What should we do with suspected homegrown terrorists?
Islamic extremists have no appreciation
of freedom of speech because to them, it doesn’t exist. Albert Camus said, “A
free press can of course be good or bad but most certainly without freedom, it
will never be anything but bad.”
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall
include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and
ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.”
We must be free to deny the existence of God,
and to criticize the teachings of Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, and Buddha, as
reported in texts that millions of people regard as sacred. Without that
freedom, human progress will always run up against a roadblock of blasphemy.
Canada is a Westernized democratic nation and
yet it has in its Criminal Code a law that prohibits blasphemy. No one really
pays attention to that particular prohibition simply because no one in Canada
has been charged with blasphemy in the past eighty years. Recently, two
organizations have asked the Department of Justice to remove that law from the
Criminal Code.
It is readily understood by many that
scriptures are subjective and so to blame an entire community for a perceived
wrongdoing is obviously flawed. Despite the scriptures, our constitutions which
guarantees the freedoms of free press and speech are not flawed.
Surely the freedom of expression that is a
pillar of Western democracy is as sacred to Westerners as are the teachings of
the Prophet Muhammed is to pious Muslims.
The French publishing firm, Charlie Hebdo is a satiric magazine
known for its bravado in publishing scathing articles, especially on Islam. The
murder of ten members of that French publishing firm, in Paris, occurred on
January 7, 2015 at 10:20 in the morning by two male terrorists. Two police
officers were also shot and killed by those terrorists, the latter one being
fatally shot in the head while he lay wounded on a sidewalk.
There were three men involved in the murders.
One of them was an 18-year-old man who was the driver of the get-a-way cars. He
gave himself up. I don’t know his name. The
other two men were the shooters. They were brothers. They were; Said Kouachi,
34 and Sherif Kouachi, 32 (who also went by the name of Abu Issen). They were seen armed with AK-47s and pump-action shotguns. A further 12 people were injured, some
gravely, in what is the worst terrorist incident in France in the last 40
years.
As these home grown terrorists
were shooting their guns, they were screaming, “We will avenge the Prophet.”
and “Allahu Akbar.” (God is Great). There is no
doubt in my mind that they were acting in revenge for the Danish cartoons that
were published worldwide in 2008 depicting the Prophet Muhammad in an insulting
manner. But those cartoons were not drawn by any of the victims in the Paris
shootings. These men were killed because they were cartoonists and/or
journalists. French Interior
Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, however, said that Cherif Kouachi had been
described by fellow would-be jihadists at the time as “violently anti-Semitic.”
Murdering ten cartoonists and journalists over
an insult that occurred six years ago, just goes to show just how stupid
Islamic extremists can be. It is tragic
indeed that the controversy over the Danish cartoons has placed a chill on this
most necessary of art forms. The terrorists believe that because Charlie Hebdo courageously chose to
reprint those Danish cartoons, what the terrorists were doing was right because
in their holy book it says in part in verse 40; “And those who, when an
oppressive wrong is done to them, they take revenge.”
These
terrorists were acting on the premise that the Danish cartoonist and the
cartoonists with Charlie Hebdo did an oppressive wrong against the
Prophet Muhammad by making him
look like a fool in the cartoons and therefore, all cartoonists should be
killed. These pompous fools felt that Charlie Hebdo was a thorn in their sides
so they believed that they could
commit a righteous act as per verse 35 that says; So be not weak and ask not for peace (from the
enemies of Islam), while you are having the upper hand.” They certainly held the upper hand when they
came armed when they entered the building and shot unarmed innocent people.
The French President Francois Hollande had traveled to the
scene in Paris's 11th arrondissement (a major subdivision of an administrative
district in Paris) after what he called the “terrorist attack of the most
extreme barbarity.” He said it was the latest in a series of terrorist
incidents on French soil, and that the nation was in a state of shock. Actually
all of us are shocked by that event but I can’t say that we are all in a state
of shock. Many of us have become numbed to the shocking events that have taken
place in the recent past by the continuous murderous actions of terrorists.
