RUTHFULLY YOURS

On Tuesday at the Federal District Court in Manhattan, failed Times Square car-bomber Faisal Shahzad was given three life sentences. On Monday June 21 this year, Shahzad had pleaded guilty to ten counts related to his attempts to kill civilians in Times Square, New York.

On May 1, street vendors in Times Square had notified authorities after a Nissan Pathfinder was seen to be giving off smoke. The vehicle had been set up to be a car bomb comprising 250 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel, but fortunately Shahzad was incompetent. Federal authorities have tested the device, wired up correctly, and the results were devastating. At least forty people could have died had it not been for the vigilance of street vendor Duane Jackson who alerted the authorities. Two days after the smoking Nissan was discovered in Times Square, Shahzad was arrested at JFK airport. He was trying to flee to Dubai.

After Shahzad pleaded guilty on several of the indictments, video footage was revealed showing him meeting Hakimullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistan Taliban. While he had been in Pakistan prior to the Times Square failed attack, Shahzad had also made a video. Here – dressed as a Taliban jihadist and posing with a gun – he spoke of his hatred of the United States, and how America would deserve to be overthrown by Muslims.

Shahzad had gone through the process of applying for American citizenship, so his hatred for all things American is a slap in the face for those immigrants who have undergone legitimate naturalization procedures.

According to the transcript published yesterday in the New York Post, US District Court Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum said at the sentencing hearing:

“The defendant has repeatedly expressed his total lack of remorse and his desire, if given the opportunity, to repeat the crime. So there is really no basis here for me to believe that somebody who falsely swore allegiance to this country, who swore to defend this country, who took oath a year ago to defend this country and to be loyal to it, has now announced and by his conduct has evidenced that his desire is not to defend the United States or Americans, but to kill them. Those are all serious matters that I must take into consideration in setting sentence. There are ten counts in this indictment, and there are three counts of mandatory life in prison.”

She also told him:

“You appear to be someone who was capable of education, and I do hope that you will spend some of the time in prison thinking carefully about whether the Koran wants you to kill lots of people.”

31-year old Shahzad himself continued to show no remorse. Sometimes he intoned “Alahu Ackbar” (Allah is great) and when given a chance to speak he uttered cliché statements that we have become too accustomed to hearing. He began by saying:

“My statement should take about five minutes to ten minutes, and I hope that the judge and the Court will listen to me before they sentence me. In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful, this is but one life. If I am given a thousand lives, I will sacrifice them all for the sake of Allah fighting this cause, defending our lands, making the word of Allah supreme over any religion or system.

We Muslims don’t abide by human-made laws, because they are always corrupt. And I had a firsthand experience when on the second day of my arrest I asked for the Miranda. And the FBI denied it to me for two weeks, effecting harm to my kids and family, and I was forced to sign those Mirandas. The sentence by the judge will not mean anything to me, for how can I be judged when the Court does not understand the suffering of my people. They don’t understand my side of the story, where the Muslim life of is no value. Therefore, the only true judgment will be on the day of resurrection when Allah will judge between me and you as to who is fighting for the just cause. So decree whatever you desire to decree, for you can only decree regarding the life of this world.

The crusading U.S. and NATO forces who have occupied the Muslim lands under the pretext of democracy and freedom for the last nine years and are saying with their mouths that they are fighting terrorism, I say to them, we don’t accept your democracy nor your freedom, because we already have Sharia law and freedom. Furthermore, brace yourselves, because the war with Muslims has just begun. Consider me only a first droplet of the flood that will follow me. And only this time it’s not imperial Japan or Germany, Vietnam or Russian communism. This time it’s the war against people who believe in the book of Allah and follow the commandments, so this is a war against Allah. So let’s see how you can defeat your Creator, which you can never do.

Therefore, the defeat of U.S. is imminent and will happen in the near future, inshallah, which will only give rise to much awaited Muslim caliphate, which is the only true world order. Soon the bailout money which is holding your fragile economy will run out and soon you will not be able to afford the war costs.”

