Weekly Terrorism Spotlight

Volume 1, Issue 2 (March 24)

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Leitner: camps linked to international terrorism

Counter-terrorism expert Dr. Peter Leitner warns Muslim of America camps are linked to international terrorism [Part 2 of 3]

Leitner calls for Muslims of America to be added to the State Department list of known terrorist organizations

Why are Muslim of America camps, already noted as subversive in nature - isolated Islamist Muslim compounds observed for terrorist warfare training, or Islamic jihad, dangerous on a scale deeper than concerns about local intimidation?

Counter-terrorism expert Dr. Peter Leitner, president of the Col William R. Higgins Counter-Terrorism Research Center, explains MOA is linked to Pakistani-based international terrorist funding and activities.

There are up to 35 Muslims of America compounds spread across the U.S., and their rural-based nature makes them difficult for counter-terrorist organizations to infiltrate, Leitner explained.

Counter-terrorist researchers draw also on observations of overseas activities, which is where Leitner continued his comments recently to Christian Action Network president Martin Mawyer.

“I think it is because of its connections directly into Pakistan, because of its connections to Sheikh Mubarik Ali Gilani, and the things that Sheikh Gilani has been up to over the years, that it qualifies as a supporter or sympathizer with terrorism,” Leitner said, noting Gilani’s control of MOA.

“By extrapolation, any organization that he controls should also be considered a terrorist entity,” he added. “I think they are a terrorist organization…I think [it] should be listed as a foreign terrorist entity.”

Leitner warned the listing as a terrorist organization would only hinder the terrorist planning activities of Sheikh Gilani and what Leitner characterized as Gilani’s American-based arm of Jamaat al-Fuqra Islamic jihad terrorists.

“If Jamaat al-Fuqra was listed as a foreign terrorist organization, the law enforcement authorities in this country would have no trouble rolling them up, shutting them down, deporting those who should be deported, seizing their assets, seizing their weapons or anything else,” he said.

“This problem could be cleaned up very quickly,” he added, but Jamaat al-Fuqra would morph, the Muslims of America name would drop, new names would emerge, new organizations develop.

“This is all part of the cat-and-mouse game of counter-terrorism,” Leitner said. “You can’t kill the hydra with one sword…[but] it would be an important step forward.”

Dr. Leitner said more Americans should have a sense of urgency about groups like Muslims of America, and realize the peril of having Islamic terrorist compounds here.

Having an organization so boldly and outrageously supportive of the violent overthrow of the United States, our way of life and our religious and social heritage operating within the United States is an abomination,” he said.

“It is definitely a failure of the United States government to act in its own interest,” he added, noting the shortcomings, even after September 11, 2001, of federal and local government to act together.

“One of the reasons why organizations like Jamaat al-Fuqra can thrive…is that there is such a poor degree of communication between federal authorities who actually have the information on these groups and what they communicate to state and local law enforcement,” he said.

Dr. Leitner said there are some simple means to subject subversive Islamist Muslim organizations to the laws that all persons in America are supposed to live by.

[His comments continue next week]