Paris police said the gunmen
abandoned their car at the northern Porte de Patin and escaped but their escape
was temporary. They were identified as suspects after they told the owner of
the car they grabbed who they really were and the older brother's ID card was deliberately
left in the getaway car. That is a clear indication that they wanted to be
killed and remembered as martyrs.
They were finally located in a print shop in an industrial complex
in Dammartin-en-Goele (40 km northeast of Paris) where they had
previously let the owner walk away (he thought they were police officers). They
didn’t know that another worker was hiding from them while in the shop. The
police were waiting outside the print shop. Later the two shooters ran out of
the building towards the police and were immediately killed by the police. They
had finally achieved their final dream—dying as martyrs, just as they
previously said they wanted to do. One of the Kouachi brothers was quoted as
saying in the TV documentary. “It's written in the texts that it's good to die
as a martyr.”
These two French brothers were already known to U.S.
authorities and had been put on the American no-fly list, A U.S. official said that
the older brother, Said Kouachi, had travelled to Yemen. Though there is
conflicting information about what he did while in Yemen, U.S. and European
sources told Reuters he trained with al-Qaeda in that Arab Peninsula which is
one of the terrorist’s most active
affiliates. al-Qaeda's Yemen
branch released an audio statement on the attacks in France, after a member of
the group told the Associated Press they had “directed” the assault on Charlie Hebdo.
Soon after, the branch's senior cleric Sheikh
Harith al-Nadhari issued a recording on the group's Twitter feed commenting on
the “blessed raid on Paris.” He denounced the “filthy French” and called them “the
heads of infidelity who insult the prophets.” He praised the “hero mujahedeen”
who he said “taught them (the French people) a lesson and the limits of freedom
of speech." It was not immediately clear why al-Nadhari did not outright say
that the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was behind the attack.
Chérif , a former pizza deliveryman was
a member of the “Buttes-Chaumont network,” a group that reportedly sent men to
fight against U.S. forces in Iraq on behalf of al-Qaida. He had appeared in a 2005 French
TV documentary on Islamic extremism and in 2008, he was sentenced to three
years in prison for trying to join up with fighters to kill Iraqi soldiers in
Iraq but was released after serving only 18 months in prison.
While serving time, Le Monde reports that Chérif met Djamel Beghal, also
known as Abu Hamza, a radical preacher who became his mentor. Beghal was
serving a 10-year sentence for his role in a 2001 plan to bomb the U.S. embassy
in Paris. The sentence was certainly not
enough to deter this homegrown terrorist. In my opinion, both brothers and
Beghal should have been sentenced to life in prison. Said Kouachi previously
communicated with U.S. born Anwar Awlaki, who at that time had topped the CIA’s
most wanted list (later killed in a fatal American
drone attack in Yemen on September 30, 2011). Said Kouachi had gone to Yemen to
join the Al Qaeda where he received weapons training there. According to him,
after he returned to France, he said he was under instructions from the al-Qaeda
in Yemen to commit acts of terrorism in France which is exactly what he did.
What prompted these two killers to commit acts of terrorism?
It was a firebrand Muslim preacher that persuaded Cherif Kouachi to book a
flight to Syria to wage holy war. I don’t know if that Muslim preacher has been
arrested but if not, he should be arrested and tried for terrorism and
sentenced to life in prison. This penalty should apply to all Muslim preachers
who advocate terrorism in any manner whatsoever.
There was another terrorist in Paris who also committed an
act of terrorism around the same time the Kouachi brothers were committing
their terroristic acts. His name was Amedy Coulibaly, 32 (a black man) who was the gunman who died in a police assault in Paris on
January 9 after he took hostages at a kosher supermarket at 1:30 in the
afternoon in Porte Vincennes at the eastern edge of Paris. He also met Djamel Beghal, the
radical preacher who became his mentor while the latter was under house arrest.
Coulibaly
had a history of ties to crime and violence. He shot four of the people (Jews) in
the store to death as soon as he entered the kosher store in Paris. Did he do
it because they were trying to flee from the store? Police told the Associated Press that Coulibaly appeared
to know Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi. Sometime after the store was
surrounded by police, he ran down an aisle and towards the large glass window
where he could be seen by the police outside the store and was shot dead at
approximately 5:18 no doubt as per his wish to die as a martyr. He is also believed to have murdered a female
police officer and wounded another south of Paris on the morning of January 8,
2015 which was part of his terrorist plot.
