Category Archives: Islam in the Americas

A cartoonist at Yale; police, sniffer dogs & heavy security

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From: 06520 The News Blog of the Yale Alumni Magazine.

” I am so old that I have experienced Nazism, Fascism, Communism and now, Islamism…” Kurt Westergaard.

A cartoonist under police protection

Posted by Kathrin Day Lassila ’81 at 3:20 pm Friday, October 2, 2009

“This is the first time we’ve ever held a master’s tea that required such extensive security,” said Branford College master Steven Smith before introducing his Thursday afternoon guest. The standing-room-only audience of more than a hundred had had to abandon their backpacks, purses, and cellphones at Smith’s house. They had needed IDs and preapproved tickets to get on the Yale buses, guarded by several police officers, that would take them direct to the Greenberg Center on Prospect Street. Once in the buses they had to sit still, holding their IDs and tickets up for inspection, while a small black dog led by a plainclothes officer walked the length of the aisle and then back, sniffing eagerly at the floor.

Smith’s guest at the heavily guarded tea was Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist who drew the most controversial of the group of cartoons published by a Danish newspaper in 2005 under the headline “The Face of Muhammad.” In an editorial, the newspaper said the cartoons were its response to a “sickly oversensitivity” among Danish Muslim leaders. (There had been a series of complaints by Christian Danes that Muslims were unwilling to take criticisms or jokes. Much more seriously, in 2004 a non-Muslim university lecturer had been beaten by a group of Muslim men for reciting from the Koran in a class.) The cartoons later became the focus of violent demonstrations by Muslims in the Middle East and Africa, in which, according to one estimate, some 250 people died. Continue Reading →

Interview with Kurt Westergaard, Toronto Canada

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From IFPS

I had the opportunity to spend the day yesterday with several extraordinary men, one of whom, was Kurt Westergaard, the creator of the infamous ‘Moetoon’.

In this interview, I speak at a private house, which is why there is a fair amount of background noise as we prepared dinner after a day of interviews in Toronto, with Kurt, as well as Lars Hedegaard, the creator and president of the Danish Free Press Society, now the International Free Press Society.

Kurt I must say, is a man who history has handed a tough role, and a role which he did not ask for, but accepts with grace, dignity, and a rare humility. I do not get the impression that it was Mr. Westergaards ambition to become a martyr for free speech and to live in a bunker as he does now, or in hiding as he did for years. But he has unflinchingly defended free speech and has not once turned away from his values for the illusion of safety.

Below, is a conversation with Kurt and Lars and their views on freedom of speech, and their recent experience at Yale, a once great institution of western education.

Link: Interview james kurt Lars4-desktop

Kurt Westergaard: ‘The most hated man in Mecca’

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From The National Post.

The most hated man in Mecca

Meet the Danish cartoonist who set the world on fire

Adrian Humphreys, National Post Published: Saturday, October 03, 2009

In Pakistan, tens of thousands of protestors torched cinemas, music stores, fast food outlets and other perceived symbols of Western influence in response to the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in Denmark. Arif Ali, AFP, Getty Images In Pakistan, tens of thousands of protestors torched cinemas, music stores, fast food outlets and other perceived symbols of Western influence in response to the publication of cartoons depicting the …

Despite a grey beard and heavy cane making him look every bit his 74 years, Kurt Westergaard dresses like a teenager: bright red cargo pants strapped up by a studded black belt and red suspenders over a black top, capped by a flowing red scarf and black Stetson.

His duo-chromatic clothing is perhaps the least shocking part of his appearance, however.

As the Danish man who drew the notorious cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad with a lit bomb wrapped in his turban — considered the most inflammatory of 12 cartoons published four years ago this week that ignited a deadly furor — it is the absence of security and the carefree way he stands outside smoking that is most striking.

