JERSEY'S COUNTERTERROR FARCE
By STEVEN EMERSON & STEPHEN M. FLATOW
NYP
November 12, 2007 -- THE New Jersey De partment of Home land Security's coun
terterrorism conference last month turned out to be a textbook case of exactly
what's wrong with many U.S. counterterror and outreach efforts - a farce that
had apologists for terrorism and radical Islam writing the "script" for how to
protect Americans from the terrorist threat.
Consider recommendation No. 7 from the final post-conference report:
"Universities can be breeding grounds for radicalization: . . . Most agreed that
radicalization is most likely to find a breeding ground in the open environments
of our college campuses, and thus it is essential to involve academia in any
anti-radicalization strategy."
True enough - except that a key speaker at the event was Georgetown University
professor John Esposito. Esposito calls himself a "very good friend" of Sami
Al-Arian - who last year pleaded guilty to a "conspiracy to make or receive
contributions of funds, goods or services to or for the benefit of the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad" - a terrorist group.
Esposito also heads Georgetown's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for
Muslim-Christian Understanding - so named after the Saudi prince gave $20
million to the school. He should be a case study in how universities can promote
radicalism, not a member of a panel discussing "anti-radicalization" strategies.
The conference report is full of similar confusion. For example, finding No. 5,
"Language and terminology are important," warns that the phrase "War on Terror"
is a poor choice. But the complaint isn't that the phrase is too vague (or that
it references a tactic, rather than our enemy) but that it "equates terrorists
with warriors, when in fact terrorists are common criminals."
In other words, Jersey's anti-terror conference concluded that we're not in a
war at all.
Finding No. 5 also repeats the claim that we should avoid the use of the terms
"Islam" or "Muslim" when discussing the current threat, lest we play into the
hands of the terrorists: "Because militant Islamist recruiters try to convince
followers that Islam is under attack, we must be careful not to inadvertently
feed that idea through the language we use."
Yet burying our head in the sand or refusing to name our enemies are no longer
viable options. Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas and other groups justify the use of
suicide bombers as a divine, religious rite. It might please the PC crew to
describe the enemy as mere "common criminals" or petty thieves - but Americans
have a right to know and discuss the belief system driving Islamic terrorists.
Potentially most troubling is conference finding No. 8, which says the "Islamic
community must be engaged in all efforts aimed at understanding and combating
radicalization."
Once again, that seems fine - we should engage U.S. Muslims as part of any
anti-radicalization strategy. But, just as professor Esposito should be a focus
of anti-terror conferences, rather than a participant, his high-profile role in
this conference renders such advice suspect.
The key is this: Whom do we see as spokesmen for the Islamic community? If
Esposito is involved, it will be the likes of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. Yet CAIR is linked to the radical Muslim Brotherhood and has served
as a front for Hamas. And it has always sought to undermine any and every
legitimate counterterrorism initiative or prosecution, painting most efforts as
"anti-Muslim witch hunts" and "Zionist conspiracies."
The record from the first Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development trial
conclusively shows that CAIR and Holy Land - along with countless other would-be
spokesmen for "moderate U.S. Muslims" - have been engaged in a decade and a half
of deception, masking their true goals under a false veneer of "charity" and
"civil rights."
Of course, New Jersey's far from the only one to be taken in by pseudo-moderates
like CAIR, the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Muslim American Society.
Other states, and even the FBI and State Department, partner with these groups
often.
On this issue, the most sensible government agency in America may well be the
New York Police Department. The NYPD recently released a groundbreaking report
on home-grown radicalization - tackling the subject head on, with no room for
apologetics.
Sadly, Jersey's Department of Homeland Security is much more representative -
more concerned with being tarred as "Islamophobic" by fronts for the Muslim
Brotherhood than with safeguarding America against terror.
Steven Emerson is executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
Attorney Stephen M. Flatow is a N.J.-based advocate for terror victims' rights.
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