I'm not surprised. When 9/11 occurred, and everyone was very keyed in to how terrorists might strike, it seemed to me obvious that they might use European types, since these people could get in where needed under the radar. I am only surprised that it has taken so long for these stories and facts to circulate openly.

Posted by: HaMalach at April 5, 2006 3:35 AM

And there are plenty of European types, even discounting converts, in places such as Bosnia, Albania, Turkey (plenty of pale-skinned blond Turks) and the Caucasus. Conversely, large numbers of Arabs and other Middle Easterners are not Muslim. Profiling must be by religion, not by race.

Posted by: Paolo at April 5, 2006 3:41 AM

Paolo:

Profiling must be by religion

It can't be by that criterion in many circumstances, because that simply isn't known.

Customs officers and so forth will be profiling based on many criteria, such as how people behave:

... he looked suspicious. He was fidgeting, sweaty, and jittery. He avoided eye contact.

There is a lot here on profiling:

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/07/profiling.html

Posted by: Yojimbo at April 5, 2006 4:30 AM

Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered because he was attempting to arrange a meeting with Sheikh Gilani in Pakistan. Gilani is the godfather of Jamiat al-Fuqra, which is composed primarily of American blacks, and has a long and colorful history of crime. There's plenty on the web about this bunch, and I'm sure plenty more in FBI dossiers.

Posted by: longtime lurker at April 5, 2006 7:08 AM

I’m glad they broke this up but most of us suspect there are many more wannabee jihadists out there. I wonder how many routine crimes are not routine at all but islamianutjobs practicing or earning money to further their goals.

Posted by: Ronin at April 5, 2006 7:13 AM

Not only do you have religious turncoats but you have the "political" ones who are simply pseudoanarchists with absolutely no idea of Islam's true and rigid nature but who are attracted by its chaos potential; the criminal sorts who see it as an excellent way of assuaging any guilt factor over their behaviour and of providing a longterm goal to it and the simply greedy ones whom the KGB have been milking for years. The percentage of lord Hawhaws in the general population would be low but sufficient to always be a problem.

Posted by: Zathras at April 5, 2006 7:42 AM

Nope, nothing suprises me anymore. Idiots and traitors abound. Remember this one?

Muslims in Texas

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9184353144432289069

Posted by: Foehammer at April 5, 2006 8:03 AM

Ignorance is bliss.

http://www.turntoislam.com/

Posted by: Foehammer at April 5, 2006 8:10 AM

Anyone find anything outrageous/false about the statements in this blurb?:

People who have become Muslim in Texas share their stories. Interview includes ex-Christian and ex-Atheist Muslim Reverts. There are 400,000 Muslims in Texas alone and Islam is the fastest growing religion in the USA. Since 9/11 there have been more converts to Islam than ever.

Posted by: Foehammer at April 5, 2006 8:12 AM

I'll give you a hint:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=revert

Main Entry: re·vert
Pronunciation: ri-'v&rt
Function: intransitive verb
1 : to come or go back (as to a former status or state)
2 : to return to the grantor or his or her heirs as a reversion —re·vert·ible /-'v&r-t&-b&l/ adjective

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What they meant to say:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=convert

convert

n : a person who has been converted to another religious or political belief v 1: change the nature, purpose, or function of something; "convert lead into gold"; "convert hotels into jails"; "convert slaves to laborers" 2: change from one system to another or to a new plan or policy; "We converted from 220 to 110 Volt" [syn: change over] 3: change religious beliefs, or adopt a religious belief; "She converted to Buddhism" 4: exchange or replace with another, usually of the same kind or category; "Could you convert my dollars into pounds?"; "He changed his name"; "convert centimeters into inches"; "convert holdings into shares" [syn: change, exchange, commute] 5: cause to adopt a new or different faith; "The missionaries converted the Indian population" 6: score an extra point or points after touchdown by kicking the ball through the uprights or advancing the ball into the endzone; "Smith converted and his team won" 7: complete successfully; "score a penalty shot or free throw" 8: score (a spare) 9: make (someone) agree, understand, or realize the truth or validity of something; "He had finally convinced several customers of the advantages of his product" [syn: win over, convince] 10: exchange a penalty for a less severe one [syn: commute, exchange] 11: change in nature, purpose, or function; especially undergo a chemical change; "The substance converts to an acid"

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My advice to Muslim proselytizers: learn to master the English language before you seek more converts here in the USA. It might make your lies more believable.

Foehammer

PS http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=proselytizer

Posted by: Foehammer at April 5, 2006 8:20 AM

The D.C. snipers seem to have had a connection to JF. Now that John Allen Muhammad will be conducting his own defense, perhaps the true motivation of the snipers will get some mention--jihad!

This site (not my site) has more information about JF. See their left sidebar.

Posted by: WatchfulEye at April 5, 2006 8:27 AM

As long as I'm on the topic of cells right here in the United States, maybe some will be interested in this.

