Al-Arian Contempt Trial Set for August

By The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A trial date has been set for August 13th in the case of Sami Al-Arian, who is charged with criminal contempt in a two count indictment for refusing to testify before grand juries investigating Islamic charities with suspected ties to terrorism. U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said she expected a "straightforward" trial that would last one day, but Al-Arian's attorney, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, indicated that he would continue to challenge the indictment and suggested the trial may be more complicated.

The indictment charges Al-Arian with refusing to testify when called before federal grand juries Oct. 16, 2007 and March 20, 2008 despite a grant of immunity from the prosecution.

After the arraignment Turley spelled out his planned defense on his blog, writing:

In court, I informed Judge Brinkema that we believed that the indictment was invalid on its face. Among other problems, Dr. Al-Arian did not refuse to cooperate. Dr. Al-Arian had given two detailed affidavits that established that he had no knowledge of any crime by IIIT or its officers. He further offered repeatedly to take a polygraph examination to prove that he had given a truthful account and was not withholding information.

Even if that turns out to be true, Al-Arian is not charged with "failure to cooperate," but criminal contempt for refusing to testify before the grand jury, which two federal appellate courts have held he had an obligation to do.

Although Al-Arian's defense claimed today that their client was not prepared to enter a plea, Judge Brinkema proceeded to enter a plea of not guilty on Al-Arian's behalf.

Judge Brinkema agreed to consider releasing Al-Arian on bond pending trial, but deferred her ruling until she can hear from pretrial services about how best to ensure Al-Arian's supervision during his release.

For the complete article of today's events, please click here to visit the IPT's website.

"Islamic Finance" a Hot Topic in Washington Seminars - But Beware

By Andrew Cochran

In the last two months, in two seminars aimed at developing future counterterrorism policy attended by senior-level representatives from the Administration, industry (e.g., financial institutions, tech companies, and defense-related consulting groups), and the military, the subject of "Islamic finance" (or "shariah finance," used interchangably by many) has been introduced and discussed in favorable terms. Financial institutions are especially keen on reaching new markets, and others in the audience foresee the opportunity to engage in outreach and peace-building efforts. But they should take a breath and first survey that subject more deeply before diving into it.

Last November 14, Jeffrey Imm wrote, "Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal, and Islamist Financing," in which he exposed some of the players involved in setting up "The Wall Street Journal's Islamic and Ethical Finance Conference." As Jeff wrote then, it is painfully obvious that Wall Street mavens who lust for better connections and expanded markets in the islamic world often have no clue to the backgrounds, connections, ideologies, or ultimate goals of some of the central officials and organizations involved in many "Islamic finance" or "shariah finance" vehicles. Neither does Wall Street, nor K Street in Washington for that matter, realize that shariah finance vehicles are seen by Islamists as perfect indirect mechanisms for funding the implementation of extremist shariah law and/or violent jihad. Jeff's post is as informative today as when he wrote it. Moreover, other experts are now educating Washington and Wall Street to take a close look at the inner workings of otherwise attractive Islamic/shariah finance opportunities.

What Wall Street does understand (better than K Street) is the legal and political obligations under the USA Patriot Act and the Bank Secrecy Act. I am not advocating a wholesale boycott of any and all Islamic finance vehicles (yet), but the risks are worth throwing cold water on the idea at this point.

Two Worrisome Trends

By Douglas Farah

There are two stories today that point to ongoing problems and the future contours of the conflicts in which we will be emerged in coming years.

The first is the extensive New York Times piece on who lack of resources, bureaucratic infighting and lack of unified vision (coupled with a high tolerance for Pakistan's game-playing) has helped allow al Qaeda to regroup in the tribal regions.

Perhaps the most disturbing item in the piece, which chronicles numerous disturbing elements that show how much the inter-agency process is returning to its pre-9/11 mindset the further the memories recede, is the following:

Just as it had on the day before 9/11, Al Qaeda now has a band of terrorist camps from which to plan and train for attacks against Western targets, including the United States. Officials say the new camps are smaller than the ones the group used prior to 2001. However, despite dozens of American missile strikes in Pakistan since 2002, one retired C.I.A. officer estimated that the makeshift training compounds now have as many as 2,000 local and foreign militants, up from several hundred three years ago.

Radical Islamist groups (as well as most radicalized groups) desperately need areas where they can gather to mutually reinforce their beliefs, weed out unbelievers and build a joint narrative that allows them to tell their stories to themselves in which they are doing the will of Allah.

Without that, members grow in doubt, drift away from the core beliefs and lessen in their ardor for the cause. Joint experiences are also vital to forging the kind of comraderie that needs to exist among groups that are prepared to kill and be killed.

To allow these camps to be reconstituted is perhaps one of the single most dangerous failures we face. My full blog is here.

The Lebanese powder keg

By Olivier Guitta

Saturday's explosion of a bomb in a building in a sunni neighborhood of Tripoli (Lebanon) killing one is a reminder of the tensions running high in Lebanon.
I just wrote an article for the Middle East Times on how the different players involved in the Lebanese puzzle are preparing themselves for the next stage.

