Last week, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-born-isis-bride-says-everyone-deserves-second-chance-n1075046">NBC News</a> offered another sympathetic interview to Hoda Muthana, the New Jersey-born daughter of a Yemeni diplomat who left Alabama in 2014 to join the Islamic State in Syria and subsequently married three terrorists. Though she helped the terrorist group carry on its barbaric campaign for years and infamously tweeted in 2015 to American-based jihadists, “Go on drive-bys and spill all of their blood,&#8221; she told NBC she deserves &#8220;a second chance&#8221; because she &#8220;regrets every single thing.&#8221;
On Thursday, a judge ruled against Muthana and in favor of the Trump administration, which contends that she is not in fact a U.S. citizen because she was born on American soil while her father still had diplomatic status in the U.S.
&#8220;Judge Reggie Walton said there was sufficient evidence that Muthana had been born while her father, who once represented Yemen in the United Nations, still had diplomatic status in the US,&#8221; Buzzfeed News reported Thursday. &#8220;<a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?&amp;node=se8.1.101_13">Federal regulations</a> and international law state that children of foreign diplomats born in the US are not subject to the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv">14th Amendment to the Constitution</a>, which guarantees birthright citizenship, because they are born under the jurisdiction of another country.&#8221;
Along with determining that Muthana does not deserve U.S. citizenship, Judge Walton ruled that her former diplomat father cannot provide financial support to her or her young son, born in ISIS-controlled territory (the child&#8217;s father is reportedly the third terrorist Muthana married). To do so would be providing material support to terrorism, Walton ruled.
Muthana&#8217;s layer, Christina Jump, told BuzzFeed following the ruling that they believe they can appeal the case and &#8220;pursue any additional options which may be available solely to [her] child.&#8221;
As reported by the <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/11/14/judge-rules-isis-bride-hoda-muthana-is-not-a-us-citizen/">New York Post</a>, Muthana&#8217;s father, Ahmed Ali Muthana, filed a lawsuit on behalf of his daughter claiming that he surrendered his diplomatic status on June 2, 1994, before she was born. But the Trump administration has made clear that they reject the argument.
&#8220;Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States,&#8221; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Feb 20, 2019. &#8220;She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States. We continue to strongly advise all U.S. citizens not to travel to Syria
The same day, Trump tweeted: “I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!”
The Obama administration agreed, informing Muthana&#8217;s family in 2016 that her passport was revoked and that she is not a U.S. citizen.
Following the terrorist group&#8217;s collapse, Muthana has been living with her 2-year-old son in a tent in the al-Roj refugee camp in northeast Syria for the last 10 months. The camp, which is guarded by an all-woman Kurdish militia, contains about 500 women who likewise joined the failed jihadist campaign.
In her interview with NBC last week, Muthana painted herself as a victim, living in perpetual fear of retribution from fellow former ISIS supporters for openly denouncing her past views and actions. “I am risking my life doing these types of interviews,” Muthana told NBC.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/woman-who-urged-jihadists-to-spill-american-blood-pleads-again-to-get-back-in-u-s-trumps-made-clear-where-he-stands">Woman Who Urged Jihadists To Spill American Blood Pleads Again To Get Back In U.S.; Trump’s Made Clear Where He Stands</a>

Islamic State flag is seen on an android mobile phone with

U.S.-Born ISIS Bride&#8217;s Attempt To Get Back Into Country Crushed By Judge

Islamic State (ISIS)

Syria

Terrorism

We are only now beginning to understand the true extent of Qatar’s long campaign to subvert the American political establishment, to advance its own interests, and to advance the interests of <a href="https://ahvalnews.com/qatar-turkey/qatar-iran-turkey-alliance-erodes-regional-security-arab-weekly">close allies</a> Iran and Turkey. It seems like every passing month reveals <a href="https://efile.fara.gov/ords/f?p=1381:130:12387682161381::NO::P130_CNTRY:QA">more public figures</a> working to advance the Qatari agenda. The latest to be make headlines is former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar Dana Shell Smith, a senior foreign policy advisor to the Kamala Harris presidential campaign.
Following the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Smith raised eyebrows when she <a href="https://twitter.com/ambdana/status/1188446888967786499">objected</a> on Twitter to President Trump’s pitiless description of Baghdadi’s death. She <a href="https://twitter.com/AmbDana/status/1188446071019724803">wrote</a>: “This gruesome, vivid and probably exaggerated description of dogs chasing down Baghdadi will endanger our personnel in the region. … When bin Laden was killed, we were careful to be clear that he had been given a proper Muslim burial.”
To be sure, she <a href="https://twitter.com/AmbDana/status/1188454050372698114">added</a> that, “The killing of Baghdadi was unquestionably good and necessary.” But her larger objection was met with <a href="https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2019/10/28/obamas-qatar-ambassador-has-some-thoughts-on-the-way-president-trump-talked-about-the-death-of-al-baghdadi/">scorn</a> by many who found it hard to believe that Smith wanted due honors given to a violent <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Baghdadi-rapist-led-genocidal-caliphate-died-in-tunnel-606053">murderer and rapist</a> like Baghdadi.
Why, then, does Smith care so much about Baghdadi’s dignity?
Possibly it is not she who cares, but her friends in Qatar. Despite their claims of moderation, many Qataris actually support ISIS. A 2014 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/28/support-isis-stronger-arabic-social-media-europe-us-than-syria">study</a> found that 47% of Qatari Arabic language social media messages discussing ISIS were supportive — the highest percentage in the world. And this is just one instance of Qatar’s <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/countries/qatar">long history</a> of supporting extremists, including al-Qaeda and Hamas.
Normally one wouldn’t assume that an ex-diplomat would parrot the opinions of her former host country. But Smith’s case is special. She has a <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/africaTech/idAFL1N21J0DJ">long history</a> of <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/otaiba-ambassador-uae-leaked-emails_n_5932bf04e4b02478cb9bec1c">advocating for the interests</a> of Qatar. Earlier this year, investigative journalist Daniel Greenfield published a detailed <a href="https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2019/07/qatar-supporter-advising-kamala-harris-daniel-greenfield/">exposé</a> of Smith’s long history of advancing Qatari foreign policy — even while serving as U.S. ambassador.
Canadian businessman Alan Bender went further. Bender, who had spoken with high-level Qatari officials, said that Smith was being paid by Qatar through her <a href="https://www.fp4america.org/dana-shell-smith">consulting firm</a> <a href="https://sccefile.scc.virginia.gov/Business/S655876">Decibel Strategy LLC</a> — which Bender described as “her fake company in the U.S.” (The company has no public presence and does not describe its clients or services.)
Smith is not the only former diplomat to be working for Qatar’s interests. Even if we stick to public data, several former ambassadors have gone so far as to openly take Qatari money.
The list is impressive. Former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar (1995–1998) <a href="https://qataramerica.org/team/ambassador-patrick-theros/">Patrick Theros</a> was the long-serving president of the U.S.-Qatar Business Council, and also was one of the first board members of Qatar Foundation International. Amb. <a href="http://untermeyer.com/resume/">Chase Untermeyer</a> (2004–2007) did business consulting for U.S. firms operating in Qatar before becoming the founding chairman of the Qatar-America Institute in 2017. And Amb. <a href="https://www.squirepattonboggs.com/en/professionals/l/lebaron-joseph">Joseph LeBaron</a> (2008–2011) is now <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lebaron1">vice chair</a> of Daruna, a firm providing housing for migrant workers in Qatar and the chairman of which is Qatari royal family member Shaikh Nasser Al-Thani; LeBaron also became a senior advisor to Squire Patton Boggs, which has <a href="https://efile.fara.gov/docs/2165-Exhibit-AB-19940201-DBKPB503.pdf">lobbied</a> for Qatar since 1994.
Other public figures known to have previously taken Qatari money include <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/23/rudy_giuliani_loves_america_except_when_hes_consulting_for_qatar/">Rudy Giuliani</a> and <a href="https://efile.fara.gov/ords/f?p=1381:130:12387682161381::NO::P130_CNTRY:QA">dozens</a> of lobbying firms in Washington. And Qatar-financed lobbyists Nick Muzin and Joey Allaham were the point-men in a controversial <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-lobbying-qatar-targeted-250-trump-influencers-to-change-u-s-policy-1535554647">Qatari campaign</a> to target some 250 “influencers” in and around the Trump administration, at least some of whom were handsomely paid themselves as a result. Qatar paid the pair $3 million for that effort, and <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/01/qatari-lobbyists-received-millions-through-shadow-firm/">another</a> $3.9 million for “foster[ing] dialogue” with American business leaders.
It’s not illegal to take foreign money, as long as it is properly disclosed. But if Smith or Decibel Strategies is indeed being paid by Qatar, she has not disclosed it in a Foreign Agent Registration Act (<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2009-title22/pdf/USCODE-2009-title22-chap11-subchapII.pdf">FARA</a>) filing — though she is mentioned in other entity filings, having <a href="https://efile.fara.gov/docs/2165-Supplemental-Statement-20160714-24.pdf">met</a> with Squire Patton Boggs several times while ambassador.
Whether or not Smith is actually on the Qatari payroll, she appears to be participating in a massive and well-funded effort by Qatar to subvert our foreign policy. This broad-spectrum effort includes <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/16/qatar-georgetown-texas-university/">hundreds of millions</a> of dollars paid to our universities, for which Qatar has gotten <a href="https://twitter.com/Bush41Library/status/922929216953503744">valuable</a> <a href="https://www.qatar.georgetown.edu/news-events/news/report-highlights-georgetown%E2%80%99s-thought-leadership">quid pro quos</a>; the extensive propaganda operations of regime-owned Al Jazeera, which have sparked calls from lawmakers to make it <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/401145-al-jazeera-propagates-hatred-is-it-also-a-foreign-agent">disclose</a> its <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/al-jazeera-pushes-back-on-gop-effort-to-force-it-to-register-as-a-foreign-agent">activities</a> under FARA; and the well-publicized <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/us/politics/foreign-powers-buy-influence-at-think-tanks.html">corrupting</a> of major think tanks such as the Brookings Institute. And that’s merely the legal elements of Qatar’s plan.
Qatar has every right to advocate for its interests, and even to hire American figures to make its case. But there is a difference between advocacy and corruption. American foreign policy needs to be built around America’s interests, not those of foreign countries with large bankrolls.
&nbsp;
Dr. Oren Litwin is a Fellow for <a href="https://www.meforum.org/islamist-watch/">Islamist Watch</a>, a project of the <a href="https://www.meforum.org">Middle East Forum</a>.

