World Threats

My research on the Muslims of the Americas has been in partnership with the Christian Action Network, and so I decided to publish this week’s CAN newsletter, reviewing how the organization has taken on the MOA.

Dear friend of the Christian Action Network,

As I travel around the country, I am amazed at the unused potential of the church. It feels like there is a huge longing for education and activism against radical Islam, but the church hasn’t been activated. And the forces of extremism are taking advantage of this!

The Muslims of the Americas, the group profiled in our hit documentary, Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Camps Around the U.S., is reaching out to YOU! They have set up a front called the United Muslim Christian Forum, and it holds interfaith conferences to deceive Christians about their true nature. Their website even has a photo of Binghamton Mayor Matthew T. Ryan holding their sign!

We need to redouble our efforts to get the church involved. Anyone who reads the headlines know that times are tough, and that includes us—but together, we can get this job done. Can you support our efforts with a small donation of $10, $50, or even $100 or more?

To give you an idea of the impact your support is making, consider the pressure we’ve brought onto the Muslims of the Americas. We’ve released a videotape showing female members receiving guerilla warfare training in Islamberg (click HERE), as well as recordings of gunfire coming from Islamville in York County, S.C. (click HERE). Because of our efforts, MOA has threatened to sue us (click HERE) and has released a ridiculous rebuttal video (click HERE).

We are now regularly on FOX News Channel. Our National Security Advisor, Ryan Mauro, was on FOX & Friends on July 16 to discuss Bin Laden’s plans to attack on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and the threat from Pakistan. Click HERE to watch it.

And over the past week, we’ve been talking to more cable news shows about discussing our work on MOA and the training camps right here in America. These are successes, but we have much more to do. We want to expand our outreach to the church and make sure Christians have the opportunity to get involved. We can only do this with your help and your prayers, and we hope you’ll join us!

 

Alawite militiamen loyal to Syrian president Bashar Assad killed 16 people on the streets of Homs Tuesday, the Jerusalem Post reports. According to witnesses, among those attacked were mourners at a funeral of 10 people killed in similar assaults one day earlier.

There are strong indicators that the attacks are being carried out by the ruthless Shabbiha gangs -Syria’s equivalent of the Mexican cartel type- who have been variously employed by state security forces to carry out residential raids.

This week’s killings have centered in and around the al-Khalidiya district, which is home to a host of key Sunni tribes from rural Homs but is near the Alawite stronghold of Nozha where the Shabbiha militiamen are known to live. According to witnesses, tribal leaders have begun pushing back against both the gangs and Alawite residents who together command a firm grip on security and public jobs in the area.

On the threat of growing sectarian strife one resident said, “Basically you have two armed neighborhoods in Homs and the tribes are now starting to settle scores with the regime.” He added, “The magic is turning against the magician. The regime thought that if it feeds the tribes and allows them to carry AK-47s it will secure their loyalty forever. The repression, however, is turning them into insurgents.”

This confirms a report Monday from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that said weekend clashes between pro and anti-Assad residents in Homs turned violent when the bodies of three Alawite residents, which the government claims were kidnapped last week, were returned to their relatives dismembered.

Meanwhile, diplomatic pressure on the regime grew significantly this week when Qatar, a major supporter, closed its embassy in Damascus after suffering two attacks officials believe were carried out by Assad supporters. British Foreign Secretary William Hague was also reported Monday -after a EU Foreign Ministries meeting in Brussels- to have said the EU is considering tougher sanctions.

Yet as the US State Department continues their efforts to toughen restrictions on the Assad regime, Russia maintains it will block any UN resolution condemning the crackdown. For now, then, ethnoreligious tensions in Homs will continue and the violence there will only add to the deepening crisis facing the Syrian population.

The Arab Spring is about to add another dictator to its tally: Yemeni President Saleh. He is still being treated in Saudi Arabia for wounds from a dramatic assassination attempt, and officials say it will be “months” before doctors release him. It is increasingly unlikely he’ll come back to his home country, and if he does, civil war may erupt. This regime change is hardly being talked about, but it is one that Islamists are eagerly awaiting.

