Patrick Dunleavy - Author

What The Boston Marathon Bombers Tell Us About Radicalization

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:56:00 +0000

When an act of terrorism is committed in the United States often the initial assessment of it or the perpetrators is inaccurate or wrong. This is becoming clear in the investigation into the recent bombing of the Boston Marathon by the Tsarnaev brothers. As we search to find the motive behind the attack, we often hear the term radicalization bantered about.
Understanding what it is and, more importantly, what it is not is crucial in preventing future acts from individuals who think they have a divine right to kill innocent women and children or maim civilians at a public event.
Notwithstanding Peter Bergen, of the New America Foundation analysis of the term and how it applied to Tamerlan and Dzhokhar. They were not "self-radicalized"
When we hear that we think in terms of self-taught or self hypnotized. When it comes to radicalization nothing could be further from the truth.
According to the National Counter Terrorism Center, "Radicalization is a dynamic and multilayered process involving several factors that interact with one another to influence an individual. The process is influenced by internal and external factors"
As someone who has observed the process during my career I can emphatically tell you there are always external factors. The case of the Tsarnaevs is no different.
In their case there was overseas travel and contact with radical Islamic extremists. This information was provided to us by the Russian intelligence agency two years ago. It has been confirmed by the FBI and the CIA. Now we are finding out that there was at least one individual in the united states, "Misha" who acted as a facilitator in radicalization process. There was also a religious organization, in this case the Islamic Society of Boston, with a history of radicalization either with former members who were tried and convicted of terrorism or inflammatory speakers who incited others to act.

The same external factors were also evident with several other individuals who either committed acts of terrorism or conspired to act before they were stopped by law enforcement.

Among them were Carlos Bledsoe, Nidal Hasan, and Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomber.

A terrorist is not hatched overnight nor does he live in a vacuum devoid of outside influences that shape his thoughts and actions. The myth of "self radicalization" attempts to simplify a complex issue and as a result it confuses the public. More importantly it absolves responsibility of those who were involved in radicalizing the terrorist brothers. As the investigation continues and more information about case is developed, we cannot overlook the obvious. Those who contributed to the radicalization of the Boston Bombers must be held accountable.

article link...

Radical Terrorist Becomes Scholar and Heroine

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:52:00 +0000

David Gilbert

If you wait long enough, anything is possible on Broadway or in Hollywood. Yesterday’s villain can become tomorrow’s hero or in the case of Kathy Boudin, former member of the domestic terrorist group the Weather Underground and convicted murderer, a heroine.

Boudin, sentenced to a life term in New York State for the shooting deaths of two policemen, Edward O’Grady and Waverly Brown as well as Brinks security guard Peter Paige was paroled in 2003 after serving twenty two years in prison for the three homicides. The officers were killed in a shootout with members of the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army after a failed bank robbery in 1981. Boudin minimized her role in the slayings by simply saying she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet the groups that she was involved with utilized explosives and automatic weapons to destroy property, take lives, and instill fear in ordinary citizens through violence. If that isn’t terrorism, I don’t know what is.
Today we read that Ms. Boudin has been quite active since her parole. She has been working as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of Social Work and was recently awarded the Sheinberg Scholar-in-Residence at NYU Law School. And if being honored as a scholar was not enough, she is to receive accolades as a heroine in Robert Redford’s soon to be released movie, “The Company You Keep” based on the activities on Boudin and her former husband David Gilbert, currently serving three life sentences in Auburn State Prison for his role in the shooting deaths of O’Grady, Brown, and Paige. David has also received some portion of fame with his book,
“No Surrender” an unrepentant account of his life as a terrorist. David is also actively involved in several radical organizations including Viva Palestina, even while incarcerated. Could release be just around the corner for him? Unfortunately he does not see the Parole Board until 2056 when he will be 112 years old.

Their son, Chesa Boudin, who was left at the babysitter’s while they went off to steal and kill was raised by former Weather Underground members Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn. Chesa went on to become a Yale grad and a Rhodes Scholar while the nine children left behind struggled to make their way in this world without the benefit of a father taken by the violence of domestic terrorism.

No PR firm in the world could have scripted a better image conversion than the makeover given Ms. Boudin. We are told she is an advocate for AIDS patients and adult education. Her students at Columbia are said to adore her, a regular Mother Teresa to ex-cons and their families as they seek to reenter society.

She was a daughter of privilege who fell from grace but has now returned to bless us with her talents.

But the blood on her hands does not wash off that easily, nor does the stained ground where her victims fell. Twenty two years for three lives and now a heroine. The price of fame may have come cheap to her, but the average citizen is not fooled by the glitter

New Books in Terrorism & Organized Crime Review

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 16:07:00 +0000

NBN Brisbane AU interviews author

by MARK LAUCHS on MARCH 28, 2013

View on Amazon

Patrick Dunleavy is the author of The Fertile Soil of Jihad: Terrorism’s Prison Connection (Potomac Books, 2011). He provides us with a fascinating insight into the radicalization process within the prison system. This is a sensitive topic but Dunleavy does not provide a political commentary on radicalization or Islam but rather acknowledges that the process can occur and gives us a detailed recounting of one such group within the New York Correctional system. He discusses a few key characters and how they ended up in prison and the circumstances that led to their participation in radical thought. The most interesting parts of the book for me were the methods of prison life that aided the process; the ability to communicate with the outside world and the massaging of internal security routines to allow interaction and coordination with others inside the system. This is not a morality play, but rather a description of a process. We can certainly learn a lot through books such as these that reduce our naivety about the ingenuity of prison inmates who have a lot of time to think and experiment with their immediate environment. Radicalization is a serious issue but for me this was a book more about the world of incarceration than terrorism.

listen to interview...

Solitary Confinement is not Torture

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:47:00 +0000

“...and the winner is...”When those words were uttered at the Academy Awards sunday, we knew it would not be, “Zero Dark Thirty” in part due to the increasing criticism that the film, although critically acclaimed, condoned the torturing of terrorists after their initial capture.

Whether the methods used were enhanced interrogation techniques necessary for the prevention of future attacks, or some barbaric dehumanizing treatment of wayward souls

is the questioned much debated in the public forum with little agreement as to a solution that is

both effective and humane. Those conversations take place at the water cooler and in the halls of Congress stimulating a wide range of responses.

The cry going forth on one side often warns that if we torture, we will become like the terrorist, reflecting the admonition of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche; “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”

And make no mistake about it, those who fly planes into buildings or encourage others to blow themselves up as a service to god, are in fact monsters. They care not for the innocent.

What then, should we coddle them, smother them with our kindness and hope that they will

change. Those that think that may be the most naive.

Others respond rather callously ; “kill them all and let God sort them out.”

Neither position is realistically an effective means of dealing with the issue.

What is a viable solution for captured and convicted terrorists is solitary confinement, an often enigmatic technique used by prison administrators in the daily operation of correctional systems.

It is perhaps the most misunderstood treatment. Conjuring up visions of Alexander Dumas’ “The Man in the Iron Mask” or Steve McQueen’s portrayal of Henri “Papillion” Charriere in the French Penal Colony of Devils Island. We see individuals living in squalor, in dark dungeons, forced to subsist on a diet of cockroaches, spiders and other creeping creatures, going mad with

the absence of another human being to talk to. Is this an accurate description?

George Will, whom I admire as a gifted and eloquent locutioner and journalist, got it wrong in his recent article on the subject of solitary confinement. He wrote that solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment, a form of torture. He cited the Supreme Court case of James J Medley, a convicted murder who was kept in solitary confinement awaiting execution in 1890 in Colorado.

