Mind the Gap - EU vs. US

I don't know what's supposed to pass for "allied relations" these days, but the current behavior of the EU bureaucracy certainly doesn't seem to relate. With friends like these, who needs Al Jazeera and Pravda? The EU is all up in arms about the fact that the CIA might actually be operating clandestinely. Well, what else is new? What do they expect? And, why are they doing this and doing it so publicly in the middle of a war?

Just read the stories about the reported CIA prisons in Europe. They're all just horrified that the CIA would be holding terrorists in secret. And the US is now having to "clarify" the situation.

It is, I guess, conceivable that there are those within the CIA that are so opposed to what we're doing that they would leak something like this, but I hope that is not the case. Granted, the CIA has had its failures and its agendas, but isn't the CIA supposed to capture and interrogate terrorists? Or wait, is that strictly the jurisdiction of legal professionals and local law enforcement? They can't reveal everything they do publicly. It's called "sources and methods". They have to protect them. Just as our self-absorbed European friends don't tell us everything they do either.

Going public with something like this (and other stories like the one about the CIA's air operations that ran in the NYT) is just irresponsible. It endangers the lives of many people, on our side, and it endangers our allies. It also endangers our ability to cooperate with one another because it destroys trust. As an organization, the EU is a joke. Of course, the EU bureaucrats have had a certain animosity toward our East European friends from the get-go, but that should not find its way into our military and intelligence relationships. It amounts to serious doublespeak on the part of the Continent. After all, these same countries that are our partners in NATO. Whose purpose does it serve to be so publicly obstructionist and antagonistic? The terrorists certainly want to fracture Western alliances and appeasement will only encourage them to continue. A united front is the only way to win.

ANWR: The Saga Continues

Saw this post on Redstate.org today. They're trying to keep pressure on Congress to pass the provision that would allow drilling in Alaska. The issue will likely be decided in a House/Senate conference on the budget bill.

I, for one, hope that it makes the cut. Oddly enough, this time, the Senate was the one that passed it and members of the House wussed out. Usually, when it comes to getting things done, it's the other way around.

It's high time this thing was passed and some progress could be made. The debate over ANWR has been going on since 1980! The enviro-lobby has made a living opposing this and have done so by basing all of their arguments on misrepresentations.

I find it troubling that the Republican Mainstreet Partnership, the GOP group opposing ANWR has received funding from George Soros. Ever heard of the concept - divide and conquer? To me, this just screams of a plan by Soros to manipulate his political interests by propping up a GOP splinter-faction, thus marginalizing the majority's effectiveness.

The weak-kneed Republicans that tried to torpedo this in the House need to wake up. I'm all for alternative forms of energy, but our economy is not going to just shift to them overnight. We're going to need oil & gas for a long time. To believe that stopping ourselves from drilling will somehow lessen our need for it is incredibly naive and shortsighted.

Open Source Media

This week saw the official launch of Open Source Media, formerly known as Pajamas Media. I'm really anxious to see how it progresses. They're attempting to make history as a major media entity combining coverage from both mainstream and blog sources. Call it hybrid media. I hope it's successful. They've got a lot of heavy-hitting talent on board - people like Michael Barone, Austin Bay, Cliff May, Claudia Rosett, John Podhoretz, Michael Ledeen, and Glenn Reynolds to name a few. They've also got a sizeable list of contributing bloggers including Michael Totten, who is very interesting, and our friends over at Gates of Vienna. Congratulations and good luck!

Secret Fuqra Compound in VA (updated)

Well, once again, we learn something from the vigilant Baron Bodissey at Gates of Vienna. By way of a sparse mention in a news story from 2002 and a couple of contacts, he has come across another Fuqra compound in rural Virginia. The group calls itself the "Muslims of the Americas", what research has identified as the front organization for Sheikh Gilani's covert operators known as al-Fuqra.

Baron has a couple of maps and some pictures of the road leading to the compound as well as the entrance, where apparently the sign that use to indicate its presence has been removed.
It is located off State Highway 633 near the town of Meherrin, VA and a community called Virso. The address is "Mahareen Drive". Based on Baron's map, here is an aerial view from MSN Virtual Earth.

Before you continue, read Baron's entire post.

After reading this, I knew I had to dig deeper because I think he is on to something with this one. Having researched Fuqra for several weeks now, this compound is not mentioned in anything else that I have seen up to now. This is one of the ones they don't talk about and there are likely others that they don't talk about. So, today, let's shine a light on this place.

