The Political Conundrum!

The NEFA Foundation has published a new report that I have written, titled "Anatomy of a Modern Homegrown Terror Cell." The report focuses on the recent criminal trial of Aabid Hussain Khan at the Blackfriars Crown Court in London, as told through the actual evidence seized by U.K. authorities and the detailed testimony of Khan himself. According to Karen Jones, the reviewing lawyer in the case from the U.K. Crown Prosecution Service, "The evidence showed Khan was a committed and active supporter of Al-Qaida ideology… He preyed on vulnerable young people and turned them into recruits to his cause, using internet chat to lure them in then incite them to fight. He arranged their Pakistan for terrorism training, and talked about a 'worldwide battle.'"

During an online chat session with co-conspirators, Khan boasted of his desire “to take out” as many people as possible, even innocent civilians: “attacks are permissable through out this world, so the world a battlefield in my vision, everything, almost, is a target… so if you can find a big target and take it out, say like a military base in uk, then alhamdulillaah.” In another similar conversation, Khan confessed, “you dont know how much fury i have towards these american dogs.” Khan was remarkably forthright in laying out his larger plan: “what i want to do is cause trouble for kuffar [infidels] by hit and runs[,] everywhere[,] cause fear and panic in their countries[,] make them nervous so they make mistakes… insha’allaah commando training. i was all ready[sic] reported to the airport and police by my parents… [but it is] too late, the terrorists have brainwashed us.” When Khan insisted to another prospective cell member “our duty is to cause damage to the kuffar [infidels] in each and every place possible”, the recruit joked that Khan might not be patient enough to actually reach his chosen target: “the way u talk it seems like ur planning out a fidayee [suicide commando] attack on the plane lol.” Grinning, Khan responded, “if it does not come to that, then we wont insha’allaah.”

The 21-page report includes an additional 3-page Appendix with highlights from the evidence seized from Khan--including still images from reconnaissance videos allegedly filmed by Atlanta, Georgia residents Ehsanul Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed; and, from a video Khan himself recorded in July 2006 in a remote region of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Aafia Siddiqui has been indicted by a federal grand jury in New York City and will appear in court on Thursday in connection with this new indictment, which you can download from here. She is charged with: (1) one count of attempting to kill United States nationals outside the United States; (2) one count of attempting to kill United States officers and employees; (3) one count of armed assault of United States officers and employees; (4) one count of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; and (5) three counts of assault of United States officers and employees.

The DOJ press release and the indictment provide details of the incident in question:

"On July 18, 2008, a team of United States servicemen and law enforcement officers, and others assisting them, attempted to interview Aafia Siddiqui in Ghazni, Afghanistan, where she had been detained by local police the day before. The United States interview team included, among others: three officers and employees of the United States Army; two officers and employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and two United States Army contract interpreters.

The interview of Siddiqui was to take place at an Afghan police compound in Ghazni. In a second-floor meeting room at the compound -- where Siddiqui was being held, unbeknownst to the United States interview team, unsecured, behind a curtain -- Siddiqui obtained one of the United States Army officer’s M-4 rifle and attempted to fire it, and did fire it, at another United States Army officer and other members of United States interview team. Siddiqui repeatedly stated her intent and desire to kill Americans.

Siddiqui then assaulted one of the United States Army interpreters, as he attempted to obtain the M-4 rifle from her. Siddiqui subsequently assaulted one of the FBI agents and one of the United States Army officers, as they attempted to subdue her."

The indictment supercedes the criminal complaint filed against Siddiqui in August; a copy of that is available on the NEFA Foundation website. The indictment also cites written notes and computer files taken from Siddiqui when she was captured. For instance, handwritten notes referred to a "mass casualty attack" and listed locations in the U.S., including Plum Island, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Other notes referred to the construction of "dirty bombs" and chemical and biological weapons, and discussed using reconnaissance drones, underwater bombs, and gliders. Her computer thumb drive contained correspondence referring to "cells," "attacks" by certain "cells," and "enemies."

Siddiqui is also believed to have been in Liberia receiving al Qaeda diamonds in 2001. Douglas Farah wrote recently that "a woman had arrived to collect diamonds from al Qaeda operatives in Monrovia, and had returned, with two men, to Karachi, Pakistan, and then moved on to Quetta, where police and intelligence lost her trace. It was not clear to me at the time of the reporting that the woman was Siddiqui. Perhaps the New York trial will help clarify the issue."

Asif Ali Zardari, imminently to become Pakistan’s President, faces a resurgent Taliban, ongoing terrorist attacks and a fractured political environment which makes effective responses all the harder. President Pervez Musharraf’s resignation as President on August 18 could have provided an opportunity for a coalition government to take charge on security issues. But the withdrawal on August 25 of Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) from the coalition has left Zardari’s Pakistan People's Party (PPP) weakened. Immediate political challenges include the Islamist party Jamaat-i-Islami’s efforts to have the PML-N to join its All Pakistan Democratic Movement in opposition to the secularist PPP, making it all the harder for the PPP government to take the aggressive military steps needs to combat the Taliban and al-Qaeda where they are operating in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and South Waziristan.

