Riverdale bombers were no dupes--Editorial - NYPOST.com

There is good news and bad news coming out of the conviction of the would-be synagogue bombers this week. From the New York Post:

Good news this week: Four Muslim converts who plotted to bomb a pair of Riverdale synagogues and shoot down military planes were convicted.

The bad news: Activists are turning the "Newburgh 4" into a cause célébre -- a
supposedly hapless squad of dimwits armed with fake explosives, arrested by the
feds before they did any harm.

Dimwits we'll buy, but that doesn't make them innocent. Even idiots can detonate explosives -- and this dangerous crew showed an unseemly eagerness to enlist in jihad.

And they're not alone.

The Post makes a good point when it compares these guys to others that the US has caught, prosecuted and convicted- the Newburgh 4 are home grown.

They're being grown in American prisons where Islam is the religion of choice among the violent and the gullible, and in mosques around the country. (Watch "My Name is Khan" to see how it happens.)

In any event, one could only hope that this is the last case that ever comes our way, but we know that's not going to be true.

Read the full editorial - Riverdale bombers were no dupes.

Well, that's what I have to say.

Stephen M. Flatow

How are home grown terrorists made?

Where or how terrorists are made is a subject of debate. While 9/11 was perpetrated by Saudi born terrorists, the London bus bombings were carried out by British born Muslims. The Riverdale Bomb Plot was attempted by four men living in Newburgh, NY. Of the plotters, the Times reported, "one is a Haitian immigrant and the other three are African-Americans." No foreigners here. So, what or who turned these men into potential killers?

Steven Emerson has an idea. In an article in The New York Post, RADICALS IN OUR PRISONS HOW TO STOP THE MUSLIM EXTREMISTS RECRUITING INMATES TO TERRORISM, Emerson notes, "one component of the case should come as no surprise - three of the alleged culprits converted to radical Islam in prison."

Examples?

• Jose Padilla, suspected of plotting to detonate a dirty bomb and convicted of conspiracy to murder people overseas and of providing material support to terrorists, converted and was radicalized.
• That's where a California man, Kevin James, created his own cell, called the Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (JIS), and recruited other inmates to plot attacks against military and Jewish targets in and around Los Angeles.
• In New York, the man who was the head Muslim chaplain for state prisons considered the 9/11 hijackers to be martyrs. Warith Deen Umar spent 20 years working with New York prisons, overseeing the hiring of Muslim chaplains and leading prayer services.

According to Emerson, prisons are a vast breeding ground for terrorists and their supporters. Read the full article and you will see what he means.

Saudi King's Interfaith Conference - a Follow-up

Last week we wrote about the Saudi king's interfaith conference at the United Nations. Today New York Post writer Benny Avni weighs in with a column called UN Masquerade.

Recognizing that the "king won much praise last week for convening talks at the United Nations ostensibly meant to promote peace and 'religious tolerance'" Avni advises that

"if you take a close look at King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud's agenda, some of it is hardly praiseworthy. In fact, if he gets any traction at the UN (or anywhere else), it'll mark a giant step backward for both peace and tolerance."

Writing about what he calls a "scary agenda," Avni points out that the king

"wants the world's moral blessing to restrict any and all speech about Islam,its adherents and regimes that promote them - except, of course, that which is approved by official censors. He also wants to throw the UN's moral weight behind punishments meted out to those who violate such restrictions, even if he doesn't say that explicitly.

"Meanwhile, Abdullah failed to make even the slightest gesture toward softening his own regime's brutal intolerance of other religions and cultures. Some parley on "religious tolerance."

Looks like the king is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Let's hope the world is smart enough to see through his latest PR stunt.

Read UN Masquerade