What was his
motive? Apparently he told BMFTV, the
French affiliate of CNN that he was acting on behalf of ISIS and that his
shootings and those of the Kouachi brothers had been synchronized.
The four men were
all members of the same Paris jihadist cell that sent French fighters to Iraq a
decade ago. According to France's L'Obs, Coulibaly spent time with Cherif Kouachi when they were
both in prison in Fleury-Mérogis between 2005 and 2006.
Coulibaly was
sentenced in 2010 for his part in an effort to free Islamist militant, Smain
Ali Belkacem from jail. The two Kouachi brothers were
also named in connection to the effort, but not charged because of lack of evidence.
Details about
Coulibaly’s past are slowly emerging from French outlets. He was born in 1982
in the Paris suburb of Juvisy-sur-Orge. He grew up in Grigny south of Paris,
was the only boy in a family of 10 children. Since his late teens, he has been
convicted several times for robbery and at least one time for drug trafficking.
In a report prepared for a Paris court, a psychiatric expert found Coulibaly
had an “immature and psychopathic personality” and “poor powers of
introspection.” His sense of morality was apparently lacking and he had a wish
to be “all powerful.” I suppose when you have a gun in your hand and you are
facing unarmed people in a store, you are all powerful. He was previously
arrested and sent to prison for his involvement in a plan to free an Algerian
terrorist serving time for a 1995 subway bombing that killed eight people and
wounded 120. He had planned to wait for him after the bomber was released. Why
would the bomber be released?
In 2009, police
searched Coulibaly's apartment and found 240 rounds of ammunition that could be
used in Kalashnikov assault weapons. Now I can’t think of a better reason to
suspect that this man was a terrorist. After all, why would he have those
bullets in his possession?
Coulibaly’s wife was Hayat Boumeddien. They were married in an
Islamic wedding ceremony not recognized by France law. I think she is a Muslim
because she was previously photographed wearing a black abaya, (a robe-like dress, worn by
some women in parts of the Muslim world ) with her face
covered by a niqab veil. She was not in
France at the time of the shootings in the grocery store since she entered
Turkey on January 2 and is now believed to be in Syria. She is still wanted by
the police in France on suspicion n that she was with Coulibaly when he shot the
female police officer and wounded another that was part of the terror plot. It
is not likely she will be captured by the French police since she is in Syria
and no doubt for the purpose of joining the ISIS terrorists. Only militias and
Islamic zealots go to Syria nowadays. Female acolytes are very much prized by
terrorist organizations because of their abilities to hide explosives under
their garments and the Muslim culture of not touching women in Muslim
countries.
Homegrown terrorists are a real danger in society because it
is often difficult to determine who they are until they do something that brings
them to the attention of the authorities.
For example, consider the case of 23-year-old Mohamed Merah,
an Algerian Moslem. He was a member of a one-parent home, suffered from
psychiatric problems, and when he was young, he was a juvenile delinquent. In
2007, he was arrested for making a bomb in the Afghan city of Kandahar and
imprisoned. He escaped from the prison along with 400 Taliban insurgents. In
March of 2012, he went on a horrific shooting spree and killed seven persons,
including three children in the French cities of Montauban and Toulouse,
France. He did this in the name of al-Qaeda. He claimed that he acted in
revenge for France’s military involvement in Muslim lands. Was him living in a
one-family home, having psychiatric problems and being a juvenile delinquent
the main cause for his terroristic behavior? Not necessarily. Many people have
those problems and they don’t turn into terrorists.
It would appear that the Kouachi brothers were not that much
different than Mohamed Merah since their upbringing, their experiences with
immigration and struggle with unemployment was a common denominator.
The number of Muslims in France are approximately four
million. The vast majority of them come from Algeria and they are law-biding
citizens. But just as there are losers in every country, France has them also.
Persons of Muslim origin constitute the largest contingent of prisoner in the
jails in France— their ages being in the 18-24 year old range.
