Hamidou Laanigri
New signs of increased activity from an emerging jihadist base in Morocco — leading to frustration with Europe's lax anti-terror laws. From the New York Times, with thanks to Nicolei:
Morocco has been among the West's closest Arab allies and has long been instrumental in pursuing Arab-Israeli reconciliation. Although Moroccan and European officials now agree that there is a new Moroccan threat, they disagree over its nature and origin — and how to contain it.One problem is simply identifying major Moroccan terrorists. Two months after the Madrid train bombings, Spanish investigators believe that its mastermind may still be at large.
The French and Belgian police successfully dismantled Moroccan cells in their countries after the Madrid attacks, but they are convinced that other cells may have burrowed further underground.
Moroccan terrorists, intelligence and police experts say, know how to blend in.
"There are cells in which the Moroccans are well integrated into the population," Pierre de Bousquet, the head of the Directorate for Territorial Surveillance, France's counterintelligence service, said in an interview. "So they do not seem suspicious. They work. They have kids. They have fixed addresses. They pay the rent. The networks are dispersed throughout Europe and are very autonomous."
In addition to uneven cooperation among law enforcement and intelligence agencies within Europe, there is the problem of tensions that have surfaced between European and Moroccan officials.
Although the two sides are working together to investigate the Madrid bombings, the Moroccans have complained that their pleas for help after the Casablanca attacks were largely ignored until terrorists struck the heart of Europe.
They also have expressed frustration that laws in many European countries are not tough enough.
In April a court in Hamburg, Germany, allowed a Moroccan who was the only person convicted in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States to leave prison pending a new trial.
Three weeks later a court in Rome acquitted 12 people, including 9 Moroccans, who were arrested in 2002 and accused of being associated with a terrorist organization.
"The Madrid bombings finally have forced the Europeans to make their investigations more serious and their cooperation quicker and more operational," Gen. Hamidou Laanigri, Morocco's chief of security, said in an interview. "But we are victims of laws and guarantees that protect the rights of individuals at the expense of cracking down against organized crime."
Intelligence and law-enforcement officials in Spain, France and Belgium say that their Moroccan colleagues have refused to face the fact that Moroccans have banded into autonomous terror cells that can carry out attacks without outside organization, logistical support or money.
All Muslims are "sleeper cells," potentially. Robert Spencer makes that point clearly in his two books. This is what makes Muslims so untrustworthy, anywhere on the globe.
In fact, Muslims can be divided into two, unequal groups. The clearest group are the "consistent Muslims." These are the Wahhabists and Khomeinists. Jihad in the Berg style characterizes this group. Islam provides the philosophical base for their raison d'etre, and it provides the vital moral sanction which tells them that their activities are RIGHT as well as HOLY. Humans, wherever found, need to feel right about themselves and their actions, and Islam fills that requirement. Prior to that, Islam did what all religions do and took over their minds in very early childhood, shutting off independent thinking and replacing it with dominant Arab-Islamic emotionality. That emotionality. which we all have seen repetitively, is chronic rage. Not only is that rage culturally condoned, but it becomes inevitable when people's human lives and capacities grow up deformed. Islam is totally unsuited to successful life for homo sapiens, but it does make good Jihadis.
The second group of Muslims can be called the "inconsistent Muslims." Some want to live and let live. Others have performed their own versions of Islamic Reformation by ignoring the bad parts and practicing the good parts of Islam, as they see these parts; it is a necessary hypocrisy for all religions. Nevertheless, the consistent Muslims, call inconsistent Muslims "bad Muslims," and castigate them as being as evil as infidels, and subject to beheading and the like. Unfortunately, many, many other inconsistent Muslims support the consistent Muslims, at least in spirit, if not materially. They take their identity as Muslim regardless of country they immigrate to. Few assimilate. Mentally, Islam has deformed them into passive multitudes, allegiant to Islam first. Few stand up for the values of adopted countries, even as those in America have not since 9-11. Among these Muslims are "sleepers." Muslims in these free countries will not step forward to be counted as supporters of the values of liberty. Because of their inaction, they must be considered fellow travellers and dangerous. They complain about this, but they are getting what they deserve as long as they refuse to stand up and be counted. In the event of another 9-11 on American soil, I fear that these Muslims might face extinction.
Muslim emigration must be a politically correct hot potato. Officialdoms of sundry Western countries seldom speak of it. Meanwhile, Muslims breed like rabbits and are invading every country. Some might be decent people, but who is to know? They do everything they can to obscure themselves. Meanwhile, they move in, overpopulate, and lie in wait--at least enough do.
Anyone cognizant of current events and even modestly self-educated about Islam, should not be surprised about Morocco or any other Islamic state being identified with Jihadism. The surprise would lie in the absence of Jihadism there.
We must consider the problem of the fifth columnist Muslims within our own borders, waiting for orders. Would only the better Muslims in America step forward to help identify the good and innocent along with the bad and evil.
I was struck by the statement in the above article, "Moroccan terrorists,... know how to blend in".
and,
"There are cells in which the Moroccans are well integrated into the population,...So they do not seem suspicious. They work. They have kids. They have fixed addresses. They pay the rent. The networks are dispersed throughout Europe and are very autonomous."
This is what I fear emerging suddenly here in the US: people who seem so normal, so peaceful, people of any one of several nationalities, including American, suddenly committing terrorist acts. Are we ready for that or will we be shocked and in disaray? And,when these horrors begin, how should frightened citizens be expected to behave toward Muslims in general?
Even though I have never been personally bitten by a pit bull, I have read enough reports about those who have been mauled and killed by them, that I instinctively give any dog of that breed a wide berth. Even when their owners assure me that their beloved pet has never and WOULD never do any thing to hurt anyone, I will never trust a pit bull again.
How will instinct come into play when people here have been blown to bits at the bus stop and the guilty prove to be Muslim? We need to be advised on how to deal with those instincts before horrendous events calls them into being. It's easy to say, 'innocent until proven guilty' as long as the 'proof' doesn't mean your life has been taken. Easy to say Islam is a peaceful religion until Islamists murder someone on camera. Easy to say, don't blame every Muslim for what a 'few' are doing - but what is one to do 'in reality' with the fear and the anger?
But as usual, we will wait until the crisis occurs to even talk about this uncomfortable situation, and as the articles states:
"The Madrid bombings finally have forced the Europeans to make their investigations more serious... But we are victims of laws and guarantees that protect the rights of individuals at the expense of cracking down against organized crime." And organized Islamism.