The Yemeni Vice President says he has no idea when Saleh will be released, and other officials are saying it will be months before he comes back. A Saudi official says that Saleh definitely will not return, but it still needs to be worked out where he will go into exile. If Saleh tries to return, he will meet a massive crowd of protesters and resistance from the U.S. and the Gulf Cooperation Council. At least half of his generals have defected, and over 100 members of his Republican Guard recently quit. The most powerful tribe and General Ali Mohsen, considered the second most powerful man in the country as the head of the 1^st Armored Division, have also turned against him. It is hard to see how Saleh stays in power, raising the question of what comes next.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

The Islamic Republic of Iran claims that it has shot down an American drone over one of its nuclear facilities. While this has not been confirmed by the American government, it does warrant notice.

According to the government, an American drone was shot down over the country’s formerly secret Qom facility. These reports have been derived from the state-run media.

“We have experienced similar incidents many times in the past and there have even been drones belonging to the occupying Zionist regime (Israel), the United States and Britain which have been shot down in the Persian Gulf during the past 7 years,” Fars quoted a senior military official as saying at the time.

No way to confirm this at this time, but it certainly does not sound unlikely.

Cross-posted at Pundit Press.

Bahrain’s government is accusing Iran of sabotaging a critical weekend dialog between the kingdom’s Sunni monarchy and opposition groups, the LA Times reports.

Fahad Ebrahim Shehabi, spokesman for the Bahraini parliament said that talks were progressing until the main Shiite opposition group, Wefaq, pulled out after receiving “a green light from Tehran to withdraw from the negotiations.” According to Shehabi, “the decision is not in their hands; it is in the hands of the Wilayet Faqih,” a reference to Iran’s mullahs and the larger system of theocracy commanded by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Wefaq, however, has long argued they are not an Iranian puppet and have denied the latest of such allegations. In their support, Nabeel Rajab, vice president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, heavily criticized the talks citing the absence of direct representatives of Bahrain’s al-Khalifa royal family. According to Rajab, “The regime invited civil society organizations to attend who have in the past legitimized the regime to participate. The regime hides behind these civil society groups but aren’t themselves present.” He added, “The opposition wants to negotiate with the decision makers not the NGOs. We need to address our demands to the people who are in power — to the ruling family.”

Unrest in Bahrain, however, has been hugely suppressed by the March deployment of Saudi led GCC forces. According to Shehabi, demonstrators based protests on “the Iranian revolution that brought Khomeini to power,” adding, “They want to remove the whole system. We can’t do that.”

There are currently no reports on whether Bahraini officials will again attempt to broker a deal between the government and opposition groups representing the predominantly Shi’ite demonstrators demanding better representation in Bahrain’s Sunni-dominated political theatre. Last month Hasan Mushaima and Abdulhadi Khawaja, along with a number of prominent opposition activists were sentenced to life in prison by a Bahraini military court. Additionally, the Bahraini government sentenced three people in July to 10 years in prison on charges of spying for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Shehabi insists, however, that the Bahrain government is treating protesters differently than their counterparts in Yemen, Syrian and Libya where he claims greater violence has persisted. “Bahrain is an exception. As far as organization and mobilization is concerned, the protest movement is like Hezbollah,” he said, adding, “We are different from Syria because whereas 40 have died in Bahrain, in Syria the death count is four-figured.”

Despite weeks of deception and affectation of good health, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez is in Cuba for chemotherapy, heightening speculation about whether he’ll still run for re-election in 2012 and how the regime will survive after him. His declining health adds another burden to his campaign for a third term, as a majority of Venezuelans already oppose his re-election due to a horrible economy, a soaring murder rate, and relentless power grabs.

Rumors about Chavez’s health began when he disappeared for weeks in Cuba, absent from the limelight he craves. His government originally claimed he had a pelvic abscess, but reports that he had prostate cancer quickly spread. Chavez has since admitted that a baseball-sized tumor was removed on June 20, without offering any details. He says he is now cancer-free, but is going back to Cuba for chemotherapy to prevent the return of the cancer.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

An extremist Muslim group in the U.S. called As-Sabiqun has opened two centers to promote its ideology, reports the Investigative Project on Terrorism. The group also urges Muslim-Americans to create Muslim-only enclaves as a step towards bringing the U.S. under Sharia Law.