This was the definition of solitary confinement then; “...and no person shall be allowed access to said convict, except his attendants, counsel, physician, a spiritual adviser of his own selection, and members of his family,”. Justice Bradley in writing the opinion expressed his view that these conditions of confinement for Medley were a form of torture. But there was not unanimous agreement on the issue. In fact the dissenting judge in the case, J Brewer, went on to say; ”it seems a misnomer to call this 'solitary confinement,' in the harsh sense in which this phrase is sometimes used. All that is meant is that a condemned murderer shall not be permitted to hold anything like a public reception...”

And in part because of the disagreement of whether or not solitary confinement was torture, a convicted murder was set free.

And now one hundred and twenty three years later, we’re still trying to come to grips with the issue.

In modern correctional settings, solitary confinement is not social deprivation. It is a managed social setting controlled not by the criminal or in this case the terrorist, but by prison administrators following generally accepted standards. And those conditions are anything but torture.

You can read the Bureau of Prisons guidelines

for operating a Special Housing Unit, which by the way is the proper name for those sections of a prison where inmates, who are a threat to other inmates or the general public, are held. On the statewide level many correctional agencies follow the guidelines set forth by the American Correctional Association for the operation of these special units. I can tell you as one who has both worked in, and toured these units, the

inmates residing in them are not living in solitude. They have access to library services for reading material. They are served a wholesome and nutritious diet, not swill. They are visited daily by security staff, medical staff, counseling staff, clergy, and administration staff. They just don’t get to pick and choose who they want to see or call or socialize with.

But that in a sense is one of the purposes of prison, removal from society at large. Prison is not supposer to be a pleasant place. Humane yes, but enjoyable, no. Inmates will always complain about their conditions. In the Netherlands, where inmates have private cells with television, some would consider it torture to take away the convict’s TV for disciplinary reasons. That type of incarceration is a far cry from life in the first New York state prison, Auburn, described thusly,

“ Auburn is the oldest existing State correctional facility. It was built to relieve overcrowding at Newgate Prison in New York City and received its first inmates in 1817. The "Auburn System" included separate confinement of inmates, congregate work during the day, enforced silence, lockstep walking, striped uniforms, and the use of the lash as punishment.”

Conditions have drastically changed in the almost 200 years since and no one is suggesting a return to the “good old days.”

What then do you do then with those who, even in the prison society, can still inflict death or destruction to others?

Those you must isolate even from the general prison population.

Is that wrong? No. Is there a danger posed by allowing terrorists in prison to move about within the confines of the wall as they will? Emphatically yes!

This week we remember the twentieth anniversary of the first World Trade Center Bombing which killed six and injured more than one thousand. One of the architects of that heinous crime

was an inmate in Attica State Prison, El Sayiid Nosair. In 2004 Kevin James, an inmate in California’s New Folsom Prison, not only formed a terrorist group, Jam’iyyat Ul-Islam, but oversaw the operation of the group, which included plots to attack US military installations, from his prison cell. Both individuals cited used the privileges afforded them in the general prison population to reach beyond the walls and harm others.

Others have , as in the case of inmate Abdel Zaben, a member of Hamas who had sworn allegiance to Osama bin Laden, and was serving time in a New York prison for kidnapping, used their stature in the prison community to recruit others to the cause.

A terrorist is not rendered harmless when captured or confined. Where he can he will act, when he can’t he will influence. For the true jihadist the war doesn’t end when captured.

Initially it was thought that placing special conditions of confinement or Strict Administrative Measures (SAMs) as they are officially called would be an effective way of neutralizing

incarcerated terrorists. That has been challenged in recent years in the courts. Recently John Walker Lindh won a case against the Bureau of Prisons by challenging his conditions of confinement when he requested to meet five times a day with other radical islamic inmates.

Khalfan Khamis Mohamed,convicted in the 1998 bombing of the American Embassy in

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, currently serving a life sentence in the Supermax Prison in Florence, Colorado, has file a writ to be restored to the general prison population saying that he has changed in the 15 years of incarceration and is no longer a threat. What he fails to mention in his brief filed in federal court is that in 2000 while in the Metropolitan Correctional Center awaiting trial, he and his co-defendant Mamdouh Mahmud Salim brutally assaulted Correction Officer Louis Pepe with a jailhouse shank and scalding hot liquid causing a permanent brain injury to the guard. No longer a threat? I think not.

And now Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind behind the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center as well as the Bojinka plot to blow up eleven commercial airlines with passengers, in custody since 1995 has petitioned the federal court to be released from solitary confinement and restore certain

prison privileges that were taken away.

This is the same individual whom the sentencing Judge Kevin Duffy described as “"an apostle of evil" and "a virus that must be locked away." Viruses we quarantine until there is a cure. I for one still believe that Ramzi and his uncle Khalid Sheik Mohammad, mastermind of the 9-11 attacks, still pose a threat to the health of this nation. And when contemplating how to effectively deal with captured terrorists I’m reminded not of the words of Nietzsche, but of a line in a Tom Waits song, “you gotta keep the devil down in the hole.”

Solitary Confinement is not torture. It is an effective management tool for dealing with incarcerated terrorists.
Washington Times 2013

Solitary Confinement is not Torture

Forgetting the Hero and Protecting the Terrorist's Rights, Court Rules in Favor of the Taliban

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 21:39:00 +0000

Johnny Micheal Spann
killed during prison riot
Afghanistan - 2001

John Walker Lindh
captured in Afghanistan
2001

U.S. District Court rules in favor of the Taliban. A federal district judge, Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled that the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act applies even to convicted terrorists in prison. John Walker Lindh, also known as "The American Taliban" sued the Federal Bureau of Prisons for the right to congregate with other Islamic terrorists in the Communications Management Unit of the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI), in Terre Haute, Indiana. Lindh who was captured in 2001 fighting alongside Taliban members in Afghanistan is serving a twenty year sentence for collaboration with the terrorist organization in fighting against U.S. forces.

Judge Stinson overlooks the fact that he is a terrorist and that when he was initially held in a military prison near Mazār-e Sharī in Afghanistan a riot broke out and CIA officer Johnny "Micheal" Spann was killed by the inmates. The uprising began on the same day Spann had conducted an interview of Lindh. Spann, the first American to die in Afghanistan, was posthumously awarded the Intelligence Star and the Exceptional Service Medallion, the equivalent of the U.S. military's Silver Star. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Judge's description of John Walker Lindh is; [he is] "a low security prisoner who wishes to engage in a brief communal activity with other inmates". That makes him appear to be docile, socially adept, and non-threatening. That narrative almost makes you want to invite him home for coffee.

Why is it that the average citizen can see this decision as insanity and yet the ACLU and the other inmate rights advocates do not?

The Court it seems cannot discern between a genuine rehabilitation and someone who has become "jail-wise" after more than ten years in the system.
Prison officials and security experts must be given the leeway to administer measures which prevent convicted terrorists from acting again. Anything less would be an insult to the memory of those who gave their lives in the fight against terrorism.

Egypt & the Arab Spring: Not Exactly a 1776 Moment

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 17:45:00 +0000

U.S. Constitutional Convention

If a picture paints a thousand words, then there can be no greater illustration to show the contrast between what took place in much of the Arab world two years ago and the birth of democracy in the United States than these two pictures . The one is Howard Chandler Christy’s painting of the signing of the Constitution in Philadelphia. The other is of tanks and barbed wire surrounding the presidential palace in Cairo following the passing of the constitutional referendum in Egypt.

