With the help of U.S. troops, Iraqi security forces launched a major offensive July 12 against al-Qaeda in Kirkuk, Iraq.

Jim sent this in:

A special women’s unit within the banned radical group Muslim Brotherhood is operating in Egypt and possibly other Arab nations, according to a counterterrorism report obtained by the Terrorism Committee of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.

The report states that the deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mahmoud Ezzat, was arrested with other members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated group and that investigators uncovered evidence of a group of women who serve as “mules” to deliver messages and act as messengers for the terrorist group.

According to Middle East reports, the secret “sisterhood’ is being likened to a group of female terror group members that operated in the 1960s, especially in operations targeting Israel.

Sayyid Qutb, an early Brotherhood leader, taught that Muslim society had turned its back on Islam and had to return to its roots. He advocated violent revolution in order to overthrow secular governments and restore Islamic rule. He was captured, tried and executed by the Egyptian government in 1966.

While the group itself is outlawed on Egypt, security experts say that individual members of the ultra-secret Muslim Brotherhood may be among the candidates running for government office in the national elections later this year.

The women’s secret unit was created much in the same way that the Muslim Brotherhood was founded, according to U.S. intelligence sources.

While the radical Muslim Brotherhood is banned in Egypt, it is praised by many Egyptians and government officials wink at its continuing activism. In the 2005 parliamentary elections, the Brotherhood’s candidates, who can only stand as independents, won 88 seats (20% of the total) to form the largest opposition bloc, despite many violations of the electoral process, including the arrest of hundreds of Brotherhood members. Meanwhile, the legally approved opposition parties won only 14 seats. This revived the debate within the Egyptian political elite about whether the Brotherhood should remain banned.

The history of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt following its founding in 1928 has been one of huge growth followed by successive government crackdowns.

Both royal and nationalist Egyptian governments suppressed the Brotherhood in 1948, 1954, 1965 after plots, or alleged plots, of assassination and overthrow were uncovered. Periodic suppressions have continued even after the Brotherhood officially renounced violence in the 1970s.

Today it is illegal but tolerated as Egypt’s most popular and powerful non-governmental organization, according to GlobalSecurity.org.

Jim sent this in:

In a statement that comes as no surprise to U.S. security and law enforcement experts, the Somali-based Muslim terrorist group al-Shabab announced that its fighters are aligned with al-Qaeda’s global terriorism campaign. The deadly group said in the statement, broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, that the “jihad of Horn of Africa must be combined with the international jihad led by the al-Qaeda network”.

The group’s statement also announced that its militants had joined forces with a smaller insurgent group called Kamboni, another radical Muslim organization.

That group is reported to be based in the southern town of Ras Kamboni.  Kamboni’s leader,  Hassan Turki, is accused of funding terrorism and terrorist groups, according to a U.S. intelligence source. 

The Somali al-Shabab claims its primary focus for now is uniting all Islamist terror groups and their supporters in order to create a Muslim state, or Caliphate, in Somalia to be ruled according to Sharia law.

The group’s reign of terror includes public beheadings and stonings. 

In a December terrorist attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, al-Shabab terrorists killed and injured innocent civilians at a graduation ceremony for Somali medical students. The attack also resulted in the deaths of the Ministers of Health, Higher Education and Education of the Somali Transitional Federal Government.

“This was a criminal attack on people dedicated to building a peaceful, stable and prosperous future for the people of Somalia,” United Nations officials said in their condemnation statement.

“While the UN should be expected to condemn such barbarism, calling it a ‘criminal act’ is wrongheaded and treats an act of war as if it were a bank robbery,” said former Marine intelligence officer and New York police detective Sid Francks.

Unfortunately, Somalia has not had even a facsimile of a central government since 1991, and its police and military are fearful when confronted with groups such as al-Shabab.

In an intelligence analysis report, several security experts said they believed the Somali-based pirates are helping to fund al-Qaeda operations.

Also, Somalia’s police spokesman, Dhexe Abdullahi Hassan is quoted as saying that al-Qaeda was the prime suspect in a smuggling operation involving counterfeit notes after international financial institutions starved the terrorist group of all money supplies, according

It is interesting that the United States has fallen into this false sense of security ever since the 9/11 episode. Since that time, we have had 28 - count’em, 28!! – failed terrorist attacks against our country.

First glance seems to indicate that we’ve been successful in protecting the United States against foreign threats via the airport security systems currently in place.

Not so fast.

Before I go further into the failings of the system in place, I’m going to go down Memory Lane and remind you as to what has brought this on in the first place. Let’s just say that it stems from one source: Usama Bin Laden.

Remember him? The originator of the 9/11 incident in New York City? Anyways, before the 9/11 incident, Bin Laden was issuing “fatwas”. For those who are unfamiliar, a “fatwa” is a legal opinion that is typically issued by an Islam scholar; they rule whether a given act is considered obligatory, permitted or forbidden.

