Misfits, Miscreants and The Enemy Within
As America sends more troops to Afghanistan and the timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq looks dubious, the growth of homegrown terrorists is beginning to look like a bumper crop for concern upon which Homeland Security must focus. Last week two Americans who are allegedly sympathetic to the Islamic cause were arrested.
One of these was 26 year old Sharif Mobley who grew up in South Jersey. He was arrested in a sweep of al-Qaida members in Yemen last week. Reports have stated that Mobley had worked at five different nuclear plants in New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania, including Three Mile Island near Harrisburg. Let me repeat: Mobley is 26 years old. He had full clearance to go anywhere he wanted at all of the nuclear plants in which he was employed in America, yet he was found in Yemen, a haven for terrorists.
According to the New York Dailey News, “Before Mobley moved to Yemen two years ago, ostensibly to learn Arabic and study the Koran, he worked for several contractors at three nuclear power plants in New Jersey from 2002 to 2008, PSE&G Nuclear spokesman Joe Delmar said.Mobley carried supplies and did maintenance work at the plants on Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek and worked at other plants in the region as well, Delmar said. He satisfied federal background checks as recently as 2008, Delmar said.”
- Image via Wikipedia
Does anyone else see red flags here? Mobley had federal clearance from 2002 to 2008. How much information could he have submitted to subversives both here and in Yemen? There had to have been warnings about this guy. If he wanted to study the Koran and learn Arabic with no ulterior motives, he could have done so here.
Shockingly we also have Colleen R. Rose, aka Jihad Jane, aka Fatima Rose, who was plotting along with others to recruit Islamic fighters and was plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist who made fun of prophet Mohammad, according to a federal indictment. Jihad Jane with her blonde hair and blue eyes is from Montgomery County, PA. She is charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft. Of course her primary contact leading up to these events was through the Internet and emails. And lest we forget, there was the case of the massacre at Fort Hood in Texas last year in which an Army psychiatrist killed 13 people and wounded 29 others. The attack was carried out by Nidal Malik-Hassan, who was born in Virginia. Reports have stated that he had been communicating with terrorists via the Internet.
While we are sending more troops to Afghanistan and trying to determine when we can pull out of Iraq, there is a growing number of American Muslim extremists which constitute domestic terrorist threats right here on our soil. And it is not only Muslim extremists, but other extremist groups such as The Army of God, the Ku Klux Klan, white supremacists, anti-abortion bombers and violent militiamen. These groups are ticking time bombs. They are the misfits and miscreants of American society and make no mistake; they reside in pockets throughout this country. The enemy now lies within. It is time to make certain that our focus of Intelligence must be at least as strong in this country as it is in Afghanistan and Iraq. We can comb the caves there, but it may be too late. Our best chance of preventing terrorist strikes is to concentrate our efforts here.
—cher
Related articles by Zemanta
- Al-Qaida suspect from US tricked his Yemeni guard (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- American AQ agent in Yemen worked at nuclear plants (hotair.com)
- Friend: Suspected US Al-Qaida Member Grew Radical (abcnews.go.com)
The threat of terrorism is a problem, but a worse threat to freedom is the over-reaction to terrorism. The odds of dieing in a terrorist attack is about 1 in 10,000 about the same as choking on a piece of food.
Naturally we try reduce our risk by teaching the proper response to choking but to require all food to go through a blender would be an over-reaction.
Same with terrorism, we should do what we can to safeguard ourselves from it, but we have to except that their is a 1 in 10,000 chance of dieing in a terrorist attack. I can live with those odds (so to speak).
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Project Savior,
While I am cognizant that al-Qaeda based groups in Afghanistan and Iraq may be attempting to plan attacks here, many have been thwarted. My concern is that in the years since 9/11, they have preyed upon misfits in our country to recruit them here and that these unbalanced people may try something on the order of Timothy McVeigh. If you get enough of these throughout the country, they can wreak havoc and cost lives.
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Excellent piece! And very scary. What I fear is really scary is, I wonder, is there any real way to stop this recruitment/these groups? Would we have the person power to infiltrated the groups enough to know what they are up to? I think that might be one of the few ways of keeping a real eye on them.
