Canada's Growing Islamic Jihad Problem

In this video image, a member of the so-called Toronto 18 fires a gun at a training camp outside of the city. Four people have now been convicted in the terror plot.

More Canadians Turning To Violent Jihad: Mountie -- CTV

The Mountie in charge of investigating terrorist threats says he's alarmed at the growing number of Canadians adopting violent jihad.

Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud said RCMP are aware of a number of Canadians who are currently training at Islamic terror camps.

"We have some in Pakistan, we see some in Somalia, we see them in Afghanistan," he said.

Read more ....

My Comment: An ominous warning to all Canadians (myself included) .... but no one is listening.

The Jihadist Next Door

Left, Omar Hammami as a freshman in high school. Right, in a Shabab propaganda video released in March 2009. From The Hammami Family.

From The New York Times:

ON A WARM, cloudy day in the fall of 1999, the town of Daphne, Ala., stirred to life. The high-school band came pounding down Main Street, past the post office and the library and Christ the King Church. Trumpeters in gold-tasseled coats tipped their horns to the sky, heralding the arrival of teenage demigods. The star quarterback and his teammates came first in the parade, followed by the homecoming queen and her court. Behind them, on a float bearing leaders of the student government, a giddy mop-haired kid tossed candy to the crowd.

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My Comment: A sobering assessment on who the enemy can be at times.

Jihad In 2010

Stratfor’s Strategic Analysis – “Jihadism In 2010: The Threat Continues” -- Fabius Maximus

Stratfor is one of the best public sources in the public strategic analysis and forecasting field, so these reports deserve attention. However its necessary to remember that they reflect the views and interests of American’s corporate and government elites. So the detailed material here needs a more objective context. For that I recommend first reading “Shooting Gnats with a Machine Gun — The U.S. Military, al-Qaeda, and a War of Futility“, Nick Turse and Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch, 14 January 2010. At the end of this post are links to other posts about al Qaeda.

Read more ....

My Comment: I have mentioned on a few occasions that FM is one of my favorite blogs. He does not disappoint in this post. Check out his links at the end of his post, they are also worthwhile to read.

Raising Future Jihadists

Jihadists Groom Children In The UK Under 10 -- Times Online

Police have identified children as young as seven being groomed for terrorism, with some expressing a wish to become suicide bombers.

Up to 10 primary school pupils, aged between seven and 10, have been placed on a government outreach programme for individuals considered at risk of being radicalised and turning to violence.

Some have taken inspiration from jihadi websites or after viewing extremist material in Islamic bookshops.

Read more ....

My Comment: If there ever was a definition for child abuse .... these kids would be the poster child of any campaign.

Should The U.S. Destroy Jihadist Websites?

(ABC News Photo Illustration)

From Time Magazine:

The Internet has played a key role in radicalizing a number of key players in alleged terror plots this year. From Fort Hood accused shooter Nidal Hasan to the five young Americans detained in Pakistan this month allegedly en route to fight U.S. forces in Afghanistan, authorities claim the suspects needed no face-to-face contact with jihadist recruiters. Instead, the Internet is serving as an electronic funnel for extremists to infuse U.S.-based Muslims with a justification for jihad.

Read more ....

My Comment: My short answer is yes. The U.S. should destroy/close down Jihadist Websites. My rational is equally simple .... using the same argument that others use in shutting down websites that promote childhood pornography .... one can say exactly the same thing with sites that promote Islamic terrorism/Jihad.

The Jihadist 5th Column

Gordon England, then deputy secretary of defense, is shown in 2006 at a convention that focused on issues facing American Muslims and their evolving role and identity in the U.S. AP

Penetration Even At The Pentagon: Muslim Spies Setting Muslim Policy -- Investor.com

The internal threat from Muslim extremists in the military extends to high-level Defense Department aides who have undermined military policy. In fact, one top Muslim adviser pushed out an intelligence analyst who warned of the sudden jihad syndrome that led to the Fort Hood terrorist attack.

An honored guest of the Ramadan dinner at the Pentagon this September was Hesham Islam, who infiltrated the highest echelons of the Ring despite proven ties to U.S. terror front groups and a shady past in his native Egypt.

Read more ....

My Comment: Read it all .... and start to be afraid .... very afraid.

Radical Jihadists Are Now Quoting West Point And The Rand Corporation

Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi

Credentials Challenged, Radical Quotes West Point -- New York Times

BEIRUT, Lebanon — He has been mentor to some of the most brutal terrorists on earth. But Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, a prominent cleric and theorist of jihad living in Jordan, has grown tired of hearing younger extremists accuse him of going soft.

So in a recent Internet post to his followers, Mr. Maqdisi defended his hard-line credentials by invoking a higher authority: the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

“Credit is due to the testimony of enemies,” Mr. Maqdisi wrote, as he directed his readers to a recent journal article by Joas Wagemakers, a Dutch scholar of jihadism, and the “Militant Ideology Atlas,” both published by the center. Both identified Mr. Maqdisi as a dangerous and influential jihadi theorist, he noted.

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My Comment: When a leading Jihadist uses West Point and the Rand Corporation to justify his credentials .... that is when you know that Policy Centers and Think Tanks in the West are beginning to understand the mindset of the leaders and thinkers behind the more violent factions of militant Islam.

Can Jihadis Be Rehabilitated?

Young Saudi men released from Guantánamo Bay as well as prisons in Iraq and Saudi Arabia listen to a Muslim cleric during a course at a rehabilitation center near Riyadh
Hassan Ammar / AFP / Getty

From Time Magazine:

It's been described as the Betty Ford Center for terrorists: Saudi Arabian officials boast that the Care Rehabilitation Center, outside Riyadh, has successfully deprogrammed scores of former jihadis, including more than 100 ex-inmates of the U.S.'s Guantánamo Bay military prison. As recently as last fall, Saudi officials claimed the program had a 100% success rate.

That claim was dashed last week, when two alumni of the rehab program proudly announced to the world that they had returned to the jihad. In a video posted online, Saudi nationals Said al-Shihri and Abu al-Hareth al-Oufi — former detainees at Guantánamo Bay — boasted that they had become leaders of al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Read more ....

My Comment: 62 former Guantanamo inmates have returned to terror. Of those who have not gone back to terror .... I am sure that if it came to being pushed and shoved, most of them would go back to jihad.

So .... can Jihadists be rehabilitated? Hmmm ... can a devout Muslim renounce his faith?

I do not think so.