Oath of Deception?

Belief in radical Islamic ideology could be grounds to deport immigrants, even after they've naturalized, a provocative report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) says.

The report, National Security Threats Should Be Denaturalized, comes from "a retired government employee with many years of experience in immigration administration, law enforcement, and national security matters" who writes under a pseudonym.

People already can be blocked from naturalization for affiliating with totalitarian groups, or engaging in or advocating violence to overthrow the U.S. government. The report argues that the totalitarian prohibition can apply to adherents of radical Islam.

"Why totalitarianism? Because under radical strains of Islam, such as Salafism, it is impossible to reconcile separation of church and state," the report says. "All civil authority bows to the wisdom of religious clerics in a theocracy. The best existing example (if one can use that descriptor loosely) of such a theocracy in action is the Islamic Republic of Iran. The worst example in recent memory is the Taliban when it ruled Afghanistan. Can one doubt that both examples point clearly to a totalitarian form of government in which no form of peaceful dissension or religious liberty is tolerated? In fact, dissension and religious differences are dealt with brutally."

Under the proposal, someone could be barred from becoming a citizen if he or she is a follower of radical Islam to the extent that Islam and sharia law should supersede secular law and liberty in the United States. And citizenship can be stripped if it later is determined the person failed to disclose those beliefs.

The report describes the two existing provisions for denaturalizing citizens under such circumstances. But there has been little focus or interest among federal authorities to aggressively pursue such cases, even when the offenders have been convicted of serious national security crimes.

The CIS report identifies 51 cases since 2003 involving naturalized citizens who were charged with and/or convicted of national security related violations. Of them, 34 (66 percent) were from Islamic countries or otherwise identified as being involved in an Islamist security threat violation case.

Denaturalized people revert to their prior immigration status, usually a permanent resident alien. But resident aliens convicted of certain crimes, particularly national security crimes, are subject to deportation. Even absent a criminal conviction, permanent residents can be deported if they obtained that status through fraud or misrepresentation.

This CIS report raises noteworthy issues that have lingered for nearly a decade. And while federal authorities appear to be lethargic in the pursuit of even national security denaturalization cases, there have been some successes such as Fawaz Damra and Abdurahman M. Alamoudi. Even the notorious criminal case against Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) operative Sami Al-Arian began as a naturalization fraud investigation.

But a handful of victories in a sea of ignored cases is not really success. There is much room for improvement and, ironically, improvement may not even require legislative change but no more than shift in focus and willingness by executive branch agencies responsible for investigating and prosecuting the violations. This matter appears ripe for congressional inquiry. The CIS report has opened that door.

Mumbai Plotter Sentenced to 35 Years

A self-confessed plotter of the November 2008 terrorist strikes in Mumbai was sentenced to 35 years in prison Thursday. The high-profile attacks on major landmarks in India's financial hub had killed 164 people, including six Americans.

Pakistan-born American David Coleman Headley pleaded guilty in 2010 to 12 federal terrorism charges brought against him in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks, a plot to attack the Jyllands Posten newspaper facility in Denmark, and providing material support to the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT). He agreed to cooperate with federal investigators as part of his plea agreement.

Headley, a Chicago resident, repeatedly attended Lashkar terrorist training camps. At the terrorist group's direction, he made five surveillance trips to Mumbai between 2006-2008, helping to scout the targets in the bloody attacks.

Prosecutors say his subsequent cooperation with them was significant, including lengthy debriefings with Indian law enforcement officials, and asked for a sentence between 30 and 35 years for the 52-year-old Headley.

"In addition to providing an insight into the personnel, structure, methods, abilities and plans of Lashkar, Headley took active steps to further the investigation into other terrorists. Headley's cooperation assisted the government in filing criminal charges against at least seven other individuals, and his testimony helped to secure the conviction of one co-defendant," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo filed earlier this week.

Headley's co-conspirator, Tahawwur Rana, was sentenced to 14 years last week for his role in the Danish terror plot and for aiding Lashkar. Headley was a prosecution witness in Rana's trial.

In his testimony, Headley detailed trainings he received at Lashkar camps in Pakistan. He also described his recruitment, training, and handling by former Pakistani army officers and members of the country's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI). Evidence presented in court also showed Headley not only worked at the behest of LeT but also with members of al-Qaida.

The U.S. investigation into the Mumbai attacks "are ongoing and active," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Lisa Monaco.

Six other co-defendants charged in the case are believed to be in Pakistan.

For a summary of the case, see the Justice Department's news release on Headley's sentencing here.

Chicago Businessman Sentenced to 14 Years in Danish Terror Plot

A Pakistan-born Chicago businessman was sentenced to 14 years in prison Thursday for his role in a plot to attack a Danish newspaper and providing material support to the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT).