Major Nidal
Malik Hasan, 39 an Army psychiatrist facing deployment to Afghanistan gunned
down dozens of people on November
7, 2009 at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas. It was one of the worst mass
shootings ever on an American military base. 13 people were killed—12 soldiers
and one civilian. 28 were wounded in the rampage. Reports suggested Hasan may
have yelled something like "Allahu Akbar" just before the shooting.
Family members said he had previously complained about being harassed because
he was a Muslim and that he had expressed deep concerns about deployment.
A jury
panel of thirteen officers convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder, 32 counts of attempted murder, and unanimously recommended
Hasan be formally dismissed from the service and sentenced to death. Hasan is currently incarcerated at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas awaiting execution while his case
is reviewed by appellate courts.
The question that is raised is; was he acting as a homegrown
terrorist? During the six years that Hasan worked
as an intern and resident at Walter
Reed Army Medical Center, colleagues and superiors were deeply concerned about
his behavior and comments.
Prior to the shooting, Hasan had expressed critical views
described by colleagues as “anti-American” which is a sign
that he may very well have planned to kill Americans for ideological reasons which would
make him a homegrown terrorist. An investigation conducted by the FBI concluded that his e-mails with
the late Imam Anwar al-Awlaki were related to his authorized professional research and that
he was not a threat. That conclusion turned out to be a stupid mistake on the
part of the FBI.
Saad Khalid was what is
considered a typical middle-class immigrant upbringing in the suburbs west of
Toronto. The teen who came to Canada with his family from Pakistan in the
mid-1990s played on the high school cricket team and took part in the school's
multicultural society before heading off to university. Somewhere along the
way, things changed for Khalid. He became radicalized and now he is serving
time in an eastern Ontario maximum-security prison with a 20-year sentence for
his part in the so-called Toronto 18
plot to bomb high-profile targets in downtown Toronto and kill the prime
minister of Canada by beheading him.
Both
the United States and Canada don’t play footsies with terrorists.
Wannabe
terrorists believe that under the Islamist dream put forth by ISIS, young
Muslims can move to Syria or Iraq and instantly become members of a conquering
army and the ruling class of something that resembles a state. This analysis
helps explain why ISIS has been so much more successful than al Qaeda in
recruiting Westerners. Bin Laden talked about a caliphate. ISIS seems to be
delivering one. No matter how culturally confident the West is, it obviously
can’t, and never could, offer this kind of vision—one that has natural appeal
to immature youth who are also losers.
Then when they find out that their dreams are not going to come to
fruition, they want to return to their homes.
France has a big problem. So does Great Britain. So does the rest of
Europe and so does the United States and
Canada. The problem is that there are several thousand immature, native-born or
nationalized Islamist extremists who travel abroad to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq, or
Al Qaeda in Yemen and Pakistan. These wannabe terrorists are recruited over the
Internet, or in their neighborhoods, or at some of their mosques, and they are
offered all-expenses-paid trips to the Middle East to fight a holy war. They
travel freely across Europe and into Turkey, and then they cross, undetected,
over the porous border into Syria or Iraq. ISIS and al-Qaeda trains them, gives
them battlefield experience.
When they them become
disillusioned, they are returning to their homes as citizens who know how to
use sophisticated weapons, make car bombs, recruit terrorist cells and plan
attacks. There are over 1,000 French citizens who have gone to fight for ISIS,
over 1,000 Brits and hundreds of Germans, Belgians and Dutch. There also a
great many Americans and Canadians who are no different. They are prepared to launch a guerrilla war
against us in our own neighborhoods. They will shout “Allahu Akbar” while they
are slaughtering our neighbours, friends and families. Our leaders insist these are criminal acts,
not acts of war. Terroristic acts are both criminal and acts of war. But unlike
in war, we shouldn’t take them as prisoners if they are caught killing people.
They should be killed if they are found to have a weapon in their hands. It is
sort of academic since most these losers prefer martyrdom instead of
imprisonment.
In the years since President Obama had taken
office, several young Muslim Americans had plotted terrorist attacks at home,
including one who nearly exploded a car bomb in Times Square in London. 150 of
them had joined ISIS. White House aides concluded that the government’s efforts
to combat radicalism within America’s Muslim communities was a disjointed mess.
