Lieberman Suggests Army Shooter Was Home-Grown Terrorist

Sen. Joe Lieberman on Sunday said the shootings at Fort Hood may have been a terrorist attack, and that he would launch a congressional investigation into whether the U.S. military could have prevented it.

Sen. Lieberman, who heads the Senate’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said initial evidence suggested that the alleged shooter, Army Major Nidal Hasan, was a “self-radicalized, home-grown terrorist” who had turned to Islamic extremism while under personal stress.

[...]

Mr. Lieberman, appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” cautioned that it remained too early to draw any definitive conclusions. He said his comments were based on “reports that we are receiving” about Mr. Hasan’s actions and comments.

The Army’s top officer, Gen. George Casey, wouldn’t rule out that the shooting was an act of terrorism, but cautioned against speculation at this point. “We all want to know what happened and what motivated the suspect, but we need to … let the investigation take its course,” he told ABC News’s “This Week.”

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Small Scale Terrorism Plots Pose New Threat

For some time now intelligence experts have warned of a disturbing trend towards homegrown terrorism. Coupled with an additional trend towards smaller scale plots and terror cells comprised of only 1 or more people, authorities are concerned.

After disrupting two recent terrorism plots, American intelligence officials are increasingly concerned that extremist groups in Pakistan linked to Al Qaeda are planning smaller operations in the United States that are harder to detect but more likely to succeed than the spectacular attacks they once emphasized, senior counterterrorism officials say.

The two cases — one involving two Chicago men accused this week of planning an attack on a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the prophet Mohammad, the other a 24-year-old Denver shuttle bus driver indicted in a plot to use improvised explosives — are among the most serious in years, the officials said.

In both, the officials said, the main defendants are long-term residents of the United States with substantial community ties who traveled to Pakistan’s tribal areas, where they apparently trained with extremist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda. The officials, from American military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, spoke on the condition that they not be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the cases.

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The Threat of Homegrown Terrrorism

Lydia Khalil, a former counterterrorism analyst for the New York Police Department, and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations looks at homegrown terrorism, recent plots and arrests and what they may signify.

The apprehension last week of Sudbury native Tarek Mehanna is the fifth terrorism-related arrest in the United States in as many months, putting homegrown radicalism back on the radar screen. But many question whether individuals like Mehanna are the “real deal.’’ Do they really pose a significant terrorist threat or are they acting out but lack the capability to inflict any real damage? How dangerous are homegrown radicals? Will the United States, like Europe, become more susceptible to native radicals rather than terrorist plots hatched abroad from organized groups like Al Qaeda?

Terrorism specialist Marc Sageman claims that we are facing a “leaderless jihad.’’ Al Qaeda central is not the driving force of terrorism as an operational machine but rather its ideology serves as an inspiration for self-organizing local groups to carry out their own attacks.

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NEFA Report – The New York, Denver Terror Plot Arrests

This NEFA Foundation report, “Target: America”, provides details on Najibullah Zazi’s activities prior to his arrest and sheds light on why this case is considered by many experts to be the most significant terrorist plot on U.S. soil since 9/11.

The investigation into a plot to detonate explosive devices in the United States led by Afghan immigrant Najibullah Zazi and three yet-to-be-named accomplices is ongoing. To date, only three individuals have been arrested in connection with this case.

Only one, Najibullah Zazi, appears to be implicated in an operational capacity. Two others, Bosnian immigrant Adis Mendunjanin, and New York City cab driver Zarein Ahmedzay, have been questioned, but have not been arrested.1 A childhood acquaintance of Zazi’s, Naiz Khan, with whom Zazi stayed when he traveled to New York in September, is reported to be under surveillance in connection with the plot.

This is the most advanced U.S.-based plot since 9/11 that is said to be tied to Al-Qaida. According to media reports, high-ranking Al-Qaida operative Mustafa Abu al-Yazid3 used a middle man to contact Zazi.4 Although we have seen Al-Qaida-linked individuals in the U.S. engage in terrorist-related activities such as Iyman Ferris who surveilled the Brooklyn Bridge while in contact with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed5 we have not seen a fully operational plot in which operatives received direct training from Al-Qaida.

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Fighting The Fight Against Homegrown Terrorism

Recently, numerous headlines related to domestic or homegrown terror plots have caught the public’s attention and raised awareness to the threat.
Authorities have stated that there is no evidence the plots are related, so what are the concerns? Is this an anomaly, or are these telling signs that radicalization and the threat of homegrown terrorism in the U.S. is on the rise?

The Boston Herald takes a look at what may be fueling this activity and where we may need to look to stop it.