He also stated:

“I am ashamed that I belong to a slave country like Pakistan, who has accepted the slavery of the West from the day it was born. Bush had made already clear when he started the war on us, on Muslims, he said, You are either with us or against us. And so it’s very clear for us Muslims, either we are with the mujahideen or we are with crusading losing Christians. There is no in between. Blessed the immigrants and the leader Sheikh Usama Bin Laden, who will be known as no less than Saladin of the 21 century crusade and blessed be those who give him asylum.”

Judge Cedarbaum asked him about Saladin and she appeared to know more about the Kurdish-born Muslim leader at the time of the Third Crusade than did Shahzad himself.

Shahzad stated:

“So, the past nine years the war with Muslims has achieved nothing for the U.S., except for it has waken up the Muslims for Islam. We are only Muslims trying to defend our , people, honor, and land. But if you call us terrorists for doing that, then we are proud terrorists, and we will keep on terrorizing until you leave our land and people at peace. But if you don’t, then I remind you that we have watches and we have time. We will defeat you with time. And before I end my statement, I want to give you the last message, which is the message of truth. So that when you meet Allah on the day of resurrection you will not be able to say nobody gave you the message. The message is there is only one God, the lord of the universe, Mohammed, who is the last messenger and prophet, the Holy Koran is the last revelation to mankind, which obligates by its gospel to embrace Islam and become Muslims and save yourselves from the total pain of the last day.”

This is a man who arrived in America in 1998. He initially became a student at Southeastern University but soon transferred to the the University of Bridgeport where he gained a computer science degree in 2000. In April last year he had been granted United States citizenship. His wife was born in America.

Duane Jackson said after the sentencing that Shahzad should die in the electric chair. He added: “Hopefully he’ll make it into a supermax [prison] and never see the light of day.”

Was Shahzad a so-called moderate Muslim before he embarked upon a path of jihad? Various accounts maintain that his path to jihad began sometime time last year. He apparently told interrogators that he had been inspired by the internet sermons of American-born hate preacher Anwar al-Awlaki. This skirt-chasing Yemen-based cleric is linked to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian underwear bomber and also Major Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood murderer. Awlaki was an imam at the Dar-al Hijrah mosque in Virginia, which was also frequented by at least one 9/11 terrorist.

When in Pakistan’s tribal regions, Shahzad had met Hakimullah Mehsud, but also had a meeting with Lashkar e-Taiba, the group responsible for the Mumbai terror attack of November 2008. Journalists from the New York Times have stated that Shahzad began to show signs of militancy at least as far back as 2006.

Shahzad’s father Baharul Haq had been an air vice marshall in the Pakistan air force. His luxurious home (pictured) in the village in Mohib Banda near Peshawar in North-West Frontier Province sits incongruously among the poor habitations of other villagers. The mayor of the village, which is situated in the district of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, noted that while he lived in Pakistan, Faisal Shahzad was always clean-shaven, but he only grew a beard while in America.

While a student at Bridgeport, Connecticut, he reportedly chased after females and “could drink anyone under the table.” He also showed little apparent interest in Islam at this time, but immediately after the events of 9/11, he had said: “They had it coming.” When America invaded Iraq, he was fiercely critical of George W. Bush.

The case of Faisal Shahzad once again shows that there is no typical profile of a Muslim terrorist. Shahzad came from an affluent background, and had educational opportunities.

Islam will continue to present a dilemma for the West and for law enforcement. Most Muslims do not adhere strictly to the dictates of the Koran and the Hadiths. Many peaceful Muslims have not read all of the Koran, just as most Christians cannot claim to have read every word in the Old and New Testament.

Many Muslims choose to ignore the less civilized parts of the Koran. I once had a discussion with a Bangladeshi man who claimed to be a good Muslim, but he refused to accept that there was a verse in the Koran (Surah 4: 34) that advocated the beating of disobedient wives. I wrote the number of the ayat on a piece of paper and told him to look it up. On later meetings he never mentioned whether he had consulted his Koran.

Muslims are like everyone else and – like the dead people in the movie “The Sixth Sense” – most of us see only what we want to see. Unfortunately genuine moderate Muslims – those who are happy to live under the freedoms of democratic nations without subverting those countries by demanding sharia law – are not given a platform. The Muslims who are courted by Western politicians know exactly what the Koran is about, and follow a brand of Islam (Islamism) that wishes to impose political Islam onto the entire world.