When the police authorities state that they have the homegrown terrorists under surveillance; that is what I would call bullshit. There are thousands of these homegrown terrorists so it follows that the governments don’t have the manpower to watch them 24/7. The French authorities said as much the same thing about the Kouachi brothers and Coulibaly being under surveillance. They had the Kouachi brothers under surveillance for three years and then six months before they committed their terroristic attacks, the surveillance of them was stopped.
Denis McDonough, a
top President Obama aide who is now White House chief of staff, took charge of
the problem, overseeing a strategy to prevent violent extremism. But after a
recent string of attacks on their fellow citizens by Islamic radicals,
including the massacre in Paris by a pair of French nationals, critics complain
that the plan has been halfheartedly implemented, produced bureaucratic turf
fights, lacks funding, and does little to make Americans safer at a moment when
the Islamic extremist message is more prevalent than ever.
Several of the men who have carried
out recent domestic terror attacks were already known to law enforcement
officials. Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev currently on trial was
interviewed by FBI agents in 2011. One of the alleged Paris gunmen had been
stopped from traveling to fight in Iraq a decade ago. A man who took dozens of
hostages in Sydney, Australia last month had a long criminal record. And
despite all that, these terrorists still managed to commit terrorist acts.
Some of the attacks that have occurred in the
United States were committed by people who are seriously mentally ill with some
of the recent attackers having shown clear signs of mental illness, and yet
this is not being seriously considered by the U.S. administration’s strategy.
Fortunately, since 9/11, Al Qaeda’s core has been decimated. U.S. Special Forces, drone strikes and intelligence cooperation with allies have rendered the organization that attacked New York, Washington and Pennsylvania a shadow of its former self. However, like cancer cells that metastasize to the most difficult locations to get at them, Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda-like franchises have flourished in ungoverned territories in Yemen, North Africa, Nigeria, Syria, Iraq and others. For this reason, there will be wannabe terrorists seeking excitement from their dull lives by venturing into those hotbeds of terrorism. Then they come home to render acts of terrorism in the name of Islam.
When attempting to detect the radicalization to violence of
small groups of men who may be unknown to law enforcement, it is vital to
understanding the demographics of a city rather than ineffectively watch entire
communities. They should identify
hotspots for radicalization where those who discuss and debate turning to
violence meet. It is especially important to be aware of wannabes who attend
Muslim mosques where the Imams advocate terrorism.
Most importantly, there should be the continued use of cyber-intelligence,
which in this context means the monitoring of open social media sites by
analysts to detect the online radicalization of individuals in the community
who are broadcasting via their Facebook, Twitter and other social media
accounts that they are supportive of violent overseas terrorist groups. This
will serve as leads for follow-up investigations or a visit by law enforcement
in order to disrupt the radicalization of those who are seriously thinking of
being a homegrown terrorist.
Just after Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in 1941, thousands
upon thousands of Japanese-Americans were unfairly incarcerated in detention
camps. As it turned out, there wasn’t one Japanese-American that was disloyal
to the United States.
Radical Islam is a
threat to everyone and must be dealt with harshly. Homegrown terr0rists who return to our countries after fighting
with other terrorists or even intend to leave our countries to fight with
terrorists should be arrested and placed in such detention camps. They should
be kept there until our governments are satisfied that they are no longer a
threat. That may take years. While incarcerated, they should be permitted to further
their education and be trained in various occupations available to them so that
if they are released, they will find it easier to get a job. The government
will of course be obligated to help them re-integrate back into society. A
person who has a job that he or she is happy with and is making a decent living
is less likely to want to lose it all by being killed or imprisoned for life as
a terrorist.
I am aware that there would have to be more than one such camp in Europe considering the fact that at least 4,000 young men left Europe to go to Syria and Iraq to fight along side the ISIS terrorists. Does anyone want these men back in Europe as members of terrorist sleeping cells, waiting for the right moments to commit acts of terrorism in Europe and elsewhere?
I am aware that there would have to be more than one such camp in Europe considering the fact that at least 4,000 young men left Europe to go to Syria and Iraq to fight along side the ISIS terrorists. Does anyone want these men back in Europe as members of terrorist sleeping cells, waiting for the right moments to commit acts of terrorism in Europe and elsewhere?
