 by Mark Impomeni Last Friday, nineteen members of the New York Congressional delegation put their names to a letter to President Obama in advance of the upcoming trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and his co-conspirators in lower Manhattan. In the letter, the nineteen representatives, all Democrats, request inclusion of a special line item in the president’s 2011 budget request to “fully reimburse the City of New York for all security and other expenses related to providing a safe and secure trial.”The letter expresses the members’ support for hosting the trial in New York City, but takes note of the burden that will be placed on the New York City Police Department, the community surrounding the federal courthouse, and the budgets of the City and State of New York. “The trial of KSM will require an unprecedented amount of security, both to protect the judicial proceedings at the Courthouse and the surrounding area,” the representatives write. “Without full federal reimbursement, the costs of providing security for this trial will significantly compromise the NYPD’s efforts to prevent crime and terrorism, and further burden the budgets of New York City and New York State, both of which are already reeling from the severe economic downturn.” Rep. Michael McMahon is leading the reimbursement effort on the House side. McMahon also joined Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) earlier this month in calling on the president to provide funds for New York City in connection with the trial. McMahon was elected last year to represent Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, an area that had been continuously represented by a Republican since 1981. McMahon supported Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to hold the trial in New York City, telling Politico in November, “It’s time to move forward and bring these animals to justice.” That tough talk has given way to concerns about security, “emotional trauma,” and costs as the trial grows closer. All are factors that Democrats largely brushed off when the Obama administration’s decision was announced two months ago. One reason for the change of heart among New York Democrats could be a groundswell of opposition both locally and nationally to holding the trial blocks from the site where nearly 3,000 Americans died in the attacks. On the national level, HUMAN EVENTS and the influential conservative community website RedState.com have joined forces to sponsor a petition drive calling for the trial to be moved out of the civilian court system. The petition has garnered over 80,000 signatures to date. Prominent New York Republicans Rep. Peter King, gubernatorial candidate and former Rep. Rick Lazio, former governor George Pataki, and the former representative of McMahon’s district, Vito Fossella. Lazio told HUMAN EVENTS the decision to hold the trial in New York was “unacceptable and irresponsible,” and said that McMahon’s letter was misguided. “It’s fine to seek reimbursement, but that doesn’t get to the real issue,” he said. “The fact that the cost of security is projected to be over $200 million of additional spending speaks to the seriousness of the risk to downtown New York City. Republican or Democrat, people understand that it is an outrage to have the trial for this terrorist mastermind held in downtown New York, a place that has already suffered great trauma as a result of [Khalid Sheikh Mohammad’s] actions”Lazio was also critical of his potential opponents in the governor’s race, Governor David Paterson, and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, for not doing more to block the trial. He said that Paterson’s public opposition to the trial was “ineffective,” saying that the governor needs to be, “a relentless opponent of having these trials down town.” “Governor Paterson should have been much more outspoken from the start, not just in terms of money, but in terms of the jeopardy created unnecessarily for the people of downtown New York City,” Lazio said. But Lazio saved his most stinging criticism for Cuomo, who has not taken a public position on the trial. “I find it puzzling that the chief law enforcement officer in the state has been absolutely mum on this,” he said. “How [does Cuomo] expect to be chosen to a position of leadership without taking a stand on issues important to New Yorkers?" One local effort is taking place in lower Manhattan’s Community Board 1, which is represented by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, one of the Democrats that signed McMahon’s letter. Marc Ameruso, Assistant Secretary of Community Board 1, led a vocal group of residents at last month’s meeting in specifically asking the board to withhold its support for holding the trials in the area. The resolution was ultimately tabled, but not before about a dozen residents of the overwhelmingly Democratic area spoke passionately about their fear and anger at the Obama administration’s decision to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and his 9/11 co-conspirators back into their community. Mr. Ameruso had strong words for Nadler, saying his signing of McMahon’s letter was politically motivated. “It’s ironic that Mr. Nadler acknowledges that this neighborhood will have to be locked down, that we will have to relive the experience of September 11th, but yet he is willing to put his constituency through this nightmare,” Ameruso said. “He’s throwing his constituents, of which I am one, under the bus.” Ameruso vows to reintroduce his resolution at this month’s board meeting. He said that he hopes his resolution along with the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines flight 253 on Christmas Day will, “wake people up.” “Holding this trial in lower Manhattan puts all of us in danger,” he said. 
