time the two offices connected, an additional 16 emails between Awlaki and Hasan had been intercepted in San Diego. Those exchanges were not forwarded to Washington and the Washington agent didn't ask whether new intelligence had been collected.

Among those 16 emails was one in which Hasan mentioned Hasan Akbar, a Muslim soldier who killed two comrades and wounded 14 others when he threw a live grenade into a tent in Kuwait before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. According to Temple-Raston's report:

"In the e-mail to the imam, Hasan asked whether Akbar would have been considered a shaheed — or hero — for his actions. Given what happened later at Fort Hood, investigators say this e-mail now appears suggestive. But at the time it was not conclusive. Investigators in San Diego weren't alarmed by the query because it appeared to be consistent with research Hasan was doing at Walter Reed. The Akbar case was thought to be at the center of his research."

Since the Nov. 5 Fort Hood shooting spree, which left 13 people dead, reports have surfaced showing that Hasan was chastised for proselytizing to his patients and created concern with a PowerPoint presentation given at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that seemed to justify violent jihad. Witnesses say he shouted "Allahu Akhbar" before opening fire.

Awlaki called Hasan a hero in the wake of the massacre. While living in the United States, he repeatedly was investigated by federal law enforcement but the only charges against him were withdrawn before he was taken into custody.

Since moving to Yemen in 2002, his sermons are considered influential among jihadists.

Probe Viva Palestina's Hamas Connection, Congress Urges

The chairman of a House subcommittee on terrorism is urging that the Justice Department, the IRS and the Secretary of State investigate whether the U.S.-arm of a British based Palestinian aid group is raising money for Hamas.

In separate letters sent Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) cited comments British parliamentarian George Galloway made in March during the first Viva Palestina aid convoy to Gaza. In a defiant gesture against an international embargo of the Hamas government, Galloway handed officials a bag of cash and said:

"This is not charity. This is politics. The government of Palestine is the best people to decide where this money is needed. We are giving this money now to the government of Palestine. And, if I could, I would give them 10 times, 100 times more." (click here to see the video)

In his letters, Sherman notes that Viva Palestina has no corporate status in the U.S. and seems to be using a separate 501(c)(3) charity called the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization/Pastors for Peace (IFCO) as a conduit for donations. In a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, Sherman said Galloway's statement offered "compelling evidence that the major purpose of Viva Palestina is to provide material support to Hamas. Please takes steps to confirm whether IFCO has (or has not) acted as fundraising conduit for Viva Palestina. If so, IFCO's status as a 501(c)(3) entity must be revoked. The taxpayers of the United States should not and cannot support the activities of recognized terror organizations. [Emphasis original].

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Sherman urged an investigation to determine whether Galloway or VP broke any American laws. He asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to find out whether Galloway and his associates "should have any outstanding visas revoked and future admittance into the United States barred."

Finally, Sherman wrote to Michael Drake, chancellor at the University of California-Irvine, who already has announced an investigation into a VP fundraiser on campus featuring Galloway and organized by the school's Muslim Students Union. The students have a right to express their views, but Sherman wrote, that doesn't extend to soliciting for a terrorist organization:

"I believe your investigation will confirm that the UCI MSU has solicited funds for a terrorist organization (or knowingly aided and abetted such solicitation). After you confirm these facts, I believe you will, at a minimum, prevent the MSU from operating on campus unless and until its leadership is purged of those responsible."

Sherman's requests come as VP officials in England and the U.S. gear up for their third convoy to Gaza. The Investigative Project on Terrorism produced a detailed report of Viva Palestina's financial arrangements and other statements in support of Hamas made at U.S. fundraisers. It can be seen here.

EU Extends Terrorist Financing Cooperation

The European Union has renewed its commitment to work with the United States and the international community in curbing the flow of money to terrorist organizations worldwide.

The E.U. Council of Ministers on Monday approved a nine-month data transfer deal with the U.S., allowing American counter-terrorism officials to access European financial transaction data. Under the agreement, which will come into force on February 1, 2010, investigators will be able to request names, addresses, national identification numbers, and other personal data related to financial messages. This type of international cooperation has been and will continue to be invaluable as the U.S. operates its Terrorist Finance Tracking Program ("TFTP").

