Former U.S. Army Capt. Michael Breen, executive director for the Center for National Policy and the Truman National Security Project, was quoted in Stars and Stripes recently recommending the reapplication of policies that have been tried and failed again and again in the decade and a half since 9/11.
Breen said: “Travel bans are not going to keep us safe, cracking down on civil liberties are not going to keep us safe….Having fundamentally strong community institutions and strong partnerships between security officials and leaders in our community will.”
This is a comforting vision, but Breen has no evidence to back it up. In reality, one of the proposals that he said we do not need is exactly what we do need. No one is suggesting any crackdown on civil liberties, and Breen and others do no good by falsely claiming that President Trump is proposing such a thing.
But travel bans from jihadi hot spots, as mired in the courts as they are, are urgently needed.
It is an acknowledged fact that since we have refused to secure our borders, we have facilitated the transit and infiltration of al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists and narco-terrorists who are now living illegally in the United States. Unfettered immigration with open borders has allowed for seeding Islamic jihadists among the Muslim immigrants who have settled throughout the country.
This is a serious national security issue, and there is one critical incident that shows simultaneously the terrorism risks involved in this unrestricted immigration, as well as the abject failure of “having fundamentally strong community institutions and strong partnerships between security officials and leaders in our community” as a deterrent to jihad terror attacks. This quintessential example of this failure is the Boston Marathon bombing.
In June 2013, two months after two immigrants exploded two bombs at the Boston Marathon, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) confronted then-FBI director Robert Mueller about what the FBI had done to investigate and monitor the Islamic Society of Boston, which both bombers attended. Gohmert noted that “the FBI never canvassed Boston mosques until four days after the April 15th attacks.” He pointed out numerous reasons why the FBI had reason to be concerned about the Boston Marathon bombers before their attack, as well as about the mosque they attended.
In the course of a heated exchange, Mueller inadvertently revealed the fatal weakness in the recommendations just offered in Stars and Stripes by Michael Breen. He told Gohmert: “We went to the mosque. Prior to Boston. Prior to Boston happening, we were in that mosque talking to imams several months beforehand as part of our outreach efforts.”
As part of our outreach efforts. Before the Boston Marathon bombing, the FBI had not investigated the Islamic Society of Boston, despite the many terrorists who have worshiped there. The mosque’s multiple ties to terrorists were well known not just to intelligence officials, but to the general public: right after the bombing, USA Today reported that “The mosque attended by the two brothers accused in the Boston Marathon double bombing has been associated with other terrorism suspects, has invited radical speakers to a sister mosque in Boston and is affiliated with a Muslim group that critics say nurses grievances that can lead to extremism.”
Despite this, the FBI had sent agents to the mosque only “as part of our outreach efforts.” The FBI was reaching out to this mosque in order to try to ensure that in Boston there were “strong community institutions and strong partnerships between security officials and leaders in our community.”
Clearly, it didn’t work. Nor has it worked elsewhere in the country. In January 2016, a Muslim named Abdul Shaheed (formerly known as Edward Archer) shot Philadelphia police officer Jesse Hartnett at close range. He turned out to be a regular member of Philadelphia’s Masjid Mujahideen. Ibrahim Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, who attempted a jihad terror attack at the Muhammad Cartoon Contest in Garland, Texas in May 2015, were members in good standing of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix.
The FBI conducts outreach to mosques in Philadelphia and Phoenix as well as in Boston. These incidents establish that outreach, contrary to Breen’s claim, is not enough. In contrast, cutting off immigration from hotbeds of jihad terror is one of the key elements of a genuine solution to the problem of terrorism.
The President of the United States has the responsibility to take the necessary steps to stop threats to the security of this great country. Failure to do so would be a dereliction of duty.
Admiral James A. “Ace” Lyons, USN (ret) is the former commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and senior U.S. military representative to the United Nations.
mortimer says
Thank Admiral Lyons.
I have personally found that military officers who had anything to do with the so-called ‘war against terror’ have responsibly taken the advice of Sun Tzu to heart and have conscientiously studied today’s enemy of the West… jihadist Islam. They have read the Islamic primary source texts without being told to do so and they have read other books by Muslim authors that clearly lay out the plans and thinking that jihadists read as their textbooks.
Military officers who speak the truth about the central importance of jihad in Islam are punished for doing so. I hope this will swiftly change under President Trump.
Military officers are among the BEST INFORMED Western people about the jihad doctrine.
Our politicians would do well to ask MILITARY OFFICERS to develop a new curriculum to explain the jihad doctrine in detail to all military members.