A federal jury in Chicago convicted Tahawwur Rana of the charges in June 2011 following a three-week trial. Jurors acquitted him of providing material support for the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 164 people, including six Americans.

In a sentencing memo filed earlier this week, prosecutors sought the maximum sentence of 30 years, arguing Rana and his accomplices desired to perpetrate "murder on a grand, horrific scale."

Rana was a lifelong friend of American Lashkar operative David Headley, who pleaded guilty to charges related to scouting targets in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Prosecutors alleged Headley used the Mumbai office of Rana's immigration company, First World Immigration Services, as a cover for his numerous scouting missions to the city.

In testimony during Rana's trial, Headley acknowledged Rana knew about the Mumbai plot and supported it. Headley also corroborated other evidence presented at trial that Pakistan's powerful spy agency, the ISI, was involved in the attacks.

Prosecutors claimed Rana also assisted Headley in plotting an attack on the offices of the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten. The newspaper's 2005 publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad had led to violent protests across the Muslim world.

Defense attorneys argued for a lesser sentence of seven to nine years on grounds that Rana was motivated by nothing other than friendship in helping his childhood friend. They also cited Rana's declining health in seeking a more lenient sentence.

Though neither side got what it asked for, acting Chicago U.S. Attorney Gary S. Shapiro said Rana's sentence still sent a good message. "This serious prison sentence should go a long way towards convincing would-be terrorists that they can't hide behind the scenes, lend support to the violent aims of terrorist organizations, and escape detection and punishment."

Maximum Sentence Sought in Danish Cartoon Plot

Prosecutors in Chicago want a federal judge to impose the maximum sentence on a man convicted of conspiring to support a ghastly terrorist plot against a Danish newspaper.

Tahawwur Rana faces a maximum 15 years in prison when sentenced Thursday, and another 15 years for providing material support to the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba. Prosecutors say those sentences should be served consecutively – adding up to 30 years – rather than concurrently, because the conspirators sought "murder on a grand, horrific scale."

They plotted to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten in retaliation for its 2005 publication of cartoons depicting Islam's prophet Mohammad. "The plan was to behead innocent employees of the newspaper, and throw their heads on to the street below so as to maximize the attention to and violence of this terrorist attack," a prosecution sentencing memo filed Monday said.

But defense attorneys say Rana's activities paled in comparison to co-conspirators' and resulted in no actual death or injury. David Coleman Headley, who testified for the government, actually conducted surveillance for the plot and communicated with terrorists in Pakistan. Headley also traveled from Chicago to scout targets for Lashkar in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 164 people. He has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced next Thursday.

Rana and Headley are lifelong friends. Defense attorneys say that friendship motivated Rana to act more than any bloodlust. "Rana is quite simply not a 'terrorist,' not a 'jihadist' and has not imposed on his family or friends the particular brand of hatred that Headley spread, or attempted to spread, to all of those around him," they wrote.

They ask for sentence between seven and nine years. Rana, 52, is in poor health, they wrote, and a sentence much longer than that could amount to life in prison.

But prosecutors counter that Rana agreed to join the conspiracy with full knowledge of Headley's role in the Mumbai attack, something Rana praised. So when he agreed to help Headley plot another attack in Denmark, he knew what Headley was capable of doing.

"A substantial sentence is necessary to deter individuals, like the defendant, from believing that simply because they do not pick up a gun or attend a training camp, they do not facilitate terrorism," prosecutors wrote.

Palestinian President Abbas Praises Dead Terrorists As 'Martyrs'

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is viewed in the West as a moderate relative to Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups. But that may be because Western media ignore incendiary rhetoric Abbas routinely makes in Arabic.

An example came earlier this month, when Abbas praised a litany of deceased Palestinian terrorists as martyrs. That includes Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, Palestinian Islamic Jihad founder Fathi Shikaki and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine founder George Habash. Abbas named each during a January 4 rally for Palestinian unity in Gaza. The rally took place on the eve of Egyptian-sponsored unity negotiations with Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal in Cairo.

"We must remember the pioneers, the Grand Mufti of Palestine Hajj Muhammad Amin Al-Husseini as well as Ahmad Al-Shukeiri, the founder of the PLO," Abbas said in a translation of the speech made by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Al-Husseini was a close ally of Adolf Hitler who instigated terror attacks against Jews and moderate Palestinians in pre-World War II Palestine. He also helped organize a Muslim SS division and was complicit in the Holocaust, preventing the rescue of 19,000 Jewish children.

"The National Socialist movement of Greater Germany has, since its inception, inscribed upon its flag the fight against the world Jewry. It has therefore followed with particular sympathy the struggle of the freedom-loving Arabs, especially in Palestine, against Jewish interlopers," Al-Husseini wrote during World War II.

The State Department declined to comment when asked about these statements by the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

"Saying such things is a form of incitement," said Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. "We are seeing rhetoric in camps that were previously seen as moderate, and it is rhetoric heading in the wrong direction."