Pakistan is one hair’s breadth away from being a failed state. The manner in which the Pakistani government has ordered the closing of the Khyber Pass after three soldiers were wrongly targeted in a drone strike displays the fragility of the NATO-Pakistan partnership. It is a sad fact of war that allies do sometimes die as a result of “friendly fire”. This is always regrettable, but Pakistan has done nothing while trucks waiting at the pass – the only viable road route into Afghanistan – have been targeted by militants.

The White House has recently published an assessment of progress in the war with Afghanistan. The report by the National Security Council maintains that Pakistan has done little to deal with the militants in the tribal regions who travel freely between Afghanistan and places like Waziristan. The report also criticizes Ali Asif Zardari, the president of Pakistan.

In July, British prime minister David Cameron had mentioned that Pakistan was an exporter of terrorism. The comments were criticized by Zardari and Pakistan’s foreign office claimed that terrorism is a global problem and should be handled globally. The head of Pakistan’s notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) , a man named Lieutenant-General Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, was due to have visited Britain, but after the comments about terrorism, the visit was called off.

The ISI had helped to set up the Afghanistan Taliban, and recently knowledge that the ISI have been funding and stage-managing Taliban terrorist attacks in Afghanistan have gone from being an open secret into being openly acknowledged. One individual who had helped to build up the Taliban is Colonel Sultan Amir Tarar (aka Colonel Imam). Tarar had been Pakistan’s Consul General in Herat and had assisted the emergent Taliban from at least as early as 1994. This was two years before the Taliban seized power by murdering and castrating Mohammed Najibullah Ahmadzai – the Afghan president – at a “safe” UN compound on September 27, 1996.

Hamid Gul, a former leader of the ISI, has been listed in several recent reports – included the leaked military reports disclosed via Wikileaks – as being involved with assisting the Afghanistan Taliban. The ISI seems unwilling to abandon the Taliban because it is its owncreation.

I wrote on Monday of the links that tie major terror plots to Pakistan’s tribal regions. Currently a major terror plot has been prepared by members of the Islamist Movement of Uzbekistan. When Osama bin Laden had fled to Pakistan after the US invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001, members of the Islamist Movement of Uzbekistan had followed him. These had close links with both the Taliban of Afghanistan. They settled in North Waziristan, protected by Baitullah Mehsud and his clan. In 2007 Baitullah Mehsud had founded the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (the Pakistan Taliban).

Starting in 2002, about 30,000 Pakistani troops were posted in Pakistan’s tribal regions, but these did little to confront the Al Qaeda, IMU and Taliban members who were thriving in Waziristan. Instead of confronting the terror enclaves, the Pakistani authorities engaged in a process of official appeasement. On September 5, 2006, at a jirga organized for tribal leaders in Waziristan, a notorious accord was signed. This Waziristan Accord, a truce between Pakistan and the tribal leaders who were sheltering the Taliban and Al Qaeda groups, was a disaster. It allowed the terrorists to regroup and build up their strength.

On August 5, 2009, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a drone strike in South Waziristan. His brother Hakimullah Mehsud who had met Faisal Shahzad while the latter prepared to become a jihadist, took over control of the Taliban after Baitullah was killed. It has been argued that Faisal Shahzad may have decided to carry out a car bomb attack in New York out of revenge. In May, at the time of the Times Square incident, it was assumed that Hakimullah Mehsud had been killed in a drone attack at the start of the year. Hakimullah Mehsud is believed to have survived and still heads the Pakistan Taliban.

The IMU has been recruiting German Islamists who have been linked to the terror plot that led last month for there to be a massive increase in drone attacks in the tribal regions. As I wrote on Tuesday:

The Germans living in Waziristan who are operating with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.. only came to the notice of Pakistan authorities at the same time as their videos began appearing on the internet.  The Telegraph newspaper wrote of the “village of white German Taliban” on September 25, 2009. The leader and spokesman of the group of migrant German nationals was called Abu Adam. He has been identified as Mounir Chouka, who had received weapons training in Germany as part of his National Service, before going to join the Pakistan-based jihad in 2007. A former ISI member called Khalid Khawaja said of the German contingent:

“The Europeans are there [in Waziristan]. The most dedicated people there are from Europe. They will do anything for Islam. They are not there because their fathers are Muslim, but by choice.”

