Where do Terrorists Come From?

It's our belief that terrorists are made, not born. How they are made is up for discussion. Well, not really.

One can argue that it was American government policies that drove Timothy McVeigh to murder more than 240 innocents in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. Believed to be a sympathizer of a militia movement and that his motive was to retaliate against the government's handling of the Waco (the bombing occurred on the anniversary of the Waco catastrophe) and Ruby Ridge incidents, McVeigh came from a broken family, he joined the military, seems to have enjoyed the mayhem of war and tried to join the Green Berets. When he could not reach that goal, he resigned from the military and by all accounts became a loner drifting from gun show to gun show selling anarchist books, becoming a white supremacist in the process. Government policies. Hardly. Sounds more like a sociopath to me.

United States Commission on Human Rights and its June 11, 2008 Report on textbooks used at the Saudi government's Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia. According to the Report,

”Last fall, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom asked the U.S. Department of State to secure the release of all Arabic-language textbooks used at a Saudi government school in Northern Virginia, the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA). The Commission took this action in order to ensure that the books be publicly examined to determine whether the texts used at the ISA promote violence, discrimination, or intolerance based on religion or belief. The ISA is unlike any conventional private or parochial school in the United States in that it is operated by a foreign government and uses that government’s official texts. It falls under the Commission’s mandate to monitor the actions of foreign governments in relation to religious freedom. The government of Saudi Arabia, as a member of the international community, is committed to upholding international standards, including the obligation not to promote violence, intolerance, or hate."

What was found in the textbooks obtained from ISA? How about this passage from the Report:

"A twelfth-grade Tawhid (monotheism) textbook states that “[m]ajor polytheism makes blood and wealth permissible,” which in Islamic legal terms means that a Muslim can take the life and property of someone believed to be guilty of this alleged transgression with impunity. (Tawhid, Arabic/Sharia, 15) Under the Saudi interpretation of Islam, “major polytheists” include Shi’a and Sufi Muslims, who visit the shrines of their saints to ask for intercession with God on their behalf, as well as Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists."

So, there we are. And the students at ISA, are they new Timothy McVeighs and Mohamed Attas in the making or just getting an old fashioned Islamic education?

When you teach hate, you get haters. End of story.

What Do You Call a Terror(Jihad)ist?

Bravo to P. W. Singer and Elina Noor for their thoughtful and forthright Op-Ed in the New York Times, "What Do You Call a Terror(Jihad)ist?"
For too long the media, and that includes ALL media, have tiptoed around the labeling of people who target innocent civilians through wanton violence. Ranging from insurgents to militants, but never terrorists, the media has given killers a free ride and much glorification by not calling them what they are.

Turning to the issue of "jihad," Singer and Noor believe that the use of "jidadist" gives honor to killers and thugs. Labeling them terrorists is another weapon in our war with terrorists and as the authors point out, "if we want to win a war of words, we would do well to choose the ones we use with greater care."

Trading with Terrorists

Government leaders make hard choices every day. From budgetary issues affecting taxation and the cost of living, to geo-political affecting security at home, to "hot-button" issues such as gay marriage. In the Middle East where Israel finds itself, there is no bigger hot-button issue than prisoner exchanges.

Israel's prisons are rightfully full of Palestinians and other Arabs who have committed crimes against Israelis ranging from throwing stones to riot to murder. Over the years, Israel has released hundreds of Palestinians and others from prison as part of "prisoner swaps" that were never one-to-one affairs but more like 100 Arabs for 1 Israeli, or political gifts to Arafat or Abu Mazen that would increase their credibility on the Palestinian street. From a stated policy of never negotiating with terrorists, Israel has in the past and will do so in the future.

The New York Sun runs an article by Benny Avni Hezbollah's Prisoner Swap Gambit Tests Israel that highlights Israel's decision to release a terrorist in exchange for soldiers' remains and as a possible step in releasing either the soldiers, or their remains, whose kidnapping was the spark that launched the 2006 Lebanon War.

As the father of a terror victim, I know the day is coming, not soon I hope, when my daughter's killers will be on the way out the door of their prison cells. I hope that the price paid by the other side is high enough to warrant it.

Sami Al-Arian -- The Lies Continue

The supporters of Palestinian terror sponsor Sami Al-Arian have had a busy winter and spring. These friends of Sami are promoting two aspects of Al-Arian’s life, first, his incarceration in Federal prison, and, second, a film about his trial, “USA vs. Al-Arian.”

Al-Arian remains in prison today because of his refusal to testify in other terrorism cases which led to his being held in contempt of court. (His supporters fail to mention that Al-Arian admitted and pleaded guilty to supporting Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a vicious terror organization.) But you wouldn’t know that if you relied solely on the press releases and “news stories” put out by his friends and the film. Instead of admitting that Al-Arian has been found to be in contempt of court, his friends claim he was subpoenaed “to testify before a grand jury in Virginia, even though as part of his plea bargain, Al-Arian had said he would not testify against anyone else. Al-Arian was then found in contempt of the grand jury so that he could be held up to 18 months before he could resume serving his original sentence. This is a ploy that can be used repeatedly Charles Reese

I’ll need someone to point out to me where in the Al-Arian Plea Agreement you find the government agreeing that Al-Arian is not required to testify in other cases.

As for USA vs. Al-Arian, it follows the same twisted thinking as other articles and stories about Al-Arian.

Al-Arian’s biggest crime is the one of chutzpa, you can look it up. It reminds me of the story of the man who kills his parents and then asks the judge for leniency because he’s an orphan.

In my book, the sooner Al-Arian finishes his contempt sentence and is deported from the United States of America, the better off we’ll all be.

Terror Victim's Law Strengthened- Flatow Amendment

The 1996 law named after terror victim Alisa Flatow has been amended to close loopholes. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency,

A defense bill signed by President Bush includes language that bolsters the ability of victims to sue state sponsors of terrorism. The Defense Authorization Act signed this week incorporates the Justice for Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act, introduced last year by U.S. Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

Flatow Amendment Strengthened