Terrorism as Communication

Josalin and Brannon's Final Project

2009-05-03T23:44:00.001-04:00

British PM unveils new counter-terrorism strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan

2009-04-29T20:34:00.000-04:00

LONDON, April 29 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday unveiled a new counter-terrorism strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying coordinated action is needed to tackle terrorist threats.
Brown, who visited Afghanistan and Pakistan earlier this week, said in a statement to the House of Commons that the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan are "the breeding ground, the crucible of terrorism" and provide a direct threat to British security.
He said British approaches to the two countries are "different but must be complementary."
Pakistan must be part of a solution to Afghanistan's problems as there is a "chain of terror" linking the border areas between the two countries to Britain, he said.
He promised extra funding of 665 million pounds (944 million U.S. dollars) over the next four years to Pakistan for counter-terrorism operations as well as educational and economic assistance.
He also said 700 more British troops would be sent to Afghanistan to boost security for the presidential election in August, which will increase the British force there to 9,000.
His statement came hours after a British soldier was killed in southern Afghanistan.

Helpful Website click here

2009-04-29T17:21:00.000-04:00

Created by UGA professor, Alan Godlas: "The focus of this webpage, unlike most websites dealing with Iraq (which focus on the political aspects of the war), is to inform the public in a scholarly manner both about Islam and Muslims in Iraq, as well as about the relationship of the war in Iraq to Islam and Muslims, including Shi'ites, Kurdish Sunnis, and Arab Sunnis."

oops, forgot the link

2009-04-28T22:49:00.000-04:00

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/04/28/am.robertson.bin.laden.cnn

Could bin Laden be dead?

2009-04-28T22:46:00.001-04:00

FBI's newest 'Most Wanted' terrorist is American

2009-04-21T18:42:00.002-04:00

Since today in class we discussed ecoterrorism and ecotage, I found this article that was released today, what a coincidence, Eh?. I'm just correlating class education with "the real world" . Tell me what y'all think??

WASHINGTON – A fugitive animal rights activist believed to be hiding outside the United States has become the first domestic terror suspect named to the FBI's list of "Most Wanted" terrorists.

Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 31-year-old computer specialist from Berkeley, Calif., is wanted for the 2003 bombings of two corporate offices in California.

Authorities say San Diego has unusual tattoos, including one that shows a burning field and proclaims, "It only takes a spark."

FBI Assistant Director Michael Heimbach announced San Diego's addition to its "Most Wanted" terrorists list at a press conference Tuesday.

Authorities believe he has fled the United States.

In the global search for the suspect, Heimbach said the FBI has spoken to officials in Germany, the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, France, Spain Denmark, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Argentina, the Philippines, and Chile.

He has ties to Germany, and may be living in Costa Rica, officials said.

"The leads have gone stale on us, so now we're seeking the public's awareness," said Heimbach.

San Diego is the 24th person on the bureau's wanted terrorist list, and the only domestic terror suspect.

The move to add a domestic, left-wing activist to the list comes only days after the Obama administration was criticized for internal reports suggesting some military veterans could be susceptible to right-wing extremist recruiters or commit lone acts of violence. That prompted angry reactions from some lawmakers and veterans groups.

An arrest warrant was issued for San Diego after the 2003 bombings in northern California of the corporate offices of Chiron Corp., a biotechnology firm, and at Shaklee Corp., a nutrition and cosmetics company. The explosions caused minor damages and no injuries.

A group calling itself "Revolutionary Cells" took responsibility for the blasts, telling followers in a series of e-mails that Chiron and Shaklee had been targeted for their ties to a research company that conducted drug and chemical experiments on animals.

Officials have offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to his capture, five times the reward amounts offered for other so-called eco-terrorists wanted in the U.S.

The FBI says animal rights and environmental extremists have been responsible for over 1,800 criminal acts and more than $110 million in damages. Currently, the bureau is investigating 170 animal rights or environmental extremism incidents.

Law enforcement officials describe San Diego as a strict vegan who possesses a 9mm handgun. On his abdomen, he has tattoo images of burning and collapsing buildings.

The FBI's "Most Wanted" terrorist list is distinct from the much longer-running "Ten Most Wanted" list. Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden is on both.

There is another American already on the terrorist list, but he is wanted for his work overseas for al-Qaida. Adam Yahiye Gadahn grew up in California but moved to Pakistan and works as a translator and consultant to al-Qaida.

_____

On the Net:

FBI wanted poster for San Diego: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/april09/wanted042109.html

Judge exploring piracy suspect's age

2009-04-21T16:04:00.001-04:00

More on pirates.... http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/21/alleged.pirate.new.york/index.html

Polar Bears

2009-04-21T10:55:00.002-04:00

Video we were discussing in class today.

The New American Most Wanted Terrorist

2009-04-21T08:36:00.000-04:00

I bet this guys is regretting getting his tattoo that says, "It only takes a spark"....

Columbine as terrorism

2009-04-20T11:11:00.002-04:00

Brittany Adams sent me a link to a story about the Columbine massacres that you can read here.

Brittany raised the question as to whether Columbine meets any of our definitions of terrorism. While the students and faculty at the school were clearly in terror, the incident shows the problem of using an undefined term in the media.

Full disclosure: my sister-in-law attended Columbine High School, although she graduated several years before the shootings.

Final Project

2009-04-20T11:05:00.000-04:00

Your final exam is to use the material we have studied this semester to send a message to Osama bin Laden or someone else in al Qaeda. The communication can be in any form – letter, video, audio, comic book, poster, spam, handbill, skywriting, telepathic messages, tattoos, etc.

You may send the actual communication to me or you can explicitly describe it. For example, you can send a video to me but if you do not have the capability of producing a video then you can send me a script with details of the video (where it would be shot, who appears in it, etc.).

While the communication should be directed to Osama bin Laden, your real audience may be another group. In a separate document, briefly supply explanatory information:

1. Identify the true audience for your communication.

2. Explicitly state the real message.

3. Identify any cultural, rhetorical, and linguistic references in your communication that you believe would make it more acceptable to the real audience.

Do not use any direct religious references without talking to me first. You are not Islamic scholars so the potential for inadvertent insult is high, and should be avoided.

If you have any questions then pose them to me in an email. If I think that the question has general relevance then I will post the question and the answer on the blog.

I would like to have your project by Sunday, May 3. I can be somewhat flexible with the date – in fact, I have already given an extension to a few people. Remember, however, that the sooner you get it to me then the greater the chance that I can look at it and suggest changes.

Let me know if I can arrange to make this easier.

In the event of an attack: SLO County high school students simulate terrorism management

2009-04-20T10:48:00.002-04:00

I enjoyed reading this article. Its about students taking on the task of fighting terrorism outside of their classroom.

The city of Chicago contains several potential terrorist targets, including Soldier Field, the Sears Tower and the Dan Ryan Expressway.
Ironically, some of those potential targets — such as the Sears Tower — also represent good places to seek shelter in the event of a terror attack.
That was one of the findings by a group of students from Del Rio Continuation High School in Atascadero last week. It was their latest project-based learning assignment, one of 15 they’ll tackle during the school year to help them use technology and teamwork to simulate real-world experiences.
Instead of sitting back and being passive and doing all the traditional school work, you demand they go out and practice all these skills most people agree you’re going to need in the workplace of the future,” teacher Rich Hovey said.
Hovey and Principal DJ Pittenger developed the idea for the series of two-week simulations after visiting a magnet school in Napa. With the aid of teachers Marc Townsend and Jacque Evers, they launched the project-based learning curriculum at Del Rio, a continuation school for students who’ve had difficulties with the traditional high school format. The entire student body — about 80 — participates in the projects.
Past projects have had students build a museum and investigate a political assassination.
The terrorism project put students into groups. The group members then had to assign themselves positions, such homeland security director, public information officer, project manager and FEMA director. From there, they had to pick a major U.S. city and develop an emergency management plan in the event of an attack. That included identifying potential targets, safe havens, distribution centers and communication sites.
Students had to include maps and other information on a PowerPoint slide presentation and a Web page they created, and they had to make a 30-second video or radio public service announcement instructing residents what to do in the event of an attack.
Finally, students presented findings to their class, which then offered anonymous criticism on their computers.
On presentation day, students are required to dress formally.
“We had a tie-tying session, where everybody learned how to tie a tie,” Pittenger said. While the rest of the class wore hoodies, T-shirts and jeans, the Chicago group wore suits and ties as they laid out their findings. The group was led by Albert Guay, who took on the project manager role.
“When I realized I was group manager, I was like, ‘Wow, a lot is relying on me,’ ” he said. “But I learned pretty quickly.”
While the prospect of having to deal with technology is intimidating to some, the Chicago group quickly focused, though not without a little stress.
“There were a few points where tension was revving up,” said senior Evan Miller, who took on the role of homeland security director. “They were like, ‘I need that; you need to get that to me now. Come on, we need to put it together!’ And I’m like, ‘Give me a second — it’ll be there!’ ”
For some, the prospect of getting up in front of class was especially daunting.
“It’s kind of nerve-wracking,” said Cody Moore, a senior, who took on the role of public information officer. “If you’re not really good with words, like I am. … you have a hard time getting up in front of the classroom.”
But once their presentation was over, the group received compliments from other class members.
“A lot of fears get conquered,” Hovey said, noting that project-based learning helps students with public speaking, working in groups and using technology.
“This is an exceptionally computer literate group,” added Hovey, noting that the school now has one computer per student. “We’ve had students come in and for the first few days, they’re very uncomfortable with the format. They react to the amount of technology, and they get overwhelmed. And they’re not sure they’re going to make it. Then two or three months later, suddenly they’re showing someone else how to make a slide show or how to use a complicated program.”
To offer real-world criticism, the school invited guest Michelle Shoresman, emergency preparedness manager for the county health department.
“It’s very real-world oriented,” Shoresman said of the project. “That’s how people work — at least in the industries I’ve been in. You have to communicate with other people and oftentimes create a product or do a presentation before a board of supervisors or try to sell someone on an idea, and it usually involves working with others to come up with recommendations.”
While the concept helps students problem solve in groups, presentation day afforded junior Max Wessel the most enjoyment.
“My favorite part was probably having a good excuse to throw on a suit,” he said.

Mumbai terror suspect to plead not guilty

2009-04-20T10:41:00.001-04:00

By Joe Leahy in Mumbai
The lawyer representing the man alleged to be the lone-surviving terrorist from the attacks on Mumbai last November said on Friday his client planned to plead “not guilty” to the charges.
Abbas Kazmi, lawyer for Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, who police accuse of being the only gunman of a band of 10 to survive the attacks, told a special high-security court on Friday that his client was tortured into confessing to the attacks.
“I have filed a retraction application and hence he [Mr Kasab] is going to plead not guilty,” Mr Kazmi told the Financial Times on Friday night.
Any plea of not guilty by Mr Kasab will create shockwaves in India, after Mr Kasab was allegedly captured on close circuit television and by press photographers while on a rampage through Mumbai’s main train station with an AK-47 rifle in hand.
Police claim he and his accomplices were trained as terrorists in Pakistan before arriving by boat in Mumbai, where they fanned out and attacked the train station, a tourist café, a Jewish centre and three luxury hotels, which they occupied for nearly three days.
A copy of Mr Kasab’s police confession gave a detailed account of the attacks, including names of his trainers in Pakistan and of his fellow attackers.
His trial began on Friday following several weeks of delays after authorities struggled to find a defence lawyer to represent him in court.
Most of the legal fraternity in Mumbai has been reluctant to defend a man who police allege helped perpetrate an event in which a total of 163 people died.
Rightwing Hindu groups have attacked the homes of lawyers who earlier volunteered or were appointed by legal aid to represent Mr Kasab, intimidating most of them into staying away.
In court on Friday Ujjwal Nikam, the prosecutor, alleged there was prima facie evidence that Mr Kasab was part of a “well-rehearsed and well-thought out plan backed by Pakistan intelligence agencies”.
But Mr Kazmi said his client had told him he was tortured. The case continues.

The nuclear option

2009-04-18T23:51:00.002-04:00

Something we haven't really had to time to discuss in class is the message that terrorists might convey through the use of WMD. That there are those trying to facilitate such a thing is illustrated in this story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7998875.stm

I also read this story about the mysterious and possibly non-existent red mercury that has been posited as a possible source for a terrorist nuclear bomb:

Sewing machine hoax hits S Arabia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7999168.stm

and also a hugely expensive legal case brought in the UK under the Terrorism Act 2000 that also concerned red mercury.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5176522.stm

The original torture justification papers

2009-04-18T21:15:00.003-04:00

This article from the BBC has links to the legal briefs the Bush administration used to justify torture. These are the same documents that the Obama administration is saying provided legal cover to the practitioners of terror, which means that those people cannot be prosecuted. has used as justification not to charge the practitioners of torture .

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8004319.stm

I always find it fascinating to read original "top secret" documents that have been declassified after the fact. First, they are often the missing link in trying to understand an issue. Second, the fact that they have been released is an indication of a healthy democracy with a strong legal system. According to the BBC, the release of the documents was instigated by the ACLU. I am reminded by release of these documents that there are many countries which would not allow a debate about such an important issue.

Anyway, I read the first of the documents which is a memorandum from the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel to the general counsel of the CIA. It describes in a very clinical way each of the interrogation methods the CIA wants to use in its interrogation of al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah. All the methods under review are approved including one that would confine Abu Zubaydah to a small dark box in which it would only be possible to sit. The lawyers approve the introduction of an insect into the box. According to the memorandum, Abu Zubaydah is afraid of insects.

There are many people on both sides of the torture debate. My argument has always been two-fold and is along the lines of what we discussed in class. One, there are many experienced military professionals and academics that believe that torture almost never results in actionable intelligence. Second, as the Obama administration seems to understand, the U.S. should not be engaging in any act that can even be construed as torture. It brings us down to the level of the terrorists and makes it impossible to convince the people that support the terrorists that the U.S. has their best interests at the heart of its actions.

Let me be absolutely clear, my criticism of the Bush administration's torture policy in no way implies that I have any sympathy for terrorists. While the Egyptians may, in the case of terrorists seeking a Caliphate, after long periods, have managed to convince some of the error of their ways, the leaders (and some operatives) of terrorist organisations upon initial capture are extremely dangerous individuals who need to be tried and (if convicted) jailed (the death penalty creates martyrs). Perhaps subsequently, as the Egyptians have done, the application of learned Islamic scholars will persuade the imprisoned that they were wrong. But at least at the beginning, the threat must be neutralized.