Doha Qatar skyline

LITWIN: Former Diplomat And Top Kamala Harris Campaign Advisor Acts As Mouthpiece For Terror-Supporting Qatar

Al Qaeda

Hamas

Kamala Harris

Qatar

Radical Islamic Terror

A Palestinian terrorist leader was killed in an Israeli airstrike Tuesday morning, yet the Agence France-Presse referred to him simply as a “Palestinian.”
In a tweet thread announcing  the death of Baha Abu al-Ata, a senior leader of the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the AFP first reported, simply, “Breaking: Palestinian killed in new Israel strike in Gaza: Hamas ministry.”
A follow-up tweet contained the European Union’s demand for a “rapid and complete de-escalation” after Israel struck Gaza. The next tweet in the thread is the only one that mentions that the Palestinian killed was a terrorist. “VIDEO: Israel&#8217;s military has killed a commander for the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in a strike in the Gaza Strip, prompting retaliatory rocket fire,” the tweet said.
The final tweet in the thread just repeated: “Breaking Palestinian killed in new Israeli strike: Gaza ministry.”
The thread ignores important context surrounding al-Ata’s death. Other media outlets provided that context. The Times of Israel <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-girds-for-several-days-of-fighting-after-some-150-rockets-fired-at-israel/">reported</a> that the country launched the targeted attack on al-Ata, whom Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya called the “chief terrorist in Gaza.”
&#8220;He initiated, planned and carried out many terrorist attacks. He fired hundreds of rockets at communities in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip, whose suffering we have seen,&#8221; Netanyahu said at a press conference in Tel Aviv. &#8220;He was in the midst of planning additional attacks in the immediate short term. He was a ticking bomb.&#8221;
In response, more than 150 rockets have been fired at Israel since al-Ata’s death. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly shot down 50 of the rockets, and did not retaliate for six hours. The BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50386164">reported</a> that 17 Israelis were “lightly wounded” in attacks, including an eight-year-old girl who is now in stable condition.
In addition to al-Ata, Israel also struck the home of a second PIJ leader in the Syrian capital of Damascus, according to Syria’s state news agency.
The AFP’s tweets ignoring why the “Palestinian” was killed is reminiscent of the obituary The Washington Post wrote for ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death. Al-Baghdadi was the world’s top terrorist and killed himself by blowing up himself and several members of his family to avoid U.S. capture. The Post originally headlined its obituary: “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islamic State’s ‘terrorist-in-chief,’ dies at 48.” The headline was then changed to refer to al-Baghdadi as an “austere religious scholar at helm of Islamic State.” The headline was changed again to call al-Baghdadi the “extremist leader of Islamic State.”
The Post’s article wrote of al-Baghdadi in far more favorable terms than other terrorists.
“Acquaintances would remember him as a shy, nearsighted youth who liked soccer but preferred to spend his free time at the local mosque,” the Post wrote of the terrorist leader.
This was a different tone than the Post struck when Osama bin Laden was killed during the Obama administration. Bin Laden was called the “leader of terrorist group al-Qaeda” when he died, with no headline changes. Further, the Post waited until the 34th paragraph in its article to acknowledge that al-Baghdadi was a serial rapist of women he held as sex slaves.

Baha abu al-Ata

Palestinian Terrorist Killed In Israeli Airstrike. AFP Calls Him Simply &#8216;Palestinian.&#8217;

Israel

Palestinians

Citing fear for the safety of herself and her child, the America-born daughter of a Yemeni diplomat who urged her fellow U.S.-based jihadists to go on &#8220;drivebys&#8221; and &#8220;spill all their [Americans&#8217;] blood&#8221; says she deserves &#8220;a second chance&#8221; because she now fully &#8220;regrets every single thing.&#8221;
According to the Trump administration&#8217;s past statements about the self-described &#8220;regretful&#8221; terrorist, however, she has no chance of getting back in.
In yet another sympathetic interview with <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-born-isis-bride-says-everyone-deserves-second-chance-n1075046">NBC News</a> published Friday, Hoda Muthana, a 25-year-old who left Alabama in 2014 to join the Islamic State in Syria and subsequently married three terrorists, tried again to make her case for being readmitted into the U.S.
Muthana currently lives in a tent with her 2-year-old son in the al-Roj refugee camp, a camp in northeast Syria that contains about 500 women who likewise joined ISIS and which is manned by an all-women Kurdish militia. Muthana has lived in the camp for 10 months since the collapse of the terrorist group she traveled from America to join.
In the interview, Muthana insisted to NBC that she fully &#8220;regrets&#8221; her past decisions and that she &#8220;deserves a second chance&#8221; no matter how &#8220;harmful&#8221; her past sins, NBC reports.
&#8220;Anyone that believes in God believes that everyone deserves a second chance, no matter how harmful their sins were,&#8221; Muthana told NBC, who also interviewed her earlier in the year.
&#8220;I did not support the beheadings from Dhola from day one till now,&#8221; she told NBC despite having fought alongside the murderous group for years and married three terrorists. &#8220;I do not support any of their crimes. I do not support any of their suicide attempts.&#8221;
She also portrayed herself as a victim under threat from more radical women in the refugee camp, describing herself as living in a state of fear of reprisal from fellow refugees who hold more radical views.
&#8220;I am risking my life doing these types of interviews,&#8221; Muthana told the network.
Along with the fear is a sense of despair, she suggested, telling NBC she finds it &#8220;hard to get up&#8221; in the morning. She said she wants her son to be around their family, while she just wants to &#8220;go to school,&#8221; &#8220;have a job&#8221; and &#8220;own my own car.&#8221;
Though Muthana maintains that she is &#8220;just as American as any blond-haired, blue-eyed girl,&#8221; as she put it in a February NBC interview — suggesting race was a factor rather than her terrorist activity — the Trump administration says that&#8217;s not true.
Born in New Jersey to a Yemen diplomat, the administration argues, she is not actually an American citizen. As NBC notes, &#8220;The children of foreign diplomats based in the U.S. are excluded from the right to citizenship by birthright.&#8221;
Though her father&#8217;s diplomatic posting ended in 1994, his family was allowed to stay in the U.S. because of the civil war raging in Yemen.
When Muthana&#8217;s legal attempt to get re-admitted into the U.S. first became a national story in February, President Trump announced on Twitter that he&#8217;d shut it down.
&#8220;I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!&#8221; Trump tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1098327855145062411?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;She&#8217;s a terrorist. She&#8217;s not a U.S. citizen,&#8221; Pompeo <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/video/mike-pompeo-on-hoda-muthana-she-is-not-a-us-citizen-1446009923715">told</a> NBC a day later. &#8220;She ought not return to this country.&#8221;

Woman Who Urged Jihadists To Spill American Blood Pleads Again To Get Back In U.S.; Trump&#8217;s Made Clear Where He Stands

Donald Trump

Radical Islam

An Ohio man has pleaded guilty in an attempt to provide material aid to by plotting a terrorist attack on July 4th.
The Maple Heights man, Demetrius Nathaniel Pitts (also known as Abdur Raheem Rafeeq and Salah ad-Deen Osama Waleed) spent two years expressing anti-American sentiments and a “desire to recruit people to kill Americans,” the Department of Justice said in <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ohio-man-pleads-guilty-plotting-july-4th-attack-cleveland-part-plot-provide-support-al-qaeda">a statement</a> released Tuesday. Pitts, 50, “pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, threats against the President of the United States and threats against family members of the President of the United States,” the statement said.
After Pitts expressed a desire to meet someone in al Qaeda in June 2018, he was put in touch with an undercover FBI agent. The agent posed as a member of al Qaeda and met with Pitts that month in Walton Hills, Ohio. The two discussed Pitts’ plans to launch an attack that July 4th.
“I’m trying to figure out something that would shake them up on the 4th of July,” Pitt told the agent, according to the DOJ. He later said: “What would hit them at their core?  Blow up in the, have a bomb blow up in the 4th of July parade.”
Pitts planned to set off the bomb in Cleveland, and searched online for a map of the downtown area. Once he learned from what park the fireworks would be launched as part of the 4th of July holiday, he suggested that be the place of the bomb. The DOJ statement said Pitts was “pleased the park was near the U.S. Coast Guard station, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Celebrezze Federal Building.”
Pitts told the undercover agent that he would go to Voinovich Park to take photos and video footage of the area for surveillance purposes. He also said he wanted to take a tour of the U.S. Coast Guard station to learn about the facility.
Pitts met with another undercover FBI official on June 25 to pick up supplies to conduct the surveillance efforts. The next day, he texted the first agent to say he completed his surveillance and wanted to “destroy the government.” He also expressed interest in traveling to his hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to look for places where someone else could execute a terrorist attack.
On June 27, Pitts again met with the FBI agent to discuss their plans to bomb the Fourth of July event.
“And I’m gonna be downtown when the – when the thing go off.  I’m gonna be somewhere cuz I wanna see it go off,” Pitts allegedly told the agent.
Pitts also made videos of himself on his phone pledging allegiance to al Qaeda. “We serve Allah . . . We fight our enemies.  We destroy them and destroy those who try to oppose…” he allegedly said in the videos. The phone also contained Pitts’ surveillance videos.
Just days before the attack was supposed to take place, Pitts was asked to explain his plans for an attack in Philadelphia. He was reminded at that time that people could die. He apparently replied; “I don’t care,” adding that he had “no regrets.”
Pitts also pleaded guilty to threatening to kill President Donald Trump and his family members.
“Pitts is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 11, 2020. Under the terms of his guilty plea, Pitts is likely to be sentenced to 14 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release,” the DOJ statement said.