Posted by: WatchfulEye at April 5, 2006 8:33 AM

Wanted to respond to a couple of the comments for clarification -

To the first two commenters, when I mentioned the two operatives were "Caucasian", I didn't mean European. They were actually white Americans.

To Ronin, yes this particular cell was broken up and the compound raided, but the organization continues to maintain a large network the US and several other countries with a support base of several thousand members and a couple dozen compounds and safe houses dotted around the countryside.

As for routine crimes being linked to "jihad", this group is a prime example. Fuqra was one of the first jihadi groups in the US and have largely been ignored by the media because, pre-9/11, most of their activities were just considered "criminal". Assassinations and firebombings didn't register as "spectacular" terrorist events. However, their leadership has links to al-Qaida and members were actually convicted in the '93 WTC attack.

Posted by: CP at April 5, 2006 9:39 AM

Foehammer,

You are right about the definitions of "revert" versus "convert". However, Islamists use the word "revert" deliberately. According to them, all people are born in a state of Islam (submission to God).

When we become adults, they claim, we commit sins against the laws of Allah, and this destroys the "natural condition of Islam", in which we supposedly come into the world.

Islamists proselytize, using the words "revert" and "reversion", to make it (Islam) appetizing to the potential convert. He / she is given the impression that they are returning to something.

Good psych-out, for those dumb enough to believe it...

Posted by: Abscedere at April 5, 2006 10:34 AM

Abscedere:

Yes, I was waiting for someone to bring that fact up. But, I have chosen to ignore yet another Islamist lie and instead wanted to clarify for any of the few Muslims that might read here that such provocative and illiterate usage of the English language does not work on the educated Westerner. It only serves to clue us into the true nature of the cult that is Islam.

You are doubly right though that it is a good tactic to use on the ignorant, the stupid and the weak-willed. Luckily, there are plenty of the strong-minded, stubborn and literate Westerners to go around. We should have no real trouble curtailing such silly tactics. A good start would be passing laws to keep the Muslims from recruiting out of our prisons. But, of course, that will never happen without an actual sweeping reform of Islam throughtout the United States.

Perhaps I should warn Islamists that by the nature of my Italian heritage, I might just revert to Roman conqueror? Or have I already?

Posted by: Foehammer at April 5, 2006 12:05 PM

Abscedere & foehammer-

I prefer the more accurate nomenclature: "pervert".

Posted by: profitsbeard at April 5, 2006 7:38 PM

I can't argue with that.

Posted by: Foehammer at April 5, 2006 8:02 PM

I'm shutting down my hog farm, getting a real estate license, and moving to northern Idaho. Now, that's leverage.

Posted by: Alarmed Pig Farmer at April 5, 2006 9:29 PM

CP:

Gee, in my attempt to be subtle, I was really misunderstood. Sorry about that. I deliberately didn't write "American", because Americans come in all colors, and have for quite a while. Also, I was referring to worldwide terrorism even though I used 9/11 as a turning point for American consciousness.

I wrote "European types", not "Europeans". So European was a code word for Caucasian (white) and I'm probably revealing my age but before the third world invasion of Europe, the overwhelming racial identification of Europeans was Caucasian. That's still how I think of Europe, even though many European citizens are from Asia and Africa.

Paolo got my drift. You didn't. I have to make myself more clear and thanks for misunderstanding so that I can clarify.

In other words, if Al Quaida operatives from Saudi Arabia were coming to the US to do a terrorist operation, what better cover than somebody of European Caucaisan extraction?

Yes, even though there are patches of Caucasian or Caucasian and blond Muslims in Eastern Europe as Paolo indicated, I was really referring to actual "European types" which is equivalent to "American whites". That is, a Caucasian and fair skinned European convert (like an American white) would be able to blend more easily, probably have simpler ID papers, would know language and cultural nuance, in short would be able to get away with a lot more potentially before being caught.

I had assumed Al Fuqra was composed of Middle Eastern immigrants or those of Middle Eastern extraction.

From the point of view of any infiltration agent, a native-born person who "fits in" is valuable.

I hope this is clear now.

I also want to point out that "Edward Solomon Katz", Flinton's Jewish alias, is a little strange. Generally, if Jews want to stay away from (anglicize)Hebrew names, they will do so with both first and middle names. Here, Edward is a very Anglo-Saxon name. Solomon is a very Hebrew name. They don't exactly go together. Okay, I know that some Jews mix names. However, this name would have raised a red flag with me.

Posted by: HaMalach at April 5, 2006 10:24 PM

It is telling how much of this country ignores religious extremism. Also, does not look beyond an act to motivation. Or possibly assumes violence is its own motivation, which is a very American attitude. Al Fuqra, composed primarily of black Americans, and a few white ones. Headquartered in the Catskills. Wow. I wonder what the police thought these armed compunds contained. I wonder why one of these men only served four years of a 20-year sentence. Ugh.

Posted by: HaMalach at April 6, 2006 2:50 AM