It is a direct response of the populism that followed the Arab Spring.

The rhetoric also stands in stark contrast with what Abbas said in November when he pledged there would no Third Intifada on his watch. "As long as I'm sitting here, in this position, I will not allow an intifada. We will act only through diplomatic and peaceful means," he said.

Such rhetoric has been matched to Israel's south by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi who called the Israelis "the descendants of apes and pigs" in 2010 when he said the "Zionists" needed to give the Palestinians everything they want or face war.

Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was struck by the lack of attention those comments, which were only recently translated and released by MEMRI, garnered in the West. "One possibility is, to borrow a phrase, the soft bigotry of low expectations," he wrote. "Another: Anti-Semites have done such a thorough job of convincing the media that anti-Semitism doesn't exist that when it does pop up it causes a paralyzing form of cognitive dissonance."

Va. Man Gets 25 Years for Shooting Military Targets

A self-radicalized Virginia man was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison for shooting at military monuments and facilities, including the Pentagon.

Yonathan Melaku, a former marine reservist from Alexandria, Va., was arrested in June 2011 tried to enter the Arlington National Cemetery to desecrate grave markers of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan because he saw those conflicts as part of a war against Muslims. Melaku told officials he wanted to deface the markers with Arabic statements using black spray paint and leaving ammonium nitrate at the sites.

He said he wanted to send a message that "you can't be fighting over there" and that he wanted people "to be afraid for supporting the war."

Melaku carried a backpack containing several used 9mm shell casings, four bags of ammonium nitrate, and a notebook containing references to the Taliban, al-Qaida, and Osama bin Laden when he was arrested.

Court records show Melaku carried out shootings at multiple locations, including the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the Pentagon, a Marine Corps recruiting substation in Chantilly, and a U.S. Coast Guard recruiting office in Woodbridge. The shootings took place late at night or early in the morning and involved several 9mm rounds fired at each building.

Melaku videotaped the shooting of the National Museum of the Marine Corps with a video camera secured within the interior of his vehicle. The video showed Melaku firing repeatedly at his target with a handgun and stating: "That's my target. That's the military building. It's going to be attacked." Melaku was also seen shouting "Allahu Akbar" several times after the shooting incident.

Melaku pleaded guilty a year ago to three felony charges, including injuring property of the United States, use of a firearm during a crime of violence, and attempted injury to veterans' memorials on U.S. property.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Neil H. MacBride, applauded the sentence in a Justice Department press release: "Yonathan Melaku is a self-radicalized terrorist who carried out a campaign of fear that escalated until his arrest. He took calculated steps to target specific military buildings, cover up his crimes, and plan even more destruction should his message not be heard. This sentence is just punishment for the danger he poses to our community."

Iranian Backing Boosts Palestinian Islamic Jihad

Iranian support greatly improved Palestinian Islamic Jihad's (PIJ) fighting capabilities during November's conflict with Israel compared to its performance during the 2008-2009 Gaza war, Al-Monitor reports.

PIJ usually takes a backseat to Hamas in popular support, but its Al-Quds Brigades became a key component in the recent fight due to improved weapons capabilities provided by Iran and, to a lesser extent, Syria.

"The last assault was such a fruitful experience for us; it was such a practical training that obviously we have developed," Al-Quds Brigades spokesman Abu Ahmad said. "We are not the only Palestinian armed group that receives an Iranian support, but we are the one that admits it the loudest. We feel it's like an inevitable gratitude."

The group also was the first to launch rockets against Tel Aviv. Iran provided rockets and technical aid to the Palestinian factions, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari told the Fars News Agency.

The Al-Quds Brigades have also built weapons locally, using Iranian blueprints, due to the challenges of smuggling weapons through the Gaza tunnels. "Our local rockets proved their high level of proficiency, especially in the latest round of the battle," Abu Ahmad said.

The group fired 933 rockets at Israel, killing three people, while losing 31 terrorists in retaliatory strikes.

The Al-Quds Brigades boast a fighting force of thousands and also demonstrated a potent cyber-warfare capability when it hacked the cell phones of 5,000 Israeli soldiers and sent them threatening messages in Hebrew. It also published files containing personal information such as birthdates and emails addresses.

Iran's assistance has also included sponsoring the families of Palestinian Islamic Jihad prisoners and for its injured fighters.

CAIR's Ayloush Seeks California Democratic Party Post

The head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) Los Angeles office wants another term as a delegate to the California Democratic Party.

Hussam Ayloush was elected as a delegate to District 60 and executive board member in 2011 and seeks a second term in voting Saturday.