USA Flag

Ohio Man Pleads Guilty To Plotting July 4th Terrorist Attack In Attempt To Aid Al Qaeda

Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard said during a Fox News interview on Thursday night that the United States government is &#8220;hiding the truth&#8221; about the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Gabbard, a Representative from Hawaii, told Tucker Carlson that she believes that the U.S. government is covering up Saudi Arabia&#8217;s role in the attacks which killed thousands of Americans.
&#8220;This story that we’re hearing from the families of those who were killed on 9/11 pushes this issue to the forefront where, for so long, leaders in our government have said, &#8216;well, Saudi Arabia is our great ally, they’re a partner in counterterrorism&#8217; — turning a blind eye or completely walking away from the reality that Saudi Arabia time and again, has proven to be the opposite,&#8221; Gabbard said.
&#8220;They’re undermining our national security interests &#8230; they are the number one exporter of this Wahhabi extremist ideology,&#8221; Gabbard continued. &#8220;They’re a fertile recruiting ground for terrorists, like al Qaeda and ISIS around the world. They’re directly providing arms and assistance to al Qaeda, in places like Yemen, and in Syria.&#8221;
&#8220;And as we are seeing here, it is our government, our own government that is hiding the truth &#8230; and the many other families of those who were killed on 9/11,&#8221; Gabbard concluded. &#8220;For what? Where do the loyalties really lie?&#8221;
Gabbard concluded her remarks by saying that people should &#8220;follow the money trail. It goes back to the military-industrial complex.&#8221;
In a 2016 <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/saudi-arabia-terrorism-funding-214241">article</a> in Politico Magazine, Zalmay Khalilzad — a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations — wrote:
<blockquote>On my most recent trip to Saudi Arabia, I was greeted with a startling confession. In the past, when we raised the issue of funding Islamic extremists with the Saudis, all we got were denials. This time, in the course of meetings with King Salman, Crown Prince Nayef, Deputy Crown Mohammad Bin Salman and several ministers, one top Saudi official admitted to me, “We misled you.” He explained that Saudi support for Islamic extremism started in the early 1960s as a counter to Nasserism—the socialist political ideology that came out of the thinking of Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser—which threatened Saudi Arabia and led to war between the two countries along the Yemen border. This tactic allowed them to successfully contain Nasserism, and the Saudis concluded that Islamism could be a powerful tool with broader utility.
Under their new and unprecedented policy of honesty, the Saudi leadership also explained to me that their support for extremism was a way of resisting the Soviet Union, often in cooperation with the United States, in places like Afghanistan in the 1980s. In this application too, they argued, it proved successful. Later it was deployed against Iranian-supported Shiite movements in the geopolitical competition between the two countries.
But over time, the Saudis say, their support for extremism turned on them, metastasizing into a serious threat to the Kingdom and to the West. They had created a monster that had begun to devour them. “We did not own up to it after 9/11 because we feared you would abandon or treat us as the enemy,” the Saudi senior official conceded. “And we were in denial.”</blockquote>
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks want the truth, and they deserve the truth. Join me in demanding all information regarding Saudi involvement in 9/11 attack: <a href="https://t.co/zVa2levIBv">https://t.co/zVa2levIBv</a> <a href="https://t.co/0nqz6VvLQo">pic.twitter.com/0nqz6VvLQo</a>
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) <a href="https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1190253922776051712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>&nbsp;</blockquote>

Tulsi Gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard: U.S. Government ‘Is Hiding The Truth’ About 9/11 Terror Attacks

The Trump-critical media is working overtime to try to undermine the success of one of the president&#8217;s top national security priorities: the elimination of Islamic State terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Among the outlets doing their best to spoil the moment for Trump is, of course, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/us/politics/baghdadi-isis-leader-trump.html">The New York Times</a>, which declared Sunday, citing anonymous sources, that &#8220;Mr. al-Baghdadi’s death in the raid on Saturday &#8230; occurred largely in spite of, and not because of, Mr. Trump’s actions.&#8221;
In a televised statement Sunday morning, Trump announced the death of al-Baghdadi, who detonated a suicide belt before U.S. forces could take him into custody Saturday.
“Last night, the United States brought the world’s number one terrorist leader to justice: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead,” Trump said in a national address. “Last night was a great night for the U.S. and the world. A brutal killer, one who has caused so much hardship and death, has violently been eliminated. He will never again harm an innocent man, woman or child.”
The terrorist&#8217;s suicide killed some of his one family members, including three of his own children.
“He died like a dog,&#8221; said Trump. &#8220;The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread, terrified of the American forces bearing down on him.”
Along with Democrats, many of whom, including <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/2020-democrats-refuse-to-give-trump-credit-for-killing-isis-leader">presidential candidates</a>, have tried to undercut Trump&#8217;s role in the successful mission, the Times churned out a report Sunday insisting that &#8220;Trump&#8217;s Syria troop withdrawal complicated plans for [the] al-Baghdadi raid.&#8221;
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&#8220;For months, intelligence officials had kept Mr. Trump apprised of what he had set as a top priority, the hunt for Mr. al-Baghdadi, the world’s most wanted terrorist,&#8221; the Times reported. &#8220;But Mr. Trump’s abrupt withdrawal order three weeks ago disrupted the meticulous planning underway and forced Pentagon officials to speed up the plan for the risky night raid before their ability to control troops, spies and reconnaissance aircraft disappeared with the pullout, the officials said.&#8221;
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Though the operation was an unquestioned success which resulted in the elimination of one of the most dangerous men in the world, the Times suggests that Trump&#8217;s &#8220;abrupt&#8221; Syria decision could have, maybe thwarted the whole operation and &#8220;put commanders on the ground under even more pressure to carry out the complicated operation.&#8221;
In its report, the Times also reveals a new detail about how the C.I.A. first learned of al-Baghdadi&#8217;s general location in an al-Qaeda-controlled northwestern Syrian village:  &#8220;The information came after the arrest and interrogation of one of Mr. al-Baghdadi’s wives and a courier, two American officials said.&#8221;
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&#8220;Armed with that initial tip, the C.I.A. worked closely with Iraqi and Kurdish intelligence officials in Iraq and Syria to identify more precisely Mr. al-Baghdadi’s whereabouts and to put spies in place to monitor his periodic movements,&#8221; the Times reports. U.S. officials also told the Times that the Kurds continued to provide intel after Trump ordered the withdrawal of American forces.
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/58280">Washington Post Changes Headline About Terrorist Leader’s Death, Calling Him An ‘Austere Religious Scholar’</a>
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President Trump

NYT: Trump&#8217;s Successful Hunt For Baghdadi Could&#8217;ve Been Ruined By Trump

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

New York Times

As of right now, most national head-to-head polls for the 2020 presidential general election show President Donald Trump losing to his Democratic Party presidential primary rivals. This trend generally holds, regardless of whether the nominee is any of the leading top three Democratic candidates: Former Vice President <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_biden-6247.html">Joe Biden</a>, Sen. <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_warren-6251.html">Elizabeth Warren</a> (D-MA), or Sen. <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_sanders-6250.html">Bernie Sanders</a> (I-VT).
While the Trump campaign might be tempted to rest on its laurels and sneer at the polls based upon a look back at the perceived polling debacle that was the 2016 presidential election, such a move would be just as haughty as it is myopic. As Harry Enten&#8217;s <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trump-is-just-a-normal-polling-error-behind-clinton/">article</a> from November 4, 2016 — that would be four days before the general election — presciently pointed out, in retrospect, polling from the 2016 election cycle was not actually irreconcilable with a Trump victory. Trump obviously trailed Hillary Clinton in the polls, but his victory was actually not outside the realm of polling feasibility — or even outside the realm of polling reasonableness.
As such, the 2020 Trump re-election campaign would be wise to focus on what it can do to win over a larger share of independent, moderate, and suburban voters. In doing so, the Trump campaign would be wise to look back to a much-ballyhooed part of Karl Rove&#8217;s 2004 blueprint for George W. Bush&#8217;s re-election: Specifically, that campaign&#8217;s ingenious focus on the &#8220;<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/security-moms-bushs-secret-election-weapon-gl6jc8cxr7j">security mom</a>.&#8221; The mythical &#8220;security mom,&#8221; at the time, was symbolized by the proverbial suburban mother who was worried about revanchist Islamist terrorism and sought to protect her home and family against those who would seek to kill us.
Although some of the specific animating issues have changed over the past 15 years, there is tremendous potential this election cycle for Trump to deploy similar messaging and reach out to a similar sect of voters.
Violent crime in America, despite overall dramatically declining since the 1990s, has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-in-defense-of-prosecutors">unfortunately spiked</a> over the past few years. Why isn&#8217;t Trump formally renouncing the <a href="https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20191004/he-was-released-early-from-prison-in-february-now-hes-wanted-for-murder-on-federal-hill">harrowing</a> First Step Act jailbreak law, the passage of which he apparently already <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/trump-reportedly-regrets-passage-jailbreak-first-step-act-gullible-conservatives-supported/">regrets</a>, and doubling down on &#8220;Willie Horton&#8221;-style anti-crime messaging?
Left-wing Democrats are campaigning harder than ever on anti-Second Amendment, gun-grabbing policy proposals. Why isn&#8217;t Trump leading Republicans on a 2020 platform of cracking down on the gun felons that <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/html/decriminalization-delusion-14037.html">light-on-crime</a> jurisdictions like California seem <a href="https://calmatters.org/gun-violence/2019/10/felons-firearms-california-federal-charges-gun-control-newsom/">hellbent on unleashing</a> upon the general public?
The global jihad — as embodied both by the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-designating-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-josh-hammer">Muslim Brotherhood</a>, the mother&#8217;s milk of Sunni jihad, as well as more public-facing Islamist outfits like al-Qaeda and Islamic State — continues, 18 years after 9/11, to pose a threat to the U.S. homeland. Why isn&#8217;t Trump running on a platform of discussing not just the wall and border security, but also the arguably even more indispensable issue of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-border-wall-nice-interior-enforcement-nicer-josh-hammer">interior visa enforcement</a>? What about the need to radically <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-never-forget-911-we-need-rethink-how-we-josh-hammer">restructure our immigration policy</a> away from letting in largely unvetted populations of Middle Easterners?
Across the nation, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-who-will-stand-for-the-forgotten-american">neo-Confederate</a> &#8220;sanctuary&#8221; jurisdictions employ anti-<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlevi">Supremacy Clause</a> erroneous legal &#8220;reasoning&#8221; to defy <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiHsv7v4LXjAhWTHM0KHZKMB7gQFjAAegQIAxAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.law.cornell.edu%2Fuscode%2Ftext%2F8%2F1324&amp;usg=AOvVaw2EunpYa249SvA-oBwwFrS2">federal immigration law</a>, ignore ICE detainers on <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/another-illegal-alien-arrested-brutal-rape-notorious-sanctuary-montgomery-county/">violent criminal aliens</a>, and aid and abet the work of the transnational Mexican cartels that traffick drugs and criminals alike into the homeland. Why isn&#8217;t Trump proposing more aggressive policies to strip federal funding away from sanctuary jurisdictions and effectively message to suburban voters that the government will act to help prevent MS-13 thugs from terrorizing their neighborhoods?
There are a myriad other examples, to be sure. But to maximize its 2020 re-election chances, the Trump campaign ought to focus more intensively on appealing to moderates and suburban swing voters. In order to do so, there is no better platform than a safety and security agenda tailored to the very &#8220;security moms&#8221; that President Bush so effectively courted in 2004.