Keeping A Lid On Homegrown Terror

Authorities in Illinois arrested Michael Finton, a 29-year-old convert to Islam in an alleged plot to blow up a federal building in Springfield. The next day a 19-year-old Jordanian national was arrested for allegedly hatching a similar plot against a Dallas skyscraper. Finally, in what has been called by authorities the most serious attempt to strike the US homeland since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, authorities indicted Najibullah Zazi, a longtime US resident of Afghan descent who had allegedly planned to carry out bombings with chemicals he had purchased in beauty supply stores. These events seem to confirm what authorities have been saying for the last few years: while the overwhelming majority of the American Muslim community abhors terrorism, a small segment is not impermeable to radicalization.

European authorities have long struggled with the same issue, as hundreds of European Muslims have been involved in terrorist activities. Over the last few years US authorities have questioned whether the emergence of large numbers of radicalized Muslims could also take place here.

via Keeping a lid on homegrown terror – The Boston Globe.

Homegrown Terrorists – America Faces The Enemies Within

For too long we as Americans have been complacent to believe that the threat of homegrown terrorism is gravest elsewhere, but looking at recent events, one can easily see that the threat here is growing and it’s time to take it seriously.

The NY Daily news reports on the growth and danger of homegrown terrorism

Case history documents how terrorists can fade into the fabric of the country’s pluralistic population and how easily they can fashion explosives out of readily available products.

Brooklyn-born Betim Kaziu was charged Thursday with attempting to join a Pakistani-based Al Qaeda affiliate in hopes of killing U.S. troops.

Jordanian Hosam Maher Husein Smadi was arrested Thursday in Dallas for putting what he believed was a car bomb in an office-tower garage.

Michael Finton, a 29-year-old Illinois man who idolized American Taliban John Walker Lindh, was arrested Wednesday on charges of plotting to bomb a federal courthouse.

Long Islander Bryant Neal Vinas was busted in July for allegedly training with Al Qaeda in Pakistan, joining rocket attacks on U.S. forces and giving “expert advice” on the subways and Long Island Rail Road.

Three U.S. citizens and a Haitian immigrant were charged in May with conspiring to plant 37 pounds of explosive at two Bronx synagogues.

Three illegal-immigrant brothers from Macedonia were sentenced in April to life for plotting in 2007 to kill soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J.

Zazi, who was born in Afghanistan, ran a Manhattan doughnut cart. That’s how law-abiding, hardworking and, yes, normal, he seemed even as, probers believe, his heart beat as an engine of mass destruction.

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The Creeping Homegrown Terror Threat

The arrest of seven North Carolina residents, including Daniel Boyd and his two sons, on charges of supporting terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder abroad, showed how the problem of homegrown Islamic terrorism is far more rampant than the media or the public is aware of. Just look at the major cases in the past year alone:

• The convert from Long Island who joined al Qaeda (disclosed this past week) and gave the group information about Long Island trains and New York City’s subways.
• The plot to blow up two synagogues and a National Guard plane in upstate New York by prison converts (scheduled to go to trial).
• The plot to kill hundreds of soldiers at Fort Dix by assimilated American Muslims living here 25 years (all convicted).
• The plot to operate a terrorist training camp in Oregon (pleaded guilty).
• The plot to blow up buildings by the Liberty City 7 (all convicted).
• The sweeping conviction of Hamas officials for conspiring to support terrorism overseas.
• The cases of young Somali teenagers raised in the U.S. going overseas to become suicide bombers.

The Boyd case in North Carolina proves that radical Islamic ideology transcends economic class problems as has been claimed by pointy-headed sociologists. The Boyd family was white, had a middle-class existence, and had the economic opportunities afforded all Americans — just like most of the terrorists cited above — and yet chose to engage in jihad to the point that Daniel Boyd was willing to send his two kids on suicide missions to Israel.

That the FBI stopped all these plots is amazing, but they will never continue to bat a thousand. One of these days, the jihadists will succeed.

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Homegrown Jihadis – Alleged Terrorist Ring Raises Questions

Whatever the alleged terrorists arrested last week were up to, it wasn’t meant to take place in North Carolina or anywhere else on American soil.

Federal indictments say the men conspired to “advance violent jihad, including supporting and participating in terrorist activities in specific locations outside the United States. …”

That’s one bit of good news, although it’s frightening enough if they were at work building a network in North Carolina, stockpiling weapons and training for action. They allegedly had plenty of firepower. Defendant Daniel Patrick Boyd purchased a dozen or more firearms, the indictment states, including military-style assault rifles. Some of the weapons allegedly were used for training exercises in Caswell County this summer.

The other good news is that members of this group apparently failed to achieve their goals, despite making trips to Israel, Gaza, Jordan, Pakistan and Kosovo. So, were they really committed to violent objectives or just playing terrorist? What were their actual capabilities?

Those aren’t the only unanswered questions. Though the Justice Department announced that seven individuals were charged, and the indictment names seven men, there was an eighth defendant who wasn’t named and who apparently is being sought in Pakistan.