If returned to the seat, California Democrats will be represented by someone who likened law enforcement action against a Hamas-supporting charity to "an attempt at genocide" against Palestinians, who incorrectly blamed Jews for an Internet video about Islam's prophet Muhammad that sparked deadly protests internationally. In addition, he defended and lionized university students who tried to silence a speech by Israel's ambassador to the United States and defended a radical imam who called Jews "Descendants of the apes" and wants shariah law imposed over everyone in Egypt, including its Coptic Christian minority.

Ayloush, who was a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., casts the United States as controlled by Israeli interests. At a 2008 CAIR banquet in San Diego, he imagined "an America that respects and humanizes religion. It's an America that is free to act on its values and not on the interests of any foreign lobby."

He is advertising his campaign via his Twitter and Facebook pages, stating that "for over 14 years, I have been a fundraiser and activist for many Democratic Party campaigns. I have also helped register thousands of new voters. I work for a national civil liberties organization (CAIR-CA)."

In addition to Ayloush's sketchy personal statements, his organization – CAIR – is rooted in a U.S.-based Hamas-support network and has a history of defending accused terrorists and terror financiers. In 2009, a senior FBI official wrote that the agency could not determine whether CAIR leaders continue to be connected to Hamas.

Egypt's Troubling Iranian Turn

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force met with officials close to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi during a secret two-day visit to Egypt just after Christmas. The Times of London calls it "another blow to Cairo's fragile relationship with the West."

Gen. Qassem Soleimani's "meeting was intended to send a message to America, which is putting pressure on the Egyptian government, that we be allowed to have other alliances we please," a source told the Times.

The U.S. State Department designated Soleimeini as a terrorist, and the Quds Force serves as Iran's primary unit for training and equipping foreign Islamic revolutionary movements. The Quds Force was responsible for setting up Hizballah in the 1980s and has been involved in training Hamas, the Taliban and other terrorist groups.

The Iranian paramilitary leader met with Essam al-Haddad, one of Morsi's foreign affairs advisers, and Muslim Brotherhood officials, to advise them on building a security and intelligence apparatus independent from the national intelligence services that are controlled by the Egyptian military.

A report in The Australian suggests that the Egyptians invited Soleimani to meet.

"When the Iranian revolutionaries took control they didn't trust the military, so they setup a parallel system independent of Iran's army that has been quite successful," Heritage Foundation Middle East expert James Phillips told the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

Consequently, the Brotherhood likely sees the IRGC/Quds Force as a successful model to copy, Phillips said.

Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal al-Din was forced out of the government after he objected to the meeting, Al-Arabiyah reported Thursday.

In addition, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi arrived in Cairo Wednesday for talks that Iran hopes could lead to expanded ties with Egypt. The two countries have not had diplomatic ties since Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1970 and granted asylum to the shah after he was overthrown.

Relations between Iran and Egypt have steadily improved since Morsi, a longtime Muslim Brotherhood figure, was inaugurated in July. Morsi also met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his late August visit to Tehran for the Non-Aligned Movement summit.

Syria will be high on the agenda during Salehi's visit, according to Iran's Fars News Agency.

Iran and Egypt have competing interests in Syria, with the Iranians backing the Assad regime and the Egyptians supporting their Muslim Brotherhood brethren in their rebellion.

The meetings between the Brotherhood and Iran send the message that Egypt will move closer to Iran if the United States and other Western nations cut off aid, an unnamed Egyptian official told the Times.

"It is another sign that the Muslim Brotherhood is distancing itself from the U.S.," he said. "It is wishful thinking the State Department, the CIA and other agencies that they can count on the Muslim Brotherhood as an ally against the more extremist Islamists."

Egyptian Preacher Wants Islamist Vice Police

A televised call by radical Salafi cleric Hisham el-Ashry for the introduction of religious vice police akin to those in Saudi Arabia has many in Egypt concerned, Reuters reports.

"In order for Egypt to become fully Islamic, alcohol must be banned and all women must be covered," el-Ashry said amid comments saying he supports the establishment of a police force to enforce Islamic law.

El-Ashry recently suggested that Christians should convert to Islam and that their women should be veiled.

"I was once asked: If I came to power, would I let Christian women remain unveiled? And I said: If they want to get raped on the streets, then they can," el-Ashry told Nahar TV last week.

The cleric lived in New York during the 1990s, and boasts about having brought numerous Christians to Islam.

The call reinforces concerns expressed last month by Coptic opposition leader Michael Meunier during an interview with the Investigative Project on Terrorism. An article in Egypt's recently enacted constitution could be used to "establish a kind of police like they have in Saudi Arabia that would enforce moral standards in Egypt," he said.

Egypt's Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa condemned el-Ashry's views, however, in a statement to Reuters.

"This sort of idiotic thinking is one that seeks to further destabilise what is already a tense situation," Gomaa said. "Egypt's religious scholars have long guided the people to act in ways that conform to their religious commitments, but have never thought this required any type of invasive policing."

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