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CBN News Terrorism Analyst Erick Stakelbeck
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Stakelbeck on Terror
Join with CBN News Terrorism Analyst Erick Stakelbeck
as he brings you the latest inside information on the war on terror here in the U.S. as well as around the world.
october 4, 2005
On the same day Islamic suicide bombers killed at least 26 people in the Indonesian resort town of Bali, an American blew himself up in similar fashion. You read that right--this past Saturday night, a 21-year-old University of Oklahoma student named Joel Henry Hinrichs III blew himself up outside the school's football stadium during a sold-out game between OU and Kansas State (with 84,000 fans in attendance). Hinrichs, an engineering major who reportedly battled depression, killed himself in the fashion of Islamic terrorists, by detonating a bomb strapped to his body. Other than Hinrichs, no one was hurt by the powerful explosion--he was reportedly seated on a bench about 100 yards from the stadium when the bomb detonated.
More...
september
30, 2005
The New York Fire Department just dodged a major bullet.
In the ultimate irony, The FDNY--whose incredible courage
during 9/11 was an inspiration to Americans everywhere--came
perilously close to having a 9/11 denier on its payroll.
You read that right. Imam Intikab Habib, 30, a native
of Guyana who studied Islam in Saudi Arabia, was slated
to be sworn in today as just the second Muslim chaplain
in FDNY history. There was just one problem--during an
interview with Newsday earlier this week, Habib said the
following about the 9/11 attacks, which, he seemed to
forget, affected his would-be employer, the FDNY, perhaps
more than anyone: "I as an individual don't know
who did the attacks. There are so many conflicting reports
about it. I don't believe it was 19 ... hijackers who
did those attacks."
More...
setpember
29, 2005
Just in case you've grown complacent in the 4-plus years
since 9/11(sadly, I fear many Americans have), I feel
compelled to remind readers of this important fact: there
are still a number of Muslims extremists in the United
States who pine for a a future where America has more
mosques than churches or synagogues, where women are veiled,
where the Koran is taught in the classroom, where Ramadan
replaces Christmas, and where brutal Islamic sharia law
is king. While most American Islamists will never say
that aloud, some have slipped in the past, particularly
before the 9/11 attacks, which increased awareness in
the U.S. about the Islamist enemy within.
More...
september
27, 2005
It's widely acknowledged that radical Islam's official
declaration of war on the United States came during the
Iranian revolution of 1979. That's when a gang of wild-eyed
Iranian "students"-- including Iran's newly
elected terrorist-in-chief, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad--stormed
the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 54 Americans hostage
and making "Death to America" the most popular
catchphrase in the Muslim world this side of "Allahu
Akhbar." ("Death to Israel" comes in a
close third).
More...
september
26, 2005
Some interesting news out of Europe: currently the most
crucial front in the worldwide war on terror after Iraq.
Imad Yarkas, an al-Qaeda cell leader in Spain, was convicted
today in a Madrid court and sentenced to 27 years in prison
for conspiracy and being "a leader of a terrorist
organization." The Yarkas conviction closed out Europe's
largest trial of al-Qaeda members thus far. But while
I'm thrilled to see the Syrian-born Yarkas behind bars,
his conviction is a huge disappointment in that it could
have--and should have--been much more harsh.
More...
september
23, 2005
In yesterday's blog, I criticized a U.S. Magistrate Judge's
decision to set a suspected Muslim-American terrorist,
Ali Asad Chandia, free on bond as he awaits trial. Today,
I've got to deal out similar criticism--this time to British
authorities--for allowing a white Muslim convert named
Zayead Hajaig out on bail as he awaits sentencing. Hajaig
had been arrested by Scotland Yard anti-terror detectives
in Britain last week. He's wanted for questioning by American
authorities.
More...
September 22, 2005
From the "jihad in your backyard" department comes this: a 28-year-old Muslim man named Ali Asad Chandia--who's charged with aiding not one, but two terrorist groups--was released on bond yesterday by a U.S. district court in Alexandria, Virginia. Magistrate Judge Theresa Carroll Buchanan set the following conditions for Chandia's release, which prosecutors rightly opposed: A) He'll stay with his wife at his home in College Park. Maryland, and will be electronically tracked by a GPS bracelet. B) His mother will put up her home in Gaithersburg, Maryland as collateral. How touching.