Bin Laden fired the preemptive strike, quoting:

“Fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them, seize them, and beleaguer them and lie in wait for them in every stratagem.”

Of course, the head of al-Qaeda has vowed to not let up and find ways to discredit, embarrass and kill Americans as these actions are the stock and trade of the radical Muslims. Yet nearly 10 years later, we’ve fallen into that false sense of security again. And we have no one to blame for this but ourselves.

To paraphrase an NFL term, your best offense is a great defense. Based on that analogy, the U.S. is the equivalent of the 2009 version of the St. Louis Rams – very little offense and even less defense. Which explains the poor security mechanisms in place at out airports. Not to mention that the government has dropped the ball. And it took a recent event to magnify this.

Does the name Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab mean anything to you? It should. He’s the guy arrested in Detroit. MI on Christmas Day for unsuccessfully detonating an explosive device on an international airliner which originated in Nigeria. And get this – the government knew about this fella yet failed to revoke his visa, flag him for further screening or put him on the “no-fly” list.

And folks, there’s more where this came from. This is hardly an isolated incident.

There’s also the incident involving five youths from Northern Virginia – presumably empowered by localimams from the localmosques – who flew all the way to Pakistan; fortunately, the local authorities picked them up before they could join al-Qaeda or some other terrorist cell and possibly hurt anyone.

And just as importantly, President Obama has dropped the ball. First, there was the political correctness applied by him and his henchmen in the White House, preferring not to use the words “war on terrorism” and other lame phrases. But then again, Obama, as of late, has been channeling his inner Rev. Wright.

His leadership skills – or lack thereof – tend to lend credence that he is clueless in terms of foreign policy. Let’s begin with his indifference regarding the USA Patriot Act.

The Patriot Act was designed to ensure that our nation was air-tight secure with the tools and technology available that would thwart any terrorist actions. But rather than continue the Patriot Act, Obama opted to just use a six-month extension, which was attached to the Defense Appropriations bill. Which is a bad move, in my opinion. That’s political expediency at its best.

Obama also screwed up when he declared a set date for the return of American troops by way of a withdrawal from Afghanistan. Not to mention that our Commander in Chief decreed that fewer troops than General Stanley McChrystal requested be sent overseas. You want more? Try this on for size.

Obama even has gone so far to “pretend” that the U.S. isn’t at war against al-Qaeda. Which in and of itself is troubling. Certainly the terrorist cells (al-Qaeda and others) would beg to differ with our President. If anything, Obama is “politicizing” the war on terror, which is a grave mistake. And we don’t have to go back that far. As a matter of fact, it goes back as recently as the Carter presidency. The Middle East made a mockery of Carter, as they’re currently doing to Obama.

Then there is the call by the White House – presumably with the Presidentialstamp of approval – for legislation which would provide a “mass amnesty for illegals, which would put the Department of Homeland Security in an even stickier situation than it’s already in. And moving these terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to U.S. prisons and sending others to nations that are “terrorist-friendly” (Yemen comes to mind) sends messages to al-Qaeda which seem to embolden the terrorist organization.

I suggest that the U.S. take some lessons from the Israel airline El Al. But don’t just take my word for it. Just know that this airline has not had a terrorist attack in 35+ years. And it isn’t like we don’t have the financial resources or the proper training and personnel. Just because we haven’t had a terrorist attack place on almost ten years doesn’t mean that our system in place is perfect. If anything it is far from it. the Christmas Day incident illustrates how behind that we are; we’ve been extremely lucky in that respect.

But if we do not correct this problem immediately, then the likelihood of a terrorist attack taking place on American soil will likely increase. But this time, we won’t be so lucky.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) calls for Obama totake a stronger stand against terrorism after Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for airline bomb plot.

Jim sent this in:

On Christmas Day, a Nigerian man claiming to be part of the al-Qaeda terrorist group attempted to destroy a Northwest Airlines aircraft on its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Christmas Day. The suspect was successful with placing a destructive device on that aircraft.

“President Obama has filled his cabinet with left-wing ideologues who are unqualified for the positions they hold. You have a former smear-master [Leon Panetta] as CIA Director, a Clinton retread [Eric Holder] heading the Justice Department, and others who are Internationalists and worry more about the United Nations than their own nation,” warns Baker.

“Napolitano mirrors the feelings of Obama and [Speaker of the House] Nancy Pelosi — that border security is ‘Un-American,” said veteran cop Lieutenant Stephan Rodgers from New Jersey.

“In fact, one of Napolitano’s first orders was for ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) agents to stop workplace inspections to arrest illegal workers and identity thieves,” said Lt. Rodgers.

More than one conservative congressman is concerned over the Homeland Security Secretary’s brief track record. She has been involved in what must be characterized as controversy on more than one occasion.

First, during her testimony on Capitol Hill, Napolitano noticeably failed to use the words terrorist or radical Islam even once while testifying, in spite of the fact her very job was created as a result of terrorist attacks perpetrated by radical Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001.