Beside him, a friend casually carries a large framed reproduction of the cartoon, as if to dispel any mystery about who the flamboyantly dressed man might be. “It is very relaxing,” Mr. Westergaard says about being in Canada for the first time as a spattering of raindrops, rather than concerns over security, drives him indoors. “At home I live under police surveillance, protected by the Danish secret service. We lived in 10 different safe houses and drove 10 different cars.

“I live in a house now which is really a fortress, with steel doors, a panic room, reinforced glass in the windows, surveillance cameras and so on.”

That is the life of a man under threat, with a lucrative bounty on his head. With his fear now transformed into anger, Mr. Westergaard has emerged from his protective cocoon.

Rather than work to mitigate the offence he and fellow Danish artists caused to some fundamentalist Muslims, however, he remains unrepentant and unabashed.

“I don’t regret anything,” he says. Continue Reading →

Another slap on the wrist for terrorist in Canada

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 Ali Mohamed Dirie [far left in court art picture] and his family [masked gang] are allowed to hide amongst us because they are Muslim.

mohamed1220Ali Mohamed Dirie's family. Masked gangToronto Star… A Scarborough man whose role in the so-called Toronto 18 was to supply it with firepower so the group could launch a deadly terror attack in downtown Toronto was sentenced in a Brampton court on Friday to seven years.

Ali Mohamed Dirie was given credit of five years in pre-trial custody, meaning he will have to serve an additional two years. The Somali-born man will be eligible for parole in one year.

The 26-year-old pleaded guilty last week to participating in the activities of a terrorist group and confessed he had obtained handguns and ammunition knowing they were for the group’s alleged ringleader.

While delivering his sentence, Superior Court Justice Bruce Durno said he believed Dirie’s “moral culpability is high.”

“Terrorism offences strike at the heart of Canadian values and society,” Durno told the court, as Dirie’s mother, brother and cousin sat expressionless.

Durno also ordered Dirie submit a DNA sample, and be prohibited from handling firearms for life.

In a joint submission, the Crown and defence had suggested a seven-year sentence. However, they disagreed on how much credit he deserved for the time he has already spent behind bars. Crown prosecutor Clyde Bond proposed Dirie serve two more years, while defence lawyer Robert Nuttall suggested that he be released.

After the sentencing, Nuttall told reporters that he and his client’s family were satisfied with the judge’s ruling.

“Mr Dirie, I can say, profoundly regrets and is extremely remorseful for the means adopted in advancing his beliefs,” said Nuttall, explaining that “maturity” had helped his client see the errors of his ways.

The terror plot first surfaced in 2005, when Dirie and a co-accused were stopped at the Canada-U.S. border in a rented vehicle while attempting to smuggle firearms and ammunition into the country.

Officers found two loaded handguns on Dirie and bullets in his socks, court heard.

While Dirie was serving a two-year sentence for gun smuggling, other members of the alleged homegrown terror cell pushed forward with their plot, which they hoped would prompt the withdrawal of Canadian forces from Afghanistan.

Some in the group attended a so-called terrorist training camp in December 2005 and others pushed ahead with an explosives plot targeting the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Toronto offices of Canada’s spy agency and an unidentified military base off Highway 401.

In June 2006, police busted up the alleged homegrown terror cell after members purchased three tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer destined for truck bombs.

Dirie, who was already in jail, was charged with terror-related offences in 2006, along with 13 other adults and four youths.

Court heard that even after he was incarcerated on gun smuggling charges, he continued to play an important role in the group.

During a March 2006 intercepted telephone conversation from jail with the alleged ringleader, whose name is covered by a publication ban, Dirie was described as “a major asset to the circle.”

According to wiretapped calls, Dirie was trying to find jailhouse connections who could supply fake passports guns for the group.

During their phone conversations, Dirie and the alleged ringleader used code words such as “wives” and “girls” and “black chicks” for firearms, and “food” for ammunition.

Court heard that while in jail, Dirie received a package of books and CDs dubbed a “Qur’an kit,” which contained hidden violent videos of attacks and bombings of military personnel. He was also actively recruiting inmates to adopt hardcore jihadist beliefs.