You can read the full article here.
Here is an excerpt:
After the Hezbollah (the Party of God) coup in May and its "official" endorsement by Lebanese political forces and the international community in Doha, Lebanon is still very much facing an explosive situation.

Last week's heavy fighting between Sunni militants and Alawites - an offshoot of Shiism - (Syrian President Bashar Assad is an Alawite) in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli left at least nine dead and many more wounded.

One may deduct from this latest violence that the Doha agreement that allowed the election of the pro-Syrian Gen. Michel Suleiman and de facto handed Hezbollah the keys of the country, is not going down well with the Sunnis, the Druze, a large portion of the Christian community and finally some anti-Hezbollah forces within the Shiite community. In fact, they feel that once again the United States and France have sold out Lebanon to fit their geopolitical interests.

Diploma Mills Could Enable Terrorist Infiltration

By Michael Cutler

Today’s edition of the New York Times reports on the nefarious activities of a “diploma mill” that has been successfully operating for some time, amassing huge profits while conspiring with its customers to provide anyone with the money, a worthless diploma that provides the illusion of academic achievement. These diplomas undermine the integrity of our workforce and may even undermine national security. As the article notes, visas can be issued to aliens who are able to document that they have degrees that would qualify them for employment in the United States, when in fact they have no such education and may have no intention of securing the job they apply for but simply desire to enter our country for other purposes.

When I first began working for the INS as an immigration inspector, students who sought entry into the United States were required to produce Form I-20 issued by the school they intended to attend. They were admitted for a period of one year that had to be renewed every year. Several years later, the INS changed the one year admission policy to call for the admission of foreign students for the duration of status as students. Today inspectors simply note the arriving student is admitted for D/S (Duration of Status). This removes a potential area of monitoring whether or not a student is still enrolled in school. There is a program known as SEVIS that is supposed to keep track of foreign students and exchange visitors in our country.

The problem is that with the lack of resources at ICE, a student who stops attending school may well be reported to our government, but in the game of “hide and seek” the student who decides to drop out of school may hide but the government has precious little in the way of resources to “seek.”

The news report on the diploma mill is disturbing but it only addresses one area of immigration fraud while there are many other areas in which the bad guys, including terrorists, are easily able to game the immigration bureaucracy through committing fraud that goes undiscovered.

Read More »

NEFA Foundation Exclusive: An Interview with Mangal Bagh, Commander of Lashkar-e-Islam (LI), Pakistan

By Evan Kohlmann

The NEFA Foundation has obtained an exclusive video-recorded interview with Mangal Bagh, the charismatic, de-facto leader of Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) in control of approximately three-quarters of Pakistan’s Khyber Agency. Bagh took control of Lashkar-e-Islam approximately two years ago from its original founder Deobandi cleric Mufti Munir Shakir. In the span of those two years, LI has evolved into a tribe-based militant outfit which has successfully wrested control of the area from criminal networks and the central government. On June 28, 2008, the Pakistani army launched military operations targeting positions held by Mangal Bagh and LI in the Khyber Agency.

An English transcript of the interview can be downloaded from the NEFA Foundation website.

Pentagon Report, Gates' Comments Indicate Taliban's Resilience

By Andrew Cochran

A report issued late Friday by the Pentagon under Congressional mandate and comments by Defense Secretary Gates indicate the fragility of the security situation in Afghanistan. The "Report on Progress toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan" is the first formal report ever issued by DoD on the status of the security situation there.

"The Taliban regrouped after its fall from power and have coalesced into a resilient insurgency. It now poses a challenge to the Afghan Government’s authority in some rural areas. Insurgent violence increased in 2007, most visibly in the form of asymmetric attacks as Afghan and international forces’ relentless pressure forced the insurgents to shift the majority of its effort to targeting police and civilians. More than 6,500 people died as a result of suicide attacks, roadside bombs, and combat-related violence. The 2007 ISAF and ANSF military campaign caused setbacks to the Afghan insurgency, including leadership losses and the loss of some key safe-havens in Afghanistan. Despite these setbacks, the Taliban is likely to maintain or even increase the scope and pace of its terrorist attacks and bombings in 2008. The Taliban will challenge the control of the Afghan government in rural areas, especially in the south and east."

But the report was limited in scope to events prior to April of this year. Secretary Gates had to contradict one assertion in the report on the day before it was issued, when he admitted that attacks in eastern Afghanistan, including Khost province, rose 40 percent from January to May.

The report also discussed the role that drug trafficking plays in the Taliban's resurgence. "The cultivation, production and trafficking of narcotics in Afghanistan is a major concern. Narcotics-related activities are fueling the insurgency in Afghanistan and, if left unchecked, threaten the long-term stability of the country and the surrounding region. Over 90 percent of the world’s opium originates in Afghanistan, and the emerging nexus between narcotics traffickers and the insurgency is clear."

The report also criticizes Pakistan's appeasement of the Taliban in its Northwest provinces, identifying cross-border infiltration and attacks as the greatest threat to Afghanistan.