The Promotion of Terrorism through Media

2009-04-16T14:31:00.001-04:00

The question of the weakened media impact of a terrorist tactic is complex. From what we have just seen, it appears rather pertinent. More deaths result from highway accidents than from terrorism, but while auto accidents are seen as things that happen,the rarity of terror attacks enhances their impact, the effect of novelty coming into play almost each time. The fact is that terrorist action seeks media attention and, at the same time, attracts it. Terrorist practices may be compared to a strategy of scandalization, i.e., the way tabloid newspapers run headlines intended to shock and stun the readers. Using this strategy, planes and buses are commandeered, symbolic objectives or tourist sites attacked. These acts may even be timed to make the deadlines for the evening news programs. This is one of the characteristic features of terrorist organizations, some of which may lack the necessary resources to mobilize the people for a revolt or a revolution. Terrorism need not gear its acts of violence to the media in a systematic way. In this case, media impact is only a consequence of the attack. There is a very thin line, though, separating those who benefit from journalistic publicity and those who actually seek it.

To read more: http://english.safe-democracy.org/contribute/terrorism-and-communication.html

Horn a haven for lawlessness

2009-04-16T08:10:00.004-04:00

We have been seeing a great deal of coverage on the country of Somali because of pirate kidnapping of a US ship captain. Somali has been under a mircoscope because
the United States believes Somalia could be a terrorist breeding ground. Osama bin Laden declared his support for Islamic radicals there.

NAIROBI, Kenya
The pirate standoff with the U.S. Navy has burned Somalia into the West's consciousness as a base for lawlessness and terrorism, but the crisis illuminates a potentially dangerous picture confronting a far greater area.
Much of the Horn of Africa, which is made up of six countries covering roughly an area half the size of the United States, is beset by a rare set of disadvantages that makes it ripe for chaos. Poverty, hunger, corruption and lawlessness has made the region a haven not only for pirates, but for arms smugglers and Islamic insurgents.
"The situation in the Horn is the most explosive on the continent," said Francois Grignon, head of the Africa program for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank.
Home to about 165 million people, the six countries that make up the Horn - Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Djibouti - are seen by many as the next possible front in the war on terrorism.
The footpaths, rutted roads and steamy coastal dens along the Horn may seem a world away to many in the West - but the conflicts that fester here have hit home before.
Americans have been targeted in the region in the past, although it is not clear whether the pirates who launched a failed effort to capture the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama last week knew they were attacking an American ship.
U.S. embassies in Nairobi and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were the targets of deadly twin bombings by al Qaeda in 1998. An Israeli airliner and hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, were targeted by terrorists in 2002.
The attacks emanated from neighboring Somalia, which has had no effective central government since 1992 and has a growing militant Islamist movement. And in 2006, Kenyan police caught a smuggler trying to bring in an anti-aircraft missile.
The United States worries that Somalia could be a terrorist breeding ground, particularly since Osama bin Laden declared his support for Islamic radicals there. Bin Laden himself has ties to the region, having once lived in Sudan.
The U.S. has stationed 1,800 troops in Djibouti to help keep terrorist networks in the Horn of Africa in check. The country, which has close ties to the West, is located at a strategic point where the Red Sea opens into the Indian Ocean.
The Horn of Africa is notorious for corrupt governments, porous borders, widespread poverty and discontented populations, creating a region ripe for Islamic fanatics.
When hijackings spiked off the coast of Somalia last year, counterterrorism officials pressed for any evidence that the country's extremist factions, or even al Qaeda militants operating in East Africa, might be using piracy to fund their violence. But the complicated clan structure and Somalia's ungoverned black market - there is no functioning banking system - have made it difficult to trace the cash transactions.
U.S. officials have found no direct ties between East African pirates and terrorist groups. But piracy is thought to be backed by an international network that runs from the Horn of Africa to as far afield as North America. It is made up primarily of Somali expatriates who offer funds, equipment and information in exchange for a cut of the ransoms, according to researchers, officials and members of the racket. With help from the network, Somali pirates brought in at least $80 million last year.
Ethnic Somalis are the common denominator in the Horn of Africa, and their large presence in neighboring countries has long been a source of conflict. In the mid-1970s, Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre advocated expanding the country's borders to unite all Somali-speaking people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Despite Somalia's disastrous and short-lived invasion of Ethiopia in 1977 and political anarchy since 1992, Somali nationalists and Islamic fundamentalists still advocate this Greater Somalia. An ethnic-Somali insurgency continues in eastern Ethiopia. And many Somalis were angered when Ethiopia sent troops at the request of Somalia's weak transitional government to oust Islamists who controlled the capital at the end of 2006 and were expanding their influence.
The Ethiopians withdrew in January as part of an intricate U.N.-mediated peace deal.
Pottengal Mukundan, director of the London-based International Maritime Bureau, said piracy is now becoming a global issue because the pirates are targeting foreign ships further afield from Somalia, in part to avoid international naval forces stationed in the Gulf of Aden.
"The worrying issue is that what was originally a Somali problem has spilled over," Mr. Mukundan said. "If you look at what is available, in Somalia itself, nothing can be done. There is no government. It is a failed state."
As for help from nearby, he said: "The neighboring countries don't have the resources."

American Terrorists

2009-04-16T08:00:00.002-04:00

I read an interesting article by Alan Bisbort focusing on terrorism within the American borders. I hope by reading this article one could see the similarity with school shooting to that of a sucide bomber in Paskistan.

Terrorism begins at home. Long before 9/11, America was rocked by the occasional spat of domestic terrorist violence, from the Columbine shootings to the Oklahoma City bombing. Our history — like that of all countries — is littered with the bodies of people killed as "collateral damage" to some "higher" ideology or government policy. Slavery, it could be argued, was a form of terrorism, as was the slaughter and forced relocation of Native Americans. And so on.
Lately, we've been rocked by a flurry of waves from our homegrown "suicide bombers." Ours don't strap explosives to their bodies and walk into crowds. They simply arm themselves with an arsenal of "legal" weaponry and walk into crowds and start shooting until someone shoots them or they turn the guns on themselves.
In the past six weeks, we've witnessed one man entering a nursing home in North Carolina, exercising his "right to bear arms" as "guaranteed by his Second Amendment rights," while seeking out his wife. Not gaining the proper satisfaction of finding her, he killed seven residents, a nurse and then wounded a cop before being subdued like a rogue elephant. Another man in Pittsburgh railing against "the Zionists controlling the media" and President Barack Obama planning to take away his "right to bear arms" (specifically, assault rifles), gunned down three police officers. A gunman killed 13 people at a civic center in Binghamton, N.Y., and injured four before shooting himself. A man in Alabama killed 10 people, including family members, before shooting himself. Another, in Washington State took revenge on his wife by entering his trailer and shooting all five of their children. Then, he shot himself.
A new list of similarly violent and depraved acts could be compiled next month, or the month after that, but it does seem like we are in the middle of a freakish patch. One could blame the poor economy. Others point to a Greek chorus of right-wing pundits whipping up hate — as a British paper put it: "The [Pittsburgh] killer's views echo the increasingly violent and apocalyptic tone taken by some conservative commentators to a changing America on conservative radio and television networks, where they believe the Obama administration are a bunch of communists and socialists waiting to destroy America internally." I don't subscribe to the latter view; right-wing idiots are always whipping up hate, in good times and bad.
Here's a clue: Last week, an ABC affiliate in Virginia tested the "gun show loophole," which, insanely, lets any adult buy guns from dealers at gun shows with no background check. They sent Omar Samaha, whose sister was one of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre (the second anniversary of which is April 16), to a Richmond show with $5,000. Samaha bought ten guns in less than an hour, including three assault rifles, four shotguns and a Glock pistol, like the one that killed his sister. "I don't want to think about how gruesome it was and how somebody used this type of weapon on my sister and so many innocent people," he said. "It's devastating."
Samaha did not have to pass background checks or even show any legal form of identification. Show them the money in America and you can get your hands on an arsenal of "legal" weaponry within an hour in 33 different states. Expect more carnage.

Al Qaeda Recruiting Video

2009-04-09T08:55:00.000-04:00

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102735818

Obama: U.S. not at war with Islam

2009-04-06T19:02:00.000-04:00

From NBC's Mark Murray
Earlier today, at publication time of our First Thoughts section, we noted that President Obama told the Turkish Parliament that he was committed to renewing the U.S.-Turkey alliance; that his visit to Turkey was sending an important message; that he envisioned Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace; and that two Turks (Hedo Turkoglu and Mehmet Okur) have got game in NBA hoops.

But the biggest news from Obama's speech came at the end -- after we had published -- when the president declared that the U.S. will never be at war with Islam. "I know there have been difficulties these last few years. I know that the trust that binds the United States and Turkey has been strained, and I know that strain is shared in many places where the Muslim faith is practiced," he said. "So let me say this as clearly as I can: The United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam."

Obama continued, "I also want to be clear that America's relationship with the Muslim community, the Muslim world, cannot, and will not, just be based upon opposition to terrorism. We seek broader engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect."

He concluded, "Above all we will demonstrate through actions our commitment to a better future...And when people look back on this time, let it be said of America that we extended the hand of friendship to all people."

Fear Of Terrorism: Disabled And Other Vulnerable Groups More Susceptible

2009-04-04T23:22:00.002-04:00

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/136331.php

Research has shown that certain marginalized groups - including the mentally ill, the disabled and ethnic minorities such as African Americans and Latinos - fare worse than others in the aftermath of natural disasters, suffering disproportionate impoverishment, injuries and fatalities.

Now, a new study by UCLA researchers and colleagues has found that they also experience greater terrorism-related fears and make more behavioral changes based on those fears - such as avoiding certain activities - than others. These groups also tend to overestimate the threat of terrorism, perceiving the risk as high even when the Homeland Security Advisory System's (HSAS) color-coded alert system rates it lower.

The study, published in the January issue of the American Journal of Public Health, is currently available online at http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/full/99/1/168.

"Just like natural disasters have been shown to affect certain groups of people more than others, we're now seeing evidence that terrorism fears are having a disproportionate effect on some of our most vulnerable groups," said leady study author David P. Eisenman, assistant professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "It's important for the public to know this because it shows that terrorism's intention to induce fear and change does work - on the most vulnerable. Terrorism affects these groups even when there has not been an event in a long time.

"It also shows," he added, "that the HSAS color-coding is misjudged by citizens, and the same persons who have the most fear and avoid activities are also misjudging it."

The findings are based on random-digit dial surveys conducted in in six languages in Los Angeles County between October 2004 and January 2005. Respondents were asked the color of the country's alert level at that time, as well as how often they worried about terrorist attacks and how often they avoided activities because of those fears.

Researchers found that the mentally ill, the disabled, African Americans, Latinos, Chinese Americans, Korean Americans and non-U.S. citizens were likelier to think the HSAS alert level was higher than it was, and to worry more and change their behavior due to those fears. These findings present evidence that the structure of the HSAS alerts need to be reevaluated - in part to ensure that terrorism alerts better reach these vulnerable populations, Eisenman said. Also, vulnerable groups need assistance to help them reduce their fears and avoidance. Ensuring that structures can be safely evacuated in the event of a terrorist act, for example, can help reduce some of these fears among the physically disabled.

"Terrorism-related fears and avoidant behavior can be considered part of the 'disaster burden' - the amount of adverse health effects ranging from loss of well-being or security to injury, illness or death caused by a disaster associated with terrorism and national terrorism policies," the researchers conclude. "The disaster burden associated with terrorism and consequent policies may fall disproportionately on the vulnerable groups we studied."

NY Gunman: 'Angry He Was Unemployed'

2009-04-04T15:01:00.002-04:00

A man who killed 13 people in a shooting rampage in New York state was depressed and angry over losing his job, according to his friends.The gunman, 42-year-old Vietnamese immigrant Jiverly Voong, had been complaining that he could not find work and that his unemployment checks were only $200 (£135) a week.

Wong blocked the back doors of the American Civic Association, where he had been learning English, and burst into the front of the centre in a hail of gunfire.

He took dozens hostage in the four-hour spree and killed 13 people, before turning the gun on himself. Police found two handguns and a satchel of ammunition.

Investigators said they had yet to establish a motive for the shooting.

But in Pakistan, a militant Taliban leader wanted by the government claimed responsibility for the massacre.

Taliban owns up to US massacre

2009-04-04T14:53:00.001-04:00

BINGHAMTON, New York – Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility for the shooting rampage at a community center here packed with immigrants taking citizenship classes, despite US reports that a lone Vietnamese gunman was responsible.

Initial investigation said a lone gunman barricaded the back door of the community center with his car and then opened fire on a room full of immigrants, killing 13 people before apparently committing suicide.

Investigators said they had yet to establish a motive for Friday’s massacre, which was at least the fifth deadly mass shooting in the US in the past month alone.

The Department of Foreign Affairs was still awaiting word from the Philippine Consulate General in New York if the casualties included Filipinos.

DFA spokesman J. Eduardo Malaya said the names of the victims would only be made available today.

“Whatever happened in America yesterday, was done by our men,” Mehsud told journalists in Peshawar in a telephone call from an undisclosed location heard by an AFP reporter.

A reason to be hopeful.

2009-04-01T20:25:00.004-04:00

This article is confirmation that the tactic of having Muslim scholars and Muslims in general denounce terrorism is an effective strategy to combat terrorism.

http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000734.htm

I also found interesting the comparison between Islamism and totalitarianism. Islamism, as I understand it, is similar to Communism as it has historically been put into practice. It is composed of an elite that believes it knows what is best for the masses. That makes it OK to seek a way to control the state so that it can put that ideology into practice. What is missing is the voice of the people who are assumed to be too ignorant to know what they want. As we know from history, in almost all situations where the elite takes control without any contribution from the citizenry, state sanctioned terrorism is the result. Examples would include the Khmer Rouge's genocide in Cambodia, Stalin's Great Purge or Mao's Cultural Revolution.

Suicide Bomber in Kandahar kills 8

2009-03-30T23:34:00.002-04:00

I thought this article was interesting,considering we've talked about the recruitment process and such for suicide bombers. It makes me wonder exactly what was done to convince this particular person to do this.

Bomber in Kandahar Kills 8
Top of Form

By TAIMOOR SHAH
Published: March 30, 2009
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew himself up in a government building on the southern outskirts of the city of Kandahar on Monday, killing at least eight people, including five police officers and three civilians, and wounding six others, officials said.
The attack took place a few minutes before noon on the second floor of the building, in an area where Afghan identification cards are issued, said Gen. Ghulam Ali Wahdat, the regional head of police. The district police chief was among the wounded, he said.
Afghan police officers are frequently the target of Taliban attacks from roadside and suicide bombs: A roadside bomb exploded Monday in the eastern Afghan province of Paktia, which borders Pakistan, destroying a police vehicle and killing three police officers, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
But the attack in the government building, which houses civilian registration offices, a police headquarters and a court, appeared particularly brazen.
Taliban attacks have spiked in the last three years, as militants have taken control of wide swaths of countryside. President Obama is sending 21,000 more troops to bolster the 38,000 American soldiers already in the country. In total, NATO and the United States have 70,000 troops in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s police force, which gets less training and equipment than the army, is seen as a weak link in the country’s security structure. Police officers have suffered the brunt of militant attacks, and hundreds have died in bombings and ambushes over the last year.
The need to better train and equip the Afghan security forces was one of the key elements of the strategic review of American policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan announced by President Obama last week.
Sharon Otterman contributed reporting from New York.

