“They answer not to a particular leader but to an ideology. In short, they operate under the radar. And that makes their detection that much more difficult.”
That means, of course, that that ideology has to be confronted and combatted. American Muslim advocacy groups should do this energetically — or if they refuse, be shut down. The ideology that leads to terrorism and the idea of the Islamic subjugation of the U.S. should be made unwelcome here — and anyone who works to advance it made equally unwelcome.
Freedom of religion? Sure. Just not sedition. Freedom of speech? Sure. But again, not sedition.
“Suicide Bomb Scare,” from USNews, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
Soon after the September 11 terrorist attacks, officials at the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency began worrying that the next attack against the United States might involve the kind of deadly suicide bombings of malls, restaurants, or theaters that have been so widespread in Israel. So DARPA began a quiet collaboration with the Israeli government to use that country’s vast video databases of suicide bombers approaching targets to develop biometric face and gait recognition software, sensors, radar, and other technologies to detect and deter suicide bombers, a former military official familiar with the program told U.S. News.
In fact, since 9/11, hundreds of U.S. bomb technicians, police chiefs, police officers, and FBI, Secret Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) agents have made repeated trips to Israel to learn from their counterparts and their extensive experience in detecting and deterring Palestinian suicide bombers. The train bombings in Madrid and London during the past two years and the U.S. military’s daily bombardment from Iraqi insurgents’ homemade bombs have only heightened the sense of urgency. Last month’s arrests in Toronto and Paris of dozens of young Islamic men for allegedly plotting bombing attacks have raised the worry meter still further. Just a few days ago, FBI agents broke up what they described as a homegrown terrorist cell in Miami, arresting seven people for allegedly plotting attacks on the Sears Tower in Chicago and the FBI and other federal buildings in Miami.
In a speech delivered before the City Club of Cleveland a day after the arrests, FBI Director Robert Mueller said that pockets of “self-radicalized” jihadists represent the new face of global terrorism. “These extremists are self-recruited, self-trained, and self-executing,” said Mueller. “They answer not to a particular leader but to an ideology. In short, they operate under the radar. And that makes their detection that much more difficult.”