"The greatest challenge to long-term security within Afghanistan is the insurgent sanctuary within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. The ANSF must be able to coordinate actions with a Pakistani force that is trained and resourced to eliminate threats emanating from within Pakistan. The Pakistan Military (PAKMIL)’s clashes with Taliban members and terrorist organizations in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal areas have, in the past, contributed to a decrease in cross-border insurgent activity in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces. The U.S. is concerned about ceasefire negotiations and other agreements between the Government of Pakistan (GoP) and possible militant groups in South Waziristan and other locations in the FATA and North West Frontier Province. After similar agreements were signed in 2005 and 2006, cross-border operations by extremist groups against U.S. and NATO forces increased substantially."

You can read reports on each of these issues by Douglas Farah (including his post below), Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Evan Kohlmann, and others on this Afghanistan archives page.

More Evidence of the Criminal-Terrorist Nexus

By Douglas Farah

Those who are skeptical of the growing ties between drug trafficking organizations and terrorist groups-which I think will be the real war we will be fighting for many years, given the resources obtainable by drug trafficking organizations-should read the latest UN Office of Drugs and Crime report.

Among the many interesting findings is that the two areas of greatest increase in illicit production of drugs in the world are in the hands of designated terrorist groups: the Taliban in Afghanistan and the FARC in Colombia.

A third party involved in the expansion of drug production is Burma, a rogue criminal state. This bodes ill for the rest of the world.

As Antonio Maria Costa, director of the agency, told the AP:

"The explosion of narcotics in those areas is explained by their presence (the terrorist groups) and the protection they offer," Costa told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.

"I believe that slowly these people, although politically motivated at the beginning, are becoming a kind of organized crime," he said. "Money tends to stick to fingers, and a big lump of money becomes very problematic."

The numbers should alarm policy makers and the intelligence and law enforcement communities. My full blog is here.

Removing North Korea from the Terrorism List Stirs Opposition

By Michael Kraft

President Bush’s announcement of plans to remove North Korea from the terrorism list is the result of long negotiations that illustrate that the process is complicated and it is turning controversial.

Talks with North Korea about removal from the terrorism list have been going on for at least eight years. North Korean officials have been seeking removal as part of the price for being more forthcoming in the nuclear disarmament negotiations over dismantling that nation’s nuclear weapons program.

Today the North Koreans provided TV images to bolster their effort by allowing U.S. television networks to cover the demolition of the cooling tower at the nuclear power plant at Yongbyon, where weapons-grade plutonium was processed.

President Bush’s announcement Thursday came after North Korea turned over, via China, a key 60 page document detailing its rogue nuclear program. Bush said the receipt of the nuclear disclosure marked the start of an "action for action" process that is meant to end with the full dismantling of the country's nuclear facilities and weapons.

The Washington Post described the handing over of the document as “one of the most substantial developments to date in the often fitful six-party talks among North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. It detailed aspects of North Korea's plutonium production and other parts of its nuclear program. “
The removal of a country from the terrorism list cannot take effect until after the legislatively-mandated 45-day advance notification to Congress.

There are still gaps in the information the U.S. is seeking, including a list of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and some Republicans quickly came out against the proposal to take North Korea off the terrorism list. Opponents include the ranking Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and John Bolton, the former Bush Administration ambassador to the United Nations. The New York Times reported today that there were divisions within the administration over the terrorism list decision, reflecting a victory by the State Department over the Defense Department and perhaps even Vice President Chaney.

Read More »

Convicted Terrorist Sami Al-Arian Indicted in Virginia

By The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT)

Convicted terrorist Sami Al-Arian has been indicted in Virginia on two counts of criminal contempt after refusing to testify before a federal grand jury despite a grant of immunity.

Al-Arian, who pled guilty in 2006 to conspiring to provide goods and services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, has argued that his plea agreement ruled out any cooperation with the government. Two appellate courts, the 4th Circuit and 11th Circuit, have rejected that argument, saying no such agreement is in the written plea and was not uttered during Al-Arian's plea hearing.

The indictment offers few details, except to give Oct. 16, 2007 and March 20, 2008 as the dates of his alleged criminal contempt. The grand jury's focus is believed to be on terror financing by the Herndon, Va.-based International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).

For the full story, please click here to visit the IPT's website.

Islamic Saudi Academy Latest Example of Saudis' Distribution of Propaganda

By Andrew Cochran

UPDATE, June 27: Patrick Poole has posted an explosive disclosure at Pajamas Media: - that while ISA operated for almost seven years as an entity separate from the Saudi Embassy, ISA apparently never filed federal tax returns required of all operating non-profit and for-profit corporations. Patrick couldn't post an important document in that article, so he asked me to post ISA's Corporate History file from the Virginia records, clearly showing that it was an active corporation from early 1998 to the end of 2004. As such, it should have either have filed Form 1120, the federal tax return for for-profit corporations, or Form 990, the federal return for nonprofits. Since the end of 2004, ISA has apparently been a subsidiary of the Saudi Embassy.
----------

The controversy surrounding the Islamic Saudi Academy of Virginia continues to grow. Rep. Frank Wolf, the ranking Republican of the appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the State Department, wrote Secretary of State Rice (Acrobat file of the letter) to express his serious concern. "It is well known that Saudi Arabia promotes the radical Wahhabi interpretation of Islam within its own borders and has financed radical clerics abroad. Lawrence Wright's Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Looming Tower, points out that "Saudi Arabia, which constitutes only 1 percent of the world's Muslim population...supports 90 percent of the expenses of the entire faith," including "thousands of religious schools around the globe, staffed with Wahhabi imams and teachers." The ISA is funded through the Saudi government, which also funds radical madrassas along the turbulent Pakistani borders." And he sharply criticized the State Department in a handwritten note, "The State Department is not doing its duty." I recommend Steven Emerson's new article on this issue for more history of the State Department's inaction, as well as today's CQ Homeland Security story on this issue.