Egyptian Presidential Palace

The one hangs in the Capitol building, the other was beamed across the world by the social media. What those images denote is the stark reality that is often overlooked by our current leaders. Totalitarianism relies on the barrel of a gun and democracy on the power of the word, freedom.
What Egyptian President Morisi did can be described in no other way. He amassed power to himself under the guise of protecting the nation and pushing through a constitution that fit the radical Islamist agenda. After massive demonstrations in Tahrir Square by non-Islamist Egyptians, he rescinded part of the order giving him supreme authority, yet the dye had already been cast as to how he would rule in the future. On Monday he imposed martial law on the country and gave the military authority to arrest civilians who would oppose the passing of the constitutional referendum. On Tuesday massive demonstrations were held by those opposed to the constitutional referendum vote scheduled for this Saturday. President Morsi’s response was to brand those who demonstrated as enemies of the state, subversives and foreign conspirators, going so far as to use the state run TV station in getting his message out. A technique that was described by Al Jazeera news as “borrowing a page out of (former) President Muburak’s playbook”.
What the outcome will be in Egypt remains to be seen, perhaps the will of the people will prevail and true democracy will take root. And then again it may be that the radical Islamists who have hijacked the movement will force the will of Allah on all the people if not by the ballot then by the sword.

And lest we should think that this was an isolated incident in the Middle East or as some have described events in that area as “a bump in the road” we need only to look at what is going on in countries like Libya and Syria as to what the Arab Spring has produced.

In Libya we’ve had the Benghazi incident, led by a radical Islamic organization that resulted in the death of four Americans. New reports now out on the situation there reveal that the US permitted Qatar to ship weapons to an Al Qaeda affiliate leading the opposition in the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. The investigation into the killing of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, diplomat Sean Smith, and former Navy Seals Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods is being stalled because Libyan authorities fear taking on the radical Islamic militia in control of that section of the country.

In Syria we are finding out that the strongest, best trained Assad opposition leaders there are in fact members of the Nusra Front, an off shoot of Al Qaeda in Iraqi (AQI).

If and when Bashar al Assad is finally removed from power there is the possibility of another Afghanistan type country, fraught with sectarian violence and a Taliban like government that again forces the will of Allah on the people with the base of the sword.

The failure of Western diplomats, including the United States to understand what is taking place in the Middle East because of some giddy hope or naïveté for all countries to be like ours is a sure road to failure in promoting democracy. The birth of democracy does indeed begin with a cry for freedom and it may need be paid for in some measure by the shedding of blood, but it must be guarded against hijacking by pseudo democratic movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

Providing a Segue for Others

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 22:01:00 +0000

A TERRORIST IS NOT RENDERED HARMLESS WHILE IN PRISON, IF HE CAN, HE WILL ACT, IF HE CAN’T HE WILL INFLUENCE....THE JAILED TERRORIST OFTEN PROVIDES A SEGUE FOR OTHERS TO BE RADICALIZED.

Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri (أبو حمزة المصري, born 15 April 1958) an infamous Muslim cleric in the United Kingdom, convicted in 2006 for racial hatred, terrorist and incitement to murder offences for his inflammatory sermons calling for death to non-Muslims, now in a United States jail.

The problem is global and ongoing in places like North Africa, Southeast Asia, India, and Russia. It is not confined to one ideology, or religious dogma. Non-Islamic terrorists in prison, members of domestic terrorists organizations with ties to leftist, communist organizations or race supremacy groups are always looking for ways to increase membership or their sphere of influence while incarcerated. Prison can produce strange bedfellows. When you take terrorists whether they are Anarchists, Islamists, Maoists, or Naxals, and put them in prison with alienated, disenfranchised common criminals with a propensity for violence, radicalization will occur and as a result what comes out of prison may be much worse then what went in.

A recruiter will seek out the most vulnerable in the prison population, those alienated individuals who were seeking acceptance and looking for meaning in their life. He will often manipulated their feelings of animosity toward authority and steered them to hate the enemy, be it the infidels, the non-Islamists, or members of a specific race or ethnicity.

Often what unites a violent extremist organization is not only a common goal, but a common enemy.

The problem of prison radicalization will continue to perplex Counter Terrorism and Correctional experts until a consensus is built as to how best to address it. Whether this is achieved by de-radicalization programs, counter radicalization programs, or rehabilitation programs is open for debate. Disagreement is not to be feared. Inaction or complacency in this arena may be our greatest threat. READ MORE...

Rutgers University Reviews The Fertile Soil of Jihad

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 13:57:00 +0000

Patrick T. Dunleavy, in The fertile soil of Jihad: Terrorism's prison connection, examines the terrorism recruitment process inside the United States prison system. Though it is presumed that prisons isolate convicts from the public, in the ever-expanding global world, “convicts today are not isolated from society” (p.100). Operation Hades, the focus of the book, exposed the ease with which Abdel Nasser Zaben was able to recruit and convert prisoners, all the while maintaining contact with the outside world.

Dunleavy describes in detail how Zaben’s background contributed to his radicalization, especially once he entered the prison system. Zaben’s ever widening net is uncovered over the course of the book. Throughout this process, Dunleavy exposes points where the United States government had the opportunity to intervene. These repeatedly missed opportunities allowed Zaben to gain more power in the prison system while adding more recruits.

How then does the United States identify the next Zaben? Dunleavy highlights a number of issues with the prison system as exemplified by the New York experience. First, many of the imams in New York State correctional facilities had radical views. In fact, Warith Deen Umar, who was in charge of approving Muslim chaplains, hired clergy who espoused radical views. Second, Dunleavy highlights the ability of religious clergy to use the components of the religious system to further illegal actions. For instance, the monetary system was used to funnel money to terrorist organizations. Third, individuals used apprentice roles in the prison chaplain’s office to mask their radicalization while using resources in these offices to further terrorism. Fourth, prisoners were able to use the visitor system, especially female visitors. Zaben’s wife, to whom he was introduced by another inmate, did what Zaben himself could not do from prison. These are just some of the factors associated with that prison subculture that seemed to advance terrorism.

While Dunleavy provides a lot of depth regarding the radicalization process in prisons since 1993, the reader is left with more questions than answers at the end. What can we change about the prison system to limit radicalization? For instance, if alone the “New York State Inmate Commissary Account System handles more than $25 million per year (p. 33), how does one keep track of all the monetary transactions in prisons to limit terrorism funding across the country? While agencies are striving to work together, especially with Operation Hades, can law enforcement officials realistically achieve this goal?

Dunleavy provides an excellent portrayal of the radicalization process in the United States prison system. Now it seems incumbent on practitioners to begin making changes to combat this process. Having identified the factors that allowed Zaben to use the prison system to further terrorism, the author has given that system some specific deficiencies that need to be addressed in order to limit the radicalization process in prison. Nevertheless, Dunleavy cautions that jihad is global in nature. Even though law enforcement officials target prison radicalization, radical individuals will continue to find ways to further their goals. This book opens up discussion on the existence of prison radicalization as well as the current level of threat. It should provide a springboard to discussing working policy initiatives so as to target prison radicalization.

Brittany E. Hayes, Doctoral Student, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York
Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books is a joint project of Rutgers School of Law-Newark and Rutgers School of Criminal Justice.

Terrorists in Jail Demand Their "Rights"

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:35:00 +0000

On Sept. 11, the nation remembers that fateful day in 2001 when the earth shook, the buildings fell and the innocent were slain. On that day, we vowed as a nation to bring to justice, or bring justice to, those who committed the acts of terrorism. We did.
Leaders of the radical Islamic organization al Qaeda were either captured or killed. Osama bin Laden was taken out by a team of special operations forces while hiding in Pakistan. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks, has been captured and is being held in Guantanamo.