A reverse address search of Mahareen Drive turns up three Muslim names. Ok, no surprise there.

Here is where things get a little more interesting. According to their website, the Farmville Area Chamber of Commerce welcomed a new member in its June 2002 newsletter - White Hawk Security Int'l. Inc. with the same address as the compound. Further searches revealed several other company locations in the area.

We know that members of the compound in Colorado and New York operated security companies. That status not only allows them to pursue contracts to make money, but to possibly gain access to facilities, and to provide easier access for weapons purchases. Of course, I have no knowledge of this company or any of its employees, I just find it really interesting and peculiarly circumstantial.

I was able to get some additional information on the company through a business database. The company does business as "Whsi Consulting". The line of business is "private security and consulting"; SIC Code is 7381 - "detective & armored car services" and their NAICS Code classification is 561612 - "security guards and patrol services". The database lists them as having 50 employees with annual sales of $20.0 million.

Now, to further connect the dots, since the company hq is located at the Meherrin compound, might there be some symbolism or connection to Islam in the use of "White Hawk" in the company name? The following should answer that question.

Here is an Islamic art work (known as a calligram) that depicts a "'white hawk' bringing a message to the mystic Abelqadar Jilali". Apparently, the name is misspelled or is a variation (of which there are several) of Abdel Qadir al-Jilani, a 12th-century Sufi leader. (There is a shrine to him in Baghdad.) There's more.

Here's the connection - a message called "The Flight of the White Hawk", translated by Sheikh Jilani himself, founder of al-Fuqra and Muslims of the Americas, who claims descendancy from the 12th-century predecessor.

UPDATE: Another detail that caught my eye in a homeland security report that Baron linked to from February 2002. This "peaceful" group is well-armed:

Owners of a gun shop in the area said members of the Muslim communities have bought several weapons over the past few years. They said their weapons of choice are high-priced, heavy-caliber handguns, which are purchased legally by members of the communities who possess valid Virginia driver's licenses. The owners said most of the purchases occurred before the September 11 attacks - including several men who purchased their legal limit of one handgun every 30 days. The gun-store owners also are aware of the group's devotion to Sheik Gilani as well as al-Fuqra. They sold weapons to Vicente Pierre, who was convicted in November of two felony firearms violations.

Question: If the shop owners know that these people are Islamic radicals with a history of violence, why are they selling them guns? I guess money still talks.

UPDATE: Regarding my last "question" there, I should correct my misconception. I found a transcript of a segment from NOW with Bill Moyers called "Gun Land". In it they feature the Virginia gun store owner I mentioned above. Turns out he did cooperate with the ATF by installing a hidden camera in his store which allowed the investigation to go forward.

Digest # 2 of Jamaat ul-Fuqra coverage

Here is the second summary of my recent posts related to al-Fuqra.

Organization
Jamaat ul-Furqan

Associates
Clement Rodney Hampton-El
Khalid Khawaja
Wadih El-Hage

Locations
UPDATE: Fuqra Compound: York, SC
Secret Fuqra Compound in VA

Previous
Here's Digest # 1

For additional coverage, see the Gates of Vienna blog.

UPDATE: Fuqra Compound: York, SC

I received an email from a reader who has been doing a little homework on the Fuqra compound in York County, SC. Here's what he had to say:

I have researched the folks in York County, South Carolina. I usually hunt in York and surrounding counties. I was unable to do so this year unfortunately. The terrain is rolling hills with pine, oak and maple trees. Lot 2 is waterfront (lake) at the rear of property. The property is less than one hour from Charlotte, NC and the international airport via I-77.

The group has about 33 acres in York, the following property is owned by Ali Rashid, with tax id numbers:

1. 3880000015 17.00 acres purchased 8/4/84 for $16000.00
2. 3880000006 11.28 acres purchased 7/19/91 for $6500.00 (adjoining above property at rear)
3. 4550000009 5.0 acres purchased 3/21/91 for $14000.00 (right front of lot no. 1)
4. 3880000093 1.0 acre purchased 2/6/03 for $1.00 (this prop. is within boundaries of #1, Najah Rashid is listed as owner of this lot). I searched the tax rolls and found no other property listed for Ali or Najah.

All of the above properties adjoin and during spring, summer and early fall are very secluded. There are more than 20 structures on the combined properties

I believe prop. 4 is the location of the university or the mosque. The GIS site for the county has pretty good resolution aerials of the property. Apparently taken during the winter.