But the ISA is just the latest in a long line of examples of the Saudis' dissemination of Wahhabist propaganda in the United States, and Congress has already sharply criticized the Saudis for it. Almost three years ago, on November 8, 2005, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled, "Saudi Arabia: Friend or Foe in the War on Terror?" to review how the Saudis spread such literature in mosques and schools throughout the United States. You can read the testimony delivered at the hearing by Steven Emerson, Nina Shea, and others at this website and you can download the full transcript from here. Note the defense of the Saudis by their designated representative at the hearing, Anthony Cordesman of CSIS.

The focus of the hearing was the January 2005 report issued by Freedom House and edited by Ms. Shea, "Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Invade American Mosques," on the widespread dissemination of Wahhabist propaganda in American mosques and schools. We were the first website to publicize that study in January 2005 and continued to review and discuss its implications here and here. In March of 2005, 15 Senators wrote Secretary Rice, citing the report and urging her to persuade the Saudi government to stop the distribution of such material.

The continued use of the offensive textbooks at the ISA is indicative of the Saudis' willingness to export Wahhabism without any meaningful action by the State Department to prevent or halt it. To be taken seriously, Congress will have to demand the removal of such literature and enact that demand into law.

NEFA: Slain Hamas Militant Challenges Political Leadership Over Participation in Democratic Elections, "Supporting the Christians"

By Evan Kohlmann

The NEFA Foundation has obtained a new video from dissident members of the Izzadeen al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization in the Palestinian territories - of their recently slain comrade Rami Abu Suweirah (a.k.a. Abu Huzaifah) condemning the political leadership of Hamas for their decision to participate in democratic elections in the Palestinian territories, and for various other “violations of Shariah.” Abu Suweirah insisted, “I… pledge my innocence before Allah from having… participat[ed] in elections, entering polytheistic councils, making visits to infidel and apostate countries, congratulating and supporting the Christians… As for their supporters, policemen, intelligence agencies, and bodyguards—to all of you, we say: we wash our hands of you, and from what you worship in place of Allah. We wash our hands of your laws and courthouses, your methodology and constitutions. We wash our hands of your governments and courthouses, your slogans and foolish symbols. We have no faith in you, and hostility and permanent hatred have arisen between us forever.”

The video can be viewed on the NEFA Foundation website. (Arabic translation by CEIFIT)

New Report Urges Continued Caution Toward Jemaah Islamiyah

By Kenneth Conboy

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute issued a report on Wednesday which noted that Jemaah Islamiyah continues to pose a "significant threat to both Australian and regional security interests." The report claimed that the group had splintered between a fanatical hardcore and a less extreme wing, but could still muster 900 militants. (Though largely semantics, there are probably thousands of hard-line militants in Indonesia belonging to overt paramilitary groups; it is doubtful that very many of them would claim any affiliation with Jemaah Islamiyah.)

The report urged the Australian and Southeast Asian governments to remain vigilant against violent radicalism. It was written by Peter Chalk, a senior policy analyst with the Rand Corporation, and former Australian Labor Party national security advisor and academic Carl Ungerer.

Testimony in Canada About Proposal to Enable Civil Suits Against Terrorists

By Victor Comras

On June 18, I testified before the Canadian Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in Ottawa about a proposed bill to deter terrorism by providing a civil right of action against perpetrators and sponsors of terrorism. Segments of that testimony follow, and you can download the entire written testimony and my oral statement before the committee:

This important legislation will significantly enhance current counter-terrorism measures now being implemented and enforced by the Government of Canada. It is a major step forward in holding the perpetuators of terrorism and those that knowingly provide them material support, including state actors, accountable in Canada and to the victims of terrorism. This legislation will also serve further to deter those considering providing support to terrorist groups. And, it gives long overdue recognition to the rights of victims of terrorism by affording them, for the first time, real legal recourse to hold those that employ and support terrorism responsible...

(T)he evidence gathered in material support for terrorism cases often does not lend itself to effective courtroom use. Intelligence information is often highly classified, gathered through sensitive sources and methods, vulnerable to exclusion under hearsay and related rules of evidence, or otherwise unsuitable for use by the government in a court of law. This represents a major drawback for prosecutors charged with connecting the dots along the complex route such transactions follow, and at the same time demonstrating the subjective knowledge or intent of those initiating the transaction. And linking fungible funding to specific of acts of terrorist violence can be an overwhelming task.