The two centers, called the “College in Islamic Movement Studies” and the “Islamic Institute to Counter Zionist American Psychological Warfare,” are in Washington, D.C. and Oakland, C.A.

“We are an anti-Zionist American psycho-guerilla warfare movement. We use all available tools found in our environment in exposing the anti-Islamic, anti-human policies of this Zionist American system,” said Abdul Alim Musa, the leader of As-Sabiqun.

The website of As-Sabiqun honors Ayatollah Khomeini; Hasan al-Bana, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood; Sayyid Qutb, the extremist preacher who inspired Osama Bin Laden, and other supporters of terrorism. Musa also promotes theories that the U.S. government and Israel staged the 9/11 attacks, and says that as a Muslim, he “like[s]” Osama Bin Laden. He has also praised Hamas and Hezbollah.

As-Sabiqun also promotes a plan to create Muslim-only communities in the U.S. where Islamic Sharia law can be established. The ultimate goal is to bring the U.S. under Sharia Law.

As-Sabiqun isn’t the only group trying to create such mini-states. The Muslims of the Americas organization has established compounds dozens of acres large, such as “Islamberg” in Hancock, New York State. In 2009, the Christian Action Network exposed how this organization is instructing some of its members in guerilla warfare by releasing, “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Camps Around the U.S.,” a film about the organization.

Click on the title to watch the segment from this morning!

An extremist group in the United Kingdom called “Muslims Against the Crusades” have called for Bradford and Dewsbury, two towns in Yorkshire, and the borough of Tower Hamlets in East London to implement Sharia Law, the Daily Mail reports.

“We suggest it is time that areas with large Muslim populations declare an emirate…to live by the Sharia as much as possible with their own courts and community watch and schools and even self-sufficient trade,” the group’s website states.

The organization also calls on Muslims not to join law enforcement or military and demands that the British government release all inmates. MAC makes it clear that it is taking an incremental approach to replacing democracy with Sharia Law.

“In time we can envisage that the whole of the Sharia might one day be implemented starting with these enclaves,” the website says.

Another group that has successfully created Muslim-only enclaves is the Muslims of the Americas organization, which is profiled in the Christian Action Network’s 2009 film, Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Camps Around the U.S.

The terrorists behind the three bombings in Mumbai on July 13 that killed at least 23 people obviously want to torpedo any dialogue between India and Pakistan, but the Pakistani government (or at least the ISI and other extremist factions) may want to send a message: You need us.

The attacks came around the anniversary of the July 11, 2006 train bombings that killed over 200 people in Mumbai. A leader of a group called the Indian Mujahideen (IM) confessed to his role in this attack, and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) has also been linked. The latter displayed its lethality with its sophisticated attacks on Mumbai in November 2008 that killed 164 people. Suspicion for these latest attacks is falling upon the IM, but the LET may have used the IM as a front, given their close links.

“When LET’s terrorists were arrested, ISI had a problem internationally. So their strategy was to train more and more people of Indian origin,” said New Delhi Joint Police Commissioner Karnail Singh in 2008. Top IM leaders, specifically the Bhatkal brothers, are currently sheltered by the LET in Karachi. India’s Intelligence Bureau has even suspected that IM is made up altogether by the LET and presumably, its Pakistani backers.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

A Tucson, A.Z. Police Department document leaked by hackers reveals testimony that Hezbollah has a large arms stockpile in Mexico, PublicIntelligence.net reports. The September 2010 memo raises concerns that Hezbollah has linked up with Mexican drug gangs that could assist in smuggling terrorists and weapons into the United States.

“In April of last year, the arrest of Jamal Yousef – in New York City – exposed a weapons cache of 100 M-16 assault rifles, 100 AR-15 rifles, 2,500 hand grenades, C4 explosives and antitank munitions,” the memo reads.

“According to Yousef, the weapons, which were being stored in Mexico, had been stolen from Iraq with the help of his cousin who was a member of Hezbollah.”

The police document recounts that a member of Hezbollah was arrested in July 2010 in Mexico trying to set up a network for the terrorist organization. It also says that there is a “strong suspicion” that car bombs being set off by Mexican drug gangs were developed with assistance from Hezbollah.