 Call it the fortress of steel. When the murderous 9/11 Gang of Five finally lands in New York for trial, they'll face an impenetrable wall of security -- with five times the normal number of US marshals flooding lower Manhattan and a ring of marksmen watching their every move, sources said yesterday. National Guardsmen will be placed at major transportation hubs while the NYPD will close off subway entrances near the federal courthouse and intensify bag searches throughout the system, the sources said. Marshals will be shipped in from out of town and snipers placed on roofs nearby the courthouse, where a death-penalty trial is likely. Nearby streets will be shut off to motor vehicles in all directions. One source described the likely cost of all the extra measures as "tremendous." When the Islamist fanatics behind the plot that left 3,000 Americans dead are moved from their cages in Guantanamo Bay to the Big Apple -- which could be as soon as a month from now -- they will likely arrive by private plane, sources said. Bound, gagged and blindfolded, mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his crew will get their first taste of American justice when they land in the middle of the night at Stewart Airport, outside Newburgh. Under the strictest security, they will then likely be put on a helicopter and delivered to a jail near the scene of their heinous crime. The trip will mirror what the al Qaeda thug behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Ramzi Yousef -- Mohammed's nephew -- went through after he was arrested. During his journey to New York in 1995, FBI officials lifted Yousef's blindfold as they passed over the Twin Towers to show him they were still standing. "They wouldn't be if I had more money," Yousef chillingly replied. Federal prison officials have yet to decide whether they will place al Qaeda animals Mohammed, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd Al-Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmad Al-Hawsawi and Waleed Bin Attash together in isolation at the Metropolitan Correctional Center or split them up, sending some to the federal pen in Brooklyn, the sources said. Either way, they will be placed in solitary confinement and allowed no contact, aside from their lawyers. Once the trial grows close, they will all be placed at MCC and possibly moved in and out of the courthouse through underground tunnels. Despite the massive security detail, former federal prison guard Louis Pepe -- who was permanently injured in a 2000 stabbing by Osama bin Laden aide Mamdouh Mahmud Salim -- said that it was not enough and that the trial should not be here in the first place. "It's going to happen again," said Pepe, who suffered brain damage and was paralyzed on his right side after Salim stabbed him in the eye with a sharpened toothbrush while awaiting trial for the 1998 African embassy bombings. "They want to kill people. They want jihad. They want to become martyrs. That's all they want. That's what they did to me." He said that federal prisoners are still allowed to have toothbrushes and other items that could be turned into weapons. "They are still stupid," he said. "They still give them these things." Officials also are prisoners to political correctness by allowing Muslim prisoners out of their handcuffs to pray, he said. "They can't say anything -- they have to pray," he complained. Meanwhile, the Obama administration last night said that it is considering shipping an unknown number of Guantanamo detainees to a near-empty federal prison in Illinois, about 150 miles west of Chicago. NYPost
 Recent terror raids in Queens have led to a spike in fear and racial profiling, Muslim advocates charge. About 40 people rallied outside the Flushing Public Library Saturday to draw attention to what they called an uptick in targeted policing. The rally was in response to raids last month linked to a suspected bomb plot. Najibullah Zazi, 24, who authorities say was trained at an Al Qaeda terror camp, pleaded not guilty to conspiring to detonate explosives. "An entire community of people and religion should not be profiled or characterized as terrorists because of [one] certain investigation," said Monami Maulik, who runs the South Asian immigrant rights group Desis Rising Up and Moving. Naiz Khan, who allowed Zazi to stay at his Flushing apartment, said FBI agents raided his flat and he hasn't been able to find work since. "I was so scared and I was so nervous," he said. "I have been so affected by this." "People are scared," said Sultan Faiz, a leader at Abu Bakar Mosque in Queens. Organizers say Muslims in New York haven't been this scared since the months after 9/11, when some were subject to discrimination across the country. The NYPD issued a statement saying they don't engage in racial profiling. Source: New York Daily News
 AP: 3 New Yorkers Linked to Zazi Investigators believe they know possible accomplices of Afghan immigrant Najibullah Zazi, who is accused of plotting a terrorist attack against New York City, according to an Associated Press report, which cites a law enforcement source. A federal indictment mentions at least three people helping Zazi buy peroxide and acetone in suburban Denver from beauty supply stores. According to security experts, those chemicals can be used to make explosives. Federal agents and NYPD detectives working the case know the identities of three New Yorkers they believe are involved in some way, the AP reports. Authorities arrested Zazi and his father in Denver last week. His father was released on bail. Zazi was transported to New York to face a federal judge in connection with an alleged plot to set off explosives on commuter trains to coincide with the Sept. 11 anniversary. He has denied any involvement in terrorism. The Joint Terrorism Task Force also arrested an imam from Queens for allegedly lying to investigators. Last Thursday, a federal magistrate freed Ahmad Afzali on $1.5 million bail. "This is my land, this is my country, I love this place," Afzali said Thursday after his release. He has been an NYPD informant.
"Zazi used to come to the mosque, then he would disappear from the mosque and the last time I saw him was many years ago," he said. Source: Fox
 There are at least three aspects of the ongoing investigation into suspected al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in Colorado and New York that are especially troubling. First, Najibullah Zazi, the Afghan immigrant at the heart of the case, has reportedly admitted that he was trained in an al Qaeda training camp in Northern Pakistan as recently as last year.