Experience has shown that civil tort or tort-like litigation, even when the criminal justice system has failed, can still provide effective accountability and redress in criminal activity related cases. And the judgments obtained in such cases can also be so overwhelming as to bankrupt or otherwise put out of business those held accountable, or to convince those engaged to cease such nefarious conduct. Even those who fear not criminal prosecution, for the reasons noted above, still may well be deterred in the face of possible substantial civil, and very public, litigation against them...

Some have suggested that the legislation before you should be amended to limit the proposed exemption from sovereign immunity for terrorism-related cases, to those involving countries specifically designated by the Canadian Government as terrorism supporting countries. Those promoting such limitations cite, as an example the approach initially adopted by the United States when it amended the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) in 1996. I understand that the Canadian system of designation is quite different from that in the United States. Nevertheless, based upon the US experience, and the drawbacks encountered, I think such a limitation here would be a mistake.

Read More »

Dangerous Times in Colombia and Iraq

By Douglas Farah

Among the most dangerous times in a counter-insurgency campaign, inherent in asymmetrical warfare, is when the insurgency is close to being defeated.

Desperate to remain relevant and to motivate its followers as the situation becomes more trying, the groups grasp for a spectacular action that will give it a new lease on life.

In both Iraq, where al Qaeda in Iraq
seems to be in deep trouble, and in Colombia, where the FARC is on the ropes, public statements by officials give hints of a premature sense of triumph.

This lesson is not lost on some, including a senior intelligence official who told the Washington Post:

"I think it would be premature at this point," a senior intelligence official said of a victory declaration over AQI, as the group is known. Despite recent U.S. gains, he said, AQI retains "the ability for surprise and for catastrophic attacks."

That is not to deny significant progress has been made. Clearly AQI has suffered sharp defeats. The FARC has much of its senior leadership through death and desertion, and is clearly in its deepest crisis in decades. My full blog is here.

Fairfax County Supervisors Wimp Out on Islamic Saudi Academy Textbooks (Updated June 25)

By Andrew Cochran

[UPDATE, June 25: An Al-Jazeera reporter commented on the issue on June 17, supporting the ISA and condemning certain unnamed Congressmen and the USCIRF. She also completely distorted the initial decision of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to extend the lease. You can see the report on MEMRI TV, and here are some of the most egregious excerpts from MEMRI's transcript: "This pressure is exerted by several Congressmen, known for their great hostility towards Arabs and Muslims... The local authority of Fairfax County, where the academy is located, has challenged the threats of closure. It determined that the allegations are invalid, and it approved the religious curricula after examining them... What should be said about a commission that some say is unconstitutional and contradicts the very meaning of its name? This commission calls upon all countries of the world to respect freedom of religion there, while the commission itself violates this freedom on its own land."]

[SECOND UPDATE: The issue is the subject of a story in CQ Homeland Security today, with Rep. Frank Wolf quoted as demanding a Congressional hearing. And here is what one Fairfax County Supervisor says about the still-secret report they commissioned: “I would be less than frank if I didn’t tell you that the curriculum does contain references to the Quran, which, if taken out of context and read literally, would cause some concern.” But see this from today's Washington Times: "A Fairfax County employee familiar with Arabic voluntarily reviewed textbooks provided by the school, but no written report was produced..." (tip to Patrick Poole) - so is there a written report or not?]
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Last night, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors decided to ask the State Department to "investigate" the textbooks in use at the Islamic Saudi Academy of Virginia before a final decision whether to continue leasing public land to the school. Some are celebrating that decision as a "reversal" and a "victory," but it is not. Actually, the Board cynically wimped out, refusing to accept the obvious evidence already presented by an independent commission of the federal government, and punted the whole issue away from that agency to the State Department. Surely the Board knew, as any of us who have followed this issue, that State will continue to do what it has done for years on this issue - nothing.

I last posted on this issue on June 12, in which I laid out how the ISA is a case study in homegrown radicalization, applying criteria developed by the New York Police Department, citing the new report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and recalling the ISA's most famous valedictorian, convicted terrorist Ahmed Omar Abu Ali. The examples cited in the report of the anti-Israeli and pro-Wahabbist textbooks in use at the school are painfully obvious: "The cause of the discord: The Jews conspired against Islam and its people. A sly, wicked person who sinfully and deceitfully professed Islam infiltrated (the Muslims)... Only through force and victory over the enemies is there security and repose. Within martyrdom in the path of God (exalted and glorified is He) is a type of noble life-force that is not diminished by fear or poverty." And recall what the USCIRF report says about the Saudis' continued deceit in hiding the textbooks from official U.S. government review:

"In every official meeting during the visit to Saudi Arabia, the Commission delegation asked Saudi interlocutors for copies of textbooks. The Saudi government’s refusal to make them available during that visit or after the Commission’s return, despite repeated requests, left the Commission with continued concerns about their content and serious questions about whether they were in fact being reformed. The Commission also sought to obtain the textbooks used at the ISA...