With the influx of additional terrorists captured, there arose a debate regarding whether terrorists should be tried in the courts or by a military tribunal. The controversy was never settled one way or the other.
Mohammed is awaiting a military trial along with several other co-conspirators. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the “underwear bomber,” was given his Miranda rights, and charges against him were filed in federal court. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison in February. Numerous lesser-knowns were tried in the U.S. courts and sentenced to long terms of incarceration with special administrative measures imposed on their conditions of confinement.

Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there. Once jailed, the jihadist does not surrender - he just takes a different path.

Case in point: John Walker Lindh, "the American Taliban" captured in November 2001 in Afghanistan fighting along side al Qaeda and Taliban members against U.S. military forces.

Among the charges filed against him were conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens and providing material support to terrorist organizations. He entered in a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney General's Office and was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

This year he joined with several other Islamic terrorists in filing suit against the Bureau of Prisons for violation of his rights. He states that he and the other terrorists have the right to

get together five times a day to "pray" in accordance with his religious beliefs.

These would be the same beliefs that led 19 hijackers to kill almost 3,000 innocent Americans in one day.

He contends that allowing them to meet frequently for religious purposes does not pose a security threat. Hopefully the prison administrators will remind the Judge of the case of convicted Islamic terrorist El Sayyid Nosair. Nosair, while an inmate in Attica State prison in 1992, regularly met in the prison mosque with other muslim inmates for religious purposes It was there he convinced two of them to assist him in making phone calls to the Blind Sheik, Omar Adbel Rahman and several others as they conspired to bomb the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. The subsequent investigation revealed that Nosair utilized prison phones, visits, and religious privileges to commit a terrorist act while incarcerated.

Lindh is not the first, nor will he be the last to use the courts to challenge his prison time. The al Qaeda terrorist responsible for the bombing of the US embassy in Tanzania in 1998 has also asked a judge to loosen his prison conditions. Khalfan Khamis Mohamed was convicted along with Mahmoud Salim for the attack in Dar es Salaam that killed eleven and wounded eighty five.

If that were not enough, while both were being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, Khalfan and Mahmoud brutally assaulted Correction Officer Louis Pepe, stabbing him in the eye with a jailhouse shank, and then pouring a searing hot liquid in the wound. The resulting injury caused a permanent disability to Officer Pepe.

In filing his lawsuit, Khalfan claims he is rehabilitated and no longer a security threat to the prison or correctional staff. He wants to be able to mingle with the general population, receive visits from friends and family, and call whomever he wants on the phone. After all, he has rights, doesn't he?

What have we, as a free society, learned from this regarding effectively dealing with terrorism?

Well, if you incarcerate a terrorist, you grant him access to the courts. If you grant a terrorist access to the courts, you give him rights, and a terrorist will use those rights to continue to advance the jihadist goal. The war does not end for them when they are captured.

Those terrorists who have been in prison are starting to become "jail wise" in using the legal system to advance their cause. They also find a sympathetic ear and support from groups like the ACLU or the Human Rights Commission.

And in touting their "rights" they make a mockery of justice and insult the memory of the fallen.

Hopefully, the judges who hear these cases will heed the counsel of prison security administrators and not be swayed by the crocodile tears of the incarcerated terrorists.

(Washington Times, September 10, 2011)

Counter Terrorism Strategist Comments on Author's Book

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 22:06:00 +0000

Dr Rupali Jeswal

The reviewer is an Intelligence and Terrorism Analyst, Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Hypnotherapist based in South-East Asia. She has also received training in specialsed areas including counter-terrorism, intelligence and tactical operations. She specialises in cognitive learning processes and neural pathway response and how these factors apply to specialised trainings.

She is an expert in the field of non-verbal micro and macro expression for deception and detection and also using non-verbal assets for psychological self-assessment in conjunction with Emotional Intelligence to enhance the human mind, personality, image and spirit.

She is a member of ICPA (International Corrections & Prisons Association), IACSP (International Association for Counter-Terrorism and Security Professionals) and a member of APA (American Psychological Association), APP (Association of Professional Psychologists), UK Certified Hypnotherapist and General Hypnotherapy Register.

A Global Problem

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:15:00 +0000

"
"If the devil leaders of New York think placing me in [prison] will end the war, they are wrong;; this is only the beginning.”

These words were spoken by El Sayyid Nosair following the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. Nosair would later be convicted of the crime in United States Federal Court and sentenced to life in prison along with his co-defendants and their spiritual leader, Sheik Omar Abdel- Rahman.

Now the newly elected president of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi

has vowed to have Rahman released from prison.

What can we make of this? Are terrorists rendered inoperative when incarcerated? Do the events in one country's war on terrorism have an impact on other nations? read more...

Looking Beyond the Trial in Guantanamo

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:32:00 +0000

What Should Be Done With the 9-11 Plotters ?

After a prolonged delay and much political debate, legal proceedings against Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Hawsawi , the defendants accused of plotting the 9-11 attacks on the United States, began last week before a military tribunal held at Guantanamo.

Initial reports of the day's proceedings lead us to expect an even longer trial than that of Zacarias Moussaoui, the 20th hijacker in the 9-11 attacks, whose case took almost five years to complete.

The day was filled with antics by the defendants and procedural posturing by the defense attorneys. A simple 15 minute process took about twelve hours to complete.

The defendants refused to speak or even use the electronic translation headphones provided, then they requested to pray. Meanwhile, one of them was placed in a restraint chair for disrupting the tribunal.

One of the defense attorneys, Cheryl Bormann, wearing a hijab and long black robe, requested that the judge order the women in the court to dress modestly out of respect for the defendants' religious beliefs. One forgets that it is those very beliefs that led these defendants to conspire to kill thousands of innocent Americans on one September day, in the name of Allah.

We were provided with a brief description of Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM), the mastermind behind the plot. He was described as having a long flowing grey beard with red streaks in it. This is traditional for conservative Islamic fundamentalist men who are forbidden by the Sunnah to dye their hair in its natural color but are allowed to use a henna extract following the custom of what many believe the prophet Muhammed did.

One might ask where he got the henna? Or is it now the policy of the current administration to allow inmates to dye their hair? When last I checked, any inmate found with hair coloring was in possession of contraband. Changing one's appearance in prison is often a prelude to an escape attempt and is considered a serious breach of security.

Surely antics like these, and much more animated ones, are in store for the future. The defendants have been provided a platform to preach their virulent form of Islamism and inspire their followers to the path of jihad while shouting contempt for Western civilization.

But after the hearing and the verdict rendered, what then? Only one of two sentences can be administered: execution or life in prison. If the latter, then we must determine now where that will be. Not too long ago, the current Administration pledged to close

Guantanamo and assimilate those held there into the US prison system. And more recently, the current Attorney General sought to have the trial of these defendants held in New York City. If not for the Congressional action taken to thwart that move, lower Manhattan would now be in a high security lockdown.

If we do take the individuals into the Bureau of Prisons and place them in the SuperMax facility in Florence, Colorado, we will have created a conundrum far surpassing any ever seen by prison administrators, even with the most stringent Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) placed on the defendants.

In prison, time often works to the great advantage of the convict. Mainstream society often forgets the most heinous of criminals once they are locked away. But the terrorist never forgets, and knows how to manipulate the system.

A recent example of this was in the case of Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, convicted in 2001 for the bombing of the US embassy in Tanzania. Mohamed has been given access to the federal courts to challenge his conditions of confinement. These SAMs were placed on him immediately after his conviction.