Kids 4 Peace continued

2009-03-30T18:07:00.002-04:00

I came across this email today that was sent to me back in January. It is related to an earlier post about the group Kids 4 Peace. The email is from the director of the program that lives in Jerusalem. It is an interesting insider perspective of what's going on over there.

Thank you so much for getting in touch... the terrible violence in Gaza and Israel has affected everyone. The Kids4Peace families are dispirited and stunned... The will to reach out to the "other" has been almost totally obliterated by the shock of warfare .. Israel's overwhelming retaliation for the stupid, irresponsible and self-destructive behavior of the Hamas operatives is calculated and total. The killing machines are in a death grip - with Hamas gunners firing everything they have at anyone in range (today with a missile they killed an Arab construction worker in Ashkelon and wounded 30)... and the Israeli Airforce bombing Gaza into a pulp (today they bombed a Hamas leader's home, but he wasn't home so 30 others were killed or wounded including an 8 year old girl). Over 300 dead in Gaza and thousands wounded, and in southern Israel a state of all-out war alert on the civilian front (two dead and scores injured), --- every Israeli within 30 km of the border living in bunkers and bomb shelters... and in both Israel and Palestine there is anger and fear and dread... "Dialogue" is a word that is only greeted with hoots of derision - we (anyone who professes to be a peacemaker) are a laughing stock. East Jerusalem has been a ghost town --- totally closed down --- a general strike for three days -- with police in the streets and a horrible feeling of conflict and anxiety... Over 100 Arabs in JLM and Galilee have been arrested in two days... for rioting and attacking the roads, the cars, the police... no disciplined non-violent action for protest is possible - everyone is throwing stones, bottles, tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.... It is horrible.My daughter Mori and her husband were attacked on the road while driving home near Haifa.... fortunately they were not harmed... Kids4Peace meetings have been all postponed in spite of all our intentions... Arab families feel besieged and humiliated... it is impossible for the Jewish families to come to the college safely --- stone throwing in the streets in East Jerusalem -- and all over the country... I am in touch daily with the JLM K4P Staff, and we are hoping to meet some day this week... With a heavy heart I prepare to fly out of here on Jan 5 --- I am loathe to leave when things are this horrible... The Kids4Peace --- like all Israelis and Palestinians of good will --- feel helpless in the face of overwhelming might, hatred, self-righteousness and cruelty.... I do hope that some of the Peace Pals from the USA will find it in their hearts to pick up the phone and call Jerusalem.... If there was ever a time that children needed a listening and sympathetic ear, it is NOW. Keep us in your prayers. Henry

Is a hope a secret weapon?

2009-03-29T22:56:00.002-04:00

This article from Huffington Post discusses, among other things, one thing we have talked about in class over and over:

... we are still losing on the most important battle front - communication. We are losing because of one reason. Al Qaeda knows how to effectively communicate with the Muslim world and we don't.

Lydia Khalil: Hope as a Counterterrorism Policy?

Posted using ShareThis

A terrorist message?

2009-03-28T22:07:00.001-04:00

I googled gum arabic after class today and, among other things, this is what I found, a piece of very dark comedy from the Washington Post of all places. At about the three-minute mark the Sudanese ambassador, otherwise known as Khartoum Karl, threatens to cut off the world's supply of Coke unless the U.S. stops sanctions against Sudan for its role in the Darfur genocide.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/05/31/VI2007053100504.html

This is the relevant part from the article written by Dana Milbank:
"I want you to know that the gum arabic which runs all the soft drinks all over the world, including the United States, mainly 80 percent is imported from my country," the ambassador said after raising a bottle of Coca-Cola.
A reporter asked if Sudan was threatening to "stop the export of gum arabic and bring down the Western world."
"I can stop that gum arabic and all of us will have lost this," Khartoum Karl warned anew, beckoning to the Coke bottle. "But I don't want to go that way."
As diplomatic threats go, that one gets high points for creativity: Try to stop the killings in Darfur, and we'll take away your Coca-Cola.

In the spirit of the dark comedy initiated by the Sudanese ambassador my train of thought went as follows:

Initially, and with the perspective of our class, I thought - if the ambassador hasn't issued a terrorist threat, I don't know the definition of terrorism (oh yeah, I forgot, no one knows the definition of terrorism).

However, as this article about Coke consumption in Mexico, which has the highest Coke consumption in the world (527 eight-ounce servings per person per year in 2004!!!), illustrates, perhaps Sudan would actually be doing the world a favor by helping to cut down on the incidence of diabetes.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/225273/coke_mexico_in_health_push_amid_spiraling_diabetes/index.html

So, could Sudan be successful with Cola terrorism?
1) Society must be disrupted: As the article states, our addiction to soft-drinks is causing a public health crisis.
2) Must have support: Sudan would have the support of health professionals and parents worldwide. Muslim society would support a symbol of the West being brought to its knees.
3) Limited aims: The aims are limited: destabilize Western society (through its addiction to soft drinks) to get the West to stop constantly accusing Sudan of genocide.
4) Lack of will to defend against attack: Western governments would find it difficult to find the will to fight back, after all, according to the above article, the health benefits would be enormous, and I imagine they might be too proud to say: "Please sell us your gum arabic because we're all suffering from withdrawal. And, oh, it doesn't matter that you commit genocide because we need your gum arabic more than we want you to stop killing your people."

I understand that our discussion of terrorism does not usually include actions initiated by government, but perhaps in the case of Sudan, those in power have such limited control over the whole country that it might be hard to call them a government. In addition the threats' main audience, like Al Q's audience, is not those that are being threatened (i.e. the West) but the people back home in Sudan. I imagine the ambassador's threat would have played well in the Sudanese media who would probably portray it as sticking one to the U.S.: a good way to stir up nationalist fervor.

However, if Western governments could find the will to retaliate they could form a 'coalition of the willing.' I’m sure Mexico would be up for it considering its citizens would probably be thirsting for something to drink. The coalition could invade Sudan. It might seem quite similar to the invasion of Iraq which some might argue was to guarantee Iraqi oil supplies (not, for example, to help the Kurds or the Shi'a). In Sudan the coalition would be guaranteeing supplies of gum arabic and therefore Cola - the other black gold.

I realize that my post is tongue-in-cheek, especially considering the situation in Darfur. However, the threats against soft drinks from a minister whose country is committing genocide were just so ridiculous (perhaps as ridiculous as Al Q's belief that Muslim countries could put aside their differences long enough to establish a Caliphate) that I just couldn't leave well enough alone. My apologies to anyone I may have offended.

Obama is Increasing U.S. Military Presence in Afghanistan

2009-03-27T12:27:00.001-04:00

Looks like we're picking up the pace in Afghanistan...and Obama is asking for government money for humanitarian aid in Pakistan.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/2009327143036862454.html

Terrorism?

2009-03-26T11:24:00.005-04:00

We mentioned Wal-mart in class, and although the point was not to link it to terrorism, I couldn't help but think about it. (I was a full time employee for a little over 2 years. I'll admit I'm a little biased.)
If you think about it, Wal-mart employees are very large group of miserable people that no one is listening to. I'm not sure if this is exactly terrorism, but I think this guy was trying to send a message through his self-inflicted violence.

Wal-Mart employee dies after setting himself on fire
Tribune staff report
February 28, 2009

A Wal-Mart employee who told police he "couldn't take it anymore" lit himself on fire late Thursday outside the Bloomingdale store where he worked and later was pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said Friday.

The 58-year-old Carol Stream man was in a parking lot of an adjacent sporting goods store in the west suburban strip mall when he set himself on fire with lighter fluid about 10 p.m., said Randy Sater, a watch commander with the Bloomingdale Police Department.

The man was transported to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove before being transferred to the burn unit at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. He was pronounced dead there at 12:42 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-wal-mart-suicide-blotter-28-feb28,0,2211223.story

This has absolutely nothing to do with terrorism.

2009-03-25T10:21:00.002-04:00

If you use Twitter then you might consider following the feed NASADryden. Dryden Flight Research Center is the premier aeronautical engineering test center in the world. It is also where the space shuttle lands when it cannot go to Florida, which is almost half the time. You should be able to follow the preparations for a landing since a shuttle departs the space station today.

Communication majors will be especially interested since NASADryden is the brainchild of someone with a degree in Communication. Success of the feed will go a long way towards justifying the money I spent for her tuition.

Transcript of latest bin Laden release

2009-03-24T19:38:00.002-04:00

An English translation of the March 19 bin Laden audio regarding Somalia can be found, courtesy of the NEFA Foundation, here. "Fight on, Champions of Somalia" has not made the Billboard charts yet but I hear that it is a big seller in Mogadishu. Douglas Farah has an interesting interpretation on his blog for March 20: Osama bin Laden is beginning to realize that he is fading into unimportance.

Detainee pleads not guilty in terror case

2009-03-24T02:44:00.002-04:00

By Joel Hood
Chicago Tribune
Published: Monday, March 23, 2009 10:50 p.m. MDT

PEORIA, Ill. ( MCT) — A Bradley University graduate accused of being an al-Qaida sleeper agent pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court, nearly six years after the Bush administration declared him an enemy combatant.
Ali al-Marri, 43, appeared in good spirits as he met with attorneys and stood before the judge on charges he conspired to provide and did provide material support to al-Qaida before and after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.
The bearded Marri, who wore a simple white collared shirt and kufi hat, was seen smiling while he met with attorneys before the hearing.
"He's not bitter the way you'd expect somebody to be in his situation," said his attorney Andrew Savage of Charleston, S.C., where Marri had been held in a Navy brig since 2003. "He harbors no ill will, no ill will at all to America."
Savage, who said he is working the case pro bono, said Marri was relieved to be back in Peoria, where he had studied at Bradley University until his arrest on credit card fraud and lying to the FBI in late 2001.
The federal government has said that Marri met with Osama bin Laden and offered his services to al-Qaida for a suicide mission. In 2003, the Bush administration labeled him an enemy combatant and detained him in a Navy brig without charge.

Bauer Calls Plans to Release Terrorist in the U.S. 'An Outrage...Confirming Our Worst Fears'

2009-03-24T02:42:00.000-04:00

Contact: Kristi Hamrick of American Values, +1-571-244-6324
WASHINGTON, March 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Former presidential candidate Gary L. Bauer on Thursday expressed shock and outrage over the Obama Administration's admission that it is considering releasing terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay into the United States.
Responding to comments by Attorney General Eric Holder, Bauer, President of American Values said, "The first obligation of the government is to keep Americans safe. How can releasing enemy combatants, picked up on foreign battlefields, into American neighborhoods possibly safeguard our security?
"In recent days, there have been reports of missing American Somalis leading to active FBI investigations about jihad recruitment in several major American cities. It is unconscionable that this administration would even entertain the idea of adding to that problem by importing terrorist suspects from GITMO.
"For a president who likes to emulate Franklin Roosevelt on economic policy, I wish he would model Roosevelt on national security policy too. Nazi spies captured in this country and accused of plotting acts of terrorism were tried in military tribunals and executed in a matter of weeks. Our goal in World War II was victory. Our demand was unconditional surrender, not more negotiations and diplomacy with our enemies."
"Americans were concerned when President Obama ordered GITMO closed without any plan for the thugs currently detained there. We were rightly outraged when the Obama Administration followed that up by dropping the charges against the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing, which killed 17 American sailors. Sadly, Attorney General Holder has just confirmed our worst fears."

Kids 4 Peace

2009-03-19T16:17:00.003-04:00

This program selects several 11 year old children of different faiths and cultures to come together in an effort to support peace between the U.S. and the Middle East. It is often hard to change the hearts and minds of adults that have been raised with hatred and misunderstanding. The reason they choose 11 year olds is because they are still young enough to be impressionable, but old enough to understand the concept and goals of K4P, fighting terrorism with with communication and understanding.

It's a very interesting organization. Check out their website for more information.

Court can use Georgia Tech student’s jihad statement

2009-03-18T01:26:00.000-04:00

By BILL RANKIN
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Atlanta terrorism defendant Syed Haris Ahmed’s statements that he considered planning a terrorist attack and dying a martyr waging jihad can be used against him at trial, a judge has ruled.
Handing federal prosecutors a major victory, U.S. Magistrate Gerrilyn Brill rejected arguments that the former Georgia Tech student was coerced by agents into making the statements.
Ahmed and co-defendant, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, of Roswell, are charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Both have pleaded not guilty and are being held without bond. Their trial dates have yet to be set.
Over the course of five interviews in March 2006, Ahmed admitted traveling to Washington to take “casing videos” that were sent to “jihadi brothers” overseas.
He also said that when he visited Pakistan in 2005, he hoped to be recruited into a jihadi training camp to learn how to fight against Muslim oppressors. During a trip to Canada the same year, Ahmed told agents, he met with “brothers” and discussed attacking oil refineries, a military base or the satellite system that controls the global positioning system.
About 11 hours of tape recordings of the interviews were played during hearings early this year. They portray Ahmed as an impressionable, soft-spoken student transfixed by Internet sites and chat rooms that were popular with extremists and promoted the annihilation of the enemies of Islam.
In one sobering exchange, Ahmed told agents he had thought about committing a terrorist act here.
“My intentions were to do something in America,” he said. “Yes, attack.”
His appointed attorney, Jack Martin, has noted that Ahmed never committed a violent act or developed a specific plan to carry one out.
Martin contended Ahmed was coerced into making the statements by agents who used psychological tactics, such a threats of arrests and promises of leniency. The agents also preyed on Ahmed’s deeply held Muslim faith, Martin said, calling the statements involuntary.
In a 64-page ruling issued Monday, Brill disagreed.
“Although [Ahmed] was deeply religious, he was also 21 years old, intelligent and had been interviewed by law enforcement twice before,” Brill wrote. “There is nothing … to suggest that [Ahmed’s] will was critically affected by the agents’ various appeals to his Muslim beliefs and there is nothing inherently coercive about such tactics.”
U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said, “We are very pleased with the court’s thorough and well-reasoned opinion rejecting defendant Ahmed’s motion to suppress the highly incriminating statements he made to the FBI.”
Martin vowed to appeal. “It makes no sense to conclude that a suspect has voluntarily given a statement to law enforcement officers when he has been promised he will not be arrested and left alone if he talks, but will be arrested and prosecuted if he does not,” he said.
Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, moved to the United States with his parents when he was 12. At the time of his arrest, Ahmed was a Georgia Tech engineering student working part-time at a perfume shop.
Authorities had come to suspect Ahmed and Sadequee were behind the videos of various Washington-area buildings found on the computer of Younis Tsouli.
Tsouli, who called himself Irhabi (Arabic for “terrorist”) 007, is imprisoned for terrorism-related crimes in England. Agents later confirmed that Ahmed and Sadequee made those videos during a trip to the nation’s capital in April 2005.
But in March 2006, with intelligence drying up, authorities confronted Ahmed to see if it was true and to gain his cooperation.
FBI Agent Mark Richards and Khalid Sediqi, a DeKalb County detective and member of a terrorism task force, met Ahmed as he walked one morning to his ranch-style home in Midtown. They would interview Ahmed five times â€” first at his home, next at a hotel and, the final three occasions, at FBI headquarters in Atlanta.
The two counterterrorism agents played good cop, bad cop. Sediqi, who is Muslim, built a rapport with Ahmed through their shared beliefs. Richards berated and threatened Ahmed when agents believed he wasn’t being truthful with them.
Their tactics worked. Ahmed gave up more and more. He ultimately took the agents to his parents’ home in Dawsonville to retrieve the camera used to take the casing videos.
Although Ahmed called the amateurish videos “stupid,” he admitted they could be used for “some kind of terrorist act.”
“We could be spies for the people over there,” Ahmed told the agents, referring to extremists overseas. “It’s like, uh, thrilling to be undercover and stuff like that.”