More...
september
21, 2005
I just received
the following reaction to yesterday's blog from a reader
describing himself as "Muslim-American." Pay particular
attention to the last paragraph, which I've boldfaced:
Mr Stakelbeck,
I am a Muslim-American who converted to Islam, and I must
say that in part I agree with your comments. There are
two dimensions to Islam. A Christian once asked me: "Is
Islam a religion of peace or terror?" I said: "That
depends on you." -He seemed confused. I continued...
If people can at us (Muslims) with love, respect,
and peace, then you will find Islam as being a religion
of peace.
However, when invaders come into our countries,
bulldoze our houses, rape our economies and resources,
as well as our women and children. THEN, my friend, you
will find Islam as being a religion of terror.
I think this statement pretty much sums up the difference
between Islam--where violent jihad is encouraged against
non-believers--and Christianity, where Jesus encourages
us to turn the other cheek and love our enemies.
More...
september 20, 2005
Islam is a peaceful, tolerant religion. Jihad simply means "inner struggle." Mohammed was a man of peace and compassion. These and other politically correct pearls of wisdom have been force-fed to the American public ad nauseum by government elites and the mainstream media ever since 9/11 (when, ironically enough, 19 members of the "religion of peace" murdered over 3,000 Americans in cold blood). But the facts, as they say, do not lie. We need look no further then the ongoing Muslim-driven religious strife in Iraq, Kashmir, Bosnia, Chechnya, Sudan, Nigeria, Indonesia, Phillipines, Pakistan, Europe and elsewhere to see that oftentimes those "peaceful" Muslims just don't play nice.
More...
september 19, 2005
Shortly after arriving back in Washington, D.C. from the Katrina disaster zone Friday evening, I learned that Massachusetts' Republican governor Mitt Romney had come under fire from American Muslim and civil rights groups. His crime? Suggesting that the U.S. should closely monitor radical mosques as well as young Muslim men from terror-sponsoring states like Syria and Saudi Arabia who have taken up residence in America. How dare he! To Romney's immense credit, he has refused to apologize for his comments, which, to the overwhelming majority of Americans, are just plain common sense.
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September 9, 2005
With the fourth anniversary of 9/11 upon us, now is a good time to reflect on what the U.S. has accomplished in the War on Terror, and what it still needs to do. Joseph Farah has written an excellent article on this topic at Worldnetdaily.com titled "Don't forget bin Laden." His basic thesis: how can we call our efforts against Al-Qaeda a success when the groups' leader, the man--lest we forget--behind 9/11 and the growing worldwide jihadist movement, is still breathing? If Bin Laden is still holed up in a cave in 2008, recording threatening videotapes rather than pushing up daisies, I don't see how the Bush presidency could be considered a success, despite all the strides it has made in battling Islamic terror around the globe. This will be my last blog for a week or so--I'm heading down to Louisiana to cover Katrina's aftermath. In the meantime, stay vigilant.
september 7, 2005
Is there any area of the world left, besides Antarctica, where Islamic jihadists haven't set up shop? Since 9/11, experts have repeatedly cautioned that Al-Qaeda operates in over 60 countries--from Australia to Malaysia, from Brazil to Belgium, from Ontario to Ohio. And of course, throughout the Middle East, Central and South Asia and North Africa. Given this disturbing fact, it should come as no surprise that for the last 14 years, a top Al-Qaeda operative has been living as a political refugee with his family in frigid, remote Norway.
More...
september
6, 2005
It appears that the upcoming United Nations General Assembly,
which begins September 12, will include a rogue's gallery
of despots, strongmen, and even a bona fide terrorist--Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, the newly elected president of Iran. As I
discussed in my September 1 blog, Ahmadinejad has a long
history of murder, mayhem, and anti-American activities
to his credit. He's currently under investigation in the
U.S. for his role in the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-81,
which saw the U.S. Embassy in Tehran seized and 52 Americans
taken hostage for 444 days.
