 From CAN: The Illinois State Police’s first Muslim chaplain, Sheikh Kifah Mustapha, is listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the terrorism financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation and a member of the radical Muslim Brotherhood organization by the federal government, reports The Investigative Project on Terrorism. The list that was drawn up as a result of the trial says that Mustapha is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee, a group set up to secretly support the Hamas terrorist group in the United States.
He also worked as a fundraiser for the Holy Land Foundation until 2001 when the government shut the non-profit group down for financing Hamas. Prior to that, he worked for the Islamic Association of Palestine, another Hamas front that was shut down.
“It’s not clear whether the Illinois State Police knew about these connections and didn’t care, or whether it failed to adequately research Mustapha’s background. Either raises serious concerns about who will counsel the state’s Muslim troopers,” IPT says. The IPT report says that Mustapha has also helped raise money for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, another group tied to the Muslim Brotherhood that was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation, and the Muslim-American Society. CAIR is currently the subject of a book by Dave Gaubatz and Paul Sperry titled “Muslim Mafia” that alleges the group supports extremism and engages in criminal activity including fraud in order to support Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. World Threats
 The criminal case against the first Guantanamo detainee standing trial in a US civilian court should be thrown out because he was denied the right to a speedy trial, defence lawyers have argued. But the US government said in the Manhattan federal court on Monday that gathering intelligence from Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani during interrogations was "weightier, more significant" than giving him a speedy trial. The case of Ghailani, a Tanzanian national charged over his alleged role in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, is being watched for precedents that could affect other Guantanamo detainees. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, is also due to be tried in Manhattan federal court. Alluding to the importance of the proceeding, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said during Monday's session: "I think everybody can agree that whatever I do here would be unprecedented." Ghailani was taken into custody in Pakistan in July 2004 and interrogated outside the US as part of the Bush administration's "extraordinary rendition" programme in which suspects were captured in one country and interrogated in another. He was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006 and his case was moved to the Manhattan federal court last June. He has pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiring with Osama bin Laden and other members of al-Qaeda to kill Americans, as well as separate charges of murder for the 224 people killed in the African bombings. Ghailani's case, which coincides with the eighth anniversary of the first group of 20 detainees being sent to Guantanamo in 2002, is a test for Barack Obama's plans to shut down the US military prison. Last week, the US president reiterated his commitment to shut it down although the White House has conceded that he will not meet his self-imposed deadline of the end of January. Obama also suspended the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to Yemen last week, following revelations that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to destroy a Detroit-bound US airliner on December 25, reportedly received al-Qaeda training in Yemen. Nearly 200 detainees remain at Guantanamo, nearly half of them from Yemen. The US government is working to refurbish a prison in the state of Illinois to hold some detainees while their fate is determined. Al Jazeera 
 THE US is planning to send six Yemenis held at Guantanamo Bay back home, in a move that could be a prelude to a larger repatriation program, The Washington Post reported today. There are currently 97 Yemenis being held at Guantanamo, making up almost half the 210 detainees who have yet to be relocated. The impending release has spawned fears that Yemen would be unable to effectively monitor and rehabilitate returnees. "I believe they will be involved in terrorism that will cost American lives," Republican Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) was quoted as saying in the Post. Negotiations with Yemen are said to have included Stephen R. Kappes, the deputy director of the CIA. The agency declined to comment. On Tuesday, the White House said it was moving a "limited number" of detainees to Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois.
 Guantanamo (Gitmo) Bay detainees may soon be headed for a courtroom near you, according to a report on Sunday mornings Fox and Friends. House Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, have passed a bill that would allow the inmates to be transferred to U.S. soil for prosecution and incarceration. Lawmakers against the legislation have pointed out that in one fell swoop, House Democrats, by voting for this legislation, have put Americans in danger, have weakened the judicial system and undermined the Constitution. John Colburson, Congressman from Texas and member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, explained why bringing the Gitmo detainees here for trial is a bad idea: Never before in American history have we given foreign soldiers, captured on foreign battlefields, U.S. Constitutional rights. They have now passed a law that, when our American men and women in uniform, capture an enemy soldier on a foreign battlefield, our men and women are going to have to think about the chain of evidence, of reading them their Miranda Rights foreign soldiers will now be able to lawyer-up at U.S. taxpayer expense to be tried in U.S. Courtrooms. Its absurd. As of now, there are roughly 220 hard-core Islamic terrorist prisoners remaining in the Guantanamo facility, which was opened at the U.S. naval base in Cuba after the Sept. 11 attacks.