Honey, I'm Dead! How God rewards a female suicide bomber

2009-03-18T01:18:00.000-04:00

A female suicide bomber detonated a vest filled with explosives at a university in Baghdad Sunday, killing more than 40 people. If male martyrs can expect to find 72 virgin maidens in paradise when they die, what rewards can female suicide bombers expect?
Their husbands. The Quran itself describes little about the specifics of the afterlife, but it does note that believers will find huris, or maidens "of modest gaze, whom neither man nor jinni will have touched before them." (Every believer can end up in heaven; martyrs just get there faster.) Respected commentator Al-Tirmidhi said in a hadith that every man will have six dozen huris in heaven, but very few commentators enumerated the rewards for women. Ninth-century scholar Al-Tabarani did argue that women will be reunited with their husbands in the next world, and those who had multiple husbands can pick the best one to be their eternal spouse. (Other commentators added that a woman who never married can marry any man she wants in paradise.)
From the 9th through the 12th centuries, Muslim scholars described paradise as a place of sensual delights—for men. They debated whether men remained married to their wives in heaven, whether they could have sex with the virgins, and whether the heavenly virgins had anuses. (Some said there was no need for elimination in the afterlife.) There was even disagreement on the number of virgins assigned to each man. While Al-Tirmidhi said it was 72, Mulla Ali Qari, an 11th-century imam, counted 70 virgins and two human wives. Imam Al-Bayhaqi was more generous, granting men 500 wives, 4,000 virgins, and 8,000 previously married women. The meaning of the word hur is also open to interpretation, since it reads as "white raisins" when translated as a Syriac rather than Arabic word.
Women may not get these particular perks, but religious commentaries argue that paradise will make them beautiful, happy, and without jealousy. The fact that they fasted and worshipped Allah during their earthly lives will also make them superior to the virgins, who only exist in heaven. Some modern clerics argue that in heaven, husbands never grow bored of their wives, even with so many huris around. That may explain why some would-be female suicide bombers have spoken of becoming "chief of the 72 virgins, the fairest of the fair."

More on al Qaeda Internet Strategy

2009-03-17T22:28:00.000-04:00

An Internet Jihad Aims at U.S. Viewers - New York Times

An Internet Jihad Aims at U.S. Viewers
Michael Moss/The New York Times

By MICHAEL MOSS and SOUAD MEKHENNET
Published: October 15, 2007

When Osama bin Laden issued his videotaped message to the American people last month, a young jihad enthusiast went online to help spread the word.

The global jihad is as close as YouTube, which features videos like an ode to suicide attacks (top), a message “to black Americans” from a bin Laden lieutenant (center), and an Iraq insurgency promotional message (bottom).

Abu Omar, a former insurgent in Iraq, said the insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi recognized the power of the media and ordered that every group of fighters carry a video camera, and that “every operation should be taped.”
Michael Moss/The New York Times

Dr. Muhammad Massari, who runs a jihadi Web site in London.
Bryan Denton for The New York Times

Abu Omar made bombmaking videos in Iraq.

“America needs to listen to Shaykh Usaamah very carefully and take his message with great seriousness,” he wrote on his blog. “America is known to be a people of arrogance.”

Unlike Mr. bin Laden, the blogger was not operating from a remote location. It turns out he is a 21-year-old American named Samir Khan who produces his blog from his parents’ home in North Carolina, where he serves as a kind of Western relay station for the multimedia productions of violent Islamic groups.

In recent days, he has featured “glad tidings” from a North African militant leader whose group killed 31 Algerian troops. He posted a scholarly treatise arguing for violent jihad, translated into English. He listed hundreds of links to secret sites from which his readers could obtain the latest blood-drenched insurgent videos from Iraq.

His neatly organized site also includes a file called “United States of Losers,” which showcased a recent news broadcast about a firefight in Afghanistan with this added commentary from Mr. Khan: “You can even see an American soldier hiding during the ambush like a baby!! AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar!”

Mr. Khan, who was born in Saudi Arabia and grew up in Queens, is an unlikely foot soldier in what Al Qaeda calls the “Islamic jihadi media.” He has grown up in middle-class America and wrestles with his worried parents about his religious fervor. Yet he is stubborn. “I will do my best to speak the truth, and even if it annoys the disbelievers, the truth must be preached,” Mr. Khan said in an interview.

While there is nothing to suggest that Mr. Khan is operating in concert with militant leaders, or breaking any laws, he is part of a growing constellation of apparently independent media operators who are broadcasting the message of Al Qaeda and other groups, a message that is increasingly devised, translated and aimed for a Western audience.

Terrorism experts at West Point say there are as many as 100 English language sites offering militant Islamic views, with Mr. Khan’s — which claims 500 regular readers — among the more active. While their reach is difficult to assess, it is clear from a review of extremist material and interviews that militants are seeking to appeal to young American and European Muslims by playing on their anger over the war in Iraq and the image of Islam under attack.

Tedious Arabic screeds are reworked into flashy English productions. Recruitment tracts are issued in multiple languages, like a 39-page, electronic, English version of a booklet urging women to join the fight against the West.

There are even online novellas like “Rakan bin Williams,” about a band of Christian European converts who embraced Al Qaeda and “promised God that they will carry the flag of their distant brothers and seek vengeance on the evil doers.”

Militant Islamists are turning grainy car-bombing tapes into slick hip-hop videos and montage movies, all readily available on Western sites like YouTube, the online video smorgasbord.

“It is as if you would watch a Hollywood movie,” said Abu Saleh, a 21-year-old German devotee of Al Qaeda videos who visits Internet cafes in Berlin twice a week to get the latest releases. “The Internet has totally changed my view on things.”

An Internet Strategy

Al Qaeda and its followers have used the Internet to communicate and rally support for years, but in the past several months the Western tilt of the message and the sophistication of the media have accelerated. So has the output. Since the beginning of the year, Al Qaeda’s media operation, Al Sahab, has issued new videotapes as often as every three days. Even more come from Iraq, where insurgents are pumping them out daily.

That production line is the legacy of one man: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia who was killed in June 2006 by American bombs.

Mr. Zarqawi learned the power of the Internet in prison, according to a former associate who was imprisoned with him in Jordan a decade ago. Mr. Zarqawi’s jailhouse group of 32 Islamists sought to recruit other prisoners by handwriting a newsletter, Al Tawheed, when it discovered a larger audience.

“We sent them outside, to brothers in Europe and England,” who posted the newsletters on militant Web sites, the associate said, asking not be identified because he said he is involved with Islamist activities.

In Iraq, Mr. Zarqawi embraced the video camera as a weapon of war. “He made the decision that every group should have a video camera with them, and every operation should be taped,” said a Palestinian militant who went to Iraq in 2005 to teach foreign fighters from Morocco and parts of Europe how to build bombs and stage roadside attacks.

Two Lebanese intelligence officials confirmed that the Palestinian, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Omar, had worked with Mr. Zarqawi in Iraq, and he played a video of foreign fighters in Iraq for reporters of The New York Times.

Abu Omar, 37, a muscular man who carried a Glock 21 pistol tucked into the belt of his camouflage pants during an interview at his home in Lebanon, said Mr. Zarqawi also had him tape his bombmaking classes so his expertise would not be lost if he were killed.

“We had two cameramen, people who learned how to do this before they came to Iraq,” Abu Omar said. “And after filming, we had different houses in the area where we made the videos.”

Dahia al-Maqdassi, 26, a Palestinian who said he produced insurgent videos in Iraq two years ago, said, “In every city in Iraq they had a little office where someone did film operations.” He described his “media section” as a house near Falluja where 6 to 10 people worked. “We finished the film and then sent it to jihadi Web sites,” Mr. Maqdassi said.

Propaganda Rap Video

One of the most influential sites is Tajdeed, which is based in London and run by Dr. Muhammad Massari, a Saudi physicist and dissident. Over lunch at a McDonald’s near his home, Dr. Massari said Mr. Zarqawi’s insurgent videos from Iraq inspired local productions like “Dirty Kuffar,” the Arabic word for nonbeliever. The 2004 rap music video mixed images of Western leaders with others purporting to show American troops cheer as they shot injured Iraqi civilians.

Dr. Massari, who helped promote the video, said similar crossover productions soon followed and made their way to his Web site.

“I never touch the videos that are on my forums,” said Dr. Massari, who wears a long white Arabic robe. “Someone with Al Qaeda uploads them, probably at Internet cafes, to password-protected sites. Then they call a friend, say, in Australia or Brasília, and say, ‘Hi Johnny, your mom is traveling today.’ That is the code to download the video. It goes up and down like that a few times, with no trace, until someone posts a link on my site.”

Last spring, Al Qaeda made what analysts say was a bold attempt to tap potential supporters in the United States. In a videotaped interview, Ayman al-Zawahri, a bin Laden lieutenant, praised Malcolm X and urged American blacks and other minorities to see that “we are waging jihad to lift oppression from all of mankind.”

The tape quickly found an audience. Mr. Zawahri “cares about black people,” wrote a blogger with Vibe, the American hip-hop and urban culture magazine, which claims 1.6 million visits a month. “At least, I think that’s why he’s quoting Malcolm X in his latest mix tape, which dropped last weekend.”

Umar Lee, a 32-year-old Muslim convert from St. Louis, offered a stinging critique of Mr. Zawahri on his blog for Muslim Americans, criticizing “the second-class status many blacks live in right in the Arab World.” Soon, Mr. Lee’s blog churned with commentary on the parallels between Arab and black American radicals.

A four-minute version of the hourlong Qaeda video, entitled “To Black Americans,” has logged more than 1,800 views on YouTube in the four months since it was posted.

Among those who posted a link to the YouTube version was Mr. Khan, the North Carolina blogger who said he was struck by the simplicity in the messages of both Al Qaeda and Malcolm X. “They are geniuses for having the ability to mold their ideology into simple yet influential messages that can reach the grass-roots level,” he said.

Mr. Khan produces his blog anonymously, but was identified by The Times through the e-mail account he used in previous online discussions. (Pictures he had posted online helped The Times distinguish him from another, unrelated North Carolina resident, about 10 years older, who has the same name.)

In an interview at a local mosque, where he sat on a prayer rug wearing a traditional Arabic robe, Mr. Khan traced his increasing militancy.

His blog has attracted enough notoriety that vigilante groups opposed to jihadi sites have gotten him shut down a few times in recent months. He said he was somewhat surprised he had not been confronted by government authorities, although, he said, “I’ve never told anybody to build bombs.”

His early postings, beginning in 2003, promoted strengthening Islam in North America through nonviolent confrontations. But with the escalating war in Iraq, bloodshed became a recurrent theme.

He described his favorite video from Iraq: a fiery suicide-bomber attack on an American outpost.

“It was something that brought great happiness to me,” he said. “Because this is something America would never want to admit, that they are being crushed.”

Asked how he felt living among people who had sent soldiers to Iraq, Mr. Khan said: “Whatever happens to their sons and daughters is none of my concern. They are people of hellfire and I have no concern for them.”

A Teenage Transformation

Born in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Khan was 7 when his family moved to New York City and settled into the Queens neighborhood of Maspeth.

He mirrored his teenage peers, from their slang to their baggy pants, until August 2001 when, at age 15, he said, he attended a weeklong summer camp at a mosque in Queens, which was sponsored by a fundamentalist but nonviolent group now known as the Islamic Organization of North America (IONA).

“They were teaching things about religion and brotherhood that captivated me,” Mr. Khan said. He said he went back to school knowing “what I wanted to do with my life: be a firm Muslim, a strong Muslim, a practicing Muslim.”

He prayed more regularly. He dressed more modestly. He stopped listening to music except for Soldiers of Allah, a Los Angeles hip-hop group, now defunct, whose tunes like “Bring Islam Back” continue to have worldwide appeal among militant youths.

He also befriended members of the Islamic Thinkers Society, a tiny group that promotes radical, nonviolent Islam by leafleting in Times Square and Jackson Heights, Queens.

After moving with his family to North Carolina in 2004, Mr. Khan said, he attended a community college for three years and earned money selling various products, including kitchen knives.

But he began spending chunks of his days on the blog he created in late 2005, “Inshallahshaheed,” which translates as “a martyr soon if God wills.” The Internet traffic counter Alexa.com, which rarely is able to measure the popularity of blogs because they do not have enough readers, ranked his among the top one percent of one hundred million Internet sites in the world.

If Mr. Khan’s extreme rhetoric has won him a wider audience, it has caused him problems at home. Last year, his father tried to pull him back to the family’s more moderate views by asking an imam to intervene.

“I tried to bring arguments from the Koran and scholars, and said, ‘Whatever you are thinking it is not true,’” said Mustapha Elturk, a family friend and the leader of IONA, the Islamic organization that first inspired Mr. Khan. But Mr. Khan did not budge, he said.

Mr. Khan said he separated from IONA over one matter: the organization would not support violent jihad without the endorsement of a Muslim nation’s leader, which Mr. Khan argues is unnecessary.

Mr. Elturk said, “His father and family are really scared that he might do something.”

Attempts to Shut Down Blog

From time to time, Mr. Khan said, his father also cut off his Internet access and, to placate him, Mr. Khan recently added a disclaimer to his blog disavowing responsibility for the views expressed on the site.