While neither the ISA nor the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia complied with the Commission’s requests to release the school’s books publicly, the Commission did obtain some Arabic-language books currently used in the twelfth grade and a random selection of texts currently used in middle and high school classes. The Commission’s review of these textbooks found that they did contain passages justifying violence toward, and even the killing of, apostates and so-called polytheists. The texts also include highly intolerant passages about non-Sunni Muslims, such as Shi’a, Ismailis, and Ahmadis, and non-Muslims, such as Jews and Baha’is...

However, the books reviewed by the Commission in the winter of 2007-2008 show evidence of truncation, omission, cutting and pasting, and the use of correction tape or fluid to cover over text—but not sufficient revision to remove all objectionable material, as evidenced by the passages cited above. They appear to be Saudi Ministry of Education textbooks, with some alterations but with identical wording in many sections of the texts."

I would remind the county supervisors that USCIRF was created in 1998 by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. So the investigation they want has already been conducted by an official agency of the U.S. government. There is nothing left to prove.

What we have here is a failure of leadership. The State Department has done nothing about these books over the past five years, and the Fairfax County supervisors know it. The county supervisors contracted for a secret, special report, have not released it to this day, and won't take obvious action. I repeat what I posted on June 12: The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors should revoke the lease and force the school to leave public property.

The ISA incubator of homegrown radicalization operates unabated. May God protect the good people of Fairfax County, because their elected supervisors apparently will not.

How Iran is avoiding international sanctions

By Olivier Guitta

While the European Union just announced new sanctions against Iran, including the freezing of the assets of Bank Melli, Iran had already anticipated this move.

In fact, I just wrote an article for the Middle East Times on Iran's ability to go around the international sanctions.
You can read the whole article here.

Here is an excerpt:
Embarking upon what was described as his European farewell tour, U.S. President George W. Bush made a point last week of focusing on the Iranian issue with his European allies. Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that he was ready to add more sanctions to pressure Iran to give up its nuclear program. At the same time, the Iranian media revealed that in the past few months, Iran, anticipating this move, had withdrawn close to $75 billion of deposits from European banks. This is just an example of why the international sanctions have been somewhat weak. Indeed, Iran has quickly adapted and found a way around the sanctions.
Iran's main conduit in avoiding sanctions has been Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. There are historical reasons for this: since the beginning of the 20th century, Dubai and Iran have enjoyed close trade relations. Also, Dubai welcomed several waves of Iranian immigrants.

Not a week goes by without an Iranian minister or official visiting Dubai.

The 350,000 Iranians of Dubai compose the third largest community after the Indians and the Pakistanis. The large fortunes belong to families of Iranian origin. There are 8,200 Iranian companies today in Dubai compared to 6,500 in 2005.

Dubai has become Iran's back-up base and Iranian companies that do business abroad prefer to be based in the emirate. More than 200 flights each week link Dubai to the main Iranian cities. The port ships merchandise of all kinds to Iran, from cars to electric machinery and food.

The official trade figure between the two countries is $6 billion annually, but the smuggling amounts to an estimated additional $1.2 billion a year. Out of that $1.2 billion figure about $250 million stems from U.S. goods, supposedly banned from entering Iran.

Second Circuit Appeals Court Upholds Conviction of Uzair Paracha, Expert Testimony Given in Case

By Evan Kohlmann

Last week, in an unpublished summary order, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 2005 conviction of Uzair Paracha in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) on charges of providing material support to Al-Qaida. Paracha's defense attorneys had sought on appeal to challenge the admission of expert testimony during the trial from myself addressing various relevant aspects of the organization and structure of Al-Qaida. Summary of decision as follows:

United States Court of Appeals,Second Circuit
UNITED STATES v. Uzair PARACHA,
No. 06-3599-cr.
June 19, 2008.
(Cite as: 2008 WL 2477392 (C.A.2 (N.Y.)))
[4] Admission of Expert Testimony
"*3 Paracha asserts that the district court erred by admitting Evan Kohlmann's expert testimony on the organization and structure of al Qaeda. The record evinces, however, that Paracha waived his challenge to the relevance and utility of such testimony during a pre-trial conference. Even if not waived, and even with respect to Paracha's preserved challenge to the reliability of Kohlmann's methodology, in light of our deferential standard of review, see United States v. Wexler, 522 F.3d 194, 204 (2d Cir.2008) (noting that we review a district court's evidentiary rulings for manifest error), and the considerable leeway the Supreme Court has afforded district courts in deciding whether to admit expert testimony, see Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 152 (1999), the court was well within its discretion in ruling that Kohlmann's methodology was sufficiently reliable and his testimony relevant to the jury's understanding of al Qaeda so as to be admissible under Fed.R.Evid. 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993).See United States v. Paracha, No. 03-cr-1197, 2006 WL 12768, at *20-22 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 3, 2006). Indeed, the court limited the government's use of the expert testimony, demonstrating that it carefully considered Kohlmann's reliability and expertise, as well as the proper scope of his testimony. Id. at 22-24."