The existence of the TFTP was disclosed by the New York Times on June 23, 2006, when it revealed that the U.S. government had a program which enabled it to access the SWIFT transaction database after the September 11 attacks. SWIFT, a Belgium-based bank with offices in the U.S. that handles approximately 15 million bank transactions daily for more than 9,000 banks, admitted that they had responded to Treasury Department subpoenas and granted access to bank transactions in order to help anti-terrorism operations. Although public condemnation of the program was harsh, it has continued in operation because both U.S. and European officials recognize its efficacy.

The TFTP has been an integral part of the U.S. counter-terrorism efforts since the September 11 attacks. As Treasury under-secretary Stuart Levey explained in discussing the program:

"During the past eight years, the TFTP has provided invaluable leads in many major terrorism investigations, contributing greatly to our ability to thwart deadly terrorist attacks around the world."

Data gathered by the TFTP assisted in a number of domestic and international counter-terrorism operations including:

· The 2003 capture of al Qaeda operative Hambali, believed to be the mastermind behind the 2002 Bali bombing.

· The 2005 conviction of a Brooklyn man who was laundering money to al Qaeda in Pakistan.

· The 2007 investigation into the financial activities of Islamic Jihad Union in Germany, which led to the arrest and conviction of IJU members planning attacks in Germany.

· The 2009 convictions of three individuals for plotting to attack transatlantic flights in the United Kingdom

The extension of this program, even though limited in scope, reflects recognition on the part of the European Union that terrorist financing is a global program that must be combated through comprehensive, multilateral agreements.

ABC News: U.S. Attorney Blew an Opportunity to Arrest Awlaki

A radical imam tied to the Fort Hood shooter and considered to be an Al Qaeda recruiter today could have been arrested on a felony warrant in 2002, but the U.S. Attorney in Denver rescinded the warrant for Anwar Awlaki, ABC News reported Monday. A day later, Awlaki was intercepted as a terrorist suspect at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York but let go.

Awlaki, who was in frequent contact with Fort Hood killer Nidal Malik Hasan, is currently based in Yemen. A vocal supporter of terrorism, he praised Hasan as "a hero" for carrying out the Fort Hood attack.

Awlaki has been the inspiration for other terrorists. One of the men convicted of plotting an attack on Fort Dix, N.J. was videotaped expressing his admiration for Awlaki and recommending a lecture by the imam. Awlaki is also an inspirational leader to members of al-Shabaab, a Somali jihadist group. Read more about Awlaki here.

The decision to cancel the arrest warrant was made by David Gaouette, then an assistant U.S. Attorney responsible at the time for overseeing all terrorism cases in Colorado. In August, President Obama appointed Gaouette U.S. Attorney for Colorado.

The FBI investigated Awlaki in 1999 and 2000. It discovered that he had been in touch with an associate of Omar Abdel Rahman (the "Blind Sheik"), currently serving a life-plus-65-year sentence for his role in a conspiracy to attack New York landmarks. That Awlaki investigation was closed in 2000 due to lack of evidence.

But after September 11, Joint Terrorism Task Force agents in San Diego decided to take another look at Awlaki because of his connection to hijackers Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almidhar. The two had attended a San Diego mosque headed by Awlaki. Authorities said the imam had had numerous closed-door meetings with the pair, leading investigators to believe he was their spiritual advisor and knew in advance about the September 11 attacks.

When Awlaki moved to Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia in early 2001, Alhazmi visited him there, along with a third September 11 hijacker, Hani Hanjour.

But investigators needed a reason to detain Awlaki and hold him in custody. They considered using the Mann Act, a federal law barring the interstate transport of women for "immoral purposes." Awlaki had been arrested twice for soliciting prostitutes in San Diego in the 1990s and had been seen crossing state lines with prostitutes in the D.C. area.

But before they could detain Awlaki, he left for Yemen in March 2002. Months later, investigators realized they could arrest him on passport fraud charges, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. In October 2002, a federal judge signed an arrest warrant for Awlaki – who by that time was also on the U.S. government's terrorism watch list.