Handcuffed prisoner

HAMMER: Trump Needs To Focus On A Safety And Security Agenda For 2020

2020 Election

Crime

Democratic Party

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Jail

MS-13 Gang

National Security

Last year, media outlets rushed to condemn President Donald Trump and his administration’s claims that terrorists were crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
While the precise number may have been exaggerated, there was at least one major piece of evidence that terrorists could use the U.S. immigration system to illegally cross the border from Mexico and commit an act of terrorism: The fact that someone had done it.
Just one year before the Trump claims, in 2017, Abdulahi Hasan Sharif allegedly rammed into Edmonton police constable Mick Chernyk. Sharif then exited his vehicle and stabbed Chernyk. Sharif fled, later rented a U-Haul truck, and led police on a chase during which he drove into four pedestrians. The attack was called an act of terrorism, as Sharif had an ISIS flag inside the vehicle he used to attack Chernyk, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-don-iveson-terrorism-attack-lone-wolf-1.4315693">according to Canada’s CBC News</a>.
Sharif’s trial began last week, but has received little coverage in the media.
Sharif is a Somali national who came to the U.S. illegally in 2011 after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The CBC <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-attacks-abdulahi-sharif-hasan-attempted-murder-border-crossing-united-states-1.4330527">reported</a> that while the “vast majority of Somalis arrived in the United States as refugees” and were “screened and approved for refugee status before entering the United States,” that is not how Sharif came to America. It appears he traveled to South America from Africa, and then illegally entered the U.S. It is unclear whether or not he made an asylum claim after entering the U.S. Asylum claims made after entering the U.S. are usually denied.
Either way, an immigration judge ordered Sharif to be deported from the U.S. to Somalia. Sharif did not appeal the order but was never deported. Instead, he made his way to Canada, where he allegedly committed the terrorist attack in 2017.
As The Federalist <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/10/14/the-first-illegal-alien-to-commit-a-north-american-terrorist-attack-is-on-trial-but-dont-expect-the-media-to-cover-it/">reported</a>, Sharif is now on public trial for the attack, but his trial is receiving little media attention.
“While he occupies a consequential homeland security pedestal of first border-crosser to conduct a jihadi attack in North America, his backstory remains largely unexcavated for learnable lessons to U.S. homeland security. That may or may not change in the coming weeks of a trial,” wrote Todd Bensman, a senior national security fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies.
As Bensman explained, the prospect that Islamic extremists would enter the U.S. illegally via its southern border has been taken seriously by authorities at the Department of Homeland Security, which overseas Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). From Bensman:
<blockquote>For instance, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations agents are <a href="https://www.justice.gov/criminal-hrsp/file/997546/download">deployed</a> throughout Latin America to disrupt smuggling networks that specialize in transporting foreign citizens from Muslim-majority countries such as Somalia into the United States.
The government labels such migrants “<a href="https://cis.org/Report/Terrorist-Infiltration-Threat-Southwest-Border">special interest aliens</a>” so they can be flagged to ostensibly undergo enhanced security screenings, such as threat assessment interviews, to which Spanish-speaking people are not subject. As I <a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/toddbensman/2019/10/02/appellate-court-agrees-terrorists-sentence-was-lenient-kicks-back-nationally-consequential-case-n2554006">said</a> during recent field reporting on the migrant trails in Panama and Costa Rica, travelers on U.S. terrorism watch lists have been apprehended at the border or en route in recent years. Perhaps because <a href="https://cis.org/sites/default/files/2018-11/bensman-terrorists-crossed_0.pdf">as many as 20 such suspects</a> a year were caught in various American security nets, none had yet been able to attack in North America – until Sharif.</blockquote>
Sharif currently faces “11 counts of attempted murder, aggravated assault, and dangerous driving,” according to Bensman.

Edmonton terrorist attack

Illegal Alien On Trial After Terrorist Attack In Canada

Canada

Illegal Immigration

Somalia

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used his United Nations General Assembly speech last week to blast Israel as the cause of “injustice” in the Middle East and vow that his country “will continue to stand by the oppressed people of Palestine as she has always done.” But a new report by Israel’s Meir Amit Intelligence and Information Center, as well as new sanctions announced by the U.S. Treasury Department, make it clear that Erdogan is in no position to cast aspersions.
“Turkey turns a blind eye to Hamas’ covert operational and financial activity being carried out from its territory (which has recently been demonstrated in the American sanctions) and regularly denies its existence,” the Meir Amit center <a href="https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/app/uploads/2019/09/E_212_19.pdf#page=14">reported</a>.
“[T]he latest American designations clearly demonstrate that Turkey continues to be used as a hub for Hamas’ operational and financial activity, even after the departure of Saleh al-Arouri,” the Meir Amit report <a href="https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/app/uploads/2019/09/E_212_19.pdf#page=14">said</a>. <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/810.pdf">Arouri</a>, a founder of the Hamas military wing and a member of the Hamas political bureau, lived in Turkey until last year.
During his time in Turkey, he helped plot Hamas terror attacks. He <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/4532/hamas-official-admits-his-group-murdered-three">claimed credit</a> on behalf of Hamas for the 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli yeshiva students. Later that year, the Shin Bet “uncovered an extensive Hamas military network which operated in Judea and Samaria. Its operatives had planted IEDs in Samaria. They [were] handled by Hamas’ headquarters in Turkey,” the Meir Amit report <a href="https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/app/uploads/2019/09/E_212_19.pdf#page=13">said</a>. “Hamas’ military operatives who were trained abroad (in various countries, including Turkey) participated in this activity.”
For his part, Erdogan <a href="https://english.palinfo.com/news/2016/11/22/Erdogan-Hamas-elected-national-liberation-movement">considers</a> Hamas a “liberation movement” and denies that it is a terrorist group.
While it supports the Palestinian-Arab cause, Turkey denies autonomy to more than 15 million Kurds and even <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/in-turkey-repression-of-the-kurdish-language-is-back-with-no-end-in-sight/">represses</a> the use of the Kurdish language. It has bombed Kurdish civilians. It occupies much of northwestern Syria and has <a href="https://israelunwired.com/silence-from-the-west-as-turkey-conducts-ethnic-cleansing-against-kurds-and-christians-in-afrin-syria/">engaged</a> in ethnic cleansing <a href="https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/0784919f-57d4-43f5-b970-f7d7bea78994">against</a> the Kurds there. Turkish warplanes bombed a hospital in Afrin during its invasion of the Kurdish enclave last year, independent <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/03/19/did-turkey-bomb-afrin-hospital/">analysis</a> by Bellingcat, a citizen journalism organization that focuses on war crimes and criminal activities, showed.
Earlier this month, <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm772">the U.S. Treasury Department</a> announced sanctions on Hamas leaders and ISIS facilitators living in Turkey.
Those include Zaher Jabarin, who heads Hamas’ finance office from Turkey and manages tens of millions of dollars in Hamas money. Jabarin’s transfers of U.S. dollars “finance HAMAS’ terrorist activity,” the Treasury statement said. Like Arouri, Jabarin was one of the founders of the Hamas military wing in Judea and Samaria. Jabarin was in charge of a Hamas squad that abducted and murdered Israeli border policeman Nissim Toledano in 1992, the Meir Amit report <a href="https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/app/uploads/2019/09/E_212_19.pdf#page=14">said</a>.
“Jabarin has served as the primary point of contact between Hamas and the [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp –Quds Force] IRGC-QF. Since 2017, his relations with them were enhanced based on Hamas operatives’ efforts to increase funding from Iran,” the <a href="https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/new-designations-recently-published-us-department-state-department-treasury-reveals-turkeys-central-role-hub-hamas-handles-financial-matters-includin/">report</a> said.
Treasury also targeted the Turkey-based Redin Exchange as “a key part of the infrastructure used to transfer money” to Hamas. Redin transferred $10 million to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, in March.
Redin also facilitated a $2 million transfer last year from the IRGC-QF and Hezbollah to Hamas. Its deputy CEO, Ismail Tash, was the primary contact in numerous Iran-Hamas money transfers, the Meir Amit report found.
Erdogan’s inner circle has encouraged bloodshed between Israel and the Palestinians by providing assistance to the al-Qassam Brigades. Israel’s Shin Bet <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/7349/shin-bet-investigation-exposes-depth-of-turkey">arrested</a> two suspects last year linked to the <a href="http://www.sadat.com.tr/about-us/news/141-how-is-the-palestine-question-solved.html">Turkish private military company SADAT</a>, which run by <a href="https://www.cnnturk.com/turkiye/erdogana-basdanisman-atanan-adnan-tanriverdi-kimdir-sadat-nedir">top Erdogan military adviser</a> retired Brig. Gen. Adnan Tanriverdi. It accused them of helping Hamas’ military buildup by providing money and weapons to the terrorists. SADAT’s website calls for the use of military force against Israel. Meir Amit <a href="https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/app/uploads/2019/09/E_212_19.pdf#page=14">reported</a> that Jabarin had recruited the men under instructions from Arouri.
“The liaison of Palestine with the globe should not be left at the mercy of Israel. This requires open support by Islamic countries. Every effort should be made, including use of force,” SADAT <a href="http://www.sadat.com.tr/about-us/news/141-how-is-the-palestine-question-solved.html">says</a> on its website.
Erdogan presented Turkey as a terrorism fighter, saying Turkey killed ISIS fighters in areas of Syria it occupies. He glossed over Turkey’s clandestine support for ISIS in Syria.
“Turkey has been the country most influenced by the [ISIS] threat; this terrorist organization has harassed our borders and targeted our cities very near the borders with suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Turkish citizens,” Erdogan <a href="https://youtu.be/Bve1yt0SEb4?t=498">said</a>. “Turkey is the first country that has delivered the heaviest blow to the [ISIS] presence in Syria.”
Internal documents and whistleblowers tell a different story — one of a country that plays both sides when it comes to ISIS. Leaked emails from Erdogan’s son-in-law and current Turkish finance minister, Berat Albayrak, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4006568/WikiLeaks-reveals-57-000-emails-son-law-President-Erdogan-proving-connection-ISIS-operation-smuggling-oil-Turkey.html">showed</a> his connection to an ISIS oil smuggling operations.
The Treasury Department <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm772">sanctions</a> also targeted several Turkish companies that “materially assisted &#8230; or provided financial, material, or technological support” to ISIS.
Turkey’s intelligence agency, the MIT, conspired to bus ISIS jihadists across Turkish territory, leaked Turkish <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/7809/report-wiretaps-show-turkish-intel-supported-isis">wiretaps show</a>. At least 15,000 ISIS fighters entered Syria that way, Abdullah Bozkurt, former editor of Turkey’s Today’s Zaman newspaper, told the Investigative Project on Terrorism (where we both work) in February.
Turkish police were told not to arrest ISIS fighters traveling to Syria, said former Turkish National Police official Ahmet Yayla.
Turkey provided ISIS with drones and munitions, an ISIS fighter <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=88&amp;v=q9ZTmYyN6eY">detained</a> by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who was interviewed by the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism said. He and a <a href="https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/isis-prisoner-from-palestine-we-were-treated-in-istanbul-37895">Palestinian-Arab ISIS fighter</a> held by the SDF said that Turkish hospitals provided medical assistance to wounded ISIS terrorists.
“Like me, thousands of ISIS members have been treated in Turkey. Everyone knows that Turkey is the mother of all jihadist groups,” <a href="https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/isis-prisoner-from-palestine-we-were-treated-in-istanbul-37895">said</a> former ISIS fighter Islam Ahmed Muhammed Balusha. “This applies to the jihadist groups in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and even from Palestine to Afghanistan. Turkey has supported the ISIS massively.”
Erdogan’s party, the AKP, allegedly used ISIS to attack political opponents.
EU INTCEN, the European Union’s intelligence arm, <a href="https://ahvalnews.com/terrorism/ahval-reveals-top-secret-eu-report-akp-commissioned-isis-ankara-massacre">reportedly</a> suggested the AKP ordered an October 2015 ISIS <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/10/turkey-suicide-bomb-killed-in-ankara">suicide bombing</a> at a peace rally in Ankara that killed 109 people.
Erdogan’s pretense of being the savior of the region’s problems belies the fact his government has become a major terrorism supporter and is guilty of everything he criticizes Israel of doing.
&nbsp;
John Rossomando is a senior analyst at the <a href="http://www.investigativeproject.org">Investigative Project on Terrorism</a> and Steven Emerson is its executive director.