I located several properties listing Karen Shabazz as the owner, including the cultural center, snack bar, salon/styling college and residential. All of this info is open source thru York county tax office. The county tax office is always the best starting point in research of computerized counties.

When I looked at this previously, I missed property #2, so the "Islamville" compound is even bigger than I'd shown on the map. Google and MSN only showed a stream running past there, but as the reader pointed out, this rear parcel is shown as lakefront on the York County GIS. I'll try to do an updated map or two when I get time, or you can visit the York County GIS & Property Search page yourself. Let me know if you find something interesting. Here's what else he had to say in a follow-up email:

Google, MSN aerials may pre-date the lake. I’m not sure when the dam was built, the maps on Mapquest show it. The lake appears to have been added (layered) on the York GIS. As you are probably aware, there is a nuclear power station on the NW end of Lake Wylie owned by Duke Power. Construction of the power station began about 1974. It became operational in/about 1985. Rashid’s purchase (17 Acres) was in ’84. He purchased the waterfront lot (11.28 acres) in ’91.

The link below addresses the Catawba Power Station, my heart nearly stopped when I viewed the right side of the web page. It lists 18 nuke power stations in the southeast. The McGuire station is 17 miles north of Charlotte, NC. This is just over an hour driving time from York Counting these two sites there are 4-5 plants within a couple of hours of York.

This link - Catawba Nuclear Generating Station - will allow you to link to the other plant sites.

A commenter on the previous thread had pointed out that this power station is just six miles east of the compound and noted this:

The MSN sattelite pictures show a long clearing running past "Islamville". That is a powerline right-of-way. Typical areas like that are long clear-cut paths that run for miles and are probably 50 yards wide. Most people use them to cover long distances on ATVs wile out in the woods.

Those paths are home to massive powerlines that run all the way to the nuke plant. As they are fairly close to the plant, those lines are responsible for a large area of the power grid.

The reader email continues:

The compounds in York, SC, Macon, GA and Commerce, GA all are located very near heavily traveled interstate highways and within approximately 100 miles or less of power plants.

One other thing, 13 of the plants are within or very close to the Northeast Macey arrival flight path for Atlanta International Airport. This flight path is the busiest en-route sector in the world. The sector begins over NC at about 25,000 ft. and airspeed between 250-400 mph. This of course does not include outbound or overflight traffic. This also does not include air traffic from/to Charlotte, which is also extremely busy with flight paths directly over York.

There is heavy speculation in the above statements and all info is based upon open source research.

One other thing he said, "I sure pray people are doing their jobs." I think we all share that sentiment.

Wadih el-Hage

Another in the rogue’s gallery of Al Fuqra connections. It is believed he may have been involved or at least had knowledge of the murder of Dr. Rashid Khalifa, an imam at a mosque in Tucson. This mission had been planned in detail by a Fuqra cell in Colorado, known as the “Muhammad Commandos Sector 5.”

Among the notable items on el-Hage’s terrorist resume, from 1992-1994 he lived in Sudan and worked as a secretary to Osama bin Laden. El-Hage also had several friends convicted in the 1993 WTC bombing and landmark plot. After Sudan, he moved to Nairobi, Kenya where he continued to work for al-Qaida. A letter found by investigators suggested that El-Hage was the “engineer” of the terrorist cell that bombed the U.S. embassy in 1998.

El-Hage was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2001.

Profiles - PBS Frontline, Wikipedia

"The Traitor Next Door" - long feature story from Texas Monthly (April 2002)

Khalid Khawaja

In an earlier post, I mentioned a March 2002 story from CBS about Sheikh Gilani and a man named Khalid Khawaja. I cited a quote from him stating that Sheikh Gilani’s followers in the U.S. were more numerous and more committed than those of Osama bin Laden. A close friend of both, he should know.

Khawaja has tried to portray himself recently as a “voice of Muslim reason.” In August of this year, he authored an op-ed that appeared in the Financial Times. In it, he said,

“If we had, for example, the opportunity to bring a group of long-bearded, perhaps even ‘terrorist’ branded Muslims to Britain to meet senior law enforcement, intelligence and political officials, you would gain a much better understanding of who we - the radicals you fear most - are and how we can help you contain the cancerous mutants among you. No imam would dare preach hate in a British mosque if we were standing as members of the congregation to hold him accountable.”