One former JTTF agent told ABC "We were ecstatic that we were able to get a warrant on this guy." But within days, Gaouette and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver quashed the warrant.

Awlaki arrived at JFK International Airport on October 10, 2002 – the morning after the warrant was cancelled. When he stepped off a Saudi Airlines flight from Riyadh, he was detained by U.S. Customs. But three hours later, after authorities learned the arrest warrant was no longer in effect, he was released and put on a flight to Washington, D.C. Authorities even thanked Awlaki and his family for their patience during the delay.

Awlaki subsequently went to Northern Virginia where he visited radical cleric Ali Al-Tamimi and reportedly inquired about recruiting Muslims for jihad. Tamimi is serving life plus 70 years in federal prison for inciting a group of young Muslim men to fight alongside the Taliban against the United States in Afghanistan after September 11. Awlaki left the United States sometime before the end of 2002, spending more than a year in Britain. In 2004, he moved to Yemen where he has become one of the leading voices preaching jihad against the West.

Canadian Study: Literature a Key in Radicalization Process

A new Canadian government study finds that books by some of the most radical Islamists of the recent past and of centuries ago are widely available and increasingly popular there. As Stewart Bell of the National Post reports, the writings of Osama bin Laden mentor Abdullah Azzam, Muslim Brotherhood luminary Sayyid Qutb and 12^th Century scholar Ibn Taymiyah are increasingly popular among Canadian Muslims.

That's a concern because those writers often advocate violent jihad and because extremist literature is a constant among targets of law enforcement counter terror investigations. Writing that promotes violent jihad is "one of the key radicalizing elements in this transition" between devout religious devotion and believing violence is a justifiable, the report said.

According to Bell's story:

"A common thread among the targets of counter-terrorism investigators was that they were consumers of extremist literature that portrays the West as the enemy and advocates violence as a duty."

Examples of the authors' works were easily available through other publications and online sources, the study by Canada's Integrated Threat Assessment Centre found. In addition, Bell reports, Qutb's writings are available in many public libraries. Works by the authors have been found among suspects in Canadian terror cases including the "Toronto 18," accused of plotting a series of bomb attacks in the city.

A Major Crack in the Hizballah Weapons Pipeline

The Justice Department announced the arrests Tuesday of 17 people believed to have been providing weapons, communications equipment, and money to Hizballah, a designated terrorist organization. Among the charged offenses are the provision of "material support" to a designated foreign terrorist organization, transportation and trafficking of stolen and counterfeit goods, money laundering, and fraud.

Two men, Hassan Hodroj and Dib Hani Harb, are accused of trying to provide material support to Hizballah with 1,200 Colt M4 Carbine machine guns and by selling fake passports, counterfeit money and stolen cash.

The investigation began in 2007 when an FBI undercover agent began transferring stolen cell phones and other electronic devices to Hassan Mahmoud Koumaiha and seven of his co-conspirators. From February 1, 2007 to November 1, 2008 the FBI provided the suspects with close to 30,000 stolen cell phones, Playstation 2 game systems, and laptop computers—all destined for Lebanon, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates.

Although the purpose of these transactions remains unclear, if the cell phones were being transferred to Hizballah, as the indictments allege, there are a number of possibilities. It is well known that terrorist organizations engage in "traditional" criminal activities for the purpose of funding their violent jihad—for instance the use of cigarette smuggling. Just as likely, however, is that some or all of these phones were brought to Lebanon where they were provided to Hezbollah operatives for the purposes of having disposable cell phones for planning and carrying out attacks.

More than simply purchasing stolen electronics, over time the suspects attempted to acquire weapons for transfer to Lebanon. For instance, in March 2009 Dani Nemr Tarraf requested that the undercover agent procure guided missiles for the purposes of "shooting down airplanes or helicopters." The suspects also sought night vision, thermal imagining devices, military compasses, and military radio. While there may be a question as to the ultimate use of cell phones, it's difficult to envision a peaceful purpose for the items involved.

As Philadelphia's U.S. Attorney Michael L. Levy explained: "these cases show the breadth of the criminal activity engaged in by those who oppose us." If convicted Tarraf could face life in prison while his co-conspirators could each receive up to 5 years in prison.