Located along Pakistan's northwestern border with Afghanistan, FATA consists of seven tribal agencies and six frontier regions with more than 3 million people. The FATA continues to be administered by Pakistan alone an administrative scheme developed more than a century ago by the Colonial British. The people of the FATA have limited civil rights, and even more limited social services, with high poverty, high unemployment, low literacy, and an infrastructure that could charitably be called underdeveloped. Many areas remain barely subject to Pakistani rule, providing territory for criminals as well as extremists. The porous border is a narcotics smuggler’s paradise, exploited by the Taliban among others. It is also a center for terrorist safe-haven, despite ongoing U.S.-Pakistani military efforts there, and for cross-border destabilization efforts in Afghanistan.

In the best of times, any civilian leader would have his hands full trying to gain control of the FATA, as well as of Pakistan’ two strongest institutions, the Pakistani military and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), both of whom have long-standing ties to extremist groups, including the Taliban, recurrent involvement in drug trafficking, and well-documented histories of corruption.

But these are among the worst of times in Pakistan. Hostilities between Pakistan’s security institutions and the Taliban are intensifying. On August 25, Pakistan banned Pakistan’s most important Taliban organization, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), based in South Waziristan. The government froze its bank accounts and assets, and announced rewards for the arrest of its leaders. This move was prompted after serious assaults by militants on Pakistani governmental installations and officials. These included a bloody suicide assault on a government arms factory located in Wah, just 18 miles from Islamabad, which killed an estimated 100 Pakistani civilians, a bombing of a senior police official in Karachi, and an attack on a container truck carrying two armored personal carriers out of Karachi port leaving for a mission with NATO in Afghanistan. In the same period, Taliban militants operating in Peshawar blew up homes of a senior local official of the Awami National Party, as well as a college for women operated by the government.

There were two unrelated developments today in Afghanistan, but each open the door a crack on highly secret aspects of the nearly seven-year-old war.

The first was the Defense Department announcement that Navy SEAL Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua Thomas Harris, 36, of Lexington, N.C., was killed last week during an Afghanistan combat operation.

"Harris was temporarily forward deployed from his assignment at Naval Special Warfare Development Group, Dam Neck, Va.," the Pentagon said in a statement released late Monday night.

The Development Group, also known as "DEVGRU," may seem like a peculiar name for one of the military's most secret counterterror units. Formerly called SEAL Team 6, the unit is charged with carrying out many of the nation's most classified missions, such as top tier kill-or-capture missions targeting senior Al Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan, Iraq and other exotic destinations.

A Navy statement said Harris, who had received the Bronze Star with Combat "V" device and other decorations in multiple Afghan and Iraq tours, "drowned after being swept away by turbulent waters while conducting a river crossing during combat operations in Afghanistan."

One colleague told the New York Daily News' Mouth of the Potomac Blog that Harris was "a great guy," adding that all losses in war are terrible, "but damn, he was special."

Another informed source said Harris's grieving family will be supported by the Naval Special Warfare Foundation, which accepts public donations.

In an unrelated story, the U.S. military command in the wartorn country reported this morning on a probe into claims of civilian deaths, which they said had been exaggerated. But the statement from Bagram Airfield revealed some interesting details of enemy spycraft and their surveillance of an American firebase they planned to strike near Heart, close to the Afghan-Iran border.

Investigators collected evidence that "included weapons, explosives, intelligence materials, and an access badge to a nearby base as well as photographs from inside and outside of the base."

President Bush on Friday signed the Hubbard Act, surrounded by members of the California family whose multiple sacrifices inspired the military pay-and-benefits law.

A growing trend in the tattoo industry is ink memorials to friends and loved ones who have died, called memorial tattoos, in-loving-memory tattoos or R.I.P. tattoos.

About 100 veterans marched in formation to the Republican National Convention, hoping their experience would lend credibility to their anti-war message. Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War also want McCain to back additional services for military veterans.

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama reportedly told the top military commander in Iraq that some U.S. forces should be pulled out of Iraq and deployed to Afghanistan when the two met in July in Baghdad.

A Navy SEAL was killed Saturday in Afghanistan, the Defense Department said. Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua Thomas Harris, 36, of Lexington, N.C., drowned after being swept away by turbulent waters while crossing a river during combat

A Navy SEAL was killed Saturday in Afghanistan, the Defense Department said. Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua Thomas Harris, 36, of Lexington, N.C., drowned after being swept away by turbulent waters while crossing a river during combat