Editor's Letter
equilibrium
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fi
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lululemon eathletica
Fear Homegrown Terror
A
merica isn't equipped to confront the threat posed by
Islamists — the terrorists who have infiltrated Islam
and radicalized a brand of it to suit their warped
interests. So declares a compelling new report, which packs
enough zing to prompt me to take notice. You should, too,
especially with the 10th anniversary
of 9-11 looming next year; Al Qaida
may be down, but it's witless to think
it's out.
The report's premise is sobering:
"Terrorist threats against the United
States have fundamentally changed
while American counter-terrorism
strategies have stagnated!"
When I looked to see who pro-
Robert Sklar
duced the report, titled "Assessing
Editor
the Terrorist Threat:' I found valida-
tion. The 43-pager is the work of the
Washington-based Bipartisan Policy Center's National Security
Preparedness Group, which Steve Emerson's Investigative
Project on Terrorism (IPT) confirmed was a predecessor to the
9-11 Commission and a highly reputable source.
In its report summary, the IPT under-
scores that Al Qaida has evolved from
a hierarchical organization with a clear
command and control structure to a more
diffuse enemy whose ideology has inspired
others globally. So, Osama bin Laden may
still be in supreme command from his
hideout along the Pakistan-Afghanistan
border, but Al Qaida has morphed from a
loose-knit organization to a multi-strand
network. Terror in a radical brand of Islam
remains at the core.
ing in Colorado, and the attempted Times Square bombing by
Pakistani American Faisal Shahzad. Lone wolves represented
big packs in each instance.
And they acted on our shores.
The report incisively observes: "While it is easier to dismiss
the threat posed by wannabes who are often snared without
difficulty by the authorities, or to discount as aberrations the
homicides inflicted by lone gunmen, these incidents show the
activities of trained U.S. terrorist operatives who are part of
an identifiable organizational command and control structure
and are acting on orders from terrorist leaders abroad."
Rooting out terrorist leadership is painstaking because the
tracks leading to the top are so well covered.
Moving Up
Further complicating the metastasizing threat caused by radi-
calized Americans is the fact that new recruits don't all become
just foot soldiers for Al Qaida. Some have become leaders with-
in Al Qaida and its affiliates. "A key shift in the threat to the
homeland since around the time President Barack Obama took
office the report states, "is the increasing 'Americanization of
the leadership of Al Qaida and aligned groups and the larger
numbers of Americans attaching them-
selves to these groups."
I'm flummoxed why the democratic
ideals we so cherish are such a turnoff
that these Americans would resort to vio-
lence rather than rebelling through politi-
cal channels.
The IPT summary of "Assessing The
Terrorist Threat" cites Omar Hammami
of Somalia-based Al Shabaab and Anwar
al-Awlaki of Al Qaida in the Arabian
Peninsula as examples of Al Qaida opera-
tives rising from American soil.
Rooting out terrorist
leadership is
painstaking because
the tracks leading to
the top are so well
covered.
A Strong Brew
The Sept. 10 report, by Peter Bergen and Bruce Hoffman, con-
firms my long-held belief that given our somewhat less-porous
borders, the largest threat facing America is homegrown terror.
The IPT quotes Hoffman saying more Americans have turned
on their country, gone abroad and made "common cause with
terrorist groups!'
That's chilling.
Hoffman goes on, "The array of perpetrators and the nature
of their plots against America are remarkable, and there is no
single government agency responsible for deterring radicaliza-
tion and terrorist recruitment. The terrorists may have found
our Achilles heel — we have no way of dealing with this grow-
ing problem!'
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has made
America more secure. But we're not fighting a conventional
enemy. We often have no idea who the enemy is until an attack
is unleashed; luckily, many of these attackers have lacked the
sophistication to pull off their intended barbarity.
Therein lies an essential change, according to the report:
With Al Qaida no longer able to duplicate the gravity of 9-11,
Al Qaida has focused on smaller attacks that are "almost
impossible for the national security and intelligence com-
munities to detect and intercept." Examples include the failed
Christmas Day Detroit-bound airliner bombing by Nigerian
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Fort Hood shooting rampage
by U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, the thwarted New York City
subway attack by Afghan-born Najibullah Zazi who was liv-
Fighting Back
The report urges America to reverse the indifference toward
"the terror from within" that has bored its way into the bed-
rock. "The American 'melting pot' has not provided a firewall
against the radicalization and recruitment of American citi-
zens and residents',' the report maintains, "though it has argu-
ably lulled us into a sense of complacency that homegrown
terrorism couldn't happen in the United States."
I can't overstress the report's conclusion: The U.S. govern-
ment must designate an agency to press identifying and
countering the nurturing of Islamism via terrorist recruitment
within our boundaries. The United States "will be far better
able to detect and prevent future attacks" when federal, state
and local agencies are working together and reaching out to
ordinary Americans for their valued input.
We as a nation clearly aren't immune to what the report calls
"the heady current of radicalization affecting both immigrant
and indigenous Muslim communities elsewhere in the West."
America really is arguably little different now from Europe "in
terms of having a domestic terrorist problem." ❑
equilibrium and
lululemon invite you
to a free Xten& Barre
Class at Somerset
Collection taught by
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Creator, and lululemon
ambassador from
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Friday, October 15th
at the lululemon store
9:00 am
equilibrium is a ?dates for Pink
studio raising money for
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•enjoy a fabulous free workout
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join the staff of equilibrium and
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0 i How concerned are you about
w the threat of homegrown terror?
I— ca
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Do you feel our government has
0
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September 30 • 2010
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