Two New Reports on Progress and Continuing Instability in Iraq

By Andrew Cochran

Two reports released today continue the "more good news but remaining bad news" pattern that we've seen in the past year, since the surge in U.S. troops was fully implemented. In "Iraq Report 9: The Battle For Basra," published by the Institute for the Study of War in conjunction with The Weekly Standard, Marisa Cochrane (no relation) discusses the forces that enabled militias to control Basra, why Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki initiated "Operation Knight's Charge" to secure Basra, and the continuing dangers ahead. Here are excerpts from the report and a press release by ISW:

"By the end of the first week, the offensive reached a stalemate. In the face of Iranian-supported enemy resistance, the Iraqi Security Forces were unable to take control of the Jaysh al-Mahdi’s heavily fortified neighborhood strongholds. The intense clashes continued with neither side gaining momentum. An agreement between Muqtada al-Sadr and representatives from rival Shi’a parties, brokered in Iran by the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), seemed to calm the violence in Basra at the end of March. The next day, Iraqi Security Force reinforcements arrived in Basra and prepared for larger-scale clearing operations...

The militias and Iranian-backed fighters have suffered great losses, but not total defeat. They have likely gone underground to regroup and evade the current security crackdown. This has made the security gains tentative...

Operation Knight’s Charge illustrated the progress that the Iraqi Security Forces have made over the past year while also serving to underscore remaining challenges in their development. Most importantly, the Basra operation has strengthened the Iraqi central government and security forces vis-à-vis criminal militia elements and their Iranian sponsors. While lasting success is by no means assured and important challenges remain, the gains in Basra over the last few months are significant and palpable..."

A longer status report on Iraq, the latest in a long line by the Government Accountability Office, provides more details on the security successes brought about by the surge and continuing failures of the Iraqi government- some excerpts:

"Overall violence, as measured by enemy-initiated attacks, fell about 70 percent in Iraq, from about 180 attacks per day in June 2007 to about 50 attacks per day in February 2008. Security gains have largely resulted from (1) the increase in U.S. combat forces, (2) the creation of nongovernmental security forces such as Sons of Iraq, and (3) the Mahdi Army’s declaration of a cease fire... Average daily attacks were at higher levels in March and April before declining in May 2008. The security environment remains volatile and dangerous. The number of trained Iraqi forces has increased from 323,000 in January 2007 to 478,000 in May 2008; many units are leading counterinsurgency operations. However, the Department of Defense reported in March 2008 that the number of Iraqi units capable of performing operations without U.S. assistance has remained at about 10 percent.

The Iraqi government has enacted key legislation to return some Ba’athists to government, give amnesty to detained Iraqis, and define provincial powers. However, it has not yet enacted other important legislation for sharing oil resources or holding provincial elections. Efforts to complete the constitutional review have also stalled...

For example, although The New Way Forward stated that the Iraqi government would take responsibility for security in all 18 provinces by November 2007, only 9 of 18 provinces had transitioned to Iraqi control as of May 2008...

Between 2005 and 2007, Iraq spent only 24 percent of the $27 billion it budgeted for its own reconstruction efforts. More specifically, Iraq’s central ministries, responsible for security and essential services, spent only 11 percent of their capital investment budgets in 2007—down from similarly low rates of 14 and 13 percent in the 2 prior years. Violence and sectarian strife, shortage of skilled labor, and weak procurement and budgeting systems have hampered Iraq’s efforts to spend its capital budgets.

Although oil production has improved for short periods, the May 2008 production level of about 2.5 million barrels per day (mbpd) was below the U.S. goal of 3 mbpd. The daily supply of electricity met only about half of demand in early May 2008."

Seventh Circuit Vacates Holy Land Foundation Opinion, Grants Rehearing

By Andrew Cochran

On June 16, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the opinion of a three-judge panel, rendered December 28, 2007, which overturned the landmark $156 million judgment against the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), other Islamic charities in the U.S., and an alleged Hamas fundraiser. The case arose out of the 1996 murder of David Boim, a 17-year-old American citizen, who was killed in a Hamas terrorist attack in the West Bank. David’s parents sued men who were directly involved in the murder; the Holy Land Foundation (HLF); the American Muslim Society, also known as the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP); the Quranic Literacy Institute (QLI); the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR); Saleh, the alleged Hamas fundraiser; and others (see this summary judgement order from the first trial for the complete list). The June 16 decision will result in a rehearing of the case by the entire court in the near future, thus giving the Boim family a second chance at the appellate level. Download the December 28 decision here and the June 16 decision here.

We discussed the impact of the December 28 decision at a January briefing for Congressional staff and other invitees. I posted this summary and the comments by Victor Comras and Jeffrey Breinholt (before he returned to active service in the Justice Department) and me. We also posted the following immediately after the December 28 appellate decision:

"Landmark Civil Terrorism Decision Overturned - Victory For Holy Land Foundation, Defeat For Terrorism Victims," my post on December 29, 2007;

"Boim Case Reversal Could Be Major Blow To Victim-of-Terrorism Litigants," Victor Comras' post on December 29, 2007; and

"Why the Boim Ruling is a Pyrrhic Victory for the Islamic Charities," Jeffrey Breinholt's post on January 2, 2008.