In July 2010, a Mexican drug gang detonated an advanced car bomb that was said to have “Hezbollah-like sophistication.” The explosion came shortly after Rep. Sue Myrick said that she was told by a Mexican military officer that Hezbollah was training members of the drug cartels, and that the instruction could include car bombs.

“If our government and responsible partners in Latin America fail to act, I believe there will be an attack on U.S. personnel, installations or interests in the Americas as soon as Hizballah operatives believe that they are capable of such an operation without implicating their Iranian sponsors in the crime,” Roger Noriega, a top expert on Latin America told the House Homeland Security Committee last week.

A Tucson Police Department memo from September 2010 has been leaked onto the Internet by hackers, and it warns that Hezbollah has set up shop in Mexico. The terrorist group has linked up with the Mexican drug lords, and is even said to have a large arms stockpile in the country. Terrorist groups are looking at the raging drug war in Mexico as an opportunity to further their deadly ambitions.

The memo recalls that a member of Hezbollah was arrested in Tijuana in July 2010 who was tasked with setting up a network for the terrorist group. It also mentions the April 2010 arrest of Jamal Yousef in New York City, who told the authorities that he worked with his cousin to steal weapons from Iraq for Hezbollah. According to Yousef, a stockpile of 100 M-16 assault rifles, 100 AR-15 rifles, 2500 hand grenades, C4 explosives and anti-tank weapons is presently in Mexico.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

A resident of Dearborn, M.I. has been indicted for planning to go to Israel to carry out a bombing with Hezbollah, CNN reports. The suspect, Faouzi Ayoub, is now on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists.

Ayoub, originally from Lebanon, is said to have falsified a passport to travel to Israel under the name of Frank Mariano Boschi in 2000. He was imprisoned by Israel, but was released in exchange for the release of a hostage and the bodies of three killed Israeli soldiers.

“Hezbollah may not have attacked the U.S. mainland, but the group’s networks in North and South America indicate that, should they decide to, they could do tremendous damage,” said Ryan Mauro, Christian Action Network’s National Security Advisor.

“Hezbollah’s ability to recruit in the U.S. is also an indication that the threat from homegrown radicalization is increasing,” he said.

Prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001, Hezbollah was the terrorist organization that had claimed the most American lives. The group has carried out several high-profile terrorist attacks including the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon, and the bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Argentina in 1994. Its attacks on Israel have also caused numerous armed conflicts, such as the 2006 invasion of Lebanon by Israeli forces.

In recent years, Hezbollah has been accused of supporting insurgents and terrorists in Iraq targeting American and Iraqi forces with sponsorship from Syria and Iran.

Following the United States’ lead, France has announced that it is withdrawing a large portion of its forces in Afghanistan. This comes after word has leaked that France is trying to end the Libya conflict as well.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a surprise visit to Afghanistan today and announced that the country would take out 1,000 troops out of the approximately 4,000 present. This comes after the United States announced its own withdrawal plan.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said France’s withdrawal would be limited to the Surobi region, east of Kabul. “We believe this region is now secure and the time has come to pass the baton to the Afghan troops,” he told France Info radio.

Sarkozy’s visit followed a trip by U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the weekend and came two days before France’s “Bastille Day” national day, which marks the start of the 1789 revolution and will this year honor troops on foreign missions.

Too bad– it’s coming at a time when al Qaeda and the Taliban is hard hit.

Cross-posted at Pundit Press.

Secretary of State Clinton is warning Syrian dictator Bashar Assad that he “is not indispensable and we have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power,” a marketed escalation in rhetoric following attacks on the U.S. and French embassies that were undoubtedly orchestrated by the Syrian regime. The statement is just short of a direct call for Assad’s resignation, though that is likely to come soon.

About 300 pro-Assad “protesters” attacked the U.S. embassy, tearing down plaques, spray-painting anti-American slogans, and breaking windows and security cameras. The French embassy was also assaulted, and live ammunition was used to protect the facility. The State Department says the state-controlled television inspired the attacks, and a resident said perpetrators were members of the regime’s Alawite Shabbiha militia, four buses of which were brought in from Tartous. The attack was retaliation for a bold visit to Hama by the American and French ambassadors on Thursday to express solidarity with the hordes of protesters demanding regime change. They were greeted by cheering residents, who put flowers and olive branches on their vehicles.

Click here to read the rest of my PJM article.