Although specific details such as terrorism targets were not revealed in these conversations, the calls formed the basis of the Crown’s case against Dirie and prompted his guilty plea, the court was told.

Bond said it was clear Dirie intended to play a role once he was released on parole in May 2006, after serving time on his gun smuggling conviction.

Bond argued that Dirie continued to foster terrorism behind bars by trying to recruit other inmates to his extremist views, which Dirie admitted to doing.

However, Nuttall argued that his client had changed his extremist views and while he was still opposed to the military presence in Afghnaistan, he understood that using violence to bring about change was wrong.

Dirie was the second person to plead guilty. Saad Khalid and Saad Gaya also pleaded guilty to conspiring to cause an explosion. Last year, Nishanthan Yogakrishan was found guilty.

Seven more await trial.

Muslims Not ‘Free of Being Mocked,’ Danish Cartoonist Says

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DENMARK-CARTOONIST/INTERVIEWFox News…  Muslims need to develop a sense of humor and an appreciation of satire — and they need to understand that they are not “free of being mocked or being offended,” says the Danish caricaturist whose cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad incited rage throughout the Muslim world four years ago.  
Kurt Westergaard told roughly a dozen listeners Wednesday night that he will “always” be ready to defend an individual’s right to religious freedom.
“As the Danish tradition is for satire, we say you can speak freely, you can vote, you can speak out anytime, but there’s only one thing you can’t do — you can’t be free of being mocked or being offended,” Westergaard said. “That’s the conditions in Denmark and so many countries.”Several months after the cartoons were published, a Pakistani cleric reportedly offered 1.5 million rupee — roughly $16,700 — and a car to anyone who killed Westergaard. Mohammed Yousaf Qureshi, prayer leader at the Mohabat Khan mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar, announced the bounty in February 2006 at the mosque and the Jamia Ashrafia religious school that he leads.

Westergaard spoke at a private residence in midtown Manhattan in conjunction with the Hudson New York Briefing Council. It was just his second appearance in the U.S. since the 2005 publication of his notorious cartoon, which depicted Muhammad wearing a turban resembling a lit bomb. In Islam, any depiction of Muhammad is forbidden and considered blasphemy.

In June 2008, Westergaard and ten newspaper editors were reportedly summoned by Jordan’s public prosecutor on charges of “blasphemy” for reprinting the cartoons. Three men were arrested last year in Denmark for allegedly plotting to assassinate him.

Security at Wednesday night’s event was heightened, with two uniformed New York Police Department officers stationed outside the building as Westergaard spoke. Additional security measures were also taken earlier in the day when Westergaard spoke during a luncheon at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and at Princeton University. He is scheduled to speak at Yale University on Thursday — an appearance that is causing some controversy on the Ivy League campus.

Members of the Yale Muslim Students Association have said they are “deeply hurt and offended” that Westergaard will speak on the New Haven, Conn., campus, though they do not plan to protest. The group said Yale fails to recognize the “religious and racial” sensitivities surrounding the matter. Continue Reading →

Saudi Arabia, Funding jihad

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Link: Funding Jihad - Saudi Arabia

I love the $350,000,000 bottle opener prince Aloweed built in Riyadh. Someone should really tell him about the invention of the twist top though.

A virus called ‘Shariah’

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Canada Free Press…By Frank Gaffney Jr.  Monday, September 28, 2009

A Denver airport shuttle driver from Afghanistan who plotted to blow up subway trains in New York City.  A Jordanian who tried to destroy one of Dallas’ tallest skyscrapers.  An American who thought he was detonating a truck bomb aimed at a federal courthouse in Springfield, Illinois.

Law enforcement authorities who successfully stymied these alleged attacks have been at pains to emphasize that there are no connections between the three.

Of course there are.