The former Arizona governor has been slow to respond to the violence and chaos that exists at the US-Mexican border and continues to hesitate in dealing with an out-of-control immigration problem. Instead, Napolitano pointed to the US-Canadian border as cause for concern, going so far as to say the 9-11 terrorists entered the United States from Canada.

Napolitano subsequently was forced to apologize to the Canadian government and had to correct her erroneous statement. The fact that the nation’s top terrorism fighter didn’t know from where the men — who committed the worst terrorist attack in US history — entered this nation did not instill must confidence in her knowledge and ability.

Then Secretary Napolitano’s department released a report characterizing war veterans from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan as possible right-wing extremists. That same report also cast suspicion on American citizens who oppose abortion and gun control, or those who oppose the federal government’s intrusion into the business of individual states or citizens.

Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) gave the following statement in response to ongoing controversy over the Department of Homeland Security’s recent report on right-wing extremists and potential domestic terrorism, as well as Secretary Napolitano’s failure to appropriately apologize for the offensive assertions made in the report:

“The outrageous, unsubstantiated, politically-loaded DHS report on ‘Right-Wing Extremism,’ shows a stunning lack of understanding of the real and imminent threats America is truly facing,” said Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ), who is a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee, Military Readiness Subcommittee, Committee on the Judiciary, Constitution Subcommittee, and is ranking member on the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.

“It is also a disgraceful insult to the true heroes of our country. If veterans, pro-life and states’ rights advocates and those who seek to protect the Constitutional rights of themselves and their fellow Americans are at higher risk for becoming domestic terrorists, then over 80% of the people in my District can be categorized as a potential national security threat,” said Rep. Franks.

Franks also noted that it would be very interesting to see what taxpayer-funded resources went into producing “this disgraceful report and what documents and evidence they are using to justify it.”

Franks and other conservatives believe that using the vast and powerful resources of the Department of Homeland Security to target and ostracize political opposition, as it would appear is being done, sets an incredibly dangerous precedent and it’s something America’s federal government should have no part of.

Franks said, “The report claims the election of an “African American president” and the downturn in the economy has caused ‘right-wing extremism’ and could possibly even radicalize our veterans.”

“To say that the noble and patriotic men and women who wear this nation’s uniform and have laid their lives on the line to protect their country are now one of the greatest potential domestic security dangers to our country is so staggeringly irrational and insulting that I am unable to find the words to express it,” he said.

Franks went on to say that both President Obama and Secretary Napolitano “owe it to our veterans and the rest of the American people to immediately and unequivocally disavow and repudiate the preposterous conclusions in this report, and they should also seriously consider firing those who wrote it.”

Franks an other Americans believe that the President and Homeland Security Secretary have already waited far too long and the explanations and platitudes the American people have received thus far are understandably being perceived as half-hearted and insincere.

“Every day they continue to delay brings increasing encouragement and amusement to the real terrorist enemies of this nation,” Franks concluded.

While serving as Governor of Arizona, when she declared a state of emergency in Arizona, following the lead of another Democrat governor — Bill Richardson of New Mexico — Governor Napolitano spent millions on her deployment of National Guard troops on the Mexican border. Political analysts believe she declared the emergency in order to criticize the Bush Administration as did Governor Richardson.

In fact, Gov. Richardson declared a state of emergency and then deployed a whopping 54 New Mexico National Guard soldiers to aid the beleaguered local law enforcement officers. One police chief said he’s seen more guardsmen deployed for a snowstorm than for Richardson’s “state of emergency.”

Supporters of tough border security said the new bill would have provided Arizona with an opportunity to start gaining control of its vast border problems by providing a second layer of enforcement to catch the tens of thousands of immigrants who slip past federal agents each year.

Republican Senator Barbara Leff of Paradise Valley, who proposed the bill, said the governor has painted herself as tough on illegal immigration by declaring a state of emergency at Arizona’s border, but has taken little action to back up her rhetoric, according to the Washington Examiner.

“I don’t think the governor wants to do anything about this problem,” Leff said. She said the bill would have been a means to detain illegal immigrants until federal agents can pick them up.

The Democratic governor, accused by her Republican critics of being soft on immigration, has vetoed other immigration bills from the GOP-majority Legislature within the past year, including a proposal to give police the power to enforce federal immigration laws. She’s also provided services for illegal aliens and is a proponent of drivers licenses for illegals.

A passenger onboard a flight from the Netherlands to the United States attempted to blow up the aircraft as it was landing at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, according to a source with the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force.

An NYPD detective told The Examiner that the passenger claimed to be acting on behalf of al-Qaeda in the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight #253 from Amsterdam-to-Detroit.

The suspect attempted to detonate a device as the plane landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.  While the details are still sketchy, the NYPD detective said that when passengers observed the suspect attempting to detonate the explosive device, they subdued him and held him for law enforcement.