Erdogan at U.N.

ROSSOMANDO &#038; EMERSON: While Erdogan Slammed Israel At U.N., Turkish Support For Terror Was Revealed

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey

United Nations

A suburban Chicago man who drove his black SUV through Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois, is facing terrorism charges, according to the Cook County state&#8217;s attorney&#8217;s office.
<a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-09-29/terrorism-charge-suv-chicago-mall">The Los Angeles Times reports</a> that local police announced the charges, leveled against 22-year-old Palatine, Illinois resident, Javier Garcia on Sunday. Garcia was also charged with &#8220;felony criminal damage to property.&#8221;
The terrorism charge is local. The Federal government hasn&#8217;t yet announced if they will seek charges. They were on the scene, a week ago Friday, when Garcia plowed his Chevy Trailblazer through an entrance to the Sears department store, turned a hard right into the mall itself, and drove past several stores, plowing into kiosks, destroying a window display at Forever 21, and eventually hitting a pole near the mall&#8217;s center court.
For Illinois, though, the terrorism charge isn&#8217;t necessarily related to Garcia&#8217;s motive (though a motive has yet to be specified).
<a href="https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/09/29/terrorism-charge-woodfield-mall/?fbclid=IwAR2nEpVMTANV6yxq0A9YnQpv5vnegsRA-NZ-EEoKqqlKZh4Rs8erlcgB8TM">Local news reports</a> that Cook County authorities can charge someone with &#8220;terrorism&#8221; if they cause more than $100,000 worth of damage to certain structures. The law itself specifies that &#8220;terrorism&#8221; includes “any act that causes substantial damage to any building containing (5) or more businesses of any type. Substantial damage means monetary damage greater than $100,000.”
Initially, police indicated that they believed Garcia was suffering from a &#8220;medical condition,&#8221; and Garcia&#8217;s father reported to media that his son was on medication for an unspecified illness and that family members have been trying to get Garcia into treatment. Garcia&#8217;s lawyer told media that he believes his client suffers from &#8220;bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and paranoia.&#8221;
After being arrested, Garcia was taken to a behavioral health facility but has since been released into police custody. He was denied bond in a hearing over the weekend.
The incident, which saw Garcia bypass security barriers and go far into the mall before crashing and being apprehended (by an off duty police officer and several mall patrons, not mall security or law enforcement) was bizarre in its own right, and police were initially reticent to ascribe a motive to Garcia. But further investigation seems to indicate that Garcia planned some sort of attack.
Chicago&#8217;s CBS affiliate &#8220;learned Garcia searched &#8216;Woodfield Mall&#8217; 124 times, including aerial views of the mall and stores including Sears. Included in the total searches, &#8216;Sears,&#8217; specifically, was searched 35 times.&#8221; He also spent time inside Sears the day of the attack. He was caught on security camera wandering around the store. He eventually left without buying anything, returned to his car, and then drove his car back to &#8212; and through &#8212; the Sears entrance.
Three people received minor injuries in the attack, none from the attacker himself or his car. Authorities say Garcia did come close to doing major bodily harm to several children, however; the SUV narrowly missed a children&#8217;s train ride that operates in the open space directly outside the Sears mall entrance.
Authorities aren&#8217;t sure what Garcia was trying to do, though, even if he had planned the attack ahead of time.
“Police have no reason to believe Garcia was targeting any specific person and/or store within Sears or Woodfield Mall,” a spokesperson told local media Sunday.
Garcia&#8217;s attorney maintains that his client is not a &#8220;terrorist&#8221; and that he finds the charges surprising.

Woodfield Mall

Man Who Drove SUV Through Chicago Mall Charged With Terrorism

Chicago

On June 14, 1985, TWA Flight 847 left Cairo for Athens. After arriving in Athens, a new crew boarded the flight and departed for Rome.
Just after takeoff, two Lebanese men speaking Arabic hijacked the plane using a pistol and grenades they managed to smuggle past airport security. The plane’s course was altered for Beirut in Lebanon. Upon landing, the hijackers released 19 passengers in exchange for fuel.
As TIME later <a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,142099,00.html">reported</a>, millions watched the drama unfold from their television sets and radios. Captain John Testrake argued with air traffic control at Beirut International Airport after they were initially refused for landing.
&#8220;He has pulled a hand-grenade pin and is ready to blow up the aircraft if he has to. We must, I repeat, we must land at Beirut. We must land at Beirut. No alternative,&#8221; Testrake said.
The Beirut control tower eventually responded: &#8220;Very well. Land. Land quietly. Land quietly.&#8221;
Testrake then detailed the threats against passengers: &#8220;They are beating the passengers. They are threatening to kill the passengers. We want fuel now. Immediately. Five minutes at most, or he is going to kill the passengers.&#8221;
One of the hijackers then took over, telling the control tower that the “plane is booby-trapped.”
“If anyone approaches, we will blow it up. Either refueling the plane or blowing it up. No alternative,&#8221; he added.
The plane was then flown to Algiers where it remained for five hours and another 20 passengers were released. The plane then returned to Beirut. During the flights, the hijackers singled out members of the military for beatings. Once they landed in Beirut a second time, however, they focused their attention on U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem. The hijackers beat Stethem and then shot him in the head. They tossed his body out of the plane and then shot him again. Seven passengers believed to have been Jewish were also removed from the plane and taken to a Shia prison.
Armed men boarded the plane in Beirut before it set off for Algiers once again on June 15. Back at Algiers, another 65 passengers and all female crew members were released. The hijackers then flew back to Beirut once more, demanding those responsible for the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Kuwait be released and all Shias held in an Israeli prison be released. The hijackers also demanded Israel withdraw from southern Lebanon and for the international community to condemn the U.S. and Israel.
On June 17, the 40 remaining passengers were taken into Beirut and held hostage by the terrorist organization known as Hezbollah. They were eventually released on June 30 after President Ronald Reagan intervened.
Those involved in the hijacking were placed on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists List by President George W. Bush. Just one alleged hijacker, Mohammed Ali Hammadi, was arrested in 1987 and sentenced to life in prison. He was paroled by German officials in 2005 and was placed on the Most Wanted list again in 2006.
On September 20, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/plane-crash-suspect-arrested-in-greece-for-1985-hijacking-of-twa-flight-847/">reported</a> that a suspect in the hijacking was arrested while on a cruise in Mykonos. The suspect, a 65-year-old man, has not been identified by police but is rumored to be either Lebanese journalist Mohammed Saleh or Hammadi. The suspect’s role in the hijacking was not disclosed.

gettyimages-1170169489

34 Years Later, Suspect Arrested In TWA Flight 847 Hijacking

An American Airlines mechanic, arrested earlier in the summer for allegedly sabotaging one of the carrier&#8217;s planes during a stopover at Miami International Airport, may have trained with terrorists and could have ties to ISIS, according to federal prosecutors.
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/american-airlines-mechanic-sabotage-plane-isis">Fox News reports</a> that prosecutors believe Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani &#8220;displayed support for ISIS&#8221; and expressed a desire that &#8220;Allah would use &#8216;divine powers&#8217; to harm non-Muslims, and had several ISIS propaganda videos on his phone, including a video showing a person being shot in the head.&#8221;
&#8220;Federal investigators said they also learned that Alani lied about taking a trip to Iraq in March to visit his brother and also sent $700 to someone in Iraq,&#8221; the outlet reports. &#8220;Alani allegedly told an American Airlines co-worker in June his brother was kidnapped and became a member of the terrorist organization.&#8221;
Federal prosecutors made the revelations in a bond hearing that took place Wednesday. They argued that Alani should not be allowed out pending trial because he admits to having an &#8220;evil side,&#8221; and seems to demonstrate a sympathy for Islamic radicals abroad.
Alani was ultimately denied bail.
Prosecutors stopped short of suggesting that Alani intended his crime to be an act of terror. In the initial stages of the investigation, law enforcement sources told Fox News, it seemed Alani was responding to a breakdown in union talks, rather than to the call of global Islamic fundamentalism.
Alani told investigators, in his initial interrogation, that he wasn&#8217;t trying to force the plane to crash, but he was trying to ground the plane so that he would have extra work and could earn overtime hours in the event negotiations between the mechanics&#8217; union and American Airlines resulted in a prolonged strike.
A different motive could certainly be presented at trial.
Alani, who is a seasoned mechanic, is accused of sabotaging the plane by placing a piece of styrofoam in the nose cone, which ultimately disabled the plane&#8217;s communication and geolocation system and &#8220;disabled a part used to gauge airspeed and other critical flight data.&#8221;
&#8220;Alani glued the foam inside the tube leading from the outside of the plane to its air data module,&#8221; according to an earlier report.
The problem could have meant disaster for the 150 passengers and crew aboard the plane, headed to Nassau in the Bahamas, but pilots were alerted to the problem by a warning light that went off before the aircraft left the ground. A &#8220;routine maintenance&#8221; check revealed Alani&#8217;s &#8220;modifications.&#8221; They were swiftly corrected.
Fellow airline workers identified Alani from surveillance video, which shows the mechanic, who walks with a noticeable limp, walking to and from the plane, and working on the plane&#8217;s nose cone for around ten minutes.
Alani will stand trial for &#8220;willfully damaging, destroying or disabling an aircraft&#8221; later this year.

