Defensiveness Dominates Homeland Security Session

March 17, 2010

Rebutting criticisms that were not made, and often ignoring those that were, witnesses and representatives in a House subcommittee hearing on disrupting terror plots through community engagement often lost focus on their task Wednesday.
The digressions began when Jane Harman, chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment, read an excerpt from an article published Tuesday by the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

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House Hearing on Extremism Caters to Islamists

March 16, 2010

A House Homeland Security subcommittee meets Wednesday to discuss “Working with Communities to Disrupt Terror Plots.” It’s a great idea, and the kind of study the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment should undertake.
Looking at the witness list, however, shows that the committee is seeking input from a narrow viewpoint – one that is sympathetic to Islamist extremist organizations here in America.
Nearly all the witnesses share a history of interaction with national Islamist groups – those that seek to infuse a religious ideology into the political debate – while contrary points of view are not given a seat at the table.

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Combating Lawfare

March 15, 2010

Federal courts are slowly becoming a new battlefield in the war on terror, with combatants setting aside traditional weapons and arming themselves instead with domestic and international laws. Responding to this phenomenon, the inaugural meeting of The Lawfare Project convened last week in New York to discuss The Use of the Law as a Weapon of War.
In particular, as the organizers explained, the conference focused on the manipulation of the legal system for three strategic purposes:
•To thwart free speech on issues of national security and public concern.
•To delegitimize and diminish the sovereignty of democratic states.
•To inhibit the right and ability of democracies to defend themselves against terrorism.

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DOJ: CAIR's Unindicted Co-Conspirator Status Legit

March 12, 2010

There’s another letter circulating on Capitol Hill affirming federal law enforcement’s belief that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is the product of a Hamas-support network in the United States.
The letter from Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich cites evidence in the 2008 Hamas support trial against the Holy Land Foundation “which demonstrated a relationship among CAIR, individual CAIR founders, and the Palestine Committee."
The Palestine Committee was created to support Hamas in the United States.

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