President Barack Obama has been a staunch proponent of having the prison closed, announcing on his second day in office that he wanted it closed within a year. The problem is, he hasn't been able to do so because of some major legal and political hurdles. In addition, closing Gitmo entails solving one major problem: no one seems to want the prisoners. Well, almost no one. There does seem to be one place where the terrorists will not only be welcome, but the elected officials there are almost begging to get them. Can you guess who it is that wants them that badly? Is it Saudi Arabia, Libya or Yemen? Nope its Michigan. Some local officials in and around Standish, Michigan, home to the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility (which is otherwise scheduled to close later this month), think that transferring the worst of the worst from Gitmo will somehow stimulate the local economy and provide jobs in the community. Former Defense Department terrorism analyst Peter Leitner thinks this is bunk, and he predicts that the security threat posed by importing the terrorists far outweighs any economic benefits: Michigan will become a magnet for foreign and domestic terror cells, as well as radical organizations of the left and right. If there are homegrown terror cells looking for a good cause, this will be a good cause for them. Retired Army Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu, a former Army Special Forces officer and author of a book about Gitmo, agrees: Everyone in Guantanamo is there because he wants to kill Americans. What we’re doing is hanging a target not only on Standish, but also on the whole community, the whole region. Dont worry, good people of Michigan. Obama, Pelosi and those Democrats who voted for this know what they are doing. NRB
 Hizb ut-Tahrir is an extreme group that is opposed to democracy and religious freedom, has called for the killing of Jews, recently called for whipping of homosexuals and stonings to combat AIDS, has reportedly called for the murder of a university official in Bangladesh, and in July distributed pamphlets in Chicago’s Oak Lawn suburb calling for the “death penalty” for those who leave Islam.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international organization that according to a former member Ed Husain, Hizb ut-Tahrir calls for an “expansionist, violent, totalitarian Islamist state.” According to BBC and the Daily Telegraph, Hizb ut-Tahrir has been linked to calls for killing Jews and Hindus, radicalizing individuals to become suicide bombers, and according to the New Statesman has been linked to high-level terrorists. Hizb ut-Tahrir America is holding its latest group event in the Chicago suburban village of Lombard, Illinois on the subject “Crisis in Pakistan – Current Events & Future Direction.” Hizb ut-Tahrir America opposes the Pakistan government’s military efforts against the Islamic supremacist Taliban terrorists in Waziristan, which is a primary haven for both the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. In July, the London Times reported on British members of Hizb ut-Tahrir that had been incited to go to Pakistan to seek to influence Pakistan military members and others to instigate a “coup” against the current Pakistan government.
The London Times report described how Hizb ut-Tahrir members’ “aim was to subject Muslim and western countries to Islamic rule under sharia law, ‘by force’ if necessary”… where ” ‘every woman would have to cover up’ and stoning to death for adultery and the chopping off of thieves’ hands would be the law, he said.”
The London Times report added that Hizb ut-Tahrir aims of “Islamic rule would be spread through ‘indoctrination’ and by ‘military means’ if non-Muslim countries refused to bow to it. ‘Waging war’ would be part of the caliphate’s foreign policy.” Those seeking to be involved in violent Jihad have been drawn to Pakistan, with five Americans from the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC arrested in Pakistan last week; according to CBS News, they sought to promote “jihad.” Hizb ut-Tahrir Pakistan’s manifesto calls for all male children at age 15 to get military “Jihad training” (page 37). While the village of Lombard is promoting “Peace,” Hizb ut-Tahrir America seeks to use Lombard community facilities to incite Americans in Chicago with its Islamic supremacist perspective of events in Pakistan.
Unlike July 2009, when Hizb ut-Tahrir America rented a private facility (Holiday Inn in Oak Lawn, IL), this time Hizb ut-Tahrir will be renting space from a public building from the Village of Lombard Parks District (similar to Hizb ut-Tahrir Canada’s approach in Mississauga, Canada in July 2009.) Hizb ut-Tahrir America has rented the Lombard Community Building at 433 East St. Charles Road for their December 20, 2009 event from 5:00 to 6:30 PM Central Time. We are certain that the Village of Lombard Parks District and Lombard Government has no idea who and what Hizb ut-Tahrir is, nor would they even think to inquire.