Laura says
Unfortunately, I believe McMaster has not taken that to heart. Thank God Mattis has! Flynn knew it well, also, but…
Mark Swan says
For anyone wanting to read more of Admiral James A. Lyons’ writing:
https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/author/imp_admjamesace_lyonsret/
Terry Gain says
No. They should ask the foremost experts: Spencer, Wood and Warner.
john spielman says
to Michael Breen; the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results- Albert Einstein
we must restrict entry to the country, monitor all mosques with hidden video/ listening devises, embrace PROFILING individuals and groups considered at high risk for violent attacks, and have open frank discussion on line, in print, and TV /radio about islam and its propensity to violence and educate the public sheeples that we are all at risk from islamic violence because they hate us for who we are, for our life styles and what we believe or don’t believe!
Michael Copeland says
Special instruction to all shepherds of the sheeple:
“Wake the flock up.”
b.a. freeman says
we should also immediately deport all non-citizen muslims, allow in muslims from other countries only after intense background checks (that they pass), and watch such visitors closely. the FBI and other domestic police agencies should watch the muslim-american community in the same fashion they watch the siciian- and italian-american communities, not because of a presumption of guilt in either case, but because, in the case of muslims, of wide-spread muslim “piety” (a devout and pious muslim would be very comfortable in IS-controlled territory). because a devout muslim is by definition *not* a loyal citizen, muslim americans proven in court to be pious should be stripped of their citizenship and deported. in the same vein, imams proven in court to be pious muslims should be stripped of their citizenship and deported. any imams who have attended muslim “universities” like al azhar in cairo or other such centers of muslim filth cannot graduate from such institutions without being pious muslims, so any imam proven to have had such an “education” should be stripped of his citizenship and deported.
of course, i don’t expect any such measures to be enacted, because most of those “leading” us are, as i once was, blind, lazy fools who won’t bother to learn about islam, stupidly assuming that it is just another religion. those leaders who don’t fall into that category are almost without exception dedicated hard-core leftists who intend to seize the reins of power and don’t care if millions will die because of their efforts. anybody who just speaks the truth about islam publicly is immediately vilified, and is almost never allowed to stay in a position of responsibility. freedom is dying, and even if civilization survives the onslaught of islam, millions will almost certainly die in coming civil wars in the non-muslim world and wars of islamic aggression. as one not trained in combat or in survival of a nuclear burst, i expect to be among the dead future victims of islam and the left, but i will not go down without a fight.
utis says
You and Einstein are absolutely right. The imams especially should be investigated: I bet they are not just preaching about brotherly love and coughing up a larger donation for furnace repair. They are haranguing and indoctrinating the grandchildren of the old immigrant families and of the new families, who come here knowing no English and even less about good manners in the adoptive country.
b.a. freeman says
it’s *much* worse than bad manners or ignorance of local customs; islam is the world’s largest gang. they make ms-13, the mafia, nazi germany, and soviet russia look like rookies. it goes down into family life, where love is virtually non-existent in pious families, and is present only to the extent that family religious life has been contaminated by non-muslim influences. muhammed created a religion that attacted (and still attract) those practicing the most vile crimes imaginable, because he needed grunts who would be willing to die for him. the result is the pirate cult of islam, the religion of lying, stealing, raping, murdering monsters.
Al says
It must be understood that there is an archetype of persons who are impossible to reason with. That archetype is the religious zealot, particularly those who kill in the name of God.
Terry Gain says
It is annoying that you lump in pious people of rational faiths with effing Musllims.
PRCS says
He did say, “religious zealot, particularly those who kill in the name of God”
Annoying, IMO, to lump piety and zealotry together, eh?
b.a. freeman says
perhaps. it’s easy to find instances of large groups of one religious persuasion or another, including my own, chrisrianity, who rioted and killed those whom they hated, or who controlled the State and officially hunted down and killed those whom they hated, all in the name of their god. the trick is to look at the religion itself to see what *it* commands.
i would be interested to see a llst of religions and their directives about unbelievers. especially as a born-again christian, i would like to see where Jesus commanded His followers to kill non-christians. i suspect that many other major religions command behavior similar to christianity. islam, OTOH, *commands* its adherents to kill unbelievers. this is not just a bunch of people misunderstanding their own religion; rather, they understand it *very* will and are zealously carrying out its commands.
don’t take my word for it; check for yourself; “islam 101,” found on the line of tabs across the top of this site, is a very good place to start. theReligionOfPeace dot com also desribes islam very well. wikiIslam dot net is an excellent reference. keep in mind that muslims are allowed to lie to protect the “faith,” so asking an imam won’t help much, unless U go to the trouble to become a muslim in order to see what new believers are taught (wouldn’t recommend that, unless U carry a concealed weapon and practice with it every day, and in addition, are trained in police surveillance).
finally, throwing rocks because groups of religous people kill other groups of people doesn’t help; that’s just xenophobia, which is a natural survival response for humans which we must overcome in order to become and remain civilized. everybody fails at things, so pointing out failures doesn’t throw light on what is happening; spend time learning about islam, if only in an attempt to prove idiots like me wrong.
