The hydra grows new heads: 81 front organizations in 6 countries. "Banned Islamists spawn front organisations," from the Guardian, with thanks to JE:
A British Islamist group which is to be outlawed under new anti-terror laws has already formed scores of front organisations in an attempt to ensure its survival, according to investigators in New York.Al-Ghurabaa, formed by Omar Bakri Mohammed before he fled to Lebanon in the wake of the 7/7 bombings, heads the list of four organisations which are to be proscribed under legislation which prohibits the glorification of terrorism.
However, an investigation by police in New York - where al-Ghurabaa raised funds and recruited members under another name - alleges that it has formed 81 front organisations, support groups and affiliates in six different countries. The overwhelming majority are based in London, the home counties, the Midlands, Lancashire and West Yorkshire.
A counter-terrorism unit of the New York police department (NYPD), established after the attacks of September 11 to monitor Islamist organisations, says al-Ghurabaa's predecessor, al-Muhajiroun, had spawned all of the connected organisations by the time John Reid, the home secretary, moved to proscribe al-Ghurabaa on Monday.
In addition, a number of groups of Muslim professionals in the UK are alleged to be front organisations. A report by the unit names publishing companies and student bodies, a software company, and Islamic societies in 21 British towns and cities.
By monitoring Islamist websites and the Arabic and Pakistani press, as well as the organisation's own pronouncements, the NYPD unit says it has identified a number of groups in the US, Canada, Pakistan and Portugal as front organisations, as well as affiliates in Algeria....
Al-Ghurabaa, which is Arabic for the Strangers, was formed after Bakri announced he was "disbanding" its predecessor, al-Muhajiroun, in October 2004, apparently believing that it was about to be outlawed. Earlier this year the Guardian identified two groups which appeared to be essentially the same as al-Muhajiroun. They were al-Ghurabaa, and al-Firqat un-Naajiyah, or the Saved Sect, which is also to be banned. A Home Office spokesperson said: "Other groups may not be on the list now, but will be kept under review."...
Both al-Ghurabaa and al-Firqat un-Naajiyah stand accused of glorifying terrorism, a criminal offence since the act came into force last April. One of al-Ghurabaa's spokesmen has described the 7/7 suicide bombers as "completely praiseworthy".
Critically, al-Muhajiroun and its successor organisations are also suspected of acting as a "conveyor belt", encouraging young Britons to join terrorist organisations in the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent. Its supporters have killed more than a dozen people in suicide bomb attacks in Israel, on behalf of Hamas, and in Kashmir, for Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistani Islamist organisation.
This is exactly what they do in India. Names for their groups are superficial. They can take on any name, and still pursue jihad as outlayed by mohammad. They need the names sometimes for cash transfers from the middle east into their group's bank account. Other than this, names don't matter so far as the end objective of jehad is achieved. abdullah = nasrallah.
If this strategy is going to work, we need to work out which names they're likely to use in future, and make them illegal before they change their logo. This is bound to work, as it must be really annoying having to keep updating all their stationary and websites. Eventually, this extreme version of Islam will run out of ideas for new names, and just give up. Check mate.
Speaking of which, changing my nick to something less silly.
Animus
Banning groups is not the answer. Changing groups names and locations is not that difficult.
You have to get rid of the **people** who populate the organizations.
Instant deportation for anyone who is found to be a member will solve the problem much more effectively.
This article points out the real problem with Western thinking. We should not be so concerned with whether a person is a member of Al Qaeda or Hezbollah or Al Aqsa or The Islamic Boys Club. We should be concerned if the persons or organizations are devout Muslims who regularly attend the local mosque. That seems to be the real common thread among the terrorists.
"We should be concerned if the persons or organizations are devout Muslims who regularly attend the local mosque."
-- from a posting above
Mosque attendance, as Magdi Allam has pointed out, may be deceptive. All kinds of would-be practitioners of violent Jihad -- not the worst or most dangerous kind, but the kind that most people think of -- may deliberately avoid mosque attendance, as some of the Al Qaeda handbooks suggest.
Furthermore, what about those who never give any outward and visible sign of undue interest in Islam, but who have within themselves had certain views that long lay concealed, but that finally are revealed. And what about those who were "moderates" in the sense that they were lax in observance, perhaps drinking alcohol, eating pork, taking Christians and Jews as seeming friends, but who are set off on quite another course, unremarked by those friends, by suffering some setback in life as we all do, and deciding that the Infidels are to blame, and Islam, Islam, Islam is the Answer.
The mental grid, or prism, through which the world can be apprehended, of Islam uncompromisingly divides the world between Believer and Infidel. What more is needed to turn any Muslim into a convinced participant in Jihad, employing one of its many available instruments used to achieve the same goals?
treehugger is right. I'm guessing prevention i.e. deportation of all Muslims en mass - is out of the question.
A muslim is a muslim is a muslim, it doesn't matter where they go, they are instructed to kill infidels. When will our govenment, wake up to the muslim threat? So Dhimmi, no hope there. Like Texan says, be prepared, be armed, be ready.
Wow, they just changed names? Amazing!
Well, duh!
Succesfully preventing individuals from associating with groups or persons advocating jihad requires a one-strike-and-you're-out policy. All members of such organisations should be deported forthwith.