He has also been fending off citizen watchdogs who are working to knock sites likes his off the Internet. Twice in September his blog went dark when his service provider shut him down, citing complaints about the nature of his postings.

Mr. Khan has now moved his blog to a site called Muslimpad, whose American operators recently moved from Texas to Amman, Jordan. Their larger forum, Islamic Network, is the host of discussions among English-speaking Muslims. One of their former employees, Daniel Maldonado, was convicted this year in federal court of associating with terrorists at their training camps in Somalia.

Mr. Khan said that he had dreams about meeting Mr. bin Laden and that he would not rule out picking up a weapon himself one day. In a recent essay, he argued that jihad was mandatory for all Muslims, and he cited three ways to fulfill this obligation: join fighters in Iraq, Afghanistan or Algeria; send them money; or promote militant videos as part of the jihad media.

For now, he said, he is fulfilling his obligations by helping other Muslims understand their religion. Recently he posted a video of a news report from Somalia showing a grenade-wielding American who had joined the Islamists.

“He is an example of a Muslim who follows the Religion of Islaam,” Mr. Khan wrote.

Michael Moss reported from Jordan, Lebanon, Germany, London and North Carolina; and Souad Mekhennet from Jordan, Lebanon and Germany. Margot Williams and Hoda Osman contributed from New York.

Infidel

2009-03-16T21:22:00.003-04:00

Infidel is Ayaan Hirsi Ali's memoir.

"Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one of Europe's most controversial political figures and a target for terrorists. A notably enigmatic personality whose fierce criticisms of Islam have made her a darling of controversies."

Named in top 100 most influenctional people in the world in 2005 Time Magazine

Moral Courage Award for commitment to conflict resolution, ethics, and world citizenship

Fighting among terrorist groups

2009-03-15T13:46:00.001-04:00

Rival Islamist groups clash in Somalia, 11 killed - washingtonpost.com

Rival Islamist groups clash in Somalia, 11 killed

Sunday, March 15, 2009; 7:34 AM

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Eleven people were killed in overnight clashes between rival Islamist groups over a central Somalia region, residents said on Sunday, as fighting continued on the outskirts of their town.

Fighters of the moderate Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca captured Wabho town, 300 km (186 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu, from the more hardline al Shaabab group in fighting that started on Saturday.

"I have counted 11 dead people lying in the alleys of Wabho," witness Abdi Ali told Reuters.

"They were all fighters except a woman killed by a stray bullet. We have been under fire since last night."

The fighting between the two groups is the fiercest in recent days and residents say al Shaabab fighters have been flowing into the region to reinforce their numbers there.

Habiba Osman, another Wabho resident, told Reuters most of the residents had fled their homes and that fighting was still going on in a forest near the town.

"I have seen at least 10 injured people but no one has given them any first aid," she said by telephone.

"There is no hospital here and we hear heavy gunfire in the nearby woods. Other Islamist groups have now joined al Shabaab in the war and we have no hope of peace in the coming days."

An Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca spokesman said his group had killed eight al Shabaab combatants and captured seven others.

"We lost one and four others were injured from our side," spokesman Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abu Yusuf told Reuters.

"We shall conclude the war in a short while, however many terrorist groups there are. Wabho is now in our hand and we are now about to capture El Bur, their biggest base," Yusuf added.

Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca says it supports President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed but has warned him against reaching out to its arch-foe al Shabaab, that is on Washington's list of foreign terrorists.

Al Shabaab, which is seeking to impose a strict version of Islamic law, controls parts of central and the entire south except Mogadishu.

More than 16,000 civilians have been killed in Somalia's two-year-old insurgency and a million others driven from their homes.

(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh, Abdi Guled and Ibrahim Mohamed, editing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura)

9/11 defendants hail terrorist status

2009-03-10T23:42:00.001-04:00

Five men charged in the September 11 attacks mock US authorities and proclaim themselves "terrorists to the bone" in a war crimes court filing released on Tuesday.
The five Guantanamo prisoners use the six-page document to try to justify the killing of nearly 3,000 people, portraying the attack as a response to US actions in Israel, Iraq and elsewhere that is supported by their Muslim faith.
"We fight you over defending Muslims, their land, their holy sites, and their religion as a whole," they write in the document, which was submitted to the Guantanamo war crimes court and released by the Pentagon, in English, over the objections of lawyers for two of the men.
The five had previously said they wanted to plead guilty to the charges against them, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed September 11 mastermind, had expressed pride in the attacks. But this is their most detailed response yet.
All five were charged with murder and other crimes at the Guantanamo war crimes court, which was suspended by US President Barack Obama in January while his administration considers new strategies for prosecuting terrorists.
The charges, which carry a potential death sentence, "are badges of honour, which we carry with pride", they write.
The charge of conspiracy is "laughable", they write, because the planning was intended to be secret.
"Your intelligence apparatus, with all its abilities... failed to discover our military attack plans before the blessed 11 September operation... Why then should you blame us, holding us accountable and putting us on trial?"
They criticise the US for fighting "from behind roadblocks, trenches and warplanes" rather than face-to-face and describe Islam as "a religion of fear" for Jews, Christians and pagans.
"We are terrorists to the bone. So, many thanks to God," they write.
Obama has ordered the closure of Guantanamo, so if and when the trials resume, they will be held somewhere else and most likely under a different legal system than the widely criticised military commissions created by Congress and President George W Bush.
Three of the men are acting as their own lawyers but two of the men, Ramzi Binalshibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, still have Pentagon-appointed military lawyers pending a court ruling on whether they are mentally competent to represent themselves.
Their lawyers, Army Major Jon Jackson and Navy Commander Suzanne Lachelier, said they had not met with their clients to discuss the document and cannot say what may have motivated the men to sign it - or even vouch for its authenticity.
"Based on our review of the unsigned, English and typed document there is no evidence that either Mr Binalshibh or Mr al-Hawsawi knew about, read, or signed this document," they said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.
Pentagon spokesman Jeffrey Gordon called the filing "merely another attempt by these detainees to garner publicity".

Extremists In Somalia Recruiting Americans

2009-03-10T23:35:00.001-04:00

By Spencer S. Hsu and Carrie JohnsonWashington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, March 11, 2009; Page A01
Senior U.S. counterterrorism officials are stepping up warnings that Islamist extremists in Somalia are radicalizing Americans to their cause, citing their successful recruitment of the first U.S. citizen suicide bomber and their potential role in the disappearance of more than a dozen Somali American youths.
In recent public statements, the director of national intelligence and the leaders of the FBI and CIA have cited the case of Shirwa Ahmed, a 27-year-old college student from Minneapolis who blew himself up in Somalia on Oct. 29 in one of five simultaneous bombings attributed to al-Shabaab, a group with close links to al-Qaeda.
Since November, the FBI has raced to uncover any ties to foreign extremist networks in the unexpected departures of numerous Somali American teenagers and young men, who family members believe are in Somalia. The investigation is active in Boston; San Diego; Seattle; Columbus, Ohio; and Portland, Maine, a U.S. law enforcement official said, and community members say federal grand juries have issued subpoenas in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
Officials are still trying to assess the scope of the problem but say reports so far do not warrant a major concern about a terrorist threat within the United States. But intelligence officials said the recruitment of U.S. citizens by terrorist groups is particularly worrisome because their American passports could make it easier for them to reenter the country. Al-Shabaab -- meaning "the youth" or "young guys" in Arabic -- "presents U.S. authorities with the most serious evidence to date of a 'homegrown' terrorist recruitment problem right in the American heartland," Georgetown University professor Bruce R. Hoffman says in a forthcoming report by the SITE Intelligence Group, a private firm that monitors Islamist Web sites.
The extent of al-Shabaab's reach into the U.S. Somali community, estimated at up to 200,000 foreign-born residents and their relatives, will be the subject of a hearing today by the Senate homeland security committee, chaired by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.).
U.S. officials give varying assessments of the problem. On Feb. 25, CIA Director Leon Panetta told reporters that the relationship between Somalis in the United States and in Somalia "raises real concerns about the potential for terrorist activity" and "constitutes a potential threat to the security of this country."
Two days later, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III appeared to play down the concern, calling Ahmed "just one manifestation of a problem" since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks of young men in the United States being recruited to fight with terrorists overseas. Federal authorities have investigated cases of U.S. fighters in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia.
Mueller added in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, "We certainly believe that [Ahmed] was recruited here in the United States, and we do believe that there may have been others that have been radicalized as well."
Overall, U.S. intelligence officials assess that "homegrown" extremists are not as numerous, active or skilled here as they are in Europe, but authorities remain focused on what Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair called the "likelihood that a small but violent number of cells may develop here."
Domestic radicalization has been a greater concern in Europe than in the United States, whose economic mobility, assimilative culture and historic openness to immigrants has provided some insulation, U.S. officials suggest. In the year before the 2005 London transit attack, Britain in particular struggled with reports that al-Qaeda was secretly recruiting Muslims at British universities and that up to 3,000 Britons had returned over a decade from the terrorist group's camps.
U.S. authorities have been wary of stereotyping Somalis or overstating concerns, with Mueller recently comparing the situation that in Ireland, another country with civil strife, terrorism and a large immigrant community in the United States but little violence here.
Al-Shabaab's ranks may also diminish now that an Islamist government has replaced a U.S.-backed Ethiopian occupation in Somalia. "It's very difficult to see how launching an attack using a sleeper cell in the United States would in any way serve their interests," said Kenneth J. Menkhaus, a political scientist at Davidson College who specializes in East Africa.
The FBI investigation into Ahmed's death may help determine how broad the problem is. The coordinated bombings in two cities about 500 miles north of Mogadishu represented "a qualitative leap" of terrorist capabilities and were probably the work of al-Shabaab, according to a United Nations monitoring group. In February 2008, the U.S. State Department designated al-Shabaab a terrorist group.
Little has been said publicly about Ahmed, a naturalized citizen who reportedly moved to Minneapolis in 1996 and graduated from a local high school. As accounts of his death spread, distraught Somali American families came forward in Minneapolis, alleging that the first young man left a year ago, then eight more Aug. 1, followed by seven on Election Day. Four families spoke out publicly, and U.S. authorities confirmed the names of Burhan Hassan, 17, and Mustafa Ali, 17, seniors at two local high schools who families said attended the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center mosque.
Relatives tell similar stories. Hassan was a bookworm who wanted to become a doctor or a lawyer and spent time after school and on weekends at the mosque, Minnesota's largest, which Ali also attended, said Osman Ahmed, 43, Hassan's cousin. Two 19-year-olds were studying medicine and engineering at the University of Minnesota, but they became antisocial, speaking and eating less as they grew more devout, Ahmed said.
Hassan had no job and no money, but when he did not come home Nov. 4, his family discovered that his passport, laptop computer and cellphone were gone, and they found paperwork for nearly $2,000 in airfare, Ahmed said. He said Universal Travel, a nearby travel agency, had said an adult claiming to be a parent paid for tickets of several youths.
"We believe a minority group are recruiting these kids and brainwashing them and financing and arranging the travel," Ahmed said. "Those who are recruiting kids here can harm us here."
Ahmed said the young men periodically call their relatives, who say they repeat terse, scripted statements that they are safe and in Somalia studying, but nothing more.
Somalis as a whole may be vulnerable to radical appeals since their home country has been torn by two decades of political strife and they are among the youngest, poorest and newest immigrants to the United States. According to a U.S. census report, nearly 60 percent of Somali immigrants arrived since 2000; their average age is 26.8 years; and 51 percent live in poverty, with a median household income of $21,461, compared with the national median of $61,173.
Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in Minnesota, said the group first alerted the local FBI a year ago, when family members believed Sakaria Sharif Macruf had left and been killed fighting in Somalia. He later turned up alive but with al-Shabaab in Kismaayo, a city in southern Somalia under the group's control, Ahmed said.
Jamal said U.S. government policies since 9/11 helped push alienated youths toward radicals.
"You have high rates of young guys unemployed. You have a high rate of dropouts. They're difficult to integrate and work into the mainstream." He said religious extremists worked with youths and "gave them hope in their lives -- then indoctrinated them into this violent, radical ideology."
Mahir Sherif, a lawyer for the mosque, said its imam, Abdirahman Ahmed, and a youth coordinator were barred from flying last winter by U.S. authorities in connection with the investigation. But Sherif said there is no evidence that mosque leaders recruited, financed or facilitated young men to go to Somalia and accused Jamal and his allies of acting out of hatred for the Muslim religious establishment.
The Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center "does not engage in political activities, has not and will not recruit for any political cause and never will be in support of terrorist philosophy or acts," Sherif said, adding: "The center unequivocally condemns suicide bombings and all acts of indiscriminate violence."
E.K. Wilson, a spokesman for the FBI in Minneapolis, declined to comment on the probe but said: "We're aware some of these young kids have traveled to the Horn of Africa to train, possibly to fight, with terrorist groups. We're trying to expand our outreach effort in the Somali American community here in Minneapolis to cover a broader base of the population here."
Earlier last year, Ruben Shumpert, an African American convert to Islam from Seattle, was killed in a U.S.-supported rocket attack near Mogadishu after he fled to Somalia in part to avoid prison after pleading guilty to gun and counterfeiting charges in the United States.
Another man, Boston native Daniel J. Maldonado, now 30, became in February 2007 the first American to be charged with a crime for joining Islamist extremist fighters in Somalia. Maldonado moved to Texas, changed his name to Daniel Aljughaifi and traveled to Africa in 2005, according to government court filings. He was captured by Kenyan soldiers in 2007 and returned to the United States, where he is serving a 10-year prison term.

ALF takes credit for "suspicious arson" in LA

2009-03-10T21:13:00.000-04:00

FBI investigates firebombing of UCLA researcher's car

No one was injured in last week's incident at home of faculty member using animals to study schizophrenia and drug addiction.

By Julie Cart
March 10, 2009
The FBI is looking into the firebombing of a vehicle owned by a UCLA neuroscientist who was targeted by an anti-animal research group for using primates in his study of psychiatric disorders.

FOR THE RECORD: A story in Monday's Section A referred to a firebombing of a UCLA professor's vehicle. In fact, the FBI has not called it a firebombing and considers the incident "suspicious arson."

The March 7 incident involving a homemade incendiary device took place outside the faculty member's home and caused no injuries, according to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. The UCLA professor, who researches treatments for schizophrenia, drug addiction and other disorders, was not identified.

The firebombing is one in a series of aggressive acts aimed at university researchers who use animals in medical studies, UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton said. In other cases, firebombs have been left on doorsteps and in homes, vehicles have been vandalized and researchers have received threatening phone calls and e-mails.

The harassment led to a court order last year that has since been converted into a preliminary injunction banning the distribution of researchers' personal information on websites and fliers.