The indictments are available here and here and here.

While Shalit Negotiations Continue, Hamas Vows More Terror

For all the focus on American and European pressure on Israel to stop housing construction in Jerusalem and the West Bank as an opening to peace talks, virtually no attention has been given to clear and intransigent statements from Hamas that it has no interest in a peaceful compromise with Israel.

Khaled Meshaal, head of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, says his organization remains determined to continue "resistance" and that most of its money would be invested in military preparations. In an interview with the website Filisteen al-'An (Palestine Now), Meshaal declared Hamas would not recognize Israel and would continue fighting to capture all of Palestine.

Hamas controls Gaza and Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party controls the West Bank. It is generally accepted that no peace deal is possible while the Palestinian factions remain split and in competition with each other.

Hamas rocket fire into southern Israel triggered Operation Cast Lead, a military operation last winter targeting terrorist bases in Gaza. Since the fighting ended in late January, Hamas has been preparing for the next round of war with Israel, Meshaal said.

The Israel-based Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reports that in the Filisteen al-'An interview, Meshaal made the following points [Emphasis added throughout]:

• Hamas, which has financial duties, needs contributions to finance "resistance." Meshaal called on Arabs to enlist contributions in preparation for the next stage of violence against Israel. He warned against conditioning financial support to Hamas on its carrying out attacks because the group invests the money for future operations.
• Most of Hamas' efforts in Gaza are invested in military preparations – not on rebuilding war-shattered infrastructure. "On the surface, [statements in Gaza] refer to reconciliation [between Hamas and Fatah] and rebuilding. However, what is revealed is that most of Hamas' funds and efforts are invested in the resistance and military preparations…We are intent on the resistance."
• Hamas will never recognize Israel and will not abandon "resistance." He said "We will not recognize Israel, we will not give up the resistance, we cling to every inch of Palestinian soil; other statements are political maneuvers."
• Renewing terrorism in the West Bank. It will take time to renew "resistance" there because the necessary conditions on the ground do not exist. But "the jihad continues until Judgment Day."

During the November 12 interview in the Syrian capital, Meshaal did not address the fate of Sgt. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier kidnapped in a June 25, 2006 cross-border raid by Hamas operatives based in Gaza. Israel and Hamas are conducting negotiations through Egyptian mediation on a deal that would free Shalit in exchange for the release of hundreds of imprisoned terrorists.

In the negotiations for Shalit's freedom, Hamas officials are demanding that Israel release leading terrorists including Ahmed Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Marwan Barghouti, a senior Fatah member.

The Shalit negotiations have renewed a longstanding debate within Israel over how far the government should be prepared to go to secure the release of Israelis captured on the battlefield. Since the founding of the state, Israeli policy has been to leave no stone unturned to win the release of prisoners (including the release of imprisoned terrorists). In numerous cases these freed terrorists have returned to the battlefield to kill more Israelis.

More Minneapolis/Somali Charges

The Justice Department on Monday announced the arrests and indictments of eight suspects in the ongoing investigation into domestic support for al-Shabaab, a terrorist organization based in Somalia. To date, federal authorities have unsealed criminal complaints against 14 defendants based in Minnesota, however as the Justice Department explained, this investigation is not yet over: "those who sign up to fight or recruit for al Shabaab's terror network should be aware that they may well end up as defendants in the United States or casualties of the Somali conflict."

According to court documents, the defendants provided "material support" in the form of financing and personnel to al Shabaab between September 2007 and October 2009. Many of the men who left Minnesota to train in Somalia went on to fight against Ethiopian forces, African Union troops, and the internationally supported Transitional Federal Government. Among the attacks allegedly undertaken by a former resident of Minnesota was a car bombing at an office of the Puntland Intelligence Service on October 29, 2008.

These arrests are indicative of the global problem that homegrown radicalization poses. Not only must we be concerned about individuals self radicalizing in the U.S. and attacking domestic targets, but we must work to prevent Americans from traveling to foreign countries to carry out acts of terrorism.

Read more about developments in the case here.

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