Police Issue Report on ‘Homegrown’ Terror Threat

POsted on behalf of echoboom..to be moved to his page later


August 15, 2007,12:03 pm

Police Issue Report on ‘Homegrown’ Terror Threat

By Sewell Chan




The so-called Lackawanna Six, six Americans of Yemeni descent who were arrested in 2002 and later pleaded guilty to charges of providing material support to Al Qaeda. (Photos: Associated Press)
Updated, 5:54 p.m. | The city’s Police Department this morning released a report, “Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat,” that examines, in 90 pages, how ordinary people in the West can become radicalized and followers of what the report calls a jihadist ideology. Although the findings in the new analysis are similar to those of other studies, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the report — prepared by the department’s Intelligence Division — was an important addition to his department’s arsenal of counterterrorism tools.
The full report is available at this link [pdf] on the department’s Web site.



Somewhat like a psychology textbook might, the report identifies four steps in the process of radicalization: pre-radicalization, self-identification, indoctrination and jihadization. The report found that “homegrown” terrorist plots — involving seemingly “unremarkable” people — were behind terror plots or attacks in Britain, Spain, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands.
The report examined three cases of “homegrown” terrorist activity in the United States: the so-called Lackawanna Six, six Yemeni-Americans who were arrested in 2002 and later pleaded guilty to charges of providing material support to Al Qaeda; the so-called Portland Seven, a diverse group of American Muslims who were charged in 2002 and 2003 with trying to join Al Qaeda; and the case of 11 Muslim men who played paintball in the Virginia woods in 2000 and 2001 as a means of training for global holy war and were later convicted of terrorism. The report also cited two New York City cases: a 2004 plot to bomb the Herald Square subway station and a 2004 case in which two New Yorkers traveled to Britain and joined up with elements of Al Qaeda.

The process of terrorist radicalization operates differently in the West than in the Mideast, according to the report, which found:
Much different from the Israeli-Palestinian equation, the transformation of a Western-based individual to a terrorist is not triggered by oppression, suffering, revenge or desperation. Rather, it is a phenomenon that occurs because the individual is looking for an identity and a cause and unfortunately, often finds them in the extremist Islam. There is no useful profile to assist law enforcement or intelligence to predict who will follow this trajectory of radicalization. Rather, the individuals who take this course begin as “unremarkable” from various walks of life.
The report concludes — as have many scholars — that European Muslims are not as well integrated into mainstream society as American Muslims are. Nonetheless, the report says that American Muslims are “more resistant, but not immune” to becoming radicalized. The report also concludes, “The Internet is a driver and enabler for the process of radicalization.”
The report, written by Mitchell D. Silber and Arvin Bhatt, two senior intelligence analysts, is a product of the Police Department, but includes statements from two outside experts, Brian M. Jenkins, a terrorism authority at the Rand Corporation, and Alain Bauer, a criminologist at the Sorbonne.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a major Muslim-American advocacy organization, issued this statement at 6:39 p.m.:
Whatever one thinks of the analysis contained in the report, its sweeping generalizations and mixing of unrelated elements may serve to cast a pall of suspicion over the entire American Muslim community.
The report lists sites that are likely to be visited by any American Muslim as radicalization ‘incubators.’ The sites listed include mosques, cafes, cab driver hangouts, student associations, nongovernmental organizations, butcher shops, and book stores.
Despite raising suspicions against ordinary Muslims and the places they visit, the report itself states: ‘There is no useful profile to assist law enforcement or intelligence to predict who will follow this trajectory of radicalization. Rather, the individuals who take this course begin as ‘unremarkable’ from various walks of life.’
So while labeling almost every American Muslim as a potential terrorist, the report’s authors admit that their findings offer no useful way to identify real terror suspects.

The report also claims that signs of radicalization include positive changes in personal behavior such as giving up smoking, drinking and gambling. It also makes similar claims about those who wear Islamic attire or a religiously-recommended beard.
Is Islamic attire or giving up bad habits, which is something recommended by leaders of all faiths, now to be regarded as suspicious behavior?
American Muslims and their institutions have been working closely with law enforcement officials nationwide on proactive measures to keep our country safe and secure. Muslims are working every day to build a more secure America.
In 2003, CAIR participated in a joint news conference with the FBI in Florida to urge the public to come forward with information about a terror suspect. In 2005, CAIR coordinated the release of a fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, that stated in part: ‘All acts of terrorism targeting civilians are haram (forbidden) in Islam. . .It is haram for a Muslim to cooperate with any individual or group that is involved in any act of terrorism or violence. . .It is the civic and religious duty of Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement authorities to protect the lives of all civilians.’
By promoting stereotypes and unwarranted suspicions, the report’s authors encourage marginalization of and hostility toward the American Muslim community.






Link


E-mail this