This is especially important because even though some counterterrorism analysts believe that the Internet alone is sufficient for conspirators to get together to execute a terrorist attack, it is clear that Northern Pakistan has been the hub for the most serious terrorist plots in recent years. Just ask British authorities. Al Qaeda’s July 7, 2005, bombings in London, a follow-on plot scheduled for later that same month, as well as the summer 2006 plot against as many as ten airliners can all be traced back to northern Pakistan. While most of the terrorists involved had been “westernized” to a large extent, they still needed to connect with their al Qaeda brethren to make their plots go. This was apparently true of Zazi as well. He certainly has transplanted roots on American soil, but in order to acquire vital bomb-making skills and other operational tradecraft he found it necessary to travel to Northern Pakistan. Second, it is clear that law enforcement authorities still don’t know much about the putative plot(s) Zazi was involved in, even though they are convinced it was major. Three men have been taken into custody, but federal authorities have told the press that perhaps as many as a dozen suspects were involved. The LA Times relays this troubling revelation: “Authorities said that they did not know the exact number of potential suspects or many of their identities, but that they had been connected through electronic intercepts, surveillance, seized evidence and interviews.” Now, the FBI and other law enforcement officials have a significant amount of pocket litter, computer hardware, and surveillance reports in their possession. But they are still not sure who Zazi was working with or how various personalities related to each other.
This reveals a key aspect of intelligence collection and analysis. Oftentimes, hard evidence is incredibly important, but it can be difficult for authorities to piece together how the various names and telephone numbers that are discovered relate to one another. This is why getting detainees to provide information is crucially important. When Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) was captured, for example, U.S. authorities also recovered hard drives from his residence. Those hard drives included thousands of names. Without some guidance from KSM and other al Qaeda detainees, it would have been next to impossible to put many of these names into an understandable context. If the LA Times report and other press accounts are accurate (and I have no reason to doubt that they are), then Zazi has clearly not given up crucial details about what he was doing. Not only are authorities not clear on who he was working with, but they are also not certain what targets he and his alleged co-conspirators planned to strike.
Surveillance pictures and video of various landmarks (including stadiums) and public transit nodes (Grand Central Station) were reportedly found in Zazi’s possession. But it is not perfectly clear where he planned to strike. Various television broadcasts here in the New York area have noted that authorities are also looking for an explosives mill. Investigators reportedly believe that Zazi and others had already gotten their bomb-making operation of the ground. If this is true, and the bomb-making facility exists somewhere, then Zazi has not told authorities where it is located. Third, there are reports that authorities don’t know more about Zazi’s alleged co-conspirators and intended target(s) because the NYPD moved too quickly in pursuing its own investigation into the matter after being tipped off by the FBI. The NYPD allegedly contacted a would-be informant, who in turn warned Zazi. I don’t know if this is true or not, but taken together with the second point above it means that authorities are missing crucial details about Zazi’s plotting. Source: The Weekly Standard
 The massive FBI probe that triggered raids in Queens is focused on a Denver-based terror cell plotting another attack on the scale of 9/11, the Daily News learned Tuesday. Hundreds of FBI agents are on the ground in Colorado, conducting round-the-clock surveillance on five suspects - including a man who recently visited Queens, sources told The News. New York authorities searched three Flushing apartments and detained several men - later released - after getting a warrant to look for bomb-making components, explosive powders and fuses. "The FBI is seriously spooked about these guys planning another 9/11," a former senior counterterrorism official told the News. "This is not some ... FBI informant-driven case. This is the real thing." Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters it's an ongoing investigation with plenty of "substance." The 24-7 counterterror operation included Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants used to intercept calls and e-mails, as well as overseas-linked wiretaps to eavesdrop on Arabic and Pashto-speaking targets. Sources said the investigation's targets are Afghans - an unusual development. Al Qaeda prefers Arabs and Pakistanis as there overseas operatives. FBI officials are furious at Kelly over Monday's raids because the NYPD seemed intent on scaring off the cell - which is believed to be plotting a New York attack. The FBI hoped to wait and determine what the Colorado cell was planning. Two other sources confirmed the FBI-NYPD rift. An investigator involved in the case said Kelly prefers to "act too soon rather than act too late." NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said it is "an utter fabrication that the FBI is furious with Kelly or that Kelly fought to shut down the action early." Source: NY Daily News