More...
september 1, 2005
Leave it to Iran's terrorist government to use a horrific tragedy as an occasion to bash America. Yesterday in northern Baghdad, nearly 1,000 Shiites died in a stampede after panic broke out during a religious procession across a Tigris River bridge. Apparently, mayhem ensued after rumor spread that Sunni suicide bombers were among the marchers. So what did Iraq's eastern neighbor, Iran, have to say about this human disaster?
More...
august 31, 2005
One of the few bright spots for me this week amid the heart-wrenching footage of Hurricane Katrina's path of devastation has been the opportunity to meet and interview two courageous Americans who have taken the fight to the jihadists head-on. On Monday, CBN News had the pleasure of chatting with talk radio host Michael Graham on the set of his new Rightalk.com program, "Michael Graham Unleashed." As I explained in my August 24 blog, Graham was fired from ABC's WMAL radio last week for daring to label Islam a "terrorist organization" on air. Granted, that statement is undoubtedly provocative--when taken out of context. And that's exactly what ABC and the real driving force behind Graham's firing, the notorious Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), did. Here is Graham's full statement:
More...
august 30, 2005
Although the horrific devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina demands America's full attention, and rightly so, Islamic jihad never ceases, even for natural disasters. Just witness how Islamofascists in Indonesia threatened to carry out attacks against foreign aid workers in the country's tsunami-ravaged Aceh region a few months back. Given such depravity, an article in this week's edition of Time magazine is particularly noteworthy. Titled "The New Bin Laden," the piece explains how Jordanian jihadi Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the driving force behind the ongoing terrorist insurgency in Iraq, is gradually eclipsing Bin Laden as the number one inspiration for aspiring mujahideen worldwide. And his Al-Qaeda franchise is expanding as well, according to Time:
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August 29, 2005
We know that over the next several months, our radical Islamist enemies would love nothing more than to hit a leading Western hub like (in no particular order) Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Berlin, Rome or Amsterdam with a devastating terrorist attack. But if they can't hit one or all of these cities--due in large part to heightened security and awareness in the wake of July's London bombings--the jihadis undoubtedly have a Plan B. And judging from some recent reports, it could be somewhat of a curveball.
More...
august 26, 2005
I thought the below e-mail exchange with a reader of the blog was informative. In it, I state my position on why I believe taking race and ethnicity into account is one technique we need to use in identifying potential terrorists. For more on this topic, check out my story on terrorist profiling on today's edition of The 700 Club. Here is the reader's original unedited e-mail:
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august 25, 2005
Do jihadists in Europe have a new target? The Italian daily newspaper Il Giornale, which is owned by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has released two troubling reports this week that have gone virtually unnoticed by the Western press. On August 22nd, Il Giornale reported that a well-known Iraqi terrorist, Abu Abdelrahman al-Jazaeri, is planning to carry out a major attack on Italian soil. He's reportedly taking orders from the Iraq-based terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and is en route to Italy after having passed through Saudi Arabia. How real are these claims? We can't know for certain. And that's exactly why we should take notice. Here is an excerpt from the article, translated into English by FBIS:
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august 24, 2005
In the past, I've written frequently about the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a radical Islamist group masquerading as a Muslim "civil rights" organization. Despite CAIR's lengthy ties to Islamic extremists and even to convicted terrorists (see here: http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=15698 and here: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=17315), the group continues to receive media and even government legitimacy. For example, it's members meet frequently with the FBI to provide the Bureau with "sensitivity training" in its dealings with American Muslims. They've also been guests at the White House under both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.
More...
august 22,
2005
Israel's withdrawal from Gaza is now complete. The West
Bank settlements are next. The Israelis' hope here is
for some sort of peace with the Palestinians. But if early
statements from the Palestinian side are any indication,
peace is the furthest thing from their minds. Mahmoud
Abbas, the supposedly "moderate" chairman of
the Palestinian Authority, said on Sunday that "the
blood of martyrs" led to Israel's retreat from Gaza.
