Homegrown Terrorists and Terrorist Money
Four Muslims living in the United States - two illegally - were regular downloaders of jihadist videos, including many produced by al-Sahab, the media wing of al Qaeda. They taped themselves on a trip to the mountains where they went to shooting and paintball ranges, and spouted jihadist slogans. A video store clerk alerted police to what he thought was terrorist training.
The FBI used informants to capture the four on tape buying AK-47 assault rifles and taking drives to East Coast military bases, during which one talked about killing American soldiers, and others talked "incessantly," according to the police, of jihad and weapons. They were familiar with the layout of Ft. Dix, New Jersey through pizza deliveries they had made there. They were arrested.
At the trial, the defense made three points: a) nothing actually happened, b) nothing would have happened, and c) the four were led on by the informants to do things they wouldn't otherwise have done. Mohamed Younes, president of the American Muslim Union, was quoted saying, "I don't think they actually meant to do anything. I think they were acting stupid, like they thought the whole thing was a joke."
According to the jury, "acting stupid" is not a defense, and the four were convicted of conspiring to kill American military personnel. They face life in prison.
But there is a larger issue. "Homegrown terrorists" are not only people who plot jihad against America. They are also Americans who collect money for those who would plot terrorism and jihad against others.
This week, the Israel Air Force blew up a facility at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG). The Jerusalem Post reported that two laboratories that served as research and development centers for Hamas were targeted. The development of explosives was done under the auspices of university professors, and university buildings were used for meetings of senior Hamas officials.
Leave it to bloggers - Pajamas Media, in this case - to discover that "the IUG science and technology lab was financed and constructed with the assistance of the Dublin, Ohio-based Arab Student Aid International (ASAI)... the IUG website has a page dedicated to ASAI's ongoing contributions to the Hamas institution and specifically mentions the labs financed by the Ohio Islamic group...the ASAI website promotes its assistance in creating the IUG science and technology center, which was completed in 2002."
Prince Turki Ben Abdel Aziz of Saudi Arabia is chairman of the Board of Trustees of ASAI - the website lists him as a donor of "tens of millions of dollars." We wonder if he knew where his money went. We suspect he did.
As Israel takes necessary military action to ensure that Hamas stops firing rockets and missiles at Israeli citizens, it is worth pondering the swampy nexus of money, ideology and chemical bombs - how much of it exists in our country and where it is going.
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