Shan says
The fbi outreach to muslim community includes facilitating the jihadi to murder Robert Spencer and others attending the “Draw mohammed Cartoon Contest” event in Texas.That was the fbi’s outstanding achievement in community outreach to followers of islam.
PRCS says
Draw Muhammad.
Didn’t have to be a cartoon.
billdeserthills says
Let’s not forget the FBI’s cooperation with Omar Mateen and the Boston Bombers, both
events were reported to the FBI before they had taken place
Phil Copson says
These people would have had respect for the FBI – right up until the moment they met.
“Outreach projects” simply incubate contempt.
Benedict says
Anywhere and everywhere the Qur’an is read and studied with reverence as the word of Allah – all mosques evidently included – terror, murder and mayhem will be the result.
eduardo odraude says
Either that, or the social system, in proportion to the degree Islam is followed, will be totalitarian. Saudi Arabia is not all mayhem — but it is one of the most totalitarian states on earth.
Benedict says
Yes, you are right. I was thinking about “Dar al-Harb.”
eduardo odraude says
One thing that is a bit shocking is how ignorant many Western Muslims are of the contents of the Qur’an and canonical hadiths. I was listening to a radio interview between Tommy Robinson and a British Muslim. Tommy mentioned the earliest Muslim biography of Muhammad by Ibn Ishaq, and the book’s description of how Muhammad ordered a man tortured to get the man to reveal where some gold was — also how Muhammad had hundreds of disarmed captive men beheaded. The Muslim who called in was clearly clueless — had apparently never heard of Ibn Ishaq or the earliest Muslim biography. He was not engaging in taqiyaa or disinformation — he was clearly surprised and a bit like a deer in the headlights. David Wood, one of the most brilliant Islam critics mankind has ever produced, confirms this impression: many Muslims, at least in the West, are quite ignorant of what Islam teaches. But the leadership, the imams, they all know, or most of them know. I think a minority of imams follow a liberal, non-totalitarian, anti-sharia interpretation of Islam. Most of the imams are enemies of freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, equality for women — but are “discreet” about their beliefs in the West, where Muslims are a minority.
PRCS says
The average Ahmed’s personal ignorance of Islam’s plethora of commentaries, fatwas and various “religious” edicts aside, if Muslim clerics are teaching the Islam of Qur’an and Sunnah in Western mosques, I believe their flocks do know–generally–what Islam teaches.
Hard to imagine those clerics don’t preach–if only discreetly–those of Islam’s supremacist, hateful teachings to the flock.
Though, I do wonder if the breast feeding fatwa is ever addressed.
Undaunted says
So many things went wrong at Boston.
State and city officials pandered to Muslims in order to stay in office. Boston PD didn’t protect the Finish Line, the most vulnerable spot on the raceway, though they did manage to secure a small section there for government VIP’s. BPD did not have sufficient undercover personnel in the crowds near the Finish Line to look for the obvious: two guys put down backpacks and then walk away. Rather, BPD put a shitload of uniformed – including bright lime-green “safety” vests – officers in the raceway in order to keep the crowds there on the sidewalk. When the devices exploded, all the cops in the street did a sort of “What the fuck just happened” dance, which depicted their training. Once the bombs went BOOM, BPD officers did not respond properly and position themselves to identify and engage – if needed – additional shooters embedded in the crowd. Instead, PBD became doctors and escorts of doctors, and fence-movers, and bag-picker-uppers, and… oh, shit; they fucked up big-time. Once The Brothers went mobile, rather than have all their guys looking for the bombers, BPD fucked up by sending heavily armed officers to deliver milk to the local populace. At the numerous press conferences staged after the bombing, government officials, including the Massachusetts State Police Superintendent, were surrounded by rings and rings of armed police officers; clearly showing whose protection was most important. At the shootout in Watertown in which the elder Tsarneav got croaked, BPD and WPD let the younger brother escape because they were more worried about one of their own being wounded – Officer Richard Donohue – than they were about protecting the innocent and unarmed public from a terrorist who had bombed a raceway and shot an MIT police “hero” in the fucking head.
Too many pussies, not enough dick.
And Boston was and is about as prepared then – and now – as where you live.
PRCS says
When you consider the prevalence of “sanctuary cities” around the country–with the relevant PDs at least feigned support of them–and their seeming eagerness to investigate every hijab pulling “hate crime”, your post’s last line is especially noteworthy.
And couple that with the involvement of vote pandering politicians to always declare “this isn’t us” whenever Muslims have been offended.
Ex: the Indianapolis billboard.