Admittedly, these are harsh measures but so far, nothing else
is working.
What we have to do is convince all Muslims in our countries
that if they are peace loving, obey our laws and equally important, respect all
persons in our countries, no matter what their religion or ethnicity is, then
they are more than welcome to be equal members of our communities and they will
be given every opportunity to succeed in their endeavors. This is the
democratic manner in which we in Canada live and Muslims and all other ethnic
and religious groups should embrace it just as we all do.
Unfortunately, some
countries like France tend to segregate some of their citizens such as Muslims
from the rest of its citizens. Many Muslims are having difficulty in getting
jobs because of this unofficial segregationist policy in France. It is the fuel that is readily ignited by
terrorists. Just as the Americans fought the British in 1773 for their
independence, the Muslims are fighting segregation for their rightful place in
the counties they have chosen to live in.
However, the current
state of affairs in democratic countries is forcing the governments to take
harsh measures to fight terrorism and those measures tend to infringe on the
rights of people of different ethnicities who simply want to carry on with
their everyday lives. Over the past decade, the Swedish city of Malmo has taken
many refugees from Iraq and Syria and yet these refugees feel as if they are
unwelcomed. In Paris and Birmingham, those two cities are so riven by Islamic
radicalism, even the police fear entering parts of those cities. Much of this
problem stems from the fact that Muslim youths are having difficulty in finding
jobs because they are Muslims. After Germany abused the Jews in the first third
of the last century, that nation later became a beacon of freedom but alas, in
this century, much of that goodwill towards the Muslims has eroded and thusly
hardliners are advocating against Muslims immigrating to Germany.
Canada is a nation of
immigrants because as a nation, we willingly accept them. They are treated
fairly and have the same rights as other citizens. Unfortunately, there are
misinformed Muslim youths who have been seduced by the concept of a world-wide
Islamic jihad and they want to be part of it. It is these youths who are a
danger to our nation. We as a nation must find a way to convince these
misguided youths that Islamic jihad is not for them.
However, preserving
our way of life is becoming difficult when we are facing these jihadists who
want to destroy our way of life. That is why I am so adamant that we deal with
those who are returning from Iraq and Syria as experienced terrorists and
imprison them as soon as they reach our borders. And those who have taken
concrete steps to go to those countries to fight as terrorists should also be
imprisoned.
How do we change the
thinking of Muslim youths who are troubled souls who want to fill the void in
their lives with a sense of purpose when they are faced with promises of
excitement, a place in the supposed ISIS caliphate and a fabulous afterlife
where 72 virgins are waiting for their arrival? That isn’t an easy task.
First, we must
convince them that they are truly citizens of our country and that they have
the same rights as everyone else. Second we must convince them that we as a
nation have empathy for Muslims elsewhere who don’t have the same freedom and
rights that we have. Third, we must make sure that they have the same
opportunities as everyone else to find work. If we fail in this endeavor, then
those disillusioned youths will undergo a gradual metamorphosis from a disillusioned youth to a radical
terrorist.
Let’s face it. We are
not talking about a minority group of people. It has been estimated that
between 2010 and 2030, the number of Muslims will have increased from 1,6
billion to 2.2 billion. That is a 35% increase.
Do we want ourselves and our children and their children facing that
many angry Muslims? What we want is the Muslims to be our friends. To make this happen, we
have to treat them as friends. One way to do this is to stop mocking their
prophet. It was stupid to do it in the past and it is equally stupid to
continue doing it. Christians get upset when their saviour, Jesus is mocked. The
Jews will also get upset if we mock Moses. Do we expect that Muslims will take
the mockery of their prophet lying down? I think not.
I see nothing wrong
in publishing cartoons abut Islamic jihadists but the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad
in cartoons in a disparaging manner is outright stupid. That stupidity resulted
in the people in the French publishing firm, Charlie Hebdo being murdered. Now I am
not saying that they asked for this to happen but it shouldn’t have been a surprise
to them and everyone else that this was invariably going to happen sooner or
later.
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