Now, ten years later, he is telling the judge that he has changed, been rehabilitated, and it is no longer necessary to control whom he talks to on the phone, or who visits him, or whom he can write to. In fact he wants to be placed in the general population so that he can attend services in the prison mosque. Sounds absurd ? What if the motion is granted? Not today maybe, but five years from now, who will remember? The families of the innocent victims - they will never forget and neither should we

So what is the purpose of the trial and what should be the outcome? It is the high and noble cause that justice prevail and the rule of law be witnessed by the world, including those who would seek to destroy the United States. Let us not stray from that and let the penalty fit the crime.

The Myth of Self Radicalization

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 02:50:00 +0000

When seven people are killed including 3 children, who is responsible? When a van carrying Hasidic students is attacked by automatic weapon fire, killing one and wounding several others, who is held accountable? It would seem according to some reports that the victims fell prey to the "lone terrorist" or "self-radicalized" individual. Is this an accurate description of what took place? Recent studies and statements by several government officials, including the director of the FBI and the secretary of Homeland Security, tell us that the greatest threat facing us post 9-11 is the individual terrorist. But in looking at two specific cases of Islamic terrorist attacks we may find that definition an over-simplified version of what actually took place. The first is the case of Mohamed Merah, the 23-year-old French / Algerian in Toulouse, France who shot three French paratroopers and four Jewish civilians, three of whom were young children. The profile coming out initially said he was self-radicalized because of the economic poverty he grew up in. A victim of high unemployment and discrimination against an immigrant minority caused the anger that fueled the fire in him. If that is true, where did the $26,000 found on him come from? Not to mention the cache of weapons and the expenditures necessary for him to travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan? Who provided the funds, the contacts, and the weapons?

The second description said he "self-radicalized in prison." Is that possible? Is prison a place where you can be left to yourself to evolve into something?

As someone who has worked in the criminal justice system for 26 years and a considerable amount of that time in the prison system, I can tell you emphatically that Merah's radicalization was much more than self-induced. One does not become "self-radicalized" in prison. The constant interaction that occurs within a prison negates that. There is always a facilitator, an influence, or a catalyst. Be that literature, another cellmate, or a clergy. What was the integer in this case? French authorities had known for some time that mixing convicted Islamic terrorists with low-level criminals in the prison's general population contributed to radicalization. Important questions need to be answered. Who were his cellmates? Who visited him? What literature did he have access to?

The second case is that of Rashid Baz, the Lebanese/Palestinian immigrant known as "the Brooklyn Bridge Shooter" responsible for the death of Hasidic student Ari Halberstam in 1994. The case was initially thought to be "road rage." It wasn't until 1999 when US Attorney Mary Jo White opened an investigation into the crime and found it was indeed a terrorist act that it was reclassified.

Yet, despite the evidence, it was declared that Baz acted alone. The final report stated, "Baz acted on his own ... and there appear to be no unpunished co-conspirators." He was by definition a "lone wolf" terrorist. And since then he has been free to move about the general population of the prison influencing other inmates and even working as the chaplain's clerk in the prison mosque.

Looking back at the evidence, the answer is disturbing. Two relatives helped him hide the weapons he used in their house. When the guns and ammunition were found, they said that they knew nothing of his involvement in the crime nor did they share his radical hatred for Jewish people.

Now, from his prison cell in Attica 18 years later, Baz admitted that he had intentionally targeted Jews on that fateful day in March. Why? Was no one else involved?

Phone records obtained by police show just the opposite. The family members were in contact with a member of an Islamic terrorist organization, Hamas.

Hamas is sworn to the destruction of Israel by any means including killing Jewish civilians.

In addition, at least two witnesses testified that, just prior to going on a rampage, Baz attended a service at the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge in Brooklyn. There, he heard a fiery sermon preached calling for revenge on Jews for an incident that had recently occurred in Hebron. That was Feb. 25, on the eve of the first anniversary of the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 by radical Islamic fundamentalists.

One of the witnesses testified that Baz was enraged after the speech, determined to act. Was this the catalyst that sent him over the edge?

To this day, neither the imam nor the mosque president has been held accountable for that. Why?

Yelling "fire" in a crowded movie theater is not freedom of speech, nor is promoting a message, either spoken, written, or on the internet, that instructs someone to kill others in the name of God.

A terrorist is not hatched overnight, nor are they produced solely in the dark vacuum of self.

Even the National Counter Terrorism Center acknowledges this in its definition of radicalism. "Radicalism is a dynamic and multi-layered process involving several factors that interact with one another to influence an individual," it says.

Instilling grievances, preaching and religious dogma all play a role.

When we say that a person was self-taught or self-motivated, we look at them in a positive light.

When used in recent descriptions of Islamic terrorists it has quite the opposite effect.

It tends to triteness and absolves anyone else of complicity in the act. There is an overuse of the word, a diluting of the meaning, a deliberate misuse in an attempt to simplify the issue of radicalization.

Those who contributed to the radicalization process must be held accountable.

The Path To Paradise - Mohammed Merah

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 03:00:00 +0000

From Crime to Prison to Jihad

French Killings Show the Path from Crime to Prison to Jihad

Mohammed Merah, the 23-year-old self-proclaimed member of al-Qaida who was killed after a 30 hour standoff with an elite police tactical unit in Toulouse France was a prime example of a homegrown terrorist. Prior to his violent ending, Merah had admitted to killing at least seven individuals including three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school, as well as three members of the French armed forces. His motive he said was vengeance in the name of Allah.

Just how does a young man, a son of Algerian immigrants, become so full of rage and anger that he thinks killing innocent people pleases God. He was not always like that.

Read More...

Mosques of New Jersey - A Case of Short Memory Syndrome

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:49:00 +0000

Should NYPD wait until the terrorists bent on attacking New York City cross over the George Washington Bridge before they start to investigate or gather intelligence?

Add caption

In the latest outcry against the NYPD’s successful Counter Terrorism strategies, caused in part by an article from the Associated Press’s Washington-based Investigative team,Islamic and civil libertarian groups such as the ACLU and CAIR are once again calling for the resignation of Commissioner Ray Kelly and a federal investigation of the police department for alleged spying on the Muslim community in the Greater New York area.

At the center of the accusations is the release of an NYPD document that details in part intelligence gathering on Mosques in the state of New Jersey. Newark, New Jersey mayor Cory Booker voiced outrage telling the press that the city was never notified of the NYPD conducting a surveillance operation in their city. However the evidence shows that the NYPD did notify New Jersey law enforcement officials.

Questions on the issue of jurisdiction were also raised asking, “What gives NYPD the right to go outside the city limits to conduct investigations?”

At first glance the average reader might think that this is a clear case of government abuse of power and of law enforcement collecting information on innocent citizens in violation of constitutional rights. Those that do so suffer from a case of short memory syndrome. Looking back over the history of Islamic terrorist activity in New York prior to 9/11 is a sure cure for the malady.

In 1990 a little known Egyptian immigrant committed a homicide in Manhattan. What was once looked at as just a single act of violence by a lone individual in a crime ridden city has now come to be known as the vanguard attack of the jihadists on the United States. The victim of the killing was Rabbi Meir Khane, an outspoken Jewish activist, and founder of the Jewish Defense League, with a reputation for making inflammatory speeches. The shooter was El Sayyid Nosair. The investigation into the murder revealed that Nosair was a member of Al Gama’a al Islamiyya, an Islamic terrorist organization who’s spiritual leader was Omar Abdel Rahman, the Blind Sheik. Nosair prior to the shooting had participated in raising money for an organization known as Maktab al Khadamat. That organization was founded by Abdullah Azzam and Osma bin Laden in Pakistan as a means of providing financial support for the mujahadeen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980’s.