American Airlines Boeing 777-200

American Airlines Mechanic Who Sabotaged Plane May Have Ties To ISIS

Law enforcement officials in Rep. Ilhan Omar&#8217;s (D-MN) 14th Congressional District have arrested over a dozen suspects in connection with a possible crime ring that was recently caught on camera allegedly beating a man.
&#8220;According to a report provided by Minneapolis police spokesperson John Elder, a three-day sweep conducted two weeks ago ended with police arresting 16 people between the ages of 13 and 25,&#8221; KSTP <a href="https://kstp.com/news/robbery-victims-targeted-for-cellphones-beaten-in-downtown-minneapolis-suspects-arrested-police/5488467/">reported</a>. &#8220;The suspects are seen on surveillance video punching, kicking and riding over one man with a bike.&#8221;
&#8220;One of the incidents happened on Aug. 3 near Target Field. According to the criminal complaint, the footage shows approximately 12 males attempting to take a cellphone from a male victim, viciously beating him,&#8221; KSTP continued. &#8220;The suspects are seen ripping the victim&#8217;s shoes and pants off and then going through his pockets. The victim is noted to be punched and kicked in the head several times throughout the altercation. At one point, the complaint states the victim is thrown to the ground — left motionless — then repeatedly jumped on, hit with planting pots and ridden over with a bicycle. Once police arrive, the victim and all suspects involved are gone.&#8221;
WATCH:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Minneapolis. <a href="https://t.co/7J9jhkZGjw">pic.twitter.com/7J9jhkZGjw</a>
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) <a href="https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1172577318415454208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2019</a></blockquote>
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KSTP, which noted that all the suspects had their bail set at $100,000 each, added that robbery has surged by 46% in downtown Minneapolis compared to 2018.
Earlier this year, Fox News reported that new FBI statistics have found that Omar&#8217;s congressional district is the terrorist recruitment capital of the United States.
&#8220;More men and boys from a Somali American community in Minneapolis have joined – or attempted to join – a foreign terrorist organization over the last 12 years than any other jurisdiction in the country,&#8221; Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/how-rep-ilhan-omars-minnesota-district-became-the-terrorist-recruitment-capital-of-the-us-officials-highly-concerned">reported</a>. &#8220;FBI stats show 45 Somalis left to join the ranks of either the Somalia-based Islamic insurgency al-Shabab, or the Iraq- and Syria-based ISIS combined. And as of 2018, a dozen more had been arrested with the intention of leaving to support ISIS. Both numbers are far higher than those of alleged terrorist wannabes who left or attempted to leave the country from other areas in the country where Muslim refugees have been resettled.&#8221;
&#8220;We are very conscious that there may still be fertile ground for that, and that is could re-start at any time,&#8221; a federal law enforcement official told Fox News. &#8220;Based on historical experience, we had (an uptick) in 2007 and 2008 going for al-Shabab, then a lull. Then, as ISIS came back, we saw a whole bunch of people no longer headed for Somalia. They were headed for Iraq and Syria. That really caught us off-guard, we didn’t see that coming. It didn’t make sense to us. We understood why kids were going back to Somalia, but going to Syria was another we issue.&#8221;
Earlier this year, Emmanuel Aranda of Minneapolis pleaded guilty to attempted premeditated first-degree murder after throwing a young child off the balcony in the Mall of America in Minneapolis.
The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6933127/Family-boy-thrown-Mall-America-balcony-say-making-small-steps-healing.html">reported</a> that &#8220;Aranda allegedly told police that he went to the mall looking for someone to kill as revenge for being rejected by women there for several years.&#8221;

ilhan_omar.jpg

WATCH: Horrifying Attack Unfolds On Man In Ilhan Omar’s District

Ilhan Omar

The following is satirical.
The New York Times, a former newspaper, has set a new record for the most shameless distortion of the truth ever packed into a single journalistic sentence. In commemorating the attack on the United States on 9/11, the Times tweeted out a sentence from their news story saying, &#8220;18 Years have passed since airplanes took aim and brought down the World Trade Center.&#8221;
The Times story had immediate effects. Assistant Head of Homeland Security Richard Tracy announced the Department would change its policies, saying, &#8220;Up until now, we were investigating any young men who were named Mohammed more than three times and who blame their craphole countries on everyone but themselves and who therefore go around randomly murdering people who have nothing to do with anything. But now that we realize it&#8217;s the actual airplanes that targeted the buildings, we are centering our investigations on suspicious flying machines especially if they have those weird grins painted on the nosecones. I just find those really creepy. All this time, we thought we were dealing with a medieval religious philosophy that has threatened the existence of the West for over a thousand years and kept entire regions of the earth in theocratic religious oppression and poverty but now we finally realize it&#8217;s the planes. Thanks, New York Times, and please renew my subscription.&#8221;
The Times took the tweet down after being ridiculed as lying buffoons, but woke reporters at the ex-newspaper celebrated the new distortion record and say they soon expect to win the Pulitzer Prize for biggest lying buffoons. In a meeting held in the middle of the street, Times Editor in Charge of Wokeness Charles Woke told a gathering of homeless people, &#8220;By using nonsense terms like Islamophobia, Racial Profiling, and toxic masculinity, we on the left have managed to pack more dishonesty into fewer words than anyone outside the novel 1984. But we have now outdone ourselves in&#8230;&#8221;
Mr. Woke left the thought unfinished when my car aimed itself at him and ran him over. Don&#8217;t blame me.

new_york_times_gi.jpg

New York Times Wins Pulitzer For Lying Buffoonery [Satire]

Media Bias

On Wednesday’s episode of “The Andrew Klavan Show,” Klavan talks about the difficulty of facing and remembering harsh truths. Video and partial transcript below:
It&#8217;s the 18th anniversary of 9/11, and every 9/11, someone says we will never forget. These words, like the words “unicorn” or “free health care” or “Islamophobia,” are nonsense words: Words that describe things &#8230; that simply don&#8217;t exist. We always forget; we have to forget. It&#8217;s the way societies move forward, and it&#8217;s the way they die, and these things have to be. It&#8217;s God&#8217;s will.
Here are some of the things we learned on 9/11 that we&#8217;ve forgotten. Multiculturalism is crap. There are better cultures, bad cultures, and even worse cultures. Ours is better not because we&#8217;re better people, but because we&#8217;ve inherited better ideas like individual freedom and equality before the law. Those are better ideas than government by Allah, and dressing up women like the Spirit of Christmas Yet To Come so they can&#8217;t fully participate in life. Better ideas make better cultures, and better cultures must be defended by both wisdom and force of arms — or worse cultures will conquer and destroy them.
On 9/11, we also remembered briefly that men must be men. The policemen and firemen who charged into the burning buildings to try to save people were essential men, necessary men — men worthy of our honor and respect because they lived up to the responsibility of their manhood, which reminds us of another inescapable truth. There is only one necessary task of human life, and that is to make and nurture more human life. This is a task that nature has assigned to women. It is in order to protect and preserve that task, and the women who do it, that men must be men. Brave, protective, supportive, and dispassionately wise.
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When societies feel rich and safe and prosperous, they put such truths out of their minds and they turn to fluffy nonsense like “irony” or “pumpkin latte” or “redefining marriage” or letting boys dress up as girls or promising everybody everything for free. The essential divide between conservatives and leftists is that conservatives want society to always live under the restraints of the essential truths, and leftists want to take advantage of history&#8217;s little holidays when some nation like ours becomes strong enough and rich enough to make everyone feel like it&#8217;s safe to forget the rules and party.
There&#8217;s some wisdom on both sides. If your society is so powerful it can spare a few men to do inessential tasks like writing books or musical comedies, that&#8217;s better than everyone having to man the front lines. If you can allow some women to leave off baby-making and child-rearing, maybe some of them will enjoy doing something else more. That&#8217;s fine. It&#8217;s tolerant and kind to accept gay relationships if you&#8217;re living in inessential times, so why not do it. But the gods of the copy-book headings, the gods of the essential truths, are always waiting to return with terror and slaughter as they did [on] this day 18 years ago. And when you denounce motherhood or manhood, when you squander your resources and disrespect your traditions, those gods start sharpening their swords.
This is a very sad world, and one of the saddest things about this world is also one of the most comical: People lie. Everyone lies, everyone lies to himself and to everyone else. We say things that are absurd and ridiculous and then we insist that they&#8217;re true. People lie when they can, and only face the truth when they must. On 9/11, we were forced to face the truth — a lot of truths — and now, by the necessity of human nature, we have forgotten. We always do.
<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-andrew-klavan-show/id1045171376?mt=2">Listen to full episodes of “The Andrew Klavan Show” on iTunes. </a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/andrew-klavan-show">Watch “The Andrew Klavan Show” on-demand.</a>

Rubble At World Trade Center on September 12, 2001.