What a message to send to Palestinian young people: hey
kids, suicide bombing works!” Abbas also said the
Gaza withdrawal was only a first step: “Tomorrow
they will leave Jenin," he said, "and after
that the West Bank and Jerusalem." Abbas didn't mention
whether this would require more "martyrs," but
the implication was clear.
More...
august 17, 2005
It appears that California is quickly turning into ground zero for jihadist actvity in the United States. In June, federal authorities busted up an apparent Al-Qaeda sleeper cell of Pakistani men in Lodi, CA, just outside Sacramento. Just last week, local police said that a group of Middle Eastern men was acting "suspiciously" while videotaping the Santa Monica Pier. And now it has emerged that two African-American converts to Islam, Gregory Patterson, 21, and Levar Washington, 25, have been arrested and charged with holding up at least 10 gas stations and convenience stores in the Torrance, California area. What does that have to do with terrorism, you might ask?
More...
August 16,
2005
I'm heading to New York City tomorrow to cover the controversy
over using racial profiling to identify potential terrorists.
Why there is a controversy over this, I'm not quite sure,
given that practically every major terrorist attack over
the past decade-plus (at least) has been committed by
men of Middle Eastern, North African, or South Asian descent.
This much is indisputable. Of course, there's also one
other undeniable quality about the recent London bombings,
last year's Madrid bombings, the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings,
the 9-11 attacks, etc.They were all committed by devout
Muslims who carried them out in the name of Islam. So
why, then, do America's government and media elites have
such a hard time saying the words "Islamic"
and "terrorism" in the same sentence?
More...
august 15,
2005
Chances are, unless you're an air traffic control groupie
(a very exclusive group indeed), you've never heard of
Edmund S. "Kip" Hawley. But Hawley, who was
just appointed by President Bush to head the Transportation
Security Administration, may soon become a household name,
thanks to some truly outrageous proposals put forth by
his staff recently, per his request. Seems the folks at
TSA have some recommendations on how to improve upon the
airline security measures put in place following the 9-11
attacks. They include-and I'm not making this up-lifting
the ban on carry-on items such as scissors, razor blades,
and knives less than five inches long. Apparently, the
fact that the 9-11 hijackers used box cutters to commandeer
the planes used in that day's attacks has slipped the
TSA's memory banks.
More...
august 11,
2005
Some refreshing news out of Beirut today: Lebanese authorities
have detained the radical sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed for
questioning. Details have yet to emerge about why the
Lebanese are holding him. But whenever someone as despicable
as Bakri--who openly advocates suicide bombings and calls
the 9/11 hijackers, "the Magnificent 19"--is
a given a hard time, I'm happy. The Syrian-born Bakri,
who has lived in Britain for the past 20 years, was supposedly
"vacationing" in Lebanon (he holds Lebanese
citizenship, and his mother lives in Beirut).
More...
august 11,
2005
From the border watch file we find a truly disturbing
recent arrest. A U.S. Border Patrol agent in San Diego
named Oscar Antonio Ortiz stands accused of smuggling
illegal aliens into the United States over the U.S./Mexico
border. As if that weren't bad enough, there's more: Ortiz
himself is also allegedly an illegal alien! So how did
Ortiz get a job with the U.S. Border Patrol, where his
main duty consists of, well, stopping illegal immigrants
from entering the U.S.? Apparently, the 28-year-old Ortiz,
a Mexican citizen born in Tijuana, was hired by the agency
in 2001 after using a fraudulent birth certificate saying
he was born in Chicago.
More...
august 10,
2005
CBN News has learned that an important al-Qaeda operative
was detained during a raid in the northeastern Pakistani
city of Faisalabad on August 7. His name is Osama bin
Yousaf, and his arrest may reveal some new clues about
al-Qaeda's intentions for Europe. Pakistani authorities
seized bin-Yousaf's computer hard drive, which they say
included maps and details of German and Italian cities.
So far, the Pakistanis aren’t saying which cities.