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FBI, DHS Warn Police on Homegrown Terrorists

Antiterrorism officials are increasingly concerned about American-bred extremists who travel abroad for terror training and then return home, sometimes quietly recruiting followers over the years.

Federal authorities have issued a bulletin to law enforcement agencies around the country on the heels of the arrest Monday in North Carolina of a man whose devotion to the cause of violent jihad allegedly began 20 years ago.

The internal bulletin – reviewed by The Associated Press – says the FBI and the Homeland Security Department are very worried about the danger posed by little-noticed Americans traveling abroad to learn terrorism techniques, then coming back to the United States, where they may be dormant for long periods of time while they look for followers to recruit for future attacks.

On Monday, the FBI arrested Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, charging he was the ringleader of a group of aspiring international terrorists.

The charges “underscore our ongoing concerns about individuals returning to the United States after training or fighting on behalf of extremists overseas,” said Justice Department spokesman Richard Kolko.

“As a general matter, such individuals may be in a unique position to solicit others in the U.S. to follow their example, given their combat experience, their network of overseas contacts and their credibility among young radicals seeking an authority figure,” Kolko said.

Six other suspects – including Boyd’s two sons – were also charged in what prosecutors say was a long-running conspiracy to train for violence and then fight overseas.

Boyd’s wife, Sabrina, said in a statement Tuesday that the charges are unsubstantiated.

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Seven Charged With Terrorism Conspiracy In North Carolina – FBI

Seven individuals have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad, David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division; George E.B. Holding, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina; and Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Division, announced today.

On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned a sealed seven-count indictment against the following defendants:

• Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina

• Hysen Sherifi, 24, a native of Kosovo and a U.S. legal permanent resident located in North Carolina

• Anes Subasic, 33, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina

• Zakariya Boyd, 20, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina

• Dylan Boyd, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina

• Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina

• Ziyad Yaghi, 21, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina

All the defendants are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, as well as conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad. In addition, Daniel Boyd, Hysen Sherifi and Zakariya Boyd are each charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Daniel Boyd and Dylan Boyd are also each charged with selling a firearm to a convicted felon. Finally, Daniel Boyd is also charged with receiving a firearm through interstate commerce and two counts of making false statements in a terrorism investigation.

The defendants were arrested at various locations this morning by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. They made their initial appearances today in federal court in Raleigh, N.C. At that time, the indictment was unsealed.

“The indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd is a veteran of terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan who, over the past three years, has conspired with others in this country to recruit and help young men travel overseas in order to kill. Given the weapons allegedly involved in this conspiracy and the seriousness of the charges, the many agents, analysts and prosecutors who were able to bring about this case and safely remove these defendants from our streets deserve special thanks,” said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division.

“These charges hammer home the point that terrorists and their supporters are not confined to the remote regions of some far away land but can grow and fester right here at home. Terrorists and their supporters are relentless and constant in their efforts to hurt and kill innocent people across the globe. We must be equally relentless and constant in our efforts to stop them,” said U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding.

“The threat that extremists and radicals pose to America and our allies has not dulled or gone away. These arrests today show there are people living among us, in our communities in North Carolina and around the US, that are honing their skills to carry out acts of murder and mayhem. Their ultimate goal is to wage war on freedom and democracy. The FBI and our law enforcement partners are doing all we can to stop them from thriving and successfully attacking again,” said Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the Charlotte Division of the FBI. “We will remain vigilant, so must the public. If you see or hear something — act — call your local police department or the FBI. September 11th is not a vague memory for us, nor should it be for anyone.”

“The cooperation between federal, state and local authorities throughout this investigation has been outstanding. It is only with our ongoing law enforcement partnership through the Joint Terrorism Task Force in conjunction with North Carolina’s fusion center, ISAAC, that we are able to ensure public safety from these terrorist threats,” said North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Director Robin P. Pendergraft.

The Conspiracy

According to the indictment, during the period from 1989 through 1992, Daniel Boyd traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan where he received military-style training in terrorist training camps for the purpose of engaging in violent jihad. Following this training, he allegedly fought in Afghanistan.

From roughly November 2006 through at least July 2009, the indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd and the other defendants conspired to provide material support and resources to terrorists, including currency, training, transportation and personnel. The defendants also conspired to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad during this period. The object of the conspiracy, according to the indictment, was to advance violent jihad, including supporting and participating in terrorist activities abroad and committing acts of murder, kidnapping or maiming persons abroad.

The indictment alleges that, as part of the conspiracy, the defendants prepared themselves to engage in violent jihad and were willing to die as martyrs. They also allegedly offered training in weapons and financing, and helped arrange overseas travel and contacts so others could wage violent jihad overseas.

As part of the conspiracy, the indictment further alleges that the defendants raised money to support training efforts, disguised the destination of such monies from the donors, and obtained assault weapons to develop skills with the weapons. Some defendants also allegedly radicalized others to believe that violent jihad was a personal religious obligation.

