The Political Conundrum!

The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a statement from the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement) regarding the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraqi cities. According to the communiqué, "it is because that they drowned in Iraq's mud"--and furthermore, "the victory of the Iraqi resistance is an episode in an integrative series; it is a service to the Islamic project that stands, in every area of Earth, in the face of the neo-imperialistic project(s) and the rogue Zionist-American plans.” The statement concludes by noting that " The American project in the region will fall resoundingly, and committing any new stupidity in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan or others will be a disaster for America and her armies, and all of their schemes will shatter atop the rock of the [Islamic] nation's awareness, Jihad and steadfastness.”

An English translation of the Hamas communique can be downloaded from the NEFA Foundation website.

The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a new audio recording from the Amir al-Mumineen (“Commander of the Faithful”) of Al-Qaida’s Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. In the tape, al-Baghdadi noted that " if the American occupiers have a presence even in a small region in the Iraqi desert, away from all forms of life, it is a duty for every Muslim to carry Jihad against them until removing them from that region..." He pointed out that "reports and studies confirmed that war on Iraq is the first and real reason behind the American…economic crisis, and its reflections on world countries. A receiver of the Nobel Prize confirmed that the war on Iraq expense reached $150 billion annually; the expenses for an American soldier are continuously rising as in 2008 alone, $20 billion were spent to buy better armored cars, and the expenses for psychological and physical treatment of American soldiers and their families."

An English transcript of Abu Omar's recording can be downloaded from the NEFA Foundation website.

Federal authorities searched overseas for a U.S. citizen charged with plotting "violent jihad" as part of a North Carolina-based group of aspiring terrorists. Authorities think the eighth suspect is in Pakistan, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An attorney is preparing to ask the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to pay disability benefits and damages for hospital mistakes that may have exposed veterans to infectious body fluids - a complaint that he said could ultimately multiply into many more such demands.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates toured a base in southern Iraq Tuesday where U.S. and Iraqi troops sit side-by-side but he later sidestepped questions about whether American forces might stay beyond their 2012 departure date.

The government has kept a closer eye on U.S. contractors in Iraq since a deadly 2007 shooting by Blackwater guards, but it still needs to do a better job tracking and investigating when private security guards fire their guns, two new Pentagon audits have found.

The U.S. Coast Guard used boats, airplanes and a helicopter to search the warm, shallow waters off the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday for some 70 Haitians believed missing after their overloaded sailboat capsized. Rescuers pulled 113 survivors from reefs, and police recovered 11 bodies.

A Virginia man pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to steal millions of dollars' worth of oil from the U.S. army in Iraq, the Justice Department said.

Originally published as "Islam-o-Muslim and the Resilience of Terrorism in Bangladesh" Terrorism Monitor, (Jamestown Foundation) Volume: 7 Issue: 22, July 27, 2009.

I just published one article on the Islam-o-Muslim, an offshoot of Jama'at ul-Mujahedeen Bangladesh, and how and where outlawed groups are trying to revive terrorism in the country in the face of renewed counterterror efforts by government agencies.

Here is an excerpt.

After a relatively long period of calm, Islamist militancy in Bangladesh is showing new signs of life, even in the face of continuous crackdowns on terrorist infrastructure and activity by counterterrorism forces in the country.

Security officials have long established that many of the outlawed terrorist groups have been trying to regroup and reorganize after lying low (mostly in northwestern and southwestern Bangladesh) after a state of emergency was declared in January 2007. In June 2008, reports came quickly of the reemergence of terrorist groups such as Jama'at ul-Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB), Allahr Dal, Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami (HuJI) and Hizb-ut Towhid (HuT). The revival was especially strong in the southwestern districts of Kushtia, Meherpur, Jhenidah, Magura, Chuadanga, Jessore, and Satkhira. Intelligence sources revealed that all these groups have maintained close operational ties and carried out terrorist operations on Bangladeshi soil. One estimate suggested there were about 12,000 cadres actively operating in the country, mostly madrassa (Islamic seminary) teachers, students and clerics of mosques (Daily Star [Dhaka], June 12, 2008). In April of this year, Bangladesh intelligence agencies declared that the Islamist terrorist groups are reorganizing with the aim of making a deadly comeback (Daily Star, April 29).

In the midst of this evolving terrorist scenario in Bangladesh, a new jihadi outfit has emerged under the name of Islam-o-Muslim (IoM). The existence of IoM, a hitherto unknown group that security forces believe is a dissident breakaway faction of JMB, came to light when the Detective Branch (DB) of the Bangladesh police apprehended JMB terrorist Mustafizur Rahman (a.k.a Montu) in Dhaka’s Fakirerpol district on June 28, followed by the June 30 arrest of another JMB terrorist from the Gazipur district, Abdur Rahim (a.k.a Shahadat Hossain), who claimed to be the chief of IoM. Security forces also apprehended a pair of IoM area commanders identified as Sajedur Rahman (a.k.a Hanif) and Jalal Uddin (BDNews24.com, July 3; New Nation [Dhaka], July 3). On July 6, a joint team of police and paramilitary personnel from the Bangladesh Rifles arrested senior IoM operative Selim (a.k.a Saifullah), the IoM second-in-command and military affairs commander in Chapai Nawabganj (BDNews24.com, July 8; Daily Star, July 8).

After this string of arrests, the elite counterterrorist Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) claimed they had foiled IoM’s attempt to expand its activities by arresting many of its top leaders in a stepped-up crackdown on the terrorist infrastructure in Bangladesh. After extensive investigation, Bangladesh police have now confirmed that at least four JMB suspects arrested on earlier occasions in various parts of Chapai Nawabganj were actually IoM members. These suspects were identified as Abdul Mumin, Abdur Raqib, Rabiul Islam and Abdul Munib.

The interrogations of Abdur Rahim and other suspects revealed that IoM was formed in April 2009 to dominate the northwestern part of Bangladesh. With around 10 to 15 Ehsar (full-time) members and many Gayeri Ehsar (part-time) activists, IoM reportedly tried to expand in Rajshai division (bordering India’s West Bengal State) to establish a free zone consisting of the Gomastapur, Shibganj and Bholahat portions of the Chapai Nawabganj frontier district, Bagmara of the Rajshahi district and Raninagar and Atrai of the Naogaon district.

The arrest of Abdur Rahim and Sajedur Rahman, both former members of the JMB’s Majlis-e-Shura (Council of Advisors), brought this new outfit to the fore of the ever-expanding Islamist landscape in Bangladesh. Abdur Rahim, an alumnus of Islami Chhatra Shibir (the student wing of Jamaat-i-Islami Bangladesh), joined JMB in 2002. He was appointed chief of the Bagmara sub-district initially and was actively involved in JMB’s violent activities targeting left-wing Sarbahara activists in Rajshahi district. However Rahim, a close associate of Siddiqul Islam (a.k.a Bangla Bhai, leader of the radical Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh - JMJB), fled to India after the countrywide crackdowns on JMB’s top leadership following the serial bomb blasts in August 2005 (Daily Star, July 7). Rahim reportedly worked for JMB’s cause in India by raising funds and new recruits in and around the Murshidabad, Nadia and Malda districts of India’s West Bengal state. After his return to Bangladesh early this year, Rahim formed IoM due to the internal feud growing within the ranks of the JMB, primarily over financial and ideological