 New York City police and the FBI raided homes in the borough of Queens early on Monday as part of an investigation into suspected terrorism, focusing on one man who has been under surveillance, officials said. Authorities searched at least two apartments including one shared by five Afghan men, taking some of them in for questioning, said one man who was questioned. Members of U.S. Congress briefed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation said there was no imminent danger. "There was nothing imminent, and they are very good now at tracking potentially dangerous actions and this was preventive," said Charles Schumer, a U.S. Senator from New York who was among those briefed by FBI officials. A man who identified himself as Amanullah Akbar, a 30-year-old taxi driver, said the FBI raided the apartment he shares with four other Afghan men at 2:30 a.m. (1630 GMT) He was brought in for questioning and released and said he had no idea why his home was targeted, adding that he believed one of his roommates was arrested. A neighbor said she saw FBI agents armed with what she called machine guns storm the apartment building, and that one of them emerged carrying a box. "It was scary. I wasn't going to stop the FBI and ask them what was going on," said Melissa Khan, 28. NYPD and FBI officials provided few details, calling it part of an ongoing investigation of the joint terrorism task force. Source: Reuters H/T: JihadWatch
 Hizballah has greater capability than Al Qaeda of staging a mass-casualty terrorist attack in the United States, according to a top New York Police Department (NYPD) official. "Hizballah at the strategic level, with its state sponsors, more or less decided not to attack the United States' interest directly in the continental United States at all," NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism Richard Falkenrath said Tuesday. "But our assessment is, if they ever change their minds, they have the capacity to inflict terrible damage on the United States, and I worry about that a lot. We haven't seen it yet, but I don't like to be in a position where our defense lies in the strategic decision of a terrorist organization." In remarks to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Falkenrath added that he had seen strategic analyses of what could persuade Hizballah to alter its strategic decision not to attack the United States. Falkenrath said those would include "direct U.S. military operations against the Hizballah leadership" as well as attacks against Iran, the terror group's state sponsor. Hizballah has focused its terrorist actions abroad because "they would have too much heat on them if they did attack the United States, and they can accomplish most of their interests without it," Falkenrath said. Read more ...Source: IPT Blog
 NYPD Muslim Chaplain Khalid Latif has received lavish praise from the press, and even from a part of the US government. However, closer examination raises some disturbing questions. The Christian Science Monitor's March 19, 2009 article "When NYPD wears a Muslim topi," comes close to sanctifying Latif. The Imam, as the CSM describes him, is seeking to "to help develop a particularly American form of Islam - one fully integrated into the social fabric of the United States." The thoughtful Latif wonders, "And now it's like, how do you mesh together this seeming dichotomy of Islam and the West?" and then looks at himself, bearded in a police uniform and concludes, "that's not a dichotomy, it's a reality." Going even further, on September 18, 2008 the State Department's America.gov, part of the Department's Public Diplomacy thrust, had headlined, "Imam Khalid Latif Builds Communities of Faith and Diversity," which presents a Latif "deeply committed to interfaith dialogue and community service as integral parts of what it means to be Muslim in a modern, multicultural world." The State Department subsequently reprinted the article in what it described as "the richly illustrated book Being Muslim in America." A more pertinent question concerns his commitment to free speech. Latif is also Chaplain of the Islamic Center of New York University. Read more ...Source: IPT Blog
Authorities busting a suspected ID thief in Brooklyn stumbled upon a possible terrorist nest full of al Qaeda news clippings, chemical manuals and weapons literature. Cops made the disturbing find last week Thursday evening after a landlord found the photocopied IDs inside the apartment of a former tenant on Classon Avenue in Prospect Heights and dialed 311. The tenant, Hisham Khaleel, 35, had been evicted. Responding officers found 13 copied licenses, all of which appeared to belong to customers from the Vanderbilt YMCA on East 47th Street in Manhattan, where Khaleel worked briefly as an unarmed security guard. Read more ...Source: Yeshiva World NewsH/T: Atlas
 By Stephen Schwartz Last year the New York Police Department (NYPD) issued a clear-sighted and path-breaking document titled Radicalization in the West: The Home-Grown Threat. Prepared by Mitchell D. Silber and Arvin Bhatt of the NYPD Intelligence Division, the report was serious, well-researched, and articulate. It traced radical Sunni Muslim activities in non-Muslim countries to the "jihadi-Salafi" ideology, better known as Wahhabism, created in Saudi Arabia and supported by major extremist resources in Pakistan (the jihadist movement of Mawdudi) and Egypt (the Muslim Brotherhood). It was posted on the internet by Republican congressman Pete Hoekstra of Michigan and may be read here. Radicalization in the West met with enthusiastic approval from anti-extremist, moderate Muslims, but with predictable condemnation from the "Wahhabi lobby" represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its allies. On November 23, 2007, as disclosed in documents made available to me, a statement was composed, in the name of the "Muslim community," protesting against the NYPD's release of the report. Employing the typically arrogant, peremptory, and militant idiom of the Islamist movements, the statement called on New York police commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. Read more ...Source: The Weekly Standard
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Copyright Muslims Against Sharia 2008. All rights reserved.
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by Mark Impomeni 
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