KLAVAN: The Essential Truths We Have Forgotten

Andrew Klavan

Conservatism

New York City

Last week’s announcement that U.S.-led peace talks with the Taliban had been called off relieved many, but distressed others who were hoping for an end to our longest war. After a suicide bombing killed 12 people on Thursday, September 5th, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/08/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-camp-david.html">acknowledged</a> that the Taliban failed to live up to its commitments. Trump tweeted: “What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position?” Welcome to the Art of the Deal, Taliban-style.
Perhaps Trump is learning from his experiences with Israel’s longest war with the Palestinians and the difficulty he has experienced with his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51599/israel-jason-greenblatt-has-done-crucial-work-gideon-israel">“Deal of the Century”</a> proposal. While each situation differs in some significant ways, both serve as illustrations that wars don’t end when only one side wants it to end. Until one side wins and the other acknowledges defeat, a war will continue.
The Trump administration’s desire to “finally get the hell out of Afghanistan” might be an admirable one, but our departure before the Taliban has acknowledged its defeat will be interpreted as victory and embolden the group to return to its old ways. Though the Taliban and the Afghan ISIS groups are currently at least in part rivals, no one should preclude the possibility of a union between the two.
After the first Gulf War, enough Israelis believed that their war with the Palestinians could finally come to an end. But their generosity to the dispersed PLO, exiled to Tunisia, was interpreted as weakness. The PLO exploited it to recruit a new generation of fighters — a generation they educated with their newfound autonomy. Palestinian terrorism escalated dramatically, both in the number and severity of attacks.
Soon after the talks with the Taliban were scuttled, word came out that there was a plan for members of the Taliban to join members of the Afghan government and U.S. representatives at Camp David. Some believed that having Taliban negotiators on U.S. soil on September 11th, 2019 would be worse than “bad optics” — their presence would defile the venerable retreat in Maryland. But here too, the PLO’s Yasser Arafat had already accomplished that feat, soiling the grounds with his presence in 2000. During the Clinton presidency, Arafat <a href="http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/ArafatArticles.html">spent more time</a> in the White House than any other foreign “leader.”
Inviting bad actors, even those with American blood on their hands, is acceptable only after they have been defeated and have acknowledged their defeat. Until both the Taliban and whomever the Palestinians choose as their leaders acknowledge their defeat, their presence should not be tolerated on U.S. or Israeli soil, respectively.
Perhaps neither our war against the Taliban nor Israel’s war against the PLO/PA/Hamas is actually winnable. But both are certainly lose-able.
A complete pullout of all U.S. troops and advisors from Afghanistan will be celebrated from Kandahar to Quetta as a Taliban victory. Recall how Taliban propagandists compared Obama to Gorbachev when the new U.S. president simultaneously announced both a troop surge and a subsequent date for their departure from Afghanistan.
Likewise, any Israeli offer of more accommodations, cash, and autonomy to the PLO/PA/Hamas will be seen as weakness and will be exploited. Recall Arafat’s not so-secret messages to the Palestinian critics of Oslo that the “peace process” would buy them time to gain strength and continue the fight.
For American and Israeli lawmakers, the time to talk about peace will only come when the Taliban and the Palestinians feel their defeat and believe that they have better options than continuing to fight. Until then, the best we can hope for is a managed conflict, limiting our own casualties, and inflicting more severe casualties on our enemies.
A.J. Caschetta is a Ginsburg-Ingerman fellow at the <a href="https://www.meforum.org">Middle East Forum</a> and a principal lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

U.S. And Afghan Forces Battle Taliban In Kunar Province

CASCHETTA: War Isn’t Over Just Because You Want It To Be Over

Afghanistan

Foreign Policy

Middle East

Military

Eighteen years ago today, in what would be the deadliest assault by a geopolitical foe on U.S. soil since the War of 1812, the global jihad struck the most lethal blow in the history of its wretched movement. The 9/11 airline hijackers were largely trained and funded by Wahhabist/Salafist Sunni zealots based in <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/19/911-report-details-saudi-arabia-funding-of-muslim-/">Saudi Arabia</a>, were substantially aided by the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43339/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">terrorist</a> <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-10/iran-told-to-pay-10-5-billion-to-sept-11-kin-insurers">Iranian</a> regime, and were protected and mollycoddled by Taliban Islamists.
It was not amorphous &#8220;terrorism&#8221; — an easily <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51440/hammer-san-francisco-has-beclowned-itself-labeling-josh-hammer">malleable</a> linguistic concept — in the abstract that killed those <a href="https://theresurgent.com/2019/09/11/remember-2/">three thousand people</a> on 9/11. It was a much more clearly identifiable and unmistakable foe: genocidal Islamic jihadism.
It is astonishing to ponder that those born now will be eligible to serve in the U.S. military despite being born after 9/11. For those fresh new military recruits, 9/11 will be ingrained in their consciences as but one of many distant historical events — akin to the Vietnam War, the Pearl Harbor attacks, or perhaps even the Battle of Gettysburg. That is a downright harrowing thought for those of us for whom 9/11 was a seminal — perhaps life-changing or career trajectory-altering — event.
Crucially, these impressionable 18-year-old military recruits have grown up thinking of 9/11 and the corresponding bipartisan military adventurism overseas as inextricably linked. It is, of course, true that the Taliban in Afghanistan harbored the al-Qaeda militants who took down the Twin Towers. But it is also true that Afghanistan has already become this generation&#8217;s Vietnam: A seemingly interminable struggle in a faraway land for which there seems no way out.
While there is a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43151/hammer-ted-cruzs-non-interventionist-hawk-foreign-josh-hammer">prudent and responsible &#8220;third way,&#8221;</a> far too often our foreign policy and national security discourse in the post-9/11 era has been oversimplified to a most regrettable dichotomy: That between George W. Bush-era moralistic interventionist neoconservatism and a fanatical isolationism that has never seen a foreign threat worth seriously engaging. For the young generation that has intellectually matured in the proverbial shadow of this oversimplified discourse, 9/11 and our subsequent campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq are solidified in the mind as part and parcel of Bush-era military interventionism.
As <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/us/politics/us-soldier-killed-afghanistan.html">Americans continue to die</a>, eighteen years later, fighting in third-world sharia hellholes to try to quixotically impose Madisonian democracies upon Islamists who effectively live in the seventh century, the public will to fiscally fund and morally support our campaigns naturally wanes. While that support wanes, the isolationist <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/fox-news-tucker-carlson-reportedly-at-center-of-trump-s-decision-not-to-bomb-iran-1.7403783">Tucker Carlson wing</a> of the foreign policy Right <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51610/hammer-bad-trump-presidents-dismissal-john-bolton-josh-hammer">markedly ascends</a>. But Tucker Carlson-esque thinking on foreign policy is exceedingly dangerous. If 9/11 taught us anything, it taught us that real evil exists in this earthly realm — and that evil must be soberly assessed and unambiguously thwarted, lest we succumb to its tyranny. Evil loves a geopolitical vacuum, and there is no greater vacuum than when the post-World War II United States entirely withdraws itself from the world.
The problem is that, no matter its flaws, Carlson&#8217;s isolationism will continue to gain momentum so long as it is juxtaposed with the overly sanguine Pollyannaism of those who would moralistically intervene and seek to build Enlightenment-style Western nation-states in <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/libya/2019-02-18/obamas-libya-debacle">sharia-governed desert backwaters</a>. The onus, therefore, falls on those of us <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43151/hammer-ted-cruzs-non-interventionist-hawk-foreign-josh-hammer">true, non-neoconservative counter-jihadi hawks</a> to articulate and advocate for a compelling foreign policy vision that both soberly reflects upon the excesses of bipartisan moralistic interventionism gone awry and rejects the unyielding demands of the &#8220;bring America home&#8221; isolationists.
There is much to be said about what this vision looks like, and my hope is that future columns will help further contribute to the development of this &#8220;third way.&#8221; But instead of deploying U.S. military assets for dictator-toppling and nation-building purposes, a &#8220;third way&#8221; hawkish foreign policy would focus upon utilizing the tools of soft power, &#8220;draw and strike&#8221;-style lesser hard power maneuvering, hard deterrence (e.g., strategic naval asset deployment), statecraft, and sanctions/finances to achieve its goals: To thwart jihadism and deter the hegemonic ambitions of other non-jihadist geopolitical foes, such as Russia and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47057/hammer-china-americas-greatest-21st-century-threat-josh-hammer">China</a>.
The U.S. should label the leading Mexican cartels as State Department-recognized <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/time-designate-mexican-cartels-terrorist-organizations/">foreign terrorist organizations</a>. The U.S. must label the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46714/hammer-designating-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-josh-hammer">Muslim Brotherhood</a>, which is the intellectual progenitor of all contemporary Sunni jihad, as a terrorist group. The U.S. must <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/07/01/cutting-us-aid-to-the-lebanese-army-would-increase-pressure-on-the-iran-hezbollah-axis/">defund the Lebanese Armed Forces</a>, given that the entire Lebanese military apparatus has been overrun by Hezbollah. The U.S. must amp up pressure on Qatar and Turkey, which have both long surpassed Saudi Arabia as the leading global bankrollers of the Muslim Brotherhood and radical Sunni madrasas alike.
In terms of immigration, the U.S. must focus not just on a border wall but also on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42539/hammer-border-wall-nice-interior-enforcement-nicer-josh-hammer">interior enforcement</a>: After all, two of the 9/11 hijackers — who should, of course, have never received visas in the first instance — were present in the country on that fateful day due to overstaying their visas. Two of the 9/11 hijackers, in other words, were illegal aliens still presently in the country due to a lack of robust interior enforcement.
Why on Earth, for that matter, has the U.S. continued to implement a lax immigration policy that continues to voluntarily <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/aimless-fighting-in-afghanistan-while-we-bring-afghanistan-to-our-shores/">bring the very problem we claim to be fighting overseas</a> to our own shores? Has the development of Rep. Ilhan Omar&#8217;s (D-MN) large Somali immigrant community into the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/how-rep-ilhan-omars-minnesota-district-became-the-terrorist-recruitment-capital-of-the-us-officials-highly-concerned">nation&#8217;s largest terrorist recruitment hub</a> taught us nothing? Why are we not implementing an immigration policy for the Islamic world that, while allowing for dispensations, starts from a default baseline level of effectively zero? None of the 9/11 hijackers should have been in the United States and, distressingly, our inadequate immigration &#8220;vetting&#8221; procedures are oftentimes hopeless in attempting to prevent the next importations of jihadist evil.
But a true &#8220;third way&#8221; foreign policy approach — a common-sense approach that can repel the nostrums of Tucker Carlson&#8217;s isolationism and moralistic interventionism alike — must begin with a sober assessment of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. There is no reason whatsoever for the U.S. to <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/now-pull-the-plug-on-afghanistan/">still deploy large swaths of troops</a> to Afghanistan. Our fanciful efforts to democratize a seventh century-dwelling bastion of Islamism has manifestly failed, and will never succeed. But even more germanely, there is no present security threat from Afghanistan itself. Unlike Iran, the world&#8217;s most dangerous Islamist nation and number one global funder of jihad, Afghanistan has no nuclear weapon program or expressed desire to develop intercontinental ballistic missile technology, does not fund jihadist outfits or targeted assassinations overseas, and poses no genuine threat to American interests other than the radicalization of Afghans themselves.
It turns out that there is a much simpler and more cost-effective method of dealing with the Afghanistan problem than a seemingly endless military presence — with the concomitant constant risk of <a href="https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2017/03/21/green-on-blue_attacks_in_afghanistan_the_data_111015.html">&#8220;green-on-blue&#8221; violence</a>. Instead, U.S. policymakers ought to simply amp up border security, interior enforcement, and set Afghan visas to zero. A meaningful withdrawal from Afghanistan, furthermore, would allow genuine counter-jihadi hawks to demonstrate to isolationists that they have no interest in occupying or democratizing every sharia hellhole the world over. And it would save much-needed intellectual, moral, financial, and military capital that must be conserved for a potential showdown with genuine jihadi state actor threats, such as Iran.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">My argument has always been that hawks themselves should support getting out of Afghanistan. We waste intellectual, moral, fiscal, physical, and human capital that we’d be better off saving for fighting adversaries that are actually strategically necessary. <a href="https://t.co/Q6fcyK9HmW">https://t.co/Q6fcyK9HmW</a>
— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1160333751118913536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">You want to know how to solve the Afghanistan issue?
Set Afghan visas to zero. Maybe leave a few drones for easy aerial operations.
Done.
— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1160352043191717888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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By recalibrating our post-9/11 counterterrorism strategy to focus less on nation-building and more on genuine deterrence, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48120/hammer-d-day-was-good-versus-pure-evil-our-josh-hammer">clearly defining military missions for our men and women in uniform</a>, amping up border security at home, cutting immigration from the Islamic world, and conserving financial and military capital for future showdowns with the Iran-Muslim Brotherhood-Qatar-Turkey axis of Islamism, hawks will go a long way toward showing that they have learned the lessons of moralistic interventionism gone awry. In so doing, they will also begin the process of repelling the noxious rise within the conservative movement of those pernicious isolationists whose discredited ideas risk such profound harm.