Recruitment and Travels

Among other acts, the indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd traveled to Gaza in March 2006 and attempted to enter Palestine in order to introduce his son to individuals who also believed that violent jihad was a personal religious obligation. Later, in October 2006, defendant Ziyad Yaghi allegedly departed the United States for Jordan to engage in violent jihad.

In June 2007, Daniel Boyd and several other defendants departed the United States for Israel in an effort to engage in violent jihad, but ultimately returned to the United States after failing in their efforts. According to the indictment, after his return to the United States, Daniel Boyd made false statements twice to federal officials about who he had planned to meet on his trip to Israel.

In February 2008, Daniel Boyd allegedly solicited money to fund the travel of additional individuals overseas to engage in violent jihad and in March 2008, discussed with Anes Subasic preparations to send two individuals abroad for this purpose. He allegedly accepted $500 in cash from defendant Hysen Sherifi to be used to help fund jihad overseas and later showed Sherifi how to operate an AK-47 assault weapon.

In July 2008, Sharifi allegedly departed the United States for Kosovo to engage in violent jihad. According to the indictment, Sharifi later returned to North Carolina in April 2009, for the purpose of soliciting funds and personnel to support the mujihadeen.

Weapons and Training

The indictment also alleges that Daniel Boyd obtained a variety of weapons in furtherance of the conspiracy to murder persons overseas and provide material support to terrorists. These included a Bushmaster M4A3 rifle that Boyd allegedly received illegally via interstate commerce in 2006, as well as an ETA M16 V System C-MAG that he purchased in 2006. In 2007, he allegedly purchased a Ruger mini 14 long gun.

During 2008, the indictment alleges that Boyd purchased a Mossburg 100 ATR .270 rifle, a Llama Camanche III .357 revolver, a Century Arms AK Sporter 7.62 X 39 rifle and a Ruger mini 30 7.62 X 39 rifle. During 2009, Boyd allegedly purchased a Ishmash SAGA .308 rifle, a Century Arms Polish Tantal 5.45 X 39 rifle, a Century Arms C91 rifle .308, a Century Arms M70B1 7.62 X 34 rifle, a Ruger mini 14 5.56 rifle, and a Smith & Wesson MP15 .223 rifle.

The indictment further alleges that in February 2009, Daniel Boyd and his son, Dylan Boyd, knowingly sold a Beretta 9 mm handgun and ammunition to a convicted felon. In addition, the indictment alleges that in June 2009, Daniel Boyd and his son, Zakariya Boyd, used firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence, specifically conspiracy to murder.

Finally, the indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd and several of the defendants practiced military tactics and the use of weapons on private property in Caswell County, N.C., in June and July 2009.

Each of the defendants faces potential life imprisonment if convicted of conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad. In addition, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists carries a maximum 15 year sentence. The charges of receiving a firearm through interstate commerce and selling a firearm to a convicted felon each carry a maximum 10 year sentence. Making false statements in a terrorism investigation carries a maximum 8 year sentence, while possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence carries a consecutive 5 year sentence.

This investigation is being conducted by the Raleigh Joint Terrorism Task Force of the Charlotte Division of the FBI and NCISAAC, the North Carolina Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barbara D. Kocher and Jason Cowley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and Trial Attorney Jason Kellhofer, of the Counterterrorism Section in the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains mere allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

New Jersey Brothers Get Life for Fort Dix Terror Plot

Three brothers were sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to kill soldiers at the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey or other military targets in a plot that authorities said was homegrown terrorism.

Dritan “Tony” Duka, 30, was sentenced with his brothers Shain, 28, and Elvjir, 25, for their convictions on conspiracy and weapons charges by an anonymous jury in December. The Dukas were illegal immigrants from Macedonia who settled in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in the 1980s and ran a family roofing business.

“Nothing has a greater impact on society than a crime of terrorism,” U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler said today in sentencing Dritan Duka in federal court in Camden, New Jersey. “He clearly intended to and planned on killing American soldiers solely because of their status as American soldiers.”

The sentences follow a 15-month FBI investigation and eight-week trial. Prosecutors said the men grew up in the U.S., adopted extremist religious views, and were inspired by online jihadist videos to plan an attack on America. Each of the brothers protested the verdicts, accusing prosecutors and the judge of ignoring evidence or inflating the charges.

“I am innocent, I am innocent, I am innocent,” Shain Duka told the judge today in a packed courtroom with extra security.

Dritan and Shain Duka got an additional 30 years each for buying machine guns from an FBI informant. Two co-defendants will be sentenced tomorrow. Each of the five were acquitted of attempted murder. All three Dukas were ordered to repay $125,000 to the U.S. for the cost of additional security at Fort Dix.

via Read Full Article – Bloomberg.com.