In its June 16 decision, the Seventh Circuit invited supplemental and amicus briefs to address the following question: "Whether a donor to an organization that, the donor knows, practices terrorism, can be liable under 18 U.S.C. §2333(a) in the absence of proof that the donor intended to advance the violent component of the recipient's activities." I would urge readers to carefully read Jeff Breinholt's January 2 post, which presages this question. UPDATE: Jeff sent his reaction to the June 16 decision for this post: "In granting the petition for rehearing, the Seventh Circuit will be positioned to resolve the inconsistency in the panel’s decision, which found that causation has not been adequately shown while simultaneously describing as “adequate” the proof that money from the defendant organizations went to Hamas for its charitable endeavors, and thereby freed up funds that Hamas could use for terrorist activities during the time period when David Boim was killed. An affirmative decision on the issue identified by the Seventh Circuit for en banc review will conform the legal standard to what is required to establish criminal liability under 18 U.S.C. §2339B."

A reminder: On December 11, the Counterterrorism Foundation, along with the NEFA Foundation and International Assessment and Strategy Center, conducted a special panel, "Infiltration and Deception: The Holy Land Foundation and the Muslim Brotherhood in America," on Capitol Hill. You can read the comments by participants Douglas Farah, Michael Fechter, Jeffrey Breinholt, and me at this post. The post includes links to studies which include exhibits presented in evidence at the HLF criminal trial last year, which ended in a mistrial and will be retried.

Africa's Shame and Zimbabwe's Greater Threat

By Douglas Farah

The recent assault by armed government gangs, leading to dozens of deaths and hundreds of encarcerations, has led the opposition in Zimbabwe to withdraw from the electoral process. The striking inability of Tabo Mbeki in South Africa and other sub-Saharan African nations and institutions (the Africa Union, for example) is a shameful episode that has set the continent back for decades.

But there are reasons other than human rights and the rule of law to be concerned about Zimbabwe and its meglomaniacal leader, Robert Mugabe. To discern that, one only has to look at other criminal states in the region, and their history.

As regimes such as that of Mugabe, Charles Taylor or Mobutu in Zaire (DRC) become more isolated and more desperate, the leadership turns increasingly to organized criminal activity to finance itself and stay in power. With the organized crime, one almost always gets the shadow facilitators that connect the transnational criminals to their desired source of wealth or activity.

And the shadow facilitators almost always bring in the terrorist connections, because the two groups operate through the same pipelines. A merger is almost impossible to avoid.

These shadow facilitators, like Viktor Bout, who dealt with Charles Taylor, a host of other African governments, the FARC and the Taliban, don't distinguish among their clientele. Others, like Sanjivan Ruprah, facilitate the deals across the continent.

By 1998, Taylor was hosting Russian organized crime, Ukrainian organized crime, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, Israeli crime and South African organized crime. Why? Because he was able to give them things they needed-passports, aircraft registrations, safe entry and exit points etc.-in exchange for what he wanted-money to run his regime. My full blog is here.

NEFA: TerrorWatch on Fatah al-Islam and Samina Malik Powerpoint

By Evan Kohlmann

The NEFA Foundation has posted a new edition of its TerrorWatch video cybercast, this time examining Al-Qaida's growing focus on the plight of the Palestinians and the emergence of apparent Al-Qaida cells in lawless regions of the Gaza Strip. In a January 2008 audio recording, Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Absi told his followers, "“We ought to think about our brothers in the blessed land in Jerusalem and in the Gaza Strip, the heroes of Fatah al-Islam who were granted success by Allah in their first blessed operation, of whom we ask Allah… to grant them and us success… We say to them, ‘Your will play a major role in the future. You are part of one of the most important fortresses and frontlines… Our Lord has poured out patience over us and allowed us to gain a foothold… against the infidels… This battle is only the beginning, and we shall see who will be the victor.”

Separately, in the wake of the U.K. Court of Appeals decision to overturn the conviction of the "Lyrical Terrorist" Samina Malik, the NEFA Foundation has released a PowerPoint briefing, authored by NEFA Senior Analyst Josh Lefkowitz, that provides an overview of Operation Orbile, the British counterterrorism investigation that targeted Malik and Sohail Qureshi. The briefing includes more than a dozen exhibits entered into evidence in the course of those prosecutions, including email correspondence between Malik and Qureshi in which Qureshi sought information on airport security from Malik, who worked at a newsstand in Heathrow Airport: "Wat is the situation like at work? Is the checking still very harsh? or have things cooled down a bit?...Delete after read!" Qureshi, who trained at an Al-Qaida camp in Pakistan and was arrested at Heathrow on his way "to commit acts of terrorism overseas, possibly against coalition forces in Afghanistan," pled guilty to terror charges. In addition to providing Qureshi with details on airport security, Malik compiled an extensive library of jihadist material, including The Al Qaeda Manual, The Terrorists Handbook, The Mujahideen Poisons Handbook, a manual for a Dragunov Sniper Rifle, The Firearms and RPG handbook, and a document titled "How to Win hand to hand fighting." In announcing its decision not to retry Malik, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) stated, "Ms Malik was not prosecuted for her poetry. She was prosecuted for possessing documents that could provide practical assistance to terrorists." However, with the redefining of Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000, some of the documents CPS "relied on in Ms Malik's trial would no longer be held capable of giving practical assistance to terrorists."