The headquarters for the organization in the United States was run out of a mosque, Al Farouq, in Brooklyn. But funds were also supplied from several mosques in New Jersey which both Nosair and the Blind Sheik had visited and maintained ties with.

In February of 1993 a truck loaded with explosives was detonated in the World Trade Center by radical islamists. The jihad had now moved from a single killing to an attack on innocent civilians and a landmark structure in the United States.

In the investigation that followed conducted by Federal, State, and City law enforcement, names, locations, and the activities of the conspirators were outlined in the successful prosecution by the US Attorney’s Office. Once again El Sayyid Nosair was involved in the jihad. From his cell in Attica state prison he was able to contact individuals in New Jersey and who were constructing the truck bomb. Among the other perpetrators led by Ramzi Yousef, were individuals such as Ibrahim al Gabrowny, Nosair’s cousin, and Mohammed Salameh. Both lived and attended mosques in New Jersey.

The connection between the mosques in the New York city area and Jersey mosques

was provided by non other than Sirhaj Wahhaj, who, in addition to his duties as the leader of a New York City mosque, was the first Islamic clergy to offer an invocation (opening prayer) before the US House of Representatives. Wahhaj was an unindicted co-conspirator in the case who was called to testify during the first World Trade Center trial. In his testimony he talked of an incident at the El Salaam Mosque in New Jersey involving Sheik Abdel Rahman and his followers.

Wahhaj stated that several months prior to the bombing there was an incident in the El Salaam Mosque Jersey City. At that time he, Wahhaj, had just left another Islamic Center in New Jersey, when he “just happened to drive by” the mosque where several of the individuals convicted in the first World Trade Center Bombing were attending. Wahhaj admitted that he knew Sheik Abdel Rahman as well as the others in the Jersey mosque. The same violent rhetoric calling for jihad was preached in every mosque the Blind Sheik and his followers went to in the United States, including the ones in New Jersey.

Court records clearly revealed that the terrorists who planned the attack in New York City lived and were attending mosques in New Jersey. Inmate visitor and phone records of El Sayyid Nosair clearly showed communication with individuals from New Jersey who were attending mosques in New Jersey. If that wasn’t enough, the very truck that was loaded with explosives was rented in New Jersey.

SO the question is, should NYPD wait until the terrorists bent on attacking the city cross over the George Washington Bridge before they start to investigate or gather intelligence?

That would be ridiculous. The philosophy that drives Commissioner Kelly and the NYPD to station Detectives overseas to glean real time live information of terrorist attacks or to follow any lead anywhere in protecting the city is rock solid and founded not on abusing civil liberties, but protecting them.

Investigative journalism is necessary for a strong vibrant free press. But a lopsided story that fails to look at the history of radical terrorists in New Jersey’s Islamic Centers is myopic and does not give an accurate view of the facts.

The Saga of the 60s Radicals - Attempting to Rewrite History

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:03:00 +0000

Time can often erase the memory of the past and in the case of convicted domestic terrorists of the 60’s seek to re-write it entirely.

The latest case in point is that of Judith Clark a member of the Weather Underground currently serving 75 years to life in prison for the shooting deaths of police officers Edward O’Grady and Waverly Brown, and also armored car guard Peter Page during the botched Brinks Robbery in Nyack, NY in 1981.

In a recent New York Times Magazine article by reporter Tom Robbins readers are told the story of the transformation of a terrorist who’s only mistake was to drive a getaway car during the robbery attempt. We are then led through a myriad of accomplishments that Ms. Clark has achieved while in that dreaded belly of the beast, prison. She has obtained college degrees, mentored and counseled other inmates, and become a model of the rehabilitative process. Her greatest regret is the separation from her daughter, although she does see her during visits and talk to her on the prison phone regularly. According to her version of the events that led to her arrest we are asked to believe that her complicity was inadvertent and singular to this one crime. In her website, where readers are urged to write to the governor on her behalf, she states the following regarding her actions, “She was sitting in a get-away car. She was neither a shooter nor a robber.”

Talk about minimizing involvement, that is outrageous.

What is missing from the story can be found both in the record of the past and also in the present.

Clark was an avowed member of a domestic terrorist organization.

The Weather Underground or Weathermen as they liked to be called, along with members of the Black Liberation Army, were responsible for no less than forty bombings of government buildings, military bases, police stations, and corporate headquarters. As many as 10 police officers, including NYPD Officers Waverly Jones, Joseph Piagentini, Rocco Laurie, and Gregory Foster were gunned down by members of the movement.

In addition innocent civilians were killed or injured, contrary to former members Bill Ayers’ assertion, “We killed no one and hurt no one”

The Times article attempts to make the point that only Clark remains in prison of all the other women arrested and convicted for the acts of violence committed by the domestic terrorists of the 60’s. Somehow, no mention is made of Joanne Chesimard also known as Assata Shakur, convicted in the shooting death of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973. Chesimard escaped from prison in 1979 and fled to Cuba where she was granted asylum by Fidel Castro. She remains on the FBI’s most wanted list. Members of the Weathermen and the BLA currently in New York prison remain in contact with Chesimard through several intermediaries who both visit the prisons and travel to Cuba to talk with Chesimard.

The members of these radical domestic terrorist groups remain involved even to this day with other terrorist organizations. In June of 2011 I testified before the House Committee for Homeland Security.

In my written testimony I stated:

“In 1999, two years prior to 9/11, several law enforcement agencies received information regarding radical Islamist activity in the prison system. The first of these incidents occurred in February 1999.

At that time, both the FBI and the Inspector General’s Office for the New York State Department of Correctional Services received information specifically detailing recruitment efforts within prison.

The information, from confidential informants, named individuals associated with the 1993 plot to destroy New York City landmarks and the first attack on the World Trade Center, along with several members of a domestic terrorist organization already serving time for the Brinks robbery. The intelligence also implicated a Pakistani national and a Yemeni who were in prison for murder. The informant went on to say that this group had formed an alliance with a singular goal. He called the group the “Talem Circle” and stated that; “The Talem Circle was tasked with training incarcerated members to work with Middle Eastern Muslims to perform acts of Jihad.”

Contrary to popular belief, convicted terrorists do not lie dormant in a jail cell. Even today members of the Weather Underground have been actively involved with groups like Viva Palestina and HAMAS regarding the current situation in the Middle East.

So what happens when an individual, such as Ms. Clark or co-defendant David Gilbert goes into prison? A first timer like Clark learns from the old timers how to become “jail wise” That is to act and talk as one who is ready for release. Use your time to convince others, like the Parole Board or the Governor’s Executive Clemency Bureau, that you are indeed a different person and that you no longer present a threat to society.

If you do this, they’re told, you get a pass on the heinous acts you committed. As time goes by they become less and less serious. Who actually accurately remembers the radicals of the 60’s ? The family of the victims do. And every time another story is written about how good the murderer has become, the wound is re-visited and the pain returns.

The official goal of prisons is confinement or removal from society. The desired goal is rehabilitation. The reality is neither. Often what comes out of prison is much worse than what went in. As in the case of Lamont Pride accused in the shooting death of NYPD Officer Peter Figoski in December. Pride had previously spent time in a North Carolina prison for Robbery. Thirty years from now will we forget Officer Figoski untimely death? I hope not. Those who do forget dishonor those who have fallen.