Eimiller said the investigation of Saturday's incident will be conducted by a Joint Terrorism Task Force that includes the FBI, the LAPD, the Los Angeles Fire Department, the UCLA Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The Animal Liberation Front posted a message on its website Monday from a group that claimed responsibility for the firebombing.

UCLA is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the incident.

julie.cart@latimes.com

Terror rhetoric: the concept of martyr

2009-03-10T21:07:00.000-04:00

9/11 suspects: 'We are terrorists to the bone'

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The self-professed mastermind and four other men charged in the Sept. 11 attacks declared they are "terrorists to the bone" in a statement that mocked the U.S. failure to prevent the killings and predicted America will fall like "the towers on the blessed 9/11 day."

In a rambling response to the government's case, the men also sought to justify the attacks, citing a violent interpretation of Islam and a series of grievances against the U.S., including support for Israel, the Iraq war and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and in Guantanamo.

"To us, they are not accusations. To us they are badges of honor, which we carry with pride," the men wrote in the six-page document, which was released Tuesday by a military judge over the objections of the Pentagon-appointed lawyers for two of the men.

"So, you are the first class war criminals," they added, "and the whole world witnesses this."

The five, who are among 245 prisoners held at the U.S. military lockup in Cuba, include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the professed architect of the Sept. 11 attacks, and Ramzi Binalshibh, allegedly one of his key lieutenants in al-Qaida.

Both men previously said they were proud of their role in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon _ and all five had said they wanted to plead guilty. But this is their most detailed statement to date.

The men do not go into details of their roles in the plot, but they call the charge of conspiracy "laughable" and mock U.S. authorities for being unable to prevent the attacks. "Blame yourselves and your failed intelligence apparatus."

They also predict defeat for the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan and the overall collapse of America. "Your end is very near and your fall will be just as the fall of the towers on the blessed 9/11 day."

The five, who could face the death penalty if convicted on charges that include murder and terrorism, were at a pretrial hearing in Guantanamo when President Barack Obama abruptly suspended all war-crimes proceedings pending a review of the much-criticized system for prosecuting terrorists created by Congress and the Bush administration.

They will still be tried, but under what type of system has not yet been determined. The proceedings, however, will probably not be at Guantanamo since Obama has ordered the detention center closed within a year.

Three of the defendants have been acting as their own lawyers but two of the men, Binalshibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, still have Pentagon-appointed military attorneys pending a court ruling on whether they are mentally competent to represent themselves.

Their lawyers, Army Maj. Jon Jackson and Navy Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, said they had not met with their clients to discuss the document and cannot say what may have motivated the men to sign it _ or even vouch for its authenticity. They said the judge should not have released it.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon called the filing "merely another attempt by these detainees to garner publicity."

Others said the statement provide some insight into the defendants.

"We must never be complacent about this hateful, hateful group of individuals who are out to harm us," said Maureen Santora, whose New York City firefighter son was killed at the World Trade Center. "They are unrelenting in their mission to destroy America."

Brian Jenkins, a senior adviser on terrorism at the RAND Corp., said the statement appears to be aimed at attracting support and recruits abroad by portraying the men as Muslim warriors defending a religion under siege.

"You have to continue to campaign even while you are in captivity, and the way to do that is to broadcast your beliefs so you will inspire others," Jenkins said.

Flagg Miller, a professor of religious studies at the University of California, Davis, said he was struck by the language of the Sept. 11 defendants, who write more harshly than the top al-Qaida leaders seeking to portray themselves in a more diplomatic light as defenders of world justice.

Miller said he was struck by such phrases as "We are terrorists to the bone," which suggests a dramatic attempt to shock the public and sow fear.

"It's saying 'If this is where the roller coaster is going, then we're going to ride it to the end," said Miller, who has been analyzing thousands of hours of tapes of Osama bin Laden. "This is a performance, and they are good at it."

___

Associated Press Writer Amy Westfeldt in New York contributed to this report.

TERRORISM AS COMMUNICATION MIDTERM EXAM

2009-03-09T17:24:00.002-04:00

1. When is this due?

You tell me. I’ll work with you.

I am shooting for March 26 at midnight but you may give me (via email) another date that meets your scheduling needs.

You may submit all of it or part of it early.

2. What is due?

I need to have the following:

*Your response to Part I: Ten Things You Have Learned
*Your response to Part II: Short Analysis
*Pleas for clemency or extra credit.

3. How should it be submitted?

By email, if at all possible, sent to michael.jablonski@comcast.net. Should this be impossible then call or write and I will make other arrangements.

The email submitting your exam should have the subject line “MY MIDTERM EXAM” in all caps. This is because I use a program to log the responses that looks for this phrase. If you submit in multiple parts then each part should contain this subject line. If you send a question then DO NOT use this as a subject line.

Feel free to be creative. Students have sent me videos of themselves answering the questions.

Note that your response does not need to be an essay. The purpose of Part II is to have you look for terror messages (which are all over the place) and to show that you have learned something.

4. What if the dog eats my work?

Send me an email as soon as you have had the offending animal put to sleep. The email should include details (i.e., decide on a name for your pet and a breed ahead of time), a sentence describing your grief, the mandatory language about how it was completed in a timely fashion because you had been working so hard on it, and your proposal for submitting the work. We can work this out.

This also applies to other problems, such as deaths in the family (have name and relationship ready), extreme illnesses (Merck’s Manual is a good source for finding arcane sicknesses and their symptoms), alien abductions (Greys? Reptoids? Nordics? Can I see your implant?), appearances before federal grand juries, and exposure to supposed weapons of mass destruction.

5. What is this about extra-credit?

Per the syllabus, you are given extra credit for bringing to my attention websites, jokes, news articles, stock tips, books, ephemera, etc. If you sent me an email during the semester then you have already been logged as qualifying for extra credit.

Anything that shows that you have an understanding of the material will qualify. Be creative. For example, one student had the idea of kidnapping one of my children and holding her until a suitable grade could be negotiated. (Please be familiar with the O Henry Story “The Ransom of Red Chief.”)

6. I demand a recount!

If you have a question about the exam then let me know. I’ll share the discussion with the entire class.

7. How will you know that I received your work?

Some students figure this out only when they fail the course. Most figure this out when they get an email from me saying that I seem to have misplaced something that I am sure that they have sent on time so could they please help me out by sending it again?

If you do not hear from me in such a manner then you can rest assured that I have your test.

8. What about the honor code thing?

All work on the exam should be yours alone. Submitting your work to me will constitute your representation that the work is yours, except in cases of alien abduction, where I will assume that the work came from you and your symbiant.

9. Grades.

If you would like for me to email your midterm grade then include a line saying so.

MKJ

PART I: Ten Things That You Have Learned

Please list ten things that you have learned from this class – if you learned ten things.

PART II: Short Analysis

A. Find a communication (statement, speech, communiqué, video, ransom note, etc.) by someone using terror to communicate. Either include the communication in your response or provide a link to it. The communication does not need to be violent in itself, nor does it need accompany a violent act. It only needs to be a statement by a group that has links to violence.

B. Analyze the communication using the tools we have discussed in class.

Specifically, I will be looking for:

1. Audience, both primary and secondary;
2. Message;
3. Use of myth, martyr, or reference to history (if present);
4. Statements that justify the use of violence (Society is sick. The State is violent. Appeal to higher moral authority.)
5. Anything you feel may be different, unique, unusual or effective about the communication.

L.A. area Muslims say FBI surveillance has a chilling effect on their free speech and religious practices

2009-03-03T23:53:00.001-05:00

The Islamic Center of Irvine is a beige stucco building that blends into the rows of office buildings surrounding it. But last week, it became the most publicized mosque in California with disclosures that the FBI sent an informant there to spy and collect evidence of jihadist rhetoric and other allegedly extremist acts by a Tustin man who attended prayers there.
The revelations dismayed mosque members like Omar Turbi, 50, and his 27-year-old son who shares his name. After Friday prayer service last week, while hundreds of others scurried back to work, the pair stood with their backs to a wall and mulled over the news.

“It gives you a little bit of apprehension about who you trust,” the elder Turbi said. “Makes you think twice about what you say; what if people misunderstand you?”
Turbi’s fears were echoed by other Muslims throughout Southern California last week. Some say a climate of suspicion toward them, fueled by 9/11 and underscored by the latest disclosures of FBI surveillance, is inhibiting their freedoms of speech and faith.
According to Muslim leaders, some people are avoiding mosques, preferring to pray at home. Others are reducing donations to avoid attracting government attention or paying in cash to avoid leaving records. And some mosques have asked speakers to refrain from political messages in their sermons, such as criticism of U.S. foreign policy, said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Anaheim.
“Some average Muslims interested only in praying are avoiding mosques for fear of somehow being monitored or profiled,” Ayloush said. “Everybody is afraid, and it is leading to an infringement of the free practice of our religion.”
The latest anxiety wave was triggered by an FBI agent’s testimony last week that an informant was sent into several Orange County mosques and helped collect evidence against Ahmadullah Sais Niazi. The Afghanistan-born Niazi, 34, is scheduled for arraignment this month on charges of perjury, naturalization fraud and other acts related to lying about ties to Al Qaeda.
A man claiming to be that informant, Irvine resident Craig Monteilh, said last week in interviews and court documents that he served the FBI as a paid informant from July 2006 to October 2007 and used concealed audio and video equipment to record thousands of hours of conversations with Muslims in homes, restaurants and mosques in Irvine, Tustin, Mission Viejo and elsewhere.
But Ayloush and other Muslim leaders said that FBI scrutiny of the Muslim community – and efforts to recruit informants – began years ago. The FBI declined to comment.
Both Ayloush and Shakeel Syed of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, an umbrella organization of 68 area mosques, said numerous Muslims have reported to them attempts by the FBI to recruit them as informers. In virtually all cases, they said, the Muslims in question had immigration and other legal problems or were applying for green cards. “We will make your problems vanish if you cooperate,” Syed said the FBI told Muslims.
Suspecting widespread surveillance of their community, several American Muslim organizations and their leaders filed a Freedom of Information Act request, followed in 2007 by a lawsuit against the federal government, demanding the release of all information collected on them.
Muslims have also complained of FBI interrogations about their charitable contributions, asking why were they donating and who was receiving their money. At one Los Angeles area mosque, nearly every donor was quizzed by the FBI, and the mosque subsequently experienced a steep decline in donations, Ayloush said.
Leaders at other mosques also say their contributions are down, although most attribute much of the decline to the recession. The Islamic Center of Corona Norco, for instance, has experienced a decline in donations of 30% to 50% in the last three to four years, which board member Rafe Husain attributed both to the economy and what he called a climate of fear.
“People feel tense and uncomfortable,” Husain said. “I’ve talked to some people who try to avoid mosque activity.”
Since 9/11, federal authorities have also shut down at least six of the Muslim community’s major charitable organizations, accusing them of involvement in terrorist financing. The actions have impeded Muslims from fulfilling the duties of their faith, Syed said, because charitable giving is not a voluntary act in Islam but a religious obligation.
The latest tensions have further frayed relations between the FBI and the Muslim community. Since 9/11, the two sides had worked to develop a partnership, forming a Multi-Cultural Advisory Committee to meet monthly. But the FBI unilaterally broke off ties with the American-Islamic council a few weeks ago, issuing a cryptic statement that the agency would limit contact until “certain issues” were addressed by CAIR’s national headquarters in Washington. In protest, Syed’s umbrella group of Southern California mosques suspended its contacts with the FBI.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles remains active with the committee, saying it believes in engagement, but has asked for a meeting with the FBI, said the council’s senior advisor, Maher Hathout.
“People cannot be suspects and partners at the same time,” he said. “Unless the FBI’s style changes, the partnership with the Muslim community will not be fruitful.”
At the Irvine mosque, the few who stopped to share their views seemed eager to offer assurances that there was nothing to fear from Muslims.
“We are against any kind of terrorist acts by any person in the community,” said Assad Manley, 52, who has attended the Irvine mosque for three years. “If any of us hears anything dangerous we will inform the authorities.”
Younus Mohammad, 50, said many Muslims assumed they were under surveillance – and that did not worry them.
“”We know they are coming,” Mohammad said. “They will come any time they want, to listen or anything. It’s not something we need to hide.”

Atlanta Student Indicted in Terrorism Charges

2009-03-03T23:51:00.002-05:00

A college student in Atlanta has been charged with providing material support for terrorism, according to an unsealed federal indictment.
A federal grand jury in Atlanta indicted Syed Haris Ahmed, 21, on March 23, 2006, the same day he was arrested by the FBI, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta. Ahmed, a naturalized American citizen whose family is from Pakistan, is an engineering student at Georgia Tech University
“The charge against Mr. Ahmed is serious and involves national security and will be prosecuted with that in mind,” U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said in a news release. Nahmias said Ahmed attended a terrorist training camp in Pakistan for two months in 2005.

“This is the first international terrorism charge filed in Georgia,” Nahmias said. “Mr. Ahmed knowingly and unlawfully attempted to provide, conspired to provide materials, support, and resources…” Ahmed entered a plea of not guilty on April 19 and is being held by federal authorities at an undisclosed location.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force worked with many different government agencies in the U.S. and abroad during the course of the investigation, according to the FBI’s Atlanta office.
Another U.S. citizen from the Atlanta area, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, 19, was arrested on April 17, 2006, in Bangladesh. Sadequee was handed over to the FBI and put on a plane to New York, where he is expected to face charges. Sadequee works for the Atlanta-based non-profit group, Raksha.
It is unclear if Sadequee’s arrest is connected to the indictment against Ahmed.

Osama the Animal and Theories an Attacks

2009-02-26T12:25:00.001-05:00

The Terrorist Challenge in Pakistan

2009-02-24T10:13:00.007-05:00

I found this article after talking about the ways in which terrorists are to be successful or effective in class, here is a portion of it:

New Peace Deals
The Pakistan government (the military with the backing of the new civilian leadership) has once again embarked on a new set of peace deals in the region. There is little reason to believe that these agreements will be any more successful at curbing terrorism in the area than the 2006 deal was. The government hopes that negotiations will separate tribal leaders from the extremists and encourage them to turn against the terrorists. The problem is that the tribal leaders do not have the wherewithal to confront the extremists, and the negotiations so far seem only to have strengthened the radicals in the region. The Pakistani government says that it needs time for the negotiations to bear fruit and is ready to back the negotiations with force if necessary. The danger lies in promoting a negotiating process that legitimizes the extremists and increases their influence.

