The Political Conundrum!

After I got back from Afghanistan in May of 2007, I wondered if I would keep this blog up or not. Part of me wanted to quit blogging so I could focus on other things and put Afghanistan behind me, but part of me wanted to keep the word out there, and not let the country and the great things our soldiers are doing there fall off the radar.

My first decision was to at least blog for a few months to talk about the reunification process. As I gathered stats on the traffic coming to my site, I realized that the interest never waned and many people kept coming to this site in order to hear about Afghanistan and what was happening there.

So why am I still blogging now that I have been back for 18 months? Because of emails like the one below, which I got yesterday.

“My husband is deployed in Afghanistan right now and I just wanted to say thank you for being one of the folks who gets me through each day.

I was a company commander during the first Gulf War and that seems like a boy scout outing compared to what is going on out there now.

Thanks for your compassion for soldiers…”

Yep, to know that there are Americans out there who are being helped by this blog is a big reason of why I spend so many hours out of my life keeping this blog up.

Bouhammer Out…

The head of an Air Force accident review board says a July 30 F-15 crash that killed a pilot over the Nevada desert was caused by a combination of factors.

The message sent by the verdict in this case is clear: the United States will neither allow itself to be used as a cash-cow by terrorist groups raising money here under the guise of legitimate charitable activity nor will it allow such groups to abuse the charitable sector by fraudulently raising funds for purportedly innocent causes and then using those funds to finance terrorism. Prosecutors and investigators deserve a tremendous amount of credit for achieving a significant victory against terrorism and for doing so under difficult circumstances, namely under the strict rules of evidence and with the burden of convincing a jury beyond a reasonable doubt in a public court of law.

As Justice Department prosecutor Barry Jonas argued in his closing arguments last week, the Hamas finances a “womb to tomb” support cycle for its followers and potential recruits through Hamas-affiliated charities that spread Hamas’ extremist ideology and build grassroots support for the group’s political, social and terrorist activities alike. I described the Hamas in much the same way in a 2004 article entitled “Hamas from Cradle to Grave.”

Today, the jury hearing the second Holy Land Foundation terrorism trial delivered guilty verdicts against HLF and all of the individual defendants, a stunning victory for federal prosecutors. This site has been among the leading websites in discussing the ramifications of the case. You can read our archive of posts on HLF and a transcript of our special panel, held last December 11, on the first case. You can download the exhibits in the second trial from the NEFA Foundation website and read special reports on the trial at the IPT website.

The verdict also renders judgement on the long list of unindicted co-conspirators (Acrobat file) proposed by the prosecutors and accepted by the judge. They stand "convicted" of their association with the convicted felons in illegal and felonious fundraising for Hamas. Those unindicted co-conspirators include CAIR, the Islamic Society of North America, the North American Islamic Trust, and the Islamic Relief Committee.

After all, the naming of an unindicted co-conspirator is no small matter; it's actively discouraged by the Justice Department. The U.S. Attorneys Manual at DOJ advises federal prosecutors to avoid naming them. A prosecutor can't just throw a list out there; the presiding judge must conclude that the individual's statements or acts were in furtherance of the alleged conspiracy. Moreover, the Attorney's Manual discourages the actual naming of any party not actually charged in an indictment, noting, "Courts have applied this reasoning to preclude the public identification of unindicted third-party wrongdoers in plea hearings, sentencing memoranda, and other government pleadings." CAIR, ISNA, and NAIT asked the judge in the second trial to delete their organizations from that list, but he has refused thus far, apparently validating the list.

In light of the seriousness of the designation and the sweeping convictions, it is a conflict of interest for any federal or state government agency to have a business relationship with any of the unindicted co-conspirators in the HLF case. It's especially preposterous for the FBI to continue in a business relationship with CAIR. Now that the verdicts are in, the White House and the Attorney General must suspend that relationship. Moreover, President Bush should issue, and President-elect Obama should continue, a statement of policy which mandates that no component of the U.S. government will enter into any contract, grant, or agreement with any person or entity which is an unindicted co-coinspirator in a federal criminal case brought by the Department of Justice.

In my opinion, U.S. financial institutions should also cut whatever ties they might have to the UICCs and add them to their lists of "politically exposed persons" for purposes of meeting their USA Patriot Act and Bank Secrecy Act responsibilities.

While the Somali piracy crisis has galvanized world opinion, it is not the only area of Sub-Saharan Africa that is attracting counter-terrorism attention.

The growing ties between criminal and terrorist groups (often one and the same when it comes to Hezbollah's broad activity in Western and Central Africa) has been noted. The Congress authorized the creation of the new Africa Command (Africom) largely because of the terrorist threat in the region.

But what is the real threat? Again I return to the pipeline metaphor, and Africa is more and more frequently a important part of that pipeline structure.

Two cases illustrate this clearly. The first, an illegal alien smuggling ring running from Ghana through Central America to the United States was ideally positioned to carry anyone, including terrorists, across multiple borders.

The ring was run by a 26-year-old named Mohammed Kamel Ibrahim, living in Mexico and using the moniker "Silk the Shocker." For $5,000 he offered to have his clients met by corrupt Mexican officials and sent on to the United States.

What is astonishing is the number of countries through which this network moved people. Like water running downhill they simply took the path of least resistance at any given moment. My full blog is here.

Several commentators have expressed concern offer the possibility that terrorist investors (especially Islamist ones) might use their vast wealth to obtain control of American public corporations and use them to pursue ruinous economic tactics, influence the media or direct resources to terrorist organizations disguised as charitable contributions. There is a certain sense of discomfort over the growing influence of international investors, which I share. However, while the commentators cited above express this discomfort in measured and reasonable tones, one can discern some similarities with the strident messages of anti-globalization activists and the speeches of socialist dictators who denounce “economic hegemony” and “cultural imperialism”. Any time I find myself agreeing, even a little bit, with Chairman Mao, it might be well to pause and reconsider my position.

Adverse reaction to foreign investment seems to be a periodic issue. During the 80’s there was concern over the growth of Japanese investment in NY real estate. This reached a peak when they bought Rockefeller Center. I frankly never understood this concern. What were they going to do with it, take it back to Tokyo? In the end, the property was sold at a great loss. It seemed that the reason the foreigners were winning all the deals, was that they were the only ones dumb enough to bid so high.

At one level, of course, the issue is not worth debating. As long as we continue to send untold billions of dollars abroad to import oil and cheap manufactured goods, the unalterable facts of global bookkeeping require these dollars to return to us in the form of investments, purchases of U.S. goods and services or claims on the Treasury's reserves. The U.S. balance of trade deficit is a significant policy concern, which addresses broader issues than the fight against terrorism. As long as a trade deficit continues, investment flows are the only bulwark against even more dramatic decline of the dollar and consequent inflation. So until our trade deficit improves, we had better hope that foreign investments continue.

Shipping officials from around the world called for a military blockade along Somalia's coast to intercept pirate vessels heading out to sea. But NATO, which has four warships off the coast of Somalia, rejected a blockade.

A female suicide bomber blew herself up near an entrance to the U.S.-protected Green Zone and a bomb tore through a minibus carrying Iraqi government employees in separate attacks on Monday that killed at least 20 people, Iraqi officials said.

Russian news agencies say authorities have charged a sailor with fatal negligence in the deaths of 20 people aboard a nuclear submarine this month.

The scars will always be with him, but Jose Garcia refuses to be burdened by resentment over the random attack that almost killed him last year. He has forgiven the shipmate who slashed his throat and ripped open his abdomen.