Perhaps even more disturbing, Bin Yousaf's cell phone
records reportedly show that he made a call to Britain
on August 4, one to Italy on August 5, and two long calls
to Germany on August 6. Authorities began tracking bin
Yousaf after they learned that he had been in contact
with top al-Qaeda leader Abu Farai al-Libi, who was also
arrested in Pakistan, back in May.
More...
August 9,
2005
It's a nightmare scenario, and I'm surprised, above all
relieved, that it hasn't materialized like many thought
it would following 9/11. A Middle Eastern man dressed
in baggy Western attire straps explosives underneath his
Gap jacket and strolls into a large indoor shopping mall
in Iowa. It's mid-November, just before the Christmas
shopping season officially kicks off, and the stores are
already packed. By the time mall security notices the
24-year-old man's strange behavior and nervous gestures,
it's too late. Dozens of casualties later, and it's clear
that America has entered into a new and frightening stage
in the war on terror.
More...
august 8, 2005
The backlash against Tony Blair's announcement that Britain will be enacting tough new anti-terrorism laws has already begun. And one of the loudest objectors so far is the radical Islamist group Hizb-ut Tahrir. Many in the United States haven't heard of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which, in my mind, makes them all the more dangerous. Hizb ut-Tahrir--or HT--promotes the re-establishment of a worldwide Islamic state, or calpihate, through means of armed jihad. The Washington Post has described HT as “exhort[ing] Muslims to suicide bombings, martyrdom against American ‘infidels’ and the killing of Jews.”
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august 5, 2005
Tony Blair's announcement today that Britain is enacting tough new anti-terrorism measures was inspiring to watch. I've never seen Blair--who is normally smooth as silk even under the most intense questioning from Britain's liberal media hordes--look so forceful in public. You could almost see smoke streaming from his ears as he spoke. Blair's anger is justified and long overdue, and if he sticks to his guns, London will no longer be a playground for radical Islamists.
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august 4, 2005
The new Al-Qaeda videotape shown today on Al-Jazeera television proves that although the group's central command has been severely weakened since the 9/11 attacks, it's managed to remain the most media-savvy terrorist group in history (which, as far as accomplishments go, ranks right up there with "most photogenic Nazi"). Al-Qaeda knows that Tony Blair has been getting hammered by a left-wing British press that blames his Iraq policies for the 7/7 and 7/21 London bombings. So naturally, the new videotape shows Al-Qaeda' s deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, telling Brits that, "Blair has brought to you destruction in central London."
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august 3,
2005
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was appointed Iran's new president today, just over a month after his surprise victory in the Iranian elections. No matter how you measure it, this spells serious trouble for the West -- America and Israel in particular. Ahmadinejad is best known for his role in the taking of 54 American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. He's also rumored to have participated in the assasinations of several Iranian dissidents during the 1980s. Now he's helping to govern a country which is the world's leading state sponsor of global terrorism, and which continues to forge ahead with its plans to build nuclear weapons. I say "helping to govern" because Ahmadinejad ultimately has to answer to Iran's ruling clerics--specifically the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who just today made a speech denouncing America as "the Great Satan."
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august 3,
2005
With the London bombings dominating the headlines this past month, a few other significant developments in Europe's increasingly rocky relationship with radical Islam have gone largely unnoticed. On the positive side, we have France. It may surprise some to learn that the French--no friend of the U.S. when it comes to the war in Iraq--have been a staunch ally in the greater War on Terror. For instance, a top-secret counterterrorism center, code-named "Alliance Base," currently operates out of Paris. According to the Washington Post, since 2002, six Western governments have shared intelligence and coordinated counterterrorism operations from Alliance Base.
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August 2, 2005
Upon signing the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) on Tuesday, President Bush promised that the pact would "advance peace and prosperity" throughout Central America. A noble goal for sure--but one that will never be achieved as long as violent criminal gangs continue to wreak havoc across the region. One of these gangs in particular has left a trail of dead bodies in its wake over the past two decades. Its name is Mara Savatrucha--better known as MS-13. In the opinion of many law enforcement officials, MS-13--which was formed in El Salvador in the 1980's--has now replaced the severely depleted Italian mafia as the number one criminal enterprise in the United States.
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