Maybe it will prove to be the case that the three men at the heart of these interrupted plots – Najibullah Zazi, Hosam Maher Husein Smadi and Michael Finton (also known as Talib Islam) – had no connection in a tactical or operational sense.

Still, it is absurd, and extremely dangerous, to insist that they are not connected in at least one way:  What apparently animated all three of these suspects (and perhaps a number of others believed to have been involved in the New York plot who are still at large) is the seditious, supremacist theo-political-legal program authoritative Islam calls “Shariah.”

Shariah requires its adherents to engage in jihad – the struggle to bring about the triumph of Islam worldwide through whatever means are available.  Shariah explicitly calls for the use of violent techniques designed to instill terror in those who stand in the way of a global Muslim theocracy.

Lethal truck-bombs, pellet-laced explosive vests and backpacks and bombs or hijackers aboard aircraft have already been used for this purpose.  It is a matter of time before vastly more destructive weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear) become available to jihadists who believe that, pursuant to Shariah, they are fulfilling Allah’s will when they kill “infidels” or otherwise force them to submit to Islam. Continue Reading →

Another ‘Toronto 18’ member pleads guilty

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tt_saadgayaAOL News… Another member of the “Toronto 18” group that plotted attacks on city buildings has pleaded guilty to a terrorism charge.

Saad Gaya, 21, pleaded guilty Monday in a Brampton, Ont., court to committing a criminal offence for a terrorist group. At the time of his arrest in 2006, Gaya was a high school honour student.

Gaya’s lawyer Paul Slansky said Monday his client was duped by other members of group, was assured no one would be injured, and was unaware of the bomb plot.

If Gaya had been aware that they meant to kill people then he would not have joined, Slansky said.

Gaya is the third adult to admit guilt in the plot, which was never carried through.

Last week, Mohamed Ali Dirie, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of participating in the activities of a terrorist group. He is to be sentenced Friday.

His plea came four months after Saad Khalid, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a militant plot with the intention of causing an explosion. He was sentenced earlier in September to 14 years in prison, but was credited with seven years for time already served.

Nishanthan Yogakrishnan, a minor at the time of his arrest, was tried under youth justice laws and convicted in September 2008 of conspiring to bomb several targets. He was the first person convicted under Canada’s anti-terrorism laws.

The presiding judge found he had continued his activity with the group past his 18th birthday, so he was sentenced as an adult in May, getting a 2½-year prison term. The judge then freed him, granting him credit for time already spent in custody.

In all, 17 men and youths were arrested in the Toronto area in June 2006 and detained following an investigation by CSIS. An 18th person was arrested in August that year.

Seven of the 18 people arrested have since had their charges dropped or stayed.

Najibullah Zazi desperate for bomb mix, Canadian relatives claim arrest result of racism

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From The New York Post

Fiend put out SOS for bomb mix: feds

By KATI CORNELL and MURRAY WEISS in NY and KEITH COFFMAN in Aurora, Colo.

Last Updated: 9:08 AM, September 26, 2009

Posted: 5:26 AM, September 25, 2009

The Muslim fanatic charged with planning massive terror attacks on New York was frantically trying to get recipes for building a diabolical “weapon of mass destruction” in the days before his arrest, authorities claimed yesterday.

Najibullah Zazi, 24, began researching how to make bombs from household ingredients nearly a year ago — but sought “urgent” help in preparing the devices over the past two weeks, according to papers filed yesterday in Brooklyn federal court.

Zazi’s efforts grew increasingly frenzied in the days leading up to the anniversary of 9/11, the feds said.

EXPLOSIVE CHARGE: Queens imam Ahmad Wais Afzali, who allegedly tipped off bomb-plot suspect Najibullah Zazi, leaves Brooklyn federal court yesterday with wife Fatima after making bail.

Brian Branch Price
EXPLOSIVE CHARGE: Queens imam Ahmad Wais Afzali, who allegedly tipped off bomb-plot suspect Najibullah Zazi, leaves Brooklyn federal court yesterday with wife Fatima after making bail.