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/06/indiana-muslims-enraged-by-billboard-telling-truth-about-muhammad
Dave says
Michele McPhee in her book Maximum Harm identified Boston jihadi Tamerlane Tsarnaev as an FBI informer. The FBIs mishandling of Tsarnaev contributed to the bombers success both prior to and after the bombing. Failure to understand and acknowledge the enemies this country faces is a fundamental flaw committed by both the military and the police.
wtd says
Since this is the most recent Tsarnaev thread, I thought this update was best posted here…since you mentioned McPhee’s book (also mentioned in video clip linked below)
FWIW….Last night on YouTube’s CrowdsourcetheTruth channel, George Webb, Jason Goodman & Trish Pagon interviewed Pat Miletich & Jeffrey Wilson of “Conspiracy Farm”. The Tsarnaev brothers (Boston bombing) were mentioned with details that were new to me…link to video preset to begin w/discussion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gr1-Enx0KQ&t=29m48s
I transcribed the related discussion but it’s too long for a comment. Rather – here are the main points with links to verify details…
The Tsarnaev brothers were linked to the FBI as informants. Also linked because
http://i.imgur.com/9ImOEmE.png
Tsarnaev brothers were also linked to the gruesome murder of three Boston MMA (Mixed Martial Artists) identified as Brendan Mess, Erik Weissman and Raphael Teken (Raffi).
In prior msm reports these men were described as drug dealers falling victim to a deal gone bac because they were discovered with pot strewn on their carcasses as well as with $5Gs in the apt. Wiki: 2011 Waltham triple murder
At the time several bloggers picked up on the detail that all three victims were Jewish. Brenden Mess was allegedly Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s best friend.
Media reports on the condition which these victims were found indicated they were each nearly beheaded. What the media did not reveal – according Pat Miletich, was:
Earlier in the interview, Pat also mentioned:
davej says
“Outreach”
Hahahahahahaha
You might want to watch your outreaching hand, and your neck.
vlparker says
While a travel ban from jihadi hotspots is a step in the right direction, it is not nearly enough. The only thing that will keep the US safe is to declare islam a seditious ideology and ban it, deport all muslims who are not US citizens and close all mosques.
Sheikh Ali says
Today many educated Muslims want to leave Islam but are afraid that they will be killed by their fellow religionists. Hence the Muslims must be first shown a safe path so that they renounce Islam but does not arouse suspicion among their fellow Muslims. See http://sanatanadharmatheuniversalreligion.blogspot.in/
PRCS says
I disagree with the travel ban.
If an individual cannot be vetted–in accordance with regulations–that should be the end of the story.
If the regulations prevent a full and complete vetting (think Tashfeen Malik) then the regulations–and the questions–need to be changed to accommodate that.
I rather imagine the blunders which allowed the entry of Malik–and her ilk–into the country have been just allowed to continue while awaiting the implementation of a 120 day travel ban from just six countries.
Denis MacLellan says
The only way to control this mosque related terrorism is to start booting the imams of every mosque that a terrorist attended out of the country. WHY? For preaching jihadist theology, which is said in the prayers every day in the mosque, And its not the phony jihad they call “personal internal strife’ but the terrorist jihad teachings of the koran which tell all Muslim’s to go out and wage war, and kill kafirs, “smote them on the neck’ until they come to Allah and the koran, The source of all terrorism is the mosques and the teachings by these radical imams (and they are ALL radicals, even if they offer platitudes that terrorism is not the way of Islam) . These Imams preach terror jihad and if you are killed you will be a martyr and go to heaven and get 72 virgins. Boot these Imams out of the country.
Denny Lee Penticoff says
Eighty percent of the thousands of mosques constructed in America were built with money from Saudi Arabia. Do you think the Saudis place secular-oriented Imams in these mosques?
The vile rhetoric that flows weekly from American mosques is well-known to law enforcement officials. Their hands are tied by PC politicians and further setback by eight years under Obama’s pro-Islam policies.
Until Islam loses its protection as a protected religion and officially declared to be a subversive political ideology, Islam will steadily advance in the USA through stealth jihad tactics and sporadic terrorism.
Too many elements in America combine to make any effort to stop Islamization almost impossible. The result is that the Islamists and their enablers, whether consciously or not, are winning the clash of civilizations in much the same way that they overwhelmed the non-Muslim communities of the Middle East, Levant, North Africa, Central Asia and Indonesia during the past 1400 years.
By the failure to confront a foreseeable problem now in he USA, a massive war will be fought in the future on our own soil. The outcome of that war is unpredictable.
abad says
There is simply NO reason for Moslems from other nations to come to the United States of America.
NONE.
They have a problem with our values and way of life and Islam can NEVER reconcile with our values and way of life.
In short.
Moslems need to make a concerted effort to stay in their own Middle Eastern nations and stay far away from the United States of America.
SAM says
Why can’t these “experts” read the “holy’ Koran.
My prediction is Civil war in US will get bloody soon.
Jeff says
More people need to join the “March Against Sharia.” This country needs to wake up. Being politically correct will not save us.