Cop killers should not be set free and Judith Clark is no exception, not withstanding the hundreds of letters from well intentioned individuals on her behalf.

The sentence fits the crime. Release should not be an option.

Boycotting Breakfast - an act of childishness

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:17:00 +0000

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently sent out invitations to a large diverse group of the City’s religious leaders for his annual interfaith breakfast.

The overwhelming majority responded positively. One group decided to boycott the event as a form of protest. They were angry at the Mayor’s refusal to join the group of naysayers vilifying the NYPD and it’s Commissioner Ray Kelly.

The Islamic Leadership Council stated they didn’t feel comfortable “going to have coffee and donuts with the Mayor...” The uncomfortably they say is based on the Mayor’s refusal to denounce the NYPD’s CounterTerrorism Program which has kept New Yorkers safe from terrorist plots in the 10 years since 9-11. The Council considers the NYPD’s action illegal and has called on both the Justice Department and Congressional Committees to investigate.

What exactly is the Islamic Leadership Council? When was it formed? And who do they represent?

The Council, also known as the Majlis Ashsura of Metropolitan New York, represents 35 Sunni Muslim congregations in the New York City area. In a city with over 175 Mosques that amounts to about 20 %. It does not represent Shia or Sufi Muslim congregations. They do not represent the vast majority of Muslim Americans living in the greater New York / New Jersey Region.

According to its website it was incorporated in the State of New York in 1995 as a non profit organization. Its first President was Imam Al Amin Abdul Latif who ran the organization out of his house in Suffolk County. Latif was a former New York State Department of Corrections Chaplain. The current President, Imam Talib Abdur Rashid of the Mosque of the Islamic Brotherhood, is also a former prison Chaplain who worked in Sing Sing. Two of the Council’s members, Imam Aziz ud din Bilal and Imam

Zulqarnain Abdu Shahid recently gained notoriety by being arrested by NYPD.

Bilal also known as Charles Fuller was arrested for soliciting a prostitute in August 2011. This was not Bilal’s first run in with the law. He has been arrested 18 times for charges including robbery, grand larceny, and bribery of a public official.

Imam Zulqarnain Abdu Shahid was arrested for attempting to smuggle dangerous contraband into a New York City Correctional Facility in 2010. Shadid, formerly known as, Paul Pitts, had previously been arrested for Murder and Robbery and had served 18 years in prison for the crimes.

The Islamic Leadership Council has also spoken out in support of Imam Luqman Abdullah. Abdullah was killed in a violent shootout with law enforcement officers in Detroit in 2009.

It was Abdullah who encouraged members of his congregation to shoot police officers if they had a gun handy, according to FBI transcripts.

The Council has also hailed as a leader in the Islamic community, Imam Jamil al Amin currently serving a life sentence in Federal Supermax prison for the murder of one police officer and the wounding of another in 2000.

It was Amin, better known as H Rap Brown, the former Black Panther, who coined the phrase, “violence is as American as cherry pie”

They view him as a political prisoner, the victim of an overzealous police department and prosecutor’s office.

With membership and heroes like this is there any wonder why the Council has such disdain for law enforcement in general and the NYPD in particular?

This was not the Islamic Council’s first foray into the protest movement. Several months back Imam Aiyub Abdul Baki of the Islamic Leadership Council gave a sermon in Zuccotti Park in support of the Occupy Wall Street protesters gathered there. In part the speech denounced the NYPD’s treatment of the movement with charges of oppressive tactics by law enforcement against OWS and Muslims and comparing the two movements by stating that they were fighting the same enemy. That being the NYPD.

Still the Council seems to hold great influence in city government. It is the certifying ecclesiastical body used in the hiring of Islamic clergy in the New York City Department of Corrections and other government agencies, and as such it has access to the Mayor’s office to air its grievances in the appropriate forum. One of the Islamic Leadership Council’s stated objectives is, “To develop understanding and cooperation with other faith based organizations for the common good.”

Refusing to sit down at an interfaith breakfast only demonstrates the Council’s intolerance when it doesn’t get its own way. Such behavior is immature and irresponsible. Mayor Bloomberg was right not to acknowledge the Council’s

childishness when speaking about the event. Sometimes the best corrective action for a spoiled child is to ignore them until the tantrum passes.

WHO SENT THE EX-CONS TO THE PARK

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:52:00 +0000

Imam Aiyub Abdul Baki of the Islamic Leadership Council delivers a sermon at Zuccotti Park.

Zuccotti Park in New York City became the birthplace and later the headquarters of the nationwide Occupy Wall Street Movement in September of this year.
Camp kitchens were set up with gourmet meals to feed the hungry protesters as they waged war for the proletariat against the rich.
Distribution of sleeping bags and other essentials necessary for a prolonged stay in the park were free to all who came. It was touted as the working man’s Utopia, fighting against the evil one percent who enslave us. But it didn’t take long for trouble to brew in Paradise. News reports of drug usage, crime, and sexual assault began to emerge in the following weeks. How did that happen?
Leaders of the movement accused the Bloomberg administration, particularly the NYPD, of sending recently released prisoners from the city’s Correction Department on Rikers Island to Zuccotti Park. This, according to OWS leaders, was a deliberate attempt to disrupt the movement.
It seems that the NYPD is being blamed for everything these days from spying on specific communities to disrupting free speech. So where did the cons come from? READ MORE...

Should Muslim Communities Cooperate with Police

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:34:00 +0000

Abigail R. Esman, Contributor to Forbes
“If you see something, say something.” It’s become part of the American vernacular, the 21^st-century version of “Just Say No.” Now comes a new one: “If you see something, say nothing.” This, at least, is what America’s Muslim organizations are exhorting American Muslims to do: stay silent. Report nothing. And whatever you do, do not cooperate with the police.

That advice comes after an AP report exposed controversial investigations by the NYPD into New York’s Muslim communities which some say violate civil rights. Surveillance of neighborhoods has gone at times to extremes, according to the AP report, with police monitoring restaurants, barber shops, and other small businesses, even in the absence of any crime.

On Friday 11/18/2011, New York Muslims took to the streets to protest the actions, claiming discrimination, and that the surveillance in Muslim communities is without precedent.

But according to Patrick Dunleavy, former Deputy Inspector General of New York and author of The Fertile Soil of Jihad: Terrorism’s Prison Connection, law enforcement has long followed similar patterns in investigating issues like organized crime and drug cartels...READ MORE

Minimizing the Threat, Ignoring the Facts

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:50:00 +0000

In the latest study from the New America Foundation(1) on the threat of homegrown terrorism the researchers pose the question,

“Just how real is the “homegrown” Islamist terrorist threat?”

And according to their findings, its no big thing. If fact

you have a greater chance of being murdered by your neighbor than being killed by a radical Islamic jihadist.

Comforting, isn’t it ?

Just how the analysts came to these conclusions is as fascinating as the data they used to support their claims.

The panel looked at 188 terrorist related cases from the period

2001 (post 9/11) till 2011, examining such variables as, citizenship, ethnicity, education, target choice, weapons acquisition, number of deaths caused, the role of informants, and if there was cooperation from the Muslim community that lead

to the arrest of the subjects.

The experts than used that data to compare it against 114 cases of domestic terrorism for the same period committed by individuals or groups “motivated by political ideologies other than the violent Islamism advocated by bin Laden.” In other words, neo-nazis, Christian militants, anarchists, or environmental wackos like the Earth Liberation Front.

Here is where the wheels come off the bus.