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The Sandman,
I believe Homeland Security can monitor groups to some extent, but Internet usage is so pervasive, how can they follow all the chatter? Infiltrating these groups, as you suggest, is one way, but with so much attention being given overseas, I wonder who is ‘minding the store’? I do think that if the citizenry is aware of groups they may inadvertently encounter, they should make Homeland Security aware of it. This is an enemy unlike any we have dealt with before. It is a new sort of warfare. And scary.
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Was the world like this for our parents? I can only wonder as I worry away!
I agree that we must be “minding the store” as you say, and not just sending troops abroad. When will this mess be over?
And it sounds like nuclear plants need to have much stricter security going on. Especially as they try to convince our leaders that nuclear energy is the solution they’ve been looking for.
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One of The Guys,
Great point about nuclear power plants. That concerns me too. The 26 year old, as I said in the post, had access to many and who knows what information he may have shared.
Our parents lived through the Cold War. Not many threats then, other than the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was a much more innocent and safe time.
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Out of all of these events, I’m most disturbed by the Major Hassan shootings. He was so open about his views and outspoken about his views. To me, this one was so blatantly obvious, yet nothing was done to stop him. The other ones, especially the 2 women, seem to be less obvious (although I know there are still more facts being discovered.) I guess my point is that if we do nothing about the very obvious ones, then I don’t see how we’ll make progress with those that are not as out in the open. Although I hope and pray that we’ll find a way to thwart any homegrown plots whether they are obvious or not.
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Tina T,
I completely agree with you about the U.S. Army Major. That is frightening beyond belief. What happened to security clearances? Are they not on-going? If not, they should be for anyone within the government. Let us hope that in light of all the ones we are hearing about, some officials will pay attention and put SECURITY in our Homeland.
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Cher it is apparent that most of america doesn’t want to admit that Jhiad Jane could live next door to them; or even drop her kids off at the same bus-stop. we need to stop being sidelined by the stereotypes and start looking at the real terrorists.
who is more of a terrorist than someone who incites violent thoughts of subversion against the standing government ? can a few of us name names – lets start with the crying rodeo clown and the drugged out jellybean broadcaster. then we can move on to congress and pick up a few Non Players from ky.
If I had my way, I’d ask each one of them to explain their reasons for feeling they are smarter than the average american yet can’t see that america IS the Home of the Free; as long as we don’t subscribe to their cliquish illogic. to me they resemble the Juggalos. Loud, Faces Painted with Anger and Little Substance in their stage performances. Just Loud and Angry.
Sorry Juggalos, that was not meant to insult you.
I’m tired of people looking at me crazy when I go to board a flight because I have an arabic sounding last name. I was born in america to two american parents. graduated from american schools. am married to an american veteran. have american ideals and pay american taxes. yet a white guy can walk onto a tarmac with explosives shoved up his ass and have them detonated by another white man and never be considered a terrorist. wowwww,,, America Take Off Your Sunshades Please.
This is Not a Test – This is The Real Deal.
in fact it’s almost kismit that you wrote this because today I wrote about the South Carolina $5.00 Insurection. Freakin Unbelievable..
this is too crazy to pass up because it’s REAL.
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Letting the FBI and CIA do their jobs would be a good start. Maybe once the Democrats aren’t running things we can get serious about these threats.
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ausetkmt,
Your points were cogent and should be eye-opening to everyone. The real test of American security rests within the citizenry. Those who swallow the bait of rodeo clowns are missing the “real deal.” A terrorist could be the person next to you on a train. It could be a neighbor or the person who does your taxes. For heaven’s sakes, a gunman got to the Pentagon! When are we going to wake up and realize how smart…and patient these people are? The enemy lies within as well as without. Pay attention, folks. As RE said, “This is not a test!”
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Harrison,
It was the Bush administration who made it so the FBI and CIA could not share information, hence the breakdown of prime intelligence. That was truly absurd and part of the sub rosa secrecy of the Bush White House.
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Sorry, that problem existed long before either Bush came along. Read the Looming Tower if you are interested.
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