READ THE INDICTMENT AGAINST ZAZI

On Sept. 6 and 7, Zazi holed up in a hotel suite in his hometown of Aurora, Colo., and “attempted to communicate on multiple occasions with another individual — each communication more urgent in tone than the last — seeking to correct mixtures of ingredients to make explosives,” a frightening detention memo says.

“Zazi repeatedly emphasized . . . that he needed the answers right away.”

Court papers say little about where and when the alleged attacks were to occur, but counterterrorism officials fear Zazi planned to target passenger trains and stadiums.

READ THE MOTION TO DENY ZAZI BAIL

Residue from acetone, one of the three main components of the explosive he allegedly planned to detonate, was found in a vent above a stove in the hotel room, where authorities believe Zazi was creating a highly concentrated form of the material.

More than a year earlier, in August 2008, Zazi traveled to Pakistan, where he used three e-mail accounts to store jpeg images of “nine handwritten notes containing formulations and instructions regarding the manufacture and handling of different kinds of explosives,” court papers say.

The notes allegedly contain details for an explosive known as triacetone triperoxide — the same used in 2001 by airline shoe bomber Richard Reid and in 2005 by the London train bombers — made from hydrogen peroxide, acetone and hydrochloric acid.

Zazi, an airport shuttle driver who lived in Flushing, Queens, before his overseas trip, flew back to New York in January 2009 and moved to Aurora, where he allegedly continued trolling the Internet for bomb-making information.

Over the summer, he and at least three unidentified cohorts bought “unusually large quantities” of the explosive ingredients from beauty-supply stores in the Denver area, the papers say.

According to one law-enforcement official, Zazi’s associates traveled to Colorado specifically to help him stockpile the materials, bought with stolen credit cards.

Zazi also searched the Internet for home-improvement stores in Queens — presumably as a source for additional bomb-making materials, the feds said — before renting a car Sept. 8 and driving to New York.

But he’d been under surveillance and agents were right behind him. They stopped him on the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 10.

Still under surveillance, he was allowed to return to Colorado, where he was formally arrested in Aurora on Sept. 19.

Prosecutors in Colorado yesterday dismissed relatively minor charges that Zazi lied to the feds — so he could be brought to New York to face charges of “conspiracy to use one or more weapons of mass destruction.”

His father, Mohammed Zazi, 53, also charged with lying, but not in the alleged bomb plot, was released to an undisclosed location and will have to wear a monitoring device. Sources said he’d gotten threats and didn’t want to return to his apartment.

Also yesterday, Ahmad Wais Afzali, one of several Queens residents whose homes was raided after Zazi’s arrest, was in Brooklyn federal court and released on $1.5 million bail on a charge of lying to investigators. He, too, has to wear a monitoring device.

Police suspect Afzali, a Muslim cleric and sometime informant for the NYPD, tipped Zazi that he was being watched. “I never did, never will, and would never do it,” he said outside his home.

He admitted only that, in his role as an imam, he knew Zazi when the alleged terrorist was 14.

Zazi has denied any involvement in terrorist activities.

Meanwhile, as The Post reported Sunday, a senior NYPD commander in the terror probe, Inspector Paul Ciorra, has been transferred amid questions about the handling of Afzali. The imam telephoned Zazi after detectives from Ciorra’s division started asking questions about him around Queens earlier this month.

A source told The Associated Press he’ll head the Highway Patrol.

Additional reporting by Austin Fenner and Julia Dahl, with AP

—————

Meanwhile in Canada, Zazi’s angry relatives claim his arrest is the result of nothing more than racism because he is Afghan and a Muslim…….

From The Calgary Herald.


Jummah ‘prayer’ on Capitol Hill-a day of Islamic unity

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IslamonCapitolHill

Poster promoting Jummah prayer on Capitol Hill for September 25, 2009.

“Our Time Has Come!”