The Pakistan military claims it is negotiating from a position of strength this time, having conducted a major military operation in South Waziristan in January before offering indirect talks with Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) leader Baitullah Mehsud. At least one of the peace deals being pursued in the Tribal Areas involves withdrawing the Army from the region and turning over security to the paramilitary Frontier Corps and releasing captured Taliban leaders. It also states that foreigners must leave the area but that al-Qaeda operatives can stay “as long as they pledge to remain peaceful.” The agreement further stipulates that the Taliban may not establish a parallel government and must halt attacks on government and security forces personnel.
During a recent trip to Pakistan (May 4–8), I was struck by the level of concern people expressed about the situation in NWFP. Pakistanis are beginning to understand that the Taliban-backed elements are competing for political power with the Pakistani state. Some even acknowledge that the battle between Pakistani authorities and the violent extremists in the border areas and parts of the NWFP is pivotal to the future of the province, if not to the future of Pakistan itself. The people of NWFP do not support the agenda of the Taliban militants but were pessimistic that the government was capable of successfully countering their growing influence.
Taliban militants have also made inroads into some settled areas of the NWFP. The Pakistan military deployed 10,000 troops to the Swat Valley in the fall of 2007 to quell a Taliban-backed insurgency before the new provincial government negotiated an agreement with militants there in May of this year. According to Pakistani press, the Swat peace deal calls on the Taliban to accept the writ of the central and provincial governments, halt terrorist attacks, and lift the ban on girls’ education, while the government agreed to implement a Shariat court system in Malakand Division, withdraw security forces gradually “in view of the security situation in the area,” and open an Islamic university run by a committee made up of both government and Taliban representatives.
Although some Pakistanis downplay the significance of the implementation of Shariah law in Malakand, others note that it would essentially block the people of this region from appealing the decisions of the Shariat Court to the Peshawar High Court or the Pakistani Supreme Court. In this light, it appears the government may be negotiating away the people’s rights despite the fact that religious parties suffered a major electoral defeat in the NWFP. Allowing Taliban-backed militants to demand political changes through force undermines the legitimacy of the elected government and will be viewed by the militants as a victory in their efforts to turn Pakistan into a Taliban-like state.There is still a great deal of confusion and secrecy surrounding the peace agreements. U.S. officials are increasingly wary of the deals but some parts of the U.S. government appear more willing to exercise patience and let the deals play themselves out for a limited period of time. Senior U.S. military officials, especially those serving in Afghanistan, however, are less patient and are convinced that the number of attacks in Afghanistan has already increased due to the implementation of the peace deals. The Pakistan military may be pursuing the peace deals to re-gain its footing and achieve some breathing space following a series of terrorist attacks against the security forces that have weakened Army morale.

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land (2004)

2009-02-24T08:35:00.004-05:00

Today, I was finishing watching a movie on YouTube (Goodbye Lenin!) and I randomly came across this documentary called “Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land” (2004).

I found this documentary interesting to look at knowing that in the past weeks we have been discussing message from both sides of the “field” and propaganda as a tool.

About Documentary:

“Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land” provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported. Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how--through the use of language, framing and context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied territories appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one.

The documentary also explores the ways that U.S. journalists, for reasons ranging from intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have become complicit in carrying out Israel's PR campaign. At its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics and role of journalism, and the relationship between media and politics.

Negative Campaigning Gone Bad

2009-02-17T11:12:00.006-05:00

I just wanted to share an example of negative campaigning gone bad.

Take a look at this commercial put out by the McCain Campaign:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8J4KOeKIOg&feature=related

Now here are a few links giving us some context:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhQSfdJ2Ie8
This one is a bit rudimentary, but gives some helpful context video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbQ1OUi-j3M

Finally, here is Obama responding to the ad:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLgm1I8bVVE&feature=related

How ignorant do they think we are? That is what I am wondering...

Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants

2009-02-17T09:09:00.003-05:00

www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103928

South Park's take on Osama Bin Laden and Afghanistan.

NYPD Counterterrorism

2009-02-15T10:48:00.003-05:00

Another take on the Dickey book...

http://www.economist.com/books/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13097608&source=hptextfeature

Broke terrorists quit:

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/phillip/articles/20090214.aspx

It's not a very good article, but it's an interesting nugget. I wonder if they should be considered terrorists or mercenaries?

One step forward, two steps back.

2009-02-14T22:08:00.003-05:00

Two news stories that caught my attention recently:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hpS67Nt25-sX7SpDUlb74vy54bYAD960GL281

and

http://www.theworld.org/node/24527

The first discusses a New Zealand man who bought a used MP3 player in the U.S. When he returned to New Zealand, he found not only that it did not work but that it contained classified U.S. military information. He handed it in to U.S. embassy staff.

The second story covers almost the same ground. In this story the reporter finds a laptop for sale in a market in Peshawar in northern Pakistan. The laptop had a great deal of U.S. military information on it.

With these kinds of security breaches, which I am sure are only the tip of the iceberg, it makes one wonder how the U.S. ever makes any progress against terrorists.

So, that's the two steps back. Here's the one step forward, and an impressive one it is:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100559912

This is an interview with Christopher Dickey who is an author and is Paris bureau chief and Middle East regional editor for Newsweek magazine. He has written a book that "explores New York City's creation of an elite counter-terrorism force." Dickey calls the NYPD one of the most effective anti-terrorism forces in the world.

But then this: the NYPD decided it needed its own intelligence capability because "the sixteen branches of the federal government's "intelligence community" — the FBI, CIA, NSA, and others — were jealous of one another and essentially contemptuous of local police, including the NYPD."

Again a step back. And this is not the first time I've heard or read about a situation where the United States is its own worst enemy. A good example is Eric's post “Spies in the U.S.” from the Washington Post: "Foreign Spies Are Serious. Are We?"

This is another example:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3602_spyfactory.html

This is the transcript for the TV show "The Spy Factory." It is based on a book (The Shadow Factory) by the United States' most prolific author on the National Security Agency (NSA), James Bamford.

He identifies a series of events, not included in the 9/11 Commission Report, during the lead up to Sept. 11, 2001 where the FBI, CIA and NSA were working at cross purposes. In the confusion surrounding inter agency rivalry the U.S. probably missed one of its best chances to avoid the tragedy of that day.

Basically, in case you don’t want to read the whole transcript, the NSA had been monitoring the telephone calls of 9/11 terrorists in Yemen. It passed those names on to the CIA who discovered that one of them had a U.S. multiple-entry visa in his passport. FBI agents working within the CIA asked permission to inform FBI headquarters about the terrorists and that at least one of them could enter the U.S. at will. They were refused permission by the CIA. The CIA continued to track them, but on Jan 15, 2000 the terrorists went through U.S. immigration unchallenged and the CIA lost trace of them.

The NSA, however, still continued to monitor calls between the terrorists in the U.S. and al Qaeda's communication headquarters in Yemen. But, the NSA told no one about the calls and more importantly, according to Bamford, told no one that the calls were coming from within the U.S.

I don't know about you, but for me I just want to slap my forehead when I hear/read this kind of stuff. It just seems so avoidable.

However, I'm sure there's a good reason for this lack of communication and national team spirit among the intelligence agencies, although I find it hard to discern. Perhaps it has something to do with the argument that competing intelligence gathering operations might actually lead to better quality intelligence product which allows policy makers to make better decisions. But my gut feeling is that there is, has to be, a way to remind everyone that they are playing on the same team.

I would like to think that things have changed since 9/11. However, as I mentioned in class, I recently watched the Frontline show Bush’s War that highlighted inter-governmental department rivalry over intelligence during the lead up to the invasion of Iraq. It didn’t fill me with much hope.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/

Perhaps the new president will be the impetus for a reevaluation of intelligence? As Bamford has stated, perhaps the United States needs a new Church Committee to do a top to bottom evaluation of U.S. intelligence with recommendations that the president enforces.

I'm not saying that anything is ever perfect or that counterterrorism intelligence has failed. Look at this website from the TSA as a reminder that there has been at least one significant intelligence success:

http://www.tsa.dhs.gov/press/happenings/terror_plot_hearing.shtm

However, there is constant low-level static about the lack of a clear chain of command in U.S. intelligence in addition to continuing evidence of inter-agency rivalry that is self-defeating when confronting terrorism. If this could be changed, perhaps the U.S. would stop shooting itself in its feet, and then perhaps one step forward could be followed by another.

Lingering Insurgencies

2009-02-11T09:46:00.002-05:00

A couple thoughts/questions on these insurgencies given what we've talked about in class recently...

I wonder how the economic recession will effect the ETA in Spain. Will diminishing resources hobble their cause, or will a low level of disruption give the insurgents greater traction?

I'm not sure the Sendero Luminoso, operating in Peru, can be considered a terrorist organization anymore. According to the FP article, their goal has shifted from replacing the government with a Marxist regime to making money. Are drug cartels or the mafia terrorist groups? Is that problematic? And did their explicit political aims hurt SL's cause?

Last, I wonder whether groups that have been operating for such a lengthy time (40 years for ETA and 20-30 for the rest) hurts these insurgents.

The same story?

2009-02-11T00:00:00.011-05:00

These two reports are interesting. The first story makes it seem like Pakistan does not want to fight terrorism, but according to the second story Pakistan's Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister wants to stop terrorism by using something more effective than war.

Pakistan had enough of war against terrorism: Sherry Rehman

ISLAMABAD: Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Sherry Rehman has said that Pakistan has done enough for the war against terrorism and urged on world community to stop pressurizing Pakistan, further.

While responding to questions late here on Tuesday along with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in foreign office, she said that the Government was fighting against the militants and extremists elements at all fronts and Pakistan had done enough in the war against terrorism and "for God’s sake stop pressurizing Pakistan, further." read more

Sherry Rehman reviews government’s counter-terrorism communications efforts

ISLAMABAD, Feb 10 (APP): Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman Tuesday called for intensifying government’s public outreach and strategic communication efforts to counter extremist propaganda and prevent terrorism. “Pakistan is confronted with a war of ideas ‑ between tolerance and extremism, and between democracy and anarchy,” she said while chairing a high‑level public outreach and communications meeting held here at the Information Ministry to assess the government’s counter‑terrorism communications strategy.

The meeting was attended by senior officials of ministry, PTV, Radio Pakistan, PEMRA, ISPR, ISI Media Wing, APPC and PID.

It reviewed government’s ongoing public diplomacy responses to the war on terror, conflicts in Swat and FATA, and fallout of the Mumbai terror attacks.

“In this war for hearts and minds, Pakistan’s vulnerable population segments are exposed to terrorists’ message,” said the Minister. read more

Taliban Leader Using I-Phone?!

2009-02-10T08:56:00.002-05:00

Hello all, I found this article a bit humorous and enlightening. I thought the Taliban was against modern technology...but now the former ambassador to Pakistan is "addicted" to his I-Phone? What are the repercussions of the Taliban encouraging internet use? Their new openness to tech-gadgets could make them bigger players in the "global village" resulting in greater influence and impact for their cause. Or it could open their members up to other world views and religions giving them a greater array of choices...

solving terrorism with education

2009-02-09T17:08:00.005-05:00

Great book- "Three Cups of Tea"
It is a true story about a man that dedicated his life to educating girls and building schools in the middle east.
Very insightful quote:
"I wish him success because he is fighting the war on terror the way I think it should be conducted. Slamming over the so-called Karakoram "Highway" in his old Land Cruiser, taking great personal risks to seed the region that gave birth to the Taliban with schools, Mortenson goes to war with the root causes of terror every time he offers a student a chance to receive a balanced education, rather than attend an extremist madrassa. If we Americans are to learn from our mistakes, from the flailing, ineffective way we, as a nation, conducted the war on terror after the attacks of 9/11, and from the way we have failed to make our case the great moderate mass of peace-loving people at the heart of the Muslim world, we need to listen to Greg Mortenson. "
-David Oliver Relin
Portland, Oregon

Spies in the U.S.

2009-02-08T10:21:00.001-05:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020603498.html

Dying to Kill

2009-02-07T20:58:00.005-05:00

In the book Dying to Kill, I found this quote:
"You can't let it happen that you feel shame--that you are always talking of the struggle but don't make anything of it."
--Hamas supporter, Gaza, July 2003

Some of the motivations for suicide terrorism include "spiritual rewards in the afterlife, the guarantee of a place with God for the attackers' families, celebrity, and even cash bonuses."
What are some other motivations these individuals may have for their actions?

Also, many people have argued that suicide bombers are coerced by group pressure and made to believe they must sacrifice themselves for the greater good. The individuals "most easily manipulated for such purposes also tend to be young and impressionable." With this said, how do we know the actual intent of the suicide bombers? Are they manifesting these thoughts on their own or are they being brainwashed? Who is more at fault: the suicide bombers themselves or the groups manipulating them behind the scenes?

Response to: Serious Proliferation Risk?

2009-02-07T20:22:00.001-05:00

Reading Eric's post and Jonathan's post within the same 5 minutes has revealed a frightening reality about the inconsistent views on terror across the globe. The United States government wastes its time and our money imprisoning an environmentalist "terrorist" who caused no loss of lives. At the same time, the Pakistani government releases Abdul Qadeer Khan, a man responsible for leaking nuclear information and a serious threat to the rest of the world. It is unbelievable that we live in a world where the environmentalist who damaged research property is sentenced to 21 years in prison and the scientist responsible for selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea walks free. Who caused more damage here?

Serious Proliferation Risk?

2009-02-07T11:52:00.001-05:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020603730.html

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/619409.html

Environmentalist Sentenced to 21 Years as a “Terrorist”

2009-02-06T16:02:00.006-05:00

I came across this article today while checking local, national and global news and this article caught my eye. We recently talked about environmental “eco” - terrorist such The Earth Liberation Front and I remember that “eco-terrorist” where the top terrorist the FBI sees as a threat to national security.

Marie Mason, a longtime environmental activist and mother of two, was sentenced this afternoon to 21 years in prison, as a “terrorist,” for non-violent property crimes in the name of defending the environment. It’s a historic sentence, the longest yet for any of these Green Scare cases.

In the lead up to her sentencing, the FBI took their “eco-terrorist” scare-mongering to a new level. Mason’s friends and family were prepared to attend the sentencing hearing and support her at such a terrible moment in her life. So what did the FBI do? Agents had the audacity to warn the press that “terrorists” might be attending Mason’s sentencing. They said they “expect members of the eco-terrorist groups, the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front to gather and protest.” This, of course, is a bold-faced lie. Any FBI agent worth their salt knows that clandestine organizations like the ALF and ELF do not protest: they are illegal, underground groups. This was a calculated scare-mongering move meant to make normal, everyday people afraid of showing up to a public court proceeding, lest they be labeled as members of the “number one domestic terrorism threat.”

The government made a concerted effort to demonize not just the defendant, but anyone who supports the defendant by attending a public court proceeding. Regardless of how you feel about Marie Mason or the Green Scare more broadly, moves like this are antithetical to any semblance of a democracy. Intimidating citizens to keep them from attending a politicized court date is a defining characteristic of an out-and-out police state.