Ha! If you believe that, I’ve got some swamp land I’ll sell you. You can read the whole op-ed reprinted (for free) by Pakistani newspaper, The Nation – here. I’m sure it will make you all warm and fuzzy inside.

However, in February 2002, he had a few other choice quotes. Newsweek ran a story about him a couple of weeks before the CBS story appeared. Khawaja, like Gilani, is a former agent of Pakistan’s Interservices Intelligence Agency.

Q: Do you think suicide attacks are legitimate within Islam?

A: It’s difficult to say exactly yes or no to this question, but in any case killing an innocent person is not permitted. The Qur’an says very clearly that if you kill one innocent person it is as if you have killed the whole [of] humanity. But the problem is also [that] in our ranks there are many people who do not [truly] know Islam....
Until the time Americans believe that others are also equal human beings, this problem will never be sorted out. Hatred will remain against America. And it is increasing, to a very great degree.

His position could easily be rationalized by those on his side to say that Americans are not innocent and that, yes, suicide attacks would be legitimate.

Q: Can secular Pakistanis live peacefully with Muslims?

A: Sure. Why not? You cannot force someone to be a Muslim, you can only ask them to read the Qur’an and decide for themselves. You Western people do not understand our religion. There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim. You are either a Muslim or you are a hypocrite or you are an infidel.

Q: What do you think of Osama bin Laden?

A: In the media they have made him into a monster. The whole world is scared of him now, when even if Osama tries his best he cannot even scare my youngest son. I had many differences of opinion with him, but still I would say that Osama bin Laden is a man like an angel. If there was an election today in any number of Muslim countries, Osama would win.

Q: Why do you respect someone whom so many people consider a terrorist?

A: I ask your media to find at least two people who have lived with him and would tell me Osama is a bad person. I have had many differences with him. For example, he would revolve the total religion around jihad. I would basically agree that jihad is one of the most important factors in our religion, but you cannot totally revolve around it. My way of living was a little different, but still I could find him mostly better than me in many respects. We love him because of his unique sense of sacrifice. His brothers were living in a palace like the king of Saudi Arabia. But Osama would live in small flats, sometimes even in a trench.

Q: When was the last time you saw Osama bin Laden?

A: Ha, this is an interesting question. Let’s skip that.

I have to say I'm not really buying his attempt to come across as a kindler, gentler jihadi.

Clement Rodney Hampton-El

Clement Rodney Hampton-El, an American Black Muslim, suffered arm and leg wounds in Afghanistan. He fought as a mujahideen under Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, now an enemy of the United States.

After returning to Brooklyn, Hampton-El worked closely with a shadowy splinter group called al-Fuqra, whose followers in the United States and Canada are predominantly Black Muslims. Several other al-Fuqra initiates had also trained in Pakistan as part of the effort to throw the Soviets out of Afghanistan.

Founded in 1980 by a Pakistani mystic named Shiek Mubarik Ali Jilani, al-Fuqra was organized into independent terrorist cells. An avowed enemy of the Nation of Islam, al-Fuqra has been linked by U.S. officials to 17 homicides and 13 firebombings in the United States. Its targets were usually other minorities or rival Muslim leaders.

In 1995, Hampton-El was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his involvement in a failed plot to bomb the United Nations and other New York City landmarks.

Nine other Muslim extremists were convicted as co-conspirators in this case, including Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind Egyptian cleric, who is serving a life sentence for his role as ringleader of the plot. The blind sheik has also been linked to the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000.

Hampton-El told an FBI informant that he had participated in a test explosion for the first attack on the World Trade Center.

According to recent reports, the Justice Department is probing possible links between al-Fuqra and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

American officials have obtained a videotape of a December 1993 meeting in Sudan, then a nerve center for the bin Laden organization, where al-Fuqra leader Shiek Mubarik Ali Jilani met with members of Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups.

Representatives of al-Qaeda are also believed to have been present at this meeting. Federal officials also believe that al-Fuqra members collaborated with Wadih El-Hage, who was sentenced to life in prison this year for conspiring with Osama bin Laden in the bombings of two American embassies in Africa in 1998.

(emphasis added)

Source: Southern Poverty Law Center , “Strange Bedfellows”, Intelligence Report, Spring 2002.

More background on Hampton-El here.

Oh, and here's something else - Hampton-El apparently testified that he received money from the Saudi embassy in Washington to recruit converted U.S. soldiers for jihad operations in Bosnia. Read this.