The worshipers were invited to come to pray on Capitol Hill 50,000 strong. 90% didn’t show up. Prior to the event, organizer and president Hassen Abdellah of Dar-ul-Islam of Elizabeth touted, “This is not a protest. Never has the Islamic community prayed on Capitol Hill for the soul of America. We’re Americans. We need to change the face of Islam so people don’t feel every Muslim believes America is the great Satan, because we love America.

The soul of America? We love America?

Really Mr. Abdellah? Then explain this:

Muslim white house

Islamoncapitolhill, a site set up to promote the event, charges, “In the name of Allah. The objective of this gathering is to invite the Muslim communities and friends of Islam to express and illustrate the wonderful diversity of Islam. We intend to manifest Islam’s majestic, spiritual principles as revealed by Allah to our beloved prophet, Muhammed in Arabia. Likewise; we intend to inspire a new generation of Muslims to work for the greater good of all people. We shall serve all people, regardless of race, religion or national origin”.

Included on their site is a woman fully decked out in burqa attire. I wonder if the muslimah will have to pray separately in the backyard of Capitol Hill?

Anyone who even has a basic understanding of the Islamist mindset knows full well this objective is a lie, especially given the sentiment of the invited speakers at the event, Sheik Muhammed Jebril and Sheik Ahmed Dewidar (two Egyptians, home based to the Muslim Brotherhood). Atlas Shrugs gives an excellent and thorough analysis of these two ‘bridge builders’. For starters, Jebril attained a degree in sharia law from Al-Azhar University and was named Imam of the extremist mosque Amr Ibn Al’Ass in Cairo in 1988. He is also a university professor in Jordan.

Sheik Dewidar claims that American society is controlled by the Jews, has hinted that the 9/11 attack was an American conspiracy and believes the American media/press is under Zionist control which spreads a negative perception of Islam. (Who needs the western press to give Islam a bad name; Muslims are quite capable of doing this themselves on a daily basis).

And what of event organizer Dar-ul-Islam president Hassen Abdellah? Well, he is also president of The Muslim Brothers Inc., and as an attorney, defended Mahmoud Abonhalima who was charged with the bombing of the World Trade Center-he also defended Faruq Brent who plead guilty to providing material support for Lashkar-e-Taiba. Abdella is quoted to say:

“We are going to the White House , so that Islam will be victorious, Allah willing, and the White House will turn into the Muslim House”.

It’s hard to say why only 5,000 of the faithful showed as opposed to the predicted 50,000 (although some reports indicate as few as 1,000). Regardless, does the United States really want Islamists ‘praying’ on Capitol Hill spurred on by Jew-haters, sharia advocates and terror sympathizers in the very same place Presidents have been inaugurated, or for that matter any place at all?

Islam on Capitol Hill portends: ” The peace, beauty and solidarity of Islam will shine through America’s capital”.

Here’s how Islam’s peace, beauty and solidarity shines throughout the world:

Gaza: Children’s programme incites anti-Jew hatred, violence.

Sydney: Do it yourself terrorist handbook, Provisions of the Rules of Jihad: a Practical Guide to Achieving Martyrdom editor busted;

Converts to Christianity prevented from leaving Egypt;

Brussels: Woman murdered for not wearing veil;

Egypt: Muslim beheads Christian in Egypt;

Milan: Muslim attacks Italian politician for burqa stance;

Turkey: Christian tombs desecrated.

Kenya: Muslims kill Christian for carrying Bibles.

Peace, Beauty, Solidarity. Majestic, spiritual, inspirational.

Mr. Stelmach– tear down this free speech wall!

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Calgary Herald… Is the tide of Canadian censorship finally starting to turn?

We are hopeful, though not tempted to complacency.

This week, the Alberta Human Rights Commission cited a string of recent court and commission climb-downs, in the reasons it gave for dismissing a complaint lodged against this newspaper and its corporate companion, the Edmonton Journal.

Naturally, the Herald –which has been very vocal on this issue for many years, if not decades– welcomes the decision.