If that isn’t enough, let’s look at Mason’s sentence. Twenty-one years for arson that caused about $1 million in damage to genetic-engineering research at Michigan State University and didn’t harm anyone.

What is the message that you think it sends?

Syllabus

2009-01-07T20:28:00.000-05:00

TERRORISM AND COMMUNICATION
Spring 2009

Michael Jablonski

9:30 am – 10:45 am Tuesdays and Thursdays
General Classroom Building 321

Office: 7^th Floor, One Park Place
Office hours: 8:30 am to 9:15 Tuesdays and Thursdays

All others by appointment

Contact: mjablonski@gsu.edu
michael.jablonski@comcast.net
404.290.2977
You may also post to the class blog.

PURPOSE

The premise of this course is that terrorism constitutes a strategy to draw attention to a message. In political communication terms it is an earned media event. Since terrorism is a tactic, not a strategy, the response to it must also be tactical. One problem is that we tend to approach terrorism as a strategic problem. We will apply critical thinking skills to ideas such as the futility of “war” on terrorism, the need to precisely define terms, and the politics of fear. In the end, hopefully, you will be a better “consumer” of terrorism.

READINGS

All readings will be available on the Internet. I will give you links on the class blog.

There is no textbook. If I did have a textbook it would be Inside Terrorism (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006) by Bruce Hoffman. It is available in the GSU library.

GRADING CALCULUS

Grades will be computed on the following basis:

Class attendance/participation 50% (includes posts to blog)
Midterm exam 25%
Final exam/project 25%

The final exam may be a paper or a project. I will consider your demands whether or not you hold members of my family as hostages.

I am munificent with extra credit. Anything that you give to me that has some relevance to the course work will be considered for extra credit. The amount of credit is a function of how much, in my sole opinion, your extra work shows an appreciation of the material. Thus, if you attend a movie, play, demonstration, bombing, propaganda session, small arms training, evacuation or the like send to me an email about it. Jokes, websites, stories, articles, movies, video clips, secret memos, surveillance tapes, wiretap transcripts, intercepted electronic communication – almost anything (except cash) will be accepted.

Where appropriate, your work will be shared with the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, or the local United States Attorney. I will apportion any reward money collected as a result of such referral between myself and class members in attendance on the date of arrest.

CONTACT

I will contact the class through email and through a class blog. I will use your Georgia State email address. If you want me to also use a second address (or a third) then send me an email including the address(es). In all cases I will consider your Georgia State email address as official and any others as a courtesy.

The telephone number above is for my cell phone. Please feel free to use as necessary.

The preferred method to contact me is via email. When you use email it generates a record that I use as a reminder. I will often ask students to send me an email when I promise to do something so that the promise gets added to my task list.

We will have a class blog that can also be used for discussion and to share ideas. I will post readings on the blog. You should try to check the blog daily.

IMPORTANT DATES

January 15 - 26th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation
January 19 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day Holiday
January 20 – Obama Inaugural
March 2 – Full Semester Midpoint
March 3 – No Class (Spring Break)
March 5 – No Class (Spring Break)
March 13 – Average last frost date in Atlanta
March 20 – Vernal Equinox
April 1 – Live waterboarding demonstration
April 3 – MKJ is 30 million minutes old
April 23 – Last day of class for Terrorism & Communication
April 27 – Last day of class at GSU
April 30 – Final Exam due at 8 am

SCHEDULE

Topic 1 – Definition of terms

Words have meaning. (An introduction to linguistics.)

Meaning (especially “semantics” and “meaning of meaning”), Websters Online
Definitions of Signs, Gene Doty, Concepts for Writing and Literature Courses (University of Missouri-Rolla)
How you think, By Colin McGinn, in New York Review of Books (review of Steven Pinker, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature)

Towards a definition of “terrorism.”

What Is Terrorism? International Terrorism and Security Research
Ready Colorado – Glossary of Terms (only the term “terrorism”), READYColorado
Princetion wordnet: terrorism, Princeton

Why definitional problems matter in the real world

One official's 'refugee' is another's 'terrorist', Adrian Humphreys, National Post, January 17, 2007

What Is ‘Terrorism’? Problems Of Legal Definition, Ben Golder And George Williams, 27 UNSW Law Journal 270

Brief History of Terrorism

Early History of Terrorism, International Terrorism and Security Research

Terror events in the United States (in-class presentation)

Events that mimic terror events

Class assignment: make a list of events

Topic 2 – Introduction to political communication

The tools of political communication.

How Campaign Communication Technology Works, Dave Roos, How Stuff Works

Internet's Broader Role in Campaign 2008: Social Networking and Online Videos Take Off, The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, January 11, 2008

The goals of political communication: the problem of “message.”

Develop Your Message, Green Media Toolshed

Develop Message, Then Choose Best Format for Communicating It, Mary Ann Siegel, Seagull Thoughts

The news cycle and the reasoning voter.

Just How Stupid Are American Voters? KING-TV (Seattle) UpFront Blog, September 7, 2008

Topic 3 – Terror and message.

Communicating message via terror.

The Road to Contemporary Terrorism, Tim Dunne, April 30, 1999

Forcing message on unwilling listeners.

The One Simple Secret that Will Help You Reach More People, Chris Forbes, Ministry Marketing Coach

Propaganda tools.

What Are the Tools of Propaganda? Ralph D. Casey, University of Minnesota, July 1944 (Reproduced by the American Historical Association)

Propaganda, symbol systems, and Political campaigns, 2008, (continued)…, Valentine Bonnaire (blog), April 30, 2008 (and especially the first comment).

Political motivators (fear, itself the only thing).

Fear, Phil Barker, Beyond Intractability, July 2003 (especially the section “Why Fear Matters”)

Fear, Changing Minds.org

Politics of Fear, Ruth Rosen, The San Francisco Chronicle, December 30, 2002 (in CommonDreams.org News Center)

The Power of Nightmares: Baby It's Cold Outside, BBC, January 24, 2005

The Politics of Fear, Jim VandeHei and Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, September 29, 2004; Page A01

Specific messages.

Hamas Charter, 18 August 1988 (MidEast Web Historical Documents)

Statement of Osama bin Laden and spokesman, aired on Al-Jazeera TV, after the the US bombing of Afghanistan began, October 7, 2001 (MidEast Web Historical Documents)

The Covenant of Omar, 638 (MidEast Web Historical Documents)

Topic 4 – Responding to terrorism.

Strategy vs. tactic.

Strategy and Tactics: What's the difference between strategy and tactics and how can your business benefit from them? Robert Heller, Thinking Managers, July 8, 2006

Al-Qaeda & the Muslim Brotherhood: United by Strategy, Divided by Tactics, The Jamestown Foundation, Terrorism Monitor, March 23, 2006

Developing a tactical response to terrorism.

As-Sahab's Second Interview with Shaykh Abu Yahya al-Libi, a/k/a “Dots on the Letters (video from the collection “Iraq War: Non-English Language Videos”)(120 minutes, in Arabic with English subtitles)(makes a great date night movie if you are trying to dump someone)

Abu Yahya’s Six Easy Steps for Defeating al-Qaeda, Jarret Brachman, Perspectives on Terrorism

Developing a strategic response to terrorists.

International Terrorism: Threat, Policy, and Response, Raphael F. Perl, Congressional Research Service, August 9, 2006 (pp. 1-15, 23-25)

Insurgency and terror

Differences between insurgency and terrorism, International Terrorism and Security Research

How do we know if we are winning?

Combating Terrorism: The Challenge of Measuring Effectiveness, Raphael F. Perl, Congressional Research Service, November 23, 2005. (Pay particular attention to pp. 5-9).

Topic 5 – “Religious” terrorism

The use of religion to deliver a political message.

Does Jesus Have A Political Message? Roy Herndon Smith

Letter to the Editor, New York Times, April 9, 2006

Globalization Of Martyrdom, Adam Fosson, Tiffin University, 1 July 2007

Apostasy masquerading as doctrine.

Qutbism: An Ideology of Islamic-Fascism, Dale C. Eikmeier, Parameters, Spring 2007.

Barack Obama – Muslim Apostate? Shireen K. Burki, The Christian Science Monitor, May 19, 2008.

Topic 6 – Terrorism by Muslim apostates

Islam

Makkah Al-Mukarramah Declaration On The Iraqi Situation (The Mecca Declaration), Organisation of the Islamic Conference, October 21, 2006.

Islam in South and Southeast Asia, Bruce Vaughn, Congressional Research Service, February 8, 2005

The Islamic Traditions of Wahhabism and Salafiyya, Christopher M. Blanchard, February 10, 2005.

Al Qaeda message.

Letter from al-Zawahiri to al-Zarqawi, Abu Mohammad, July 9, 2005.

Al Qaeda use of communication tools.

Al Qaeda and the Internet: The Danger of ‘Cyberplanning’, Timothy L. Thomas, Terrorism Research Center

Sniper Manual and IED Videos Appear on Mahdi Army Blog, Terrorism Research Center, Terror Web Watch Report, August 25, 2006

Ask Al Qaeda Anything! Noah Shachtman, Wired, December 17, 2007 (the terrorist version of a YouTube debate).

Al Qaeda as a consumer brand.

Evolution of the Al Qaeda Brand Name, Jonathan Feiser with comments by W Joseph Stroupe, Speaking Freely, Asian Times Online, August 13, 2004
Algerian Group Joins Al Qaeda Brand, Al Jazeera English, January 27, 2007
Franchising al Qaeda, Rita Katz and Josh Deven, Boston Globe, June 22, 2007

Response to al Qaeda.

Harmony and Disharmony: Exploiting al-Qa'ida's Organizational Vulnerabilities”

Topic 7 – Western response to Islamic apostates employing terrorism.

Words have more than meaning – welcome back to symbols.

Strict constructionism? Code words. Ann Woolner, The Free Library
The Southern Strategist, Rick Perlstein, The New York Times Magazine, December 30, 2007
Linguistics professor George Lakoff dissects the ‘war on terror’ and other conservative catchphrases. Bonnie Azab Powell, UC Berkeley News, NewsCenter, 26 August 2004

The linguistic problem of frames.

We'll Grant This to the Republicans: They Know How to Frame Issues and Keep the Democrats on the Defensive. BuzzFlash Interviews, January 14, 2004

Metaphors of Terror, George Lakoff, from The Days After, September 16, 2001.

Topic 8 – The wide world of terrorism

Agroterrorism and messages.

Medfly Madness, Time, January 8, 1990.
Agroterrorism.org (Pay attention to the messages.)
Domestic terror: Who's most dangerous? Eco-terrorists are now above ultra-right extremists on the FBI charts, Henry Schuster,CNN, August 24, 2005; Posted: 2:14 p.m. EDT (18:14 GMT)

Environmental terrorism and messages.

Japan Seeks Australia’s Help to Thwart Whaling Opponents, New York Times, January 6, 2009 (also posted on the blog).
Ecoterrorism: Extremism in the Animal Rights and Environmentalist Movements, Antidefamation League
Earth Liberation Front, the ELF website
Environmental Life Force, the original ELF website

Domestic terrorists and their messages.

Understanding The Army Of God, Neal Horsley, The Creator's Rights Party
Aryan Nations, the official website

How we support terrorists.

Private Banking and Money Laundering: A Case Study of Opportunities and Vulnerabilities, S.Hrg.106-428 (November 9 and 10, 1999), Minority Staff Of The Permanent Subcommittee On Investigations

Report On Correspondent Banking: A Gateway For Money Laundering, February 5, 2001

Gum arabic imports may become a sticky wicket - Sudanese politics may hinder United States supply. Loretta Napoleoni Money and Terrorism, Strategic Insights, Volume III, Issue 4 (April 2004)

Denying Genocide in Darfur -- and Americans Their Coca-Cola, Dana Milbank, “Washington Sketch,” The Washington Post, Thursday, May 31, 2007; Page A02

Money and Terrorism, Rob Eder, Drug Store News, Oct 22, 2001

How we defeat terrorists.

Knowing the Enemy, George Packer, The New Yorker, December 18, 2006
Twenty-eight Articles, David Kilcullen, March 2006

Media and terrorism.

Terrorism and the Media, Tim Dunne, Keynote address to the Joint Vision 2004 conference, Joint Force Command (Lisbon, Portugal), 20 October 2004

"Save the Whales" = Terrorism?

2009-01-06T20:49:00.001-05:00

Japan Seeks Australia’s Help to Thwart Whaling Opponents - NYTimes.com

By MERAIAH FOLEY and MARK MCDONALD
Published: January 6, 2009

SYDNEY, Australia — With the annual battle between Japanese whalers and their opponents heating up again, Japan said Tuesday that it would formally ask Australia to keep antiwhaling activists and their ship, the Steve Irwin, from refueling at Australian ports.

Paul Watson, captain of the Steve Irwin, speaking by satellite phone from the ship on Tuesday, said he and his crew had been “nonviolently harassing” a Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean. But in another day or two, he said, they would have to head for refueling in Australia, where he did not expect to be turned away.

“We’re not concerned,” Mr. Watson said. “We’ve got a lot of Australians on our crew. There’s no way they could ban us.”

But a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said Tokyo would “request a port closure” against the Steve Irwin.

“They have obstructed our activities in the past, and their actions are extremely dangerous,” the official, Chiharu Tsuruoka, said in a statement. “They are like pirates.”

A spokesman for Foreign Minister Stephen Smith of Australia said Tuesday that Australia had not received a formal request from the Japanese to block the activists’ ship. Nor has there been a request from the Steve Irwin to dock in Australia. He would not comment on whether Australia was inclined to block the group.

Japan is one of the few nations that still permits whaling. Its vessels operate in the Antarctic under a loophole in an international whaling ban that allows the taking of whales for research purposes and the sale of the surplus meat. The small Japanese fleet has a goal of about 1,000 whales this season, most of them minke whales.

Mr. Watson said he believed that the Japanese boats had taken only a few dozen whales so far, although the fleet will be able to continue its hunt unhindered while the Steve Irwin takes about three weeks to refuel. The Japanese vessels, which are escorted by a refueling and support ship, are expected to hunt whales until mid-March.

In recent years environmental activists have stalked the whaling fleet in an attempt to interfere with its operations and limit its catch. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which operates the Steve Irwin under a Dutch flag, is the only group following the whalers. Greenpeace decided against deploying a boat this year, saying Sea Shepherd’s tactics are too confrontational.

The Japanese Whaling Association, which calls Sea Shepherd “a terrorist group,” said the Steve Irwin had rammed the Kaiko Maru whaling ship. It has asked that ports in Australia and New Zealand be closed to the group.

Mr. Watson confirmed Tuesday that his ship had collided with one of the whaling vessels on Dec. 26. The boats bumped sterns, he said, adding that “maybe there was a little chipped paint, that’s all.”

Meraiah Foley reported from Sydney, and Mark McDonald from Hong Kong.