Khawaja claimed to be a friend of Osama bin Laden. He was assassinated in April this year, after he had attended a meeting with Sirajuddin Haqqani and Waliur Rahman Mehsud. Mehsud is an assistant to Hakimullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistan Taliban, and Sirajuddin Haqqani is the leader of an al-Qaeda related group also linked to the Taliban. Khawaja’s body was found by a ditch in Mir Ali in North Waziristan.

Two other people had been kidnapped with Khawaja. One was a British journalist and film0-maker called Asad Qureshi, and the other was the former ISI official who had helped to create the Afghanistan Taliban, Colonel Imam (Sultan Tarar). Last month Qureshi was freed. Colonel Imam still remains in the custody. His captors belong to a group that is a spin-off of Lashkar e-Jhangvi.

Wikileaks documents on Afghanistan’s War were officially released on Monday morning. These revealed that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence), had been closely involved with insurgents, and had been giving training and support to Afghanistan Taliban who were fighting coalition troops.

The release of the leaked US military reports on Afghanistan came shortly after the London School of Economics had compiled a report, authored by Harvard analyst Matt Waldman that stated the same claims – that Pakistan’s ISI had been involved in support for Taliban insurgents in Pakistan and Afghanistan:

“As the provider of sanctuary and substantial financial military and logistical support to the insurgency, the ISI appears to have strong strategic and operational influence – reinforced by coercion. There is thus a strong case that the ISI orchestrates, sustains and shapes the overall insurgent campaign.”

The ISI report also mentioned that Pakistan’s president, Ali Asif Zardari, had met with Taliban prisoners and had told them that they had been arrested only because he had been under pressure from Americans. Zardari had allegedly told them that they were “Our people” and had also given authorization for some to be released from prison.

Waldman wrote that “Pakistan appears to be playing a double-game of astonishing magnitude”:

“Although, the Taliban have a strong endogenous impetus, according to Taliban commanders the ISI orchestrates, sustains and strongly influences the movement. They say it gives sanctuary to both Taliban and Haqqani groups, and provides huge support in terms of training, funding, munitions, and supplies. In their words, this is ‘as clear as the sun in the sky’…

…. Without a change in Pakistani behavior it will be difficult if not impossible for international forces and the Afghan government to make progress against the insurgency.”

Wardman also claimed that:

“Pakistan appears to be playing a double-game of astonishing magnitude… The Pakistan government’s apparent duplicity — and awareness of it among the American public and political establishment — could have enormous geopolitical implications.”

The report had been corroborated by “former Taliban ministers, a Western analyst and a senior UN official based in Kabul, who said the Taliban largely depend on funding from the ISI and groups in Gulf countries.”

While the Pakistan government soaks up American taxpayer’s money, there is little to show for the donations made since the time that Pakistan became an ally in the “War on Terror.” American donations to Pakistan total around $18 billion. The nation still has a corrupt police force, a corrupt civilian government, an army and intelligence service whose motives and allegiances are dubious at least. Its minority of citizens who are of other faiths – such as Hindus and Christians – have no protection from the predations of sectarian Islamist groups. Muslim sects such as the Ahmadi are declared by law to be second class citizens, who can be jailed for three years just for calling themselves Muslim. Good education is lacking – and in some tribal regions, girls do not get educated.

Today, Pakistan’s foreign minister Abdul Basit has complained about the American drone strikes, which killed more than 150 people last month. The drone attacks have caused resentment in the country and have happened with far more frequency than they did during the Bush administration’s tenure. Maybe, when Pakistan signed up to the War on Terror it had genuinely made a commitment, the situation now would not be so dismal.

Pakistan’s administrative bodies have severely hindered the battle against Afghanistan’s Taliban. While it continues in its current fashion Pakistan could easily find that the only thing it can do well is to produce and export Muslim terrorists.

Adrian Morgan

The Editor, FamilySecurityMatters.org