However, it rests on an interpretation by a human rights commission of its own powers: The situation is thus somewhat comparable to the police investigating allegations of police misbehaviour. So, while it is a good thing that commissions are starting to realize how much they have exceeded the intentions of those who established them, a reduction of their powers must be cemented with new legislation, if free-speech rights are to be properly protected.

The case involving the Herald and the Journal arose from an editorial published in April 2002, which catalogued several allegations of duplicity, manipulation, atrocity and hypocrisy on the part of Palestinian leaders in their dealings with Israel.

At the time, reports of terrorist activity came almost daily, interspersed with the late Yasser Arafat’s protestations that all he wanted was peace: The matter was top of mind, and ripe for public examination. However, Muslim advocates complained that it was “likely to expose to hatred or contempt Palestinian Arabs and Muslims,” though there was no proof of that whatsoever and it was certainly not the intent.

Initially, the AHRC was inclined to agree, its 2004 Investigating Report finding “merit” to the complaint.

However, nearly five years later (and seven years after the original publication) it changed gears. “. . . Although offensive, the editorial does not infringe Section 3 of the Act . . . This is supported by recent case law since the issue of the Investigating Report,” wrote commission director Marie Riddle.

And, what did the new case law say? Continue Reading →

Geert Wilders warns the western world. This is good. Pay attention

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h/t jdamn at The Force of Reason

Dead lilies and an al-Qaeda sleeper agent

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What happens if you are sitting at lunch and notice a dead canna lily languishing in a garden? Chances are good that you’d be threatened with prosecution. What happens if you are an accused al-Qaeda sleeper agent? Chances are you’d be set free.

From the Telegraph U.K.

Mother-of-two threatened with prosecution for picking dead flower

A mother-of-two, Angie Summers, was threatened with prosecution for theft and criminal damage after pulling up a dead flower from a council border in Devizes, Wiltshire.

Angie Summers from Devizes, Wiltshire next to the flower bed where she pulled up a dead plant: Mother-of-two threatened with prosecution for picking dead flower

Angie Summers from Devizes, Wiltshire next to the flower bed where she pulled up a dead plant Photo: SWNS

Mrs Summers, 43, was on her lunchbreak in a public square when she uprooted the withered canna lily.

She said the 18-inch-high flower was dead and removed it because it was spoiling the look of the display.

However, a passer-by reported her actions to the town council and Mrs Summers was stunned when a police officer later called at her home.

He threatened to ‘put her in the cells’ and warned that she could be prosecuted for theft and criminal damage – offences carrying a possible six-month prison term. Continue Reading →

FBI Arrests Man Trying To Bomb Fountain Place Skyscraper Downtown – Dallas Texas

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fountain_place_terror_plot

Dallas Police have arrested Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian citizen after he allegedly placed a device described as an inactive car bomb near a skyscraper in downtown Dallas.
Breaking reports say Smadi was charged with “attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.”

Apparently according to news reports, Smadi had been under FBI surveillance for some time after expressing “his desire to commit violent jihad” numerous times.

FBI says agents arrested Smadi after he placed what he thought was a bomb at the base of Fountain Place, a 60-story skyscraper located in downtown Dallas.

FBI Press Release

James T. Jacks, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, and Robert E. Casey, Jr., Special Agent in Charge for the Dallas Office of the FBI, announced today that Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, 19, has been arrested and charged in a federal criminal complaint with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Smadi, who was under continuous surveillance by the FBI, was arrested today near Fountain Place, a 60-story glass office tower located at 1445 Ross Avenue in downtown Dallas, after he placed an inert/inactive car bomb at the location. Smadi, a Jordanian citizen in the U.S. illegally, lived and worked in Italy, Texas. He has repeatedly espoused his desire to commit violent Jihad and has been the focus of an undercover FBI investigation.