The researchers minimized, or in some cases deliberately overlooked, significant data. No mention was made of overseas travel, training or funding. In comparing apples and oranges, it's important to appreciate that they grow in different environments. The same is true for ideological extremists bent on violence. READ MORE...

Dunleavy debates CAIR attorney Gadeir Abbas

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:03:00 +0000

Investigation alleges NYPD of Profiling Muslims

Critics are calling this a blatant act of racial and religious profiling. But others contend it’s necessary for the sake of ensuring national security. Is this a violation of civil rights? Or would it be impossible for police to ignore this aspect of countering terrorism? How does this method of policing square with the latest initiative from the White House that seeks a softer, integrated approach that works within communities?

Listen to the interview ...

Evidence vs Intelligence - Knowing the Difference

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 21:30:00 +0000

Two New York police officers patrol Times Square as a police lookout post towers in the background on Wednesday, May 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

There is a new brouhaha stirring among civil libertarians and Islamic organizations in light of the recent Associated Press story regarding the working relationship between the NYPD and the CIA.

Was the government unlawfully collecting evidence against innocent citizens or simply gathering information for effective community policing....read more

The Tragedy in Oslo

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:58:00 +0000

Understanding the Threat

On friday morning the world was confronted with the evil madness of Anders Behring Breivik, the man accused of killing ninety three people in Norway.

The profile coming out now describes the man as a “right-wing Christian Fundamentalist”

. He is also said to have posted a manifesto online decrying multiculturalism and Islamism in Europe and calling for a revolution to rid the world of Marxists and Muslims. What are we, who have spoken out against radical Islamic terrorist acts in the past, to make of this?

In June of this year I had the privilege to testify before the House Committee on Homeland Security, Chaired by Rep. Peter King of New York, on the topic of threat of Islamic radicalization in the U.S. prison system. During my testimony, I was asked by Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee (D-Tex) a question regarding a letter she stated the committee received from an inmate who she described as a “Christian Militant”. That inmate was in prison for setting an explosive device at an abortion clinic. Rep. Lee asked if I thought that individual should be considered an terrorist and if I thought that “Christian Militants” were a threat to the security of the United States. I responded by stating that;

“I believe that anyone who kills (innocent) people in the name of God is an ideologue.” When Rep. Lee was not satisfied with my answer she asked again if I would agree that “Christian Militants” pose the same threat as radical jihadists like Al Qaeda. I stated that I doubted that you would find foreign backing or financing for Christian militants, as is the case with radical islamic jihadists.

I know of no country on this planet that provides safe haven for individuals like Anders Behring Breivik or organizations that would support his heinous act.

On the contrary places like Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen have become meccas for

radical Islamists who continue to plot violent acts against innocent people in the name of Allah.

An honest analysis or risk assessment or the two distinct threats would reveal one as individualistic and the other as systemic in nature.

We condemn the despicable twisted acts of a lone individual such as Breivik and our sympathies go out to the survivors and families of the victims...but we understand that this was not supported by some shadow organization or government bent on ridding the worlds of infidels. Evil can take many forms, we must speak out against if wherever it is found

Testimony Before the House Committee on Homeland Secuity

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:00:00 +0000

On June 15th I had the opportunity to speak before the House Committee for Homeland Security chaired by Rep. Peter King (R-NY). I had the honor of being joined by Michael Downing, Commanding Officer Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau for the Los Angeles Police Department and also Kevin E Smith, former Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California who prosecuted the Kevin James / JIS terrorism case. Compelling testimony was given
regarding the very real phenomenon of Islamic Radicalization in U.S. prisons
to read the complete testimony...click here

Remembering the Fallen, and Those Responsible

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Dunleavy - Author) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 23:29:00 +0000

Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn.

(Old & New)

There is an old saying “War and Politics Makes for Strange Bedfellows” Now it seems we may add a third part to the equation: Prisons.

In the present situation in Gaza with its current government run by HAMAS, designated a terrorist organization by the US State Department, it seems that some convicts from America’s past have run to support it with political statements and funds.

Several domestic terrorists currently serving life sentences for killing law enforcement officers are attempting to inject themselves into the current situation in the Middle East including calling for the end to Israel.

Inmates such as Herman Bell, Anthony Bottoms, James Dixon York, and Clark Edward Squire who were members of the Black Liberation Army as well as David Gilbert, a member of the Weather Underground, have in the recent past posted statements on the Internet calling for the end of “US/Zionist Imperialism in Palestine.” They also encouraged the use of any means necessary - including violence - to achieve the goal of “driving the Zionist oppressors out of your land.”

These same convicts have also come out in opposition to the US involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, and North Africa.

They consider themselves political prisoners in a corrupt regime, not criminals.

Their view of the United States was articulated most accurately in this recent statement;

"The real terrorist is the American government, state terrorism unleashed against the world."

Who said it? If you would have guessed Al Qaeda spokesman Anwar Al Awlaki or Osama bin Laden’s chief lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri, you would have been wrong. The statement comes from Bernadette Dohrn. Dohrn you may recall is the former member of a domestic terrorist organization who along with her husband, Bill Ayers, admitted to setting bombs at several government buildings during the turbulent 60’s and early 70’s .. Although charges against Ayers were dropped, Dohrn pled guilty to aggravated battery in exchange for a sentence of probation. Over the years they have maintained their relationship with the other members of their group, now incarcerated, through visiting and talking on the prison telephone. The inmate they most frequently communicate with is David Gilbert. He is currently serving seventy five years to life in Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York near the Canadian border. Gilbert’s lenghty sentence was meted out after he was found guilty in the murder of two police officers and a Brinks guard during a botched hold up attempt.

In addition to Ayers and Dohrn, Gilbert has also received visits from several advocates for the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, a HAMAS sympathizer. While the Movement states that it is nonviolent, we must remember that many of the 60’s domestic terrorists began in non violent protest organizations only to become completely commited to violence and any means necessary to achieve their objectives. Dohrn, Ayers, and Gilbert were all members of the Students for a Democractic Society (SDS), a non-violent student activist organization begun in 1962. The SDS expressed a desire to use civil disobedience and other nonviolent means to cause change with social, political, and economic policy within the government However , after several years of non-violent protest, a segment within that group, which included Dohrn, Ayers, and Gilbert, became disillusioned with the results and wanted to take action -- violent action -- against the United States government. They called themselves the Weather Underground or the Weathermen, after a line in a Bob Dylan Song; “you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”

Dohrn loudly announced the objective of the new organization with this communiqué [2]:

"Hello, I'm going to read a declaration of a state of war...Within the next 14 days we will attack a symbol or institution of American injustice."

The connection between 60’s radicals and radical Islamic organizations such as HAMAS and Hezbollah began many years ago when several of the 60’s radicals were in prison with a number of Palestinian inmates in New York State. The Palestinians were in prison at the time for violent crimes including kidnapping, firebombing a Jewish Deli in New York City, and opening fire with automatic weapons on a vanload of Hasidic students. Three of them had active ties to HAMAS, Hezbollah, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. This melding of the minds to identify a common enemy, that being “the corrupt US / Zionist Imperialism” was formed over the years in prison together. They exchanged ideas on such topics as safe houses, demonstration tactics and financing. They also shared friends and contacts and some shared visitors with David Gilbert. Others attended the prison mosque with members of the Black Liberation Army who had converted to Islam. The prison chaplain at the time was himself a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship. The chaplain made national headlines in 2003 when he was indicted (pdf) by the United States Attorney General’s Office for funneling funds into a suspicious charity suspected of providing support to Sunni insurgents in Iraq in violation of the War Powers Act....read the complete article