| We Need To Know Where We Come From To Know Where We Are Going |
April 26, 2013 |
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Louie Gohmert, R-TX
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"Whatever else may yet be discovered about what the FBI missed, there is no excuse for the agency not grasping the significance of the radical Islamist video Tamerlan posted on his Facebook page, entitled, “The Emergence of Prophecy: The Black Flags from Khorasan.” The video explains and glorifies the prophecy of a mighty jihadist army rising from the Iranian region of the near east to conquer the world and establish an enduring Muslim empire. The Khorasan connection is a staple of al Qaeda ideology, and the video’s presence on Tsarnaev’s Facebook page was a red flag that should have alerted agents to a very real potential danger. It is quite possible, though, the FBI agents who interviewed Tsarnaev on both occasions failed to understand what they saw and heard because that’s what they were trained to do. As the Washington Examiner’s Mark Flatten reported last year, FBI training manuals were systematically purged in 2011 of all references to Islam that were judged offensive by a specially created five-member panel. Three of the panel members were Muslim advocates from outside the FBI, which still refuses to make public their identities. Nearly 900 pages were removed from the manuals as a result of that review. Several Congressmen were allowed to review the removed materials in 2012 on condition that they not disclose what they read to their staffs, the media, or the general public. With the recent proliferation of revelations about FBI blindness on the brothers Tsarnaev, a comment made last year by Representative Louie Gohmert, Republican of Texas, to Flatten now has a tragic resonance: “We’ve got material being removed more because of political correctness than in the interest of truth and properly educated justice officials. We are blinding our enforcement officers from the ability to see who the enemy actually is.” The Boston bombing showed the tragic consequences of that blindness."
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| Marketplace Fairness Act Of 2013—Motion To Proceed |
April 23, 2013 |
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Lindsey Graham, R-SC
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"What we are saying is, conduct the trial in civilian court—the only form available—but because there are international terrorist connections here—clearly they killed people in Boston not because they wanted their property or they were mad with the Boston city government, they killed—they slaughtered a young boy and his family and others because they have adopted a radical jihadist view of us as a Nation. The older brother was quoted as saying we are infidels, we are a colonial Christian power, we have corrupted Islam. They are trying to kill us and destroy our way of life because of what we believe."
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| Radical Islam And The “T” Word |
April 23, 2013 |
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Louie Gohmert, R-TX
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"If your concern about the threat posed by the Tsarnaev brothers is limited to assuring that they will never be in a position to repeat their grisly acts, rest easy. The elder, Tamerlan—apparently named for the 14th-century Muslim conqueror famous for building pyramids of his victims’ skulls to commemorate his triumphs over infidels—is dead. The younger, Dzhokhar, will stand trial when his wounds heal, in a proceeding where the most likely uncertainty will be the penalty. No doubt there will be some legal swordplay over his interrogation by the FBI’s High-Value Interrogation Group without receiving Miranda warnings. But the only downside for the government in that duel is that his statements may not be used against him at trial. This is not much of a risk when you consider the other available evidence, including photo images of him at the scene of the bombings and his own reported confession to the victim whose car he helped hijack during last week’s terror in Boston. But if your concern is over the larger threat that inheres in who the Tsarnaev brothers were and are, what they did, and what they represent, then worry—a lot. For starters, you can worry about how the High-Value Interrogation Group, or HIG, will do its work. That unit was finally put in place by the FBI after so-called “underwear bomber” named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up the airplane in which he was traveling as it flew over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009 and was advised of his Miranda rights. The CIA interrogation program that might have handled the interview had by then been dismantled by President Obama. At the behest of such Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated groups as the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America and other self-proclaimed spokesmen for American Muslims, the FBI has bowdlerized its training materials to exclude references to militant Islamism. Does this delicacy infect the FBI’s interrogation group as well? Will we see another performance like the Army’s after- action report following Major Nidal Hasan’s rampage at Fort Hood in November 2009, preceded by his shout “allahu akhbar”—a report that spoke nothing of militant Islam but referred to the incident as “workplace violence”? If tone is set at the top, recall that the Army chief of staff at the time said the most tragic result of Fort Hood would be if it interfered with the Army’s diversity program. Presumably, the investigation into the Boston terror attack will include inquiry into not only the immediate circumstances of the crimes but also who funded Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s months-long sojourn abroad in 2012 and his comfortable lifestyle. Did he have a support network? What training did he, and perhaps his younger brother, receive in the use of weapons? Where did the elder of the two learn to make the suicide vest he reportedly wore? The investigation should include, as well, a deep dive into Tamerlan’s radicalization, the Islamist references in the brothers’ social media communications, and the jihadist Web sites they visited. Will the investigation probe as well the FBI’s own questioning of Tamerlan 2 years ago at the behest of an unspecified foreign government, presumably Russia, over his involvement with jihadist Web sites and other activities? Tamerlan Tsarnaev is the fifth person since 9/11 who has participated in terror attacks after questioning by the FBI. He was preceded by Nidal Hasan; drone casualty Anwar al- Awlaki; Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad—born Carlos Leon Bledsoe—who murdered an Army recruit in Little Rock in June 2009; and David Coleman Headley, who provided intelligence to the perpetrators of the Mumbai massacre in 2008. That doesn’t count Abdulmutallab, who was the subject of warnings to the CIA that he was a potential terrorist."
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| First The Saturday People Then The Sunday People |
March 13, 2013 |
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Frank Wolf, R-VA
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"The Obama Administration missed an early opportunity to aid the opposition in Syria at a time when the conflict had not yet devolved into a proxy war and when international jihadists were not as significant of a factor as they are today. An already complex environment has only intensified, and many of Syria’s minorities increasingly wonder what the future holds for them. A January 15, New York Times story said, “Former [State Department] Syria adviser, Frederic C. Hof, wrote last month that although the opposition has offered general assurances to the one-third of Syrians who belong to minority groups, `probably no more than a handful’ believe it, especially as jihadist groups grow more prominent on the battlefield… .” As the Obama Administration seeks to develop an effective Syria policy, including Secretary Kerry’s latest overture to the Syrian opposition, it must be ever mindful of the very real concerns of Syria’s Christian community. Opposition to Assad should not be enough to garner American support. A common enemy does not our friend make. Any aid to the rebels, non-military or otherwise, must be accompanied by insistence that the opposition respect minority rights and allay the very real fears of these communities. This is especially important given the influx of foreign jihadists and the ambiguity surrounding their influence and numbers among the opposition."
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| Threats To The United States |
February 15, 2013 |
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Louie Gohmert, R-TX
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"Some of us warned about the dangers of helping the revolutionaries in Libya. Qadhafi had blood on his hands. But ever since 2003, he had helped suppress radical Islamic jihadist activities. He had become an ally. His own son had been here negotiating with this White House."
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