“The highest priority of the FBI and the Department of Justice remains the prevention of another terrorist attack within the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Jacks. “In that effort, it is the job of the FBI to locate and identify individuals intent upon carrying out any type of attack upon this country and its citizens/residents. Whether as part of a group or acting alone, persons contemplating such acts need to know that all components of the government are working together to ferret out their activities and to insure that such individuals face the full measure of the law. The identification and apprehension of this defendant, who was acting alone, is a sobering reminder that there are people among us who want to do us grave harm,” Jacks continued.

Special Agent in Charge Casey said, “Today’s arrest of Hosam Maher Husein Smadi underscores the FBI’s unwavering commitment to bring to justice persons who attempt to bring harm to citizens of this country and significant danger to this community. Smadi made a decision to act to commit a significant conspicuous act of violence under his banner of “self Jihad.” He will now face justice. The many agents, detectives, analysts and prosecutors who helped to bring about Thursday’s arrest deserve special thanks for their efforts. This case serves as a reminder of the continuing threats of terrorism we face as a nation and the FBI’s resolve to meet those threats. The arrest of Smadi is not in any way related to the ongoing terror investigation in New York and Colorado.”

“The criminal complaint alleges that Hosam Smadi sought and attempted to bomb the Fountain Place office tower, but a coordinated undercover law enforcement action was able to thwart his efforts and ensure no one was harmed,” said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

Smadi will make his initial appearance tomorrow in U.S. District Court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma C. Ramirez.

According to affidavits filed today with the complaint and search warrants:

Smadi was discovered by the FBI espousing his desire to commit significant acts of violence. Smadi stood out because of his vehement intention to actually conduct terror attacks in the U.S.

The FBI developed an investigative plan to determine Smadi’s true intent while also protecting the public’s safety. Smadi made clear his intention to serve as a soldier for Usama Bin Laden and al-Qa’ida, and to conduct violent Jihad. Undercover FBI agents, posing as members of an al-Qa’ida “sleeper” cell, were introduced to Smadi, who repeatedly indicated to them that he came to the U.S. for the specific purpose of committing “Jihad for the sake of God.” Smadi clarified that he was interested in “self-Jihad,” because it was “the best type of Jiihad.” Smadi was interested in violent Jihad against those he deemed to be enemies of Islam. The investigation determined Smadi was not associated with other terrorist organizations.

Throughout the investigation, undercover FBI agents repeatedly encouraged Smadi to reevaluate his interpretation of Jihad, counseling him that the obligations a Moslem has to perform Jihad can be satisfied in many ways. Every time this interaction occurred, Smadi aggressively responded that he was going to commit significant, conspicuous acts of violence as his Jihad.

In June 2009, Smadi identified potential targets in the Dallas area; but in mid-July, he notified an undercover FBI agent that he had changed his mind regarding the targets. On July 21, 2009, Smadi met with an undercover FBI agent and directed the agent to drive them to a Wells Fargo Bank in downtown Dallas. Smadi and the undercover FBI agent then drove to 1445 Ross Avenue where the Fountain Place office tower is located. A Wells Fargo Bank is located in that building. Smadi went into the building where he conducted his own reconnaissance.

In late August 2009, while meeting with one of the undercover FBI agents in Dallas, Smadi discussed the logistics and timing of the bombing, stating that he would have preferred to do the attack on “11 September,” but decided to wait until after the month of Ramadan, which ended on September 20, 2009. At the conclusion of the meeting, Smadi decided that a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) would be placed at the foundation of the Fountain Place office tower. Unbeknownst to Smadi, the FBI ensured the VBIED contained only an inert/inactive explosive device which contained no explosive materials.

A federal complaint is a written statement of the essential facts of the offenses charged, and must be made under oath before a magistrate judge. A defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The offense of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction carries, upon conviction, a maximum statutory sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The case is being investigated by the FBI in conjunction with members of the FBI-sponsored North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dayle Elieson is in charge of the prosecution. The Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division is assisting in the prosecution.

h/t Solstice