9/11 Twin Towers

HAMMER: Never Forget 9/11. But We Need To Rethink How We Fight Radical Islamic Jihad.

George W. Bush

Immigrants

Immigration

Iran

Islam

The son of a woman killed when jihadist-hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center slammed Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) during a 9/11 memorial on Wednesday for callously referring to the 9/11 terrorist attacks as an event where &#8220;some people did something.&#8221;
&#8220;Good morning, brothers and sisters in good faith — listen, some people did something,&#8221; Nicholas Haros Jr. told a crowd during the annual anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero.
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&#8220;Some people did something, said a freshman congresswoman from Minnesota, to support and justify the creation of [the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)] — today I am here to respond to you exactly who did what to whom,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Madam, objectively speaking, we know who and what was done. There is no uncertainty about that. Why your confusion?&#8221;
Haros&#8217; remarks were in response to a keynote speech that Omar delivered in March to fundraise for CAIR. The Minnesota congresswoman faced massive backlash after a video from the event surfaced where she was shown urging Muslim Americans to &#8220;raise hell&#8221; and further downplaying what happened on September 11th, 2001.
&#8220;CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties,&#8221; Omar said at the time.
While the comments received widespread condemnation, Omar’s fellow &#8220;Squad&#8221; members Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) swiftly came to her defense. Tlaib appeared on news programs accusing critics of taking Omar’s words out of context and having a bias against women of color.
Both Omar and Tlaib are vocal supporters of CAIR, a notable pro-Palestinian organization with longstanding ties to Islamic terror groups. The U.S. Department of Justice listed CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator in funding millions of dollars to Hamas as part of the 2008 terror financing bust of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation.
Ocasio-Cortez also backed Omar after Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) called her comments &#8220;unbelievable.&#8221; Ocasio-Cortez fired back, accusing the former Navy SEAL of not properly supporting 9/11 victims and first responders.
Crenshaw, however, served five deployments overseas — and while on his third combat tour, he was hit by an IED blast during a mission in Afghanistan that destroyed his right eye and badly injured his left eye. After multiple surgeries, Crenshaw regained sight in his left eye and went on to deploy overseas two more times.
&#8220;On that day, 19 Islamic terrorists, members of al-Qaeda, killed over 3,000 people and caused billions of dollars of economic damage. Is that clear?&#8221; Haros said. &#8220;But as to whom, I was attacked, your relatives and friends were attacked, our constitutional freedoms were attacked, and our nation’s founding on Judeo-Christian principles were attacked.&#8221;
&#8220;That’s what some people did. Got that now? We are here today, congresswoman, to tell you and the Squad just who did what to whom,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Show respect in honoring them please. American patriotism in your position demands it.&#8221;
Omar and Tlaib became America’s first Muslim congresswomen after winning their respective elections in 2018. The duo, along with Ocasio-Cortez, have been embroiled in allegations of anti-Semitism and have expressed anti-American sentiments since taking office.

Ihlan omar

WATCH: 9/11 Victim’s Son Slams Omar During Memorial: ‘I’m Here To Respond To You Exactly Who Did What To Whom’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

CAIR

Rashida Tlaib

Eighteen years to the day radical Islamic terrorists killed 2,977 innocents on American soil, The New York Times posted an inaccurate tweet that earned the left-leaning outlet a flood of criticism and prompted a quick deletion and correction.
&#8220;18 years have passed since airplanes took aim and brought down the World Trade Center. Today, families will once again gather and grieve at the site where more than 2,000 people died,&#8221; the Times posted in what was supposed to be a memorial post for 9/11.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Here’s the tweet The New York Times deleted this morning: <a href="https://t.co/nXgkBIpJ8s">pic.twitter.com/nXgkBIpJ8s</a>
— Amanda Prestigiacomo (@AmandaPresto) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmandaPresto/status/1171795557150576641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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It was quickly pointed out to the Times that &#8220;airplanes&#8221; were not responsible for taking the lives of nearly 3,000 (a great deal &#8220;more than 2,000&#8221;) innocent Americans, but the radical Islamic terrorists who were flying the planes.
The tweet was quickly deleted and the story amended. &#8220;We&#8217;ve deleted an earlier tweet to this story and have edited for clarity. The story has also been updated,&#8221; the Times wrote in a reply to the new tweet.
&#8220;18 years after nearly 3,000 people were lost, families of those killed in the terror attacks will gather at the 9/11 memorial. There will be a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., then the names of the dead — one by one — will be recited,&#8221; the edited post now reads.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">We&#8217;ve deleted an earlier tweet to this story and have edited for clarity. The story has also been updated.
— The New York Times (@nytimes) <a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1171755421314486272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Just two days ago, the Times had to delete a post that (accidentally?) praised communist Mao Zedong, whose policies led to the deaths of some <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/08/03/giving-historys-greatest-mass-murderer-his-due/">45 million people</a>, as noted by <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/new-york-times-deletes-tweet-calling-mao-zedong-one-of-historys-great-revolutionary-figures">The Washington Examiner</a>.
&#8220;Mao Zedong died on this day in 1976: The Times said he &#8216;began as an obscure peasant&#8217; and &#8216;died one of history&#8217;s great revolutionary figures,'&#8221; the now-deleted tweet said.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve deleted a previous tweet about Mao Zedong that lacked critical historical context,&#8221; the newspaper posted hours later.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">We’ve deleted a previous tweet about Mao Zedong that lacked critical historical context.
— NYT Archives (@NYTArchives) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYTArchives/status/1171137007487246336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The Times was thoroughly ripped for their &#8220;mistakes,&#8221; which noticeably all take place in one direction, as highlighted by Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro.
&#8220;In the last two days, NYT’s Twitter account has had to delete unmitigated praise of Mao and this crap, too. These were mistakes, yes, but it’s pretty telling that every mistake the NYT makes is in the same direction,&#8221; Shapiro noted.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">In the last two days, NYT’s Twitter account has had to delete unmitigated praise of Mao and this crap, too. These were mistakes, yes, but it’s pretty telling that every mistake the NYT makes is in the same direction. <a href="https://t.co/B8bIfPeIQx">https://t.co/B8bIfPeIQx</a>
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1171792797432598529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I&#8217;ll never understand the mindset. They know Islamic terrorists did it. Yet their first impulse was to say that the &#8216;airplanes took aim.&#8217; As if nobody would notice. They had to be publicly shamed into admitting what really happened,&#8221; posted conservative writer Jim Treacher. &#8220;And they still think they&#8217;re better than us.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">We’ve deleted a previous tweet about Mao Zedong that lacked critical historical context.
— NYT Archives (@NYTArchives) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYTArchives/status/1171137007487246336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;&#8216;Some airplanes did some things'&#8221; posted libertarian commentator and writer known as the Red-Headed Libertarian, referencing insensitive, trivializing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45788/ilhan-omar-trivializes-911-terrorist-attacks-some-ryan-saavedra">remarks</a> from Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on the 9/11 attacks.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">“Some airplanes did some things” <a href="https://t.co/TLaNgC5FXQ">pic.twitter.com/TLaNgC5FXQ</a>
— The Red-Headed Libertarian™️ (@TRHLofficial) <a href="https://twitter.com/TRHLofficial/status/1171758440475168768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Daily Wire Editor-at-Large Josh Hammer called the Times a &#8220;joke.&#8221;
&#8220;&#8216;[A]irplanes &#8230; brought down the World Trade Center.&#8217; Not &#8216;jihadists operating hijacked airplanes,&#8217; but &#8216;airplanes.&#8217; What a joke you are, [New York Times].&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">“[A]irplanes &#8230; brought down the World Trade Center.”
Not “jihadists operating hijacked airplanes,” but “airplanes.”
What a joke you are, <a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nytimes</a>. <a href="https://t.co/bTbUcA02q0">pic.twitter.com/bTbUcA02q0</a>
— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1171779974715625472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Man, those towers really must have done something to upset those airplanes,&#8221; snarked Stephen Miller, a <a href="http://FoxNews.com">FoxNews.com</a> contributor.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Man, those towers really must have done something to upset those airplanes. <a href="https://t.co/N0WUjV2Gt5">https://t.co/N0WUjV2Gt5</a>
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) <a href="https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1171739652757295110?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;&#8216;On December 7, 1941, airplanes took aim and seriously damaged the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor,'&#8221; mocked National Review&#8217;s Jim Geraghty.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">“On December 7, 1941, airplanes took aim and seriously damaged the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/8mh6i0f4sv">https://t.co/8mh6i0f4sv</a>
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) <a href="https://twitter.com/jimgeraghty/status/1171740542021120000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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9/11 Memorial

Here’s The Outrageous 9/11 Tweet The New York Times Quickly Deleted

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