We urge readers to contact the Lombard government and media to make them aware of this. More at R.E.A.L H/T: WeaselZippers
 A near-empty prison in the US state of Illinois is among the locations being considered to house Guantanamo detainees who might be transferred to the country. US officials are set to visit the Thomson Correctional Centre this week as they consider its suitability for re-housing detainees currently held at the US military base in Cuba. Under a plan pitched to the Obama administration, the Federal Bureau of Prisons would operate the facility as a maximum-security jail, leasing a portion to the US defence department which would then be used to house fewer than 100 Guantanamo detainees. The centre, located about 240km west of Chicago, was built in 2001 and has 1,600 cells. It currently houses only about 200 minimum-security prisoners. Barack Obama, the US president, has vowed to shut Guantanamo Bay by January next year amid international outcry over the torture of inmates held at the facility since it opened in 2002. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, who supports the planned use of the Thomson Correctional Centre, said it would hold "the only group of Guantanamo detainees" on US soil. Bringing the prisoners to the US, he told reporters, was necessary to both "make America safer" and to convince other countries to repatriate some of the 215 detainees still held at the military prison camp. Durbin insisted that the prisoners could be "safely and securely" held in whichever facility wins the contract and dismissed those who he said were "sowing the seeds of fear" in order to win political points. "No one has ever escaped from one of these facilities," Durbin said, noting that the US prison system currently holds "some of the most dangerous people you could imagine." Durbin said preliminary estimates show more than 3,000 jobs would be created, potentially injecting more than $1bn into the local economy over the first four years of operation. "This is an opportunity to dramatically reduce unemployment, create thousands of good-paying jobs and breathe new economic life into this part of downstate Illinois," Durbin, the US Senate's second-ranking Democrat, said in a statement. Obama administration officials have been searching for a facility to hold foreign terror suspects and they have considered as possible sites Fort Leavenworth in Kansas and a facility in Standish, Michigan. The White House declined comment on the Thomson facility, with an aide saying no decision has been made and that multiple options are under consideration. Al Jazeera (English)
 DECATUR, Ill. — The day before he was arrested Thursday on charges of plotting to blow up the federal building in Springfield, Michael C. Finton was working as a fry cook at Seals Fish & Chicken in this old factory town deep in the Illinois cornfields. Federal prosecutors say the Paul Findley Federal Building in Springfield. Ill., was a target of a bombing plot uncovered by F.B.I. agents posing as low-level operatives for Al Qaeda. Michael C. Finton said the bombing would be a “historic occasion,” court papers say. Tall and red-haired, Mr. Finton, 29, was known among co-workers as cheerful and polite, but unwavering when it came to religion and politics. He was especially critical of what he regarded as permissive society. “He didn’t like America very much,” said Mariam Fadel, 18, who works the counter at Seals. “He didn’t think it was strict enough. He thought we needed more rules, so that people would behave.” She recalled him talking about a troubled childhood that included running away from foster care. He also spoke of hopes to leave the United States someday, she said, and settle in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Finton went by the nickname Talib Islam (student of Islam). The authorities say he had converted to the Islamic faith while in an Illinois prison from 2001 to 2006, serving a sentence for aggravated robbery and aggravated battery. Acquaintances say he had been living in Decatur, about 40 miles east of Springfield, for perhaps three years. On a MySpace entry, Mr. Finton listed his hometown as Visalia, Calif., in the Central Valley, and claimed he attended high school in Warren, Mich. In the entry, he wrote of self-loathing before he found Islam.
“Everybody liked me, yet I hated myself,” he wrote. “People thought I was smart, and reasonably good-looking, but to me, I was a moron, and a freak.” Read more here,,,, Source: NYTimes
 By Robert Boczkiewicz in Denver Assistant US Attorney Tim Neff summed up the Government's case against Najibullah Zazi, 24, in a Denver courtroom before the suspect was flown in federal custody to New York to face a charge of plotting bomb attacks in the United States.
Zazi, linked by authorities to al-Qaeda, was making his third appearance before a federal judge in Denver. He was ordered to remain held without bail, then put aboard a US Marshals Service jet for the cross-country flight.
His first New York court appearance is set for Tuesday.
Zazi has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in media interviews and through his lawyers.
"There was and is no plot," defense attorney Arthur Folsom said.
Zazi is accused of receiving bomb-making instructions during a trip to Pakistan last year, then buying and preparing chemicals for use in home-made explosives like those used in the deadly London mass transit bombings in 2005.
A grand jury in New York has charged Zazi, a legal US resident born in Afghanistan, under federal anti-terrorism laws with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, an offense outlined in an indictment unsealed on Thursday.
He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
Law enforcement experts have called the suspected conspiracy, if proven, one of the most significant security threats in the United States since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Authorities say the case is unrelated to two other security arrests this week in Dallas and Springfield, Illinois.
The investigation came to light earlier this month after Zazi drove across the country from Colorado, arriving in New York City on September 10 in a rental car in which authorities say he carried a laptop computer with detailed bomb-making notes.
 Tim Reid in Washington
A series of undercover sting operations in the US has resulted in arrests in four unrelated terror bomb plots across America, raising concerns of another attack on US soil. While the FBI continues to question Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan-born Denver resident accused of plotting the biggest terror attack since the September 11 atrocity, arrests were also made in Illinois and Dallas, and an investigation was widened in North Carolina. A 19-year-old Jordanian, Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, was arrested after allegedly placing what he thought was a bomb at a Dallas skyscraper. The decoy device was provided by an undercover FBI agent. In Springfield, Illinois, Michael Finton, 29, was arrested after allegedly trying to detonate what he thought was a bomb outside a federal courthouse. The FBI had infiltrated the plot months ago. Two North Carolina men under arrest since July on international terrorism charges have also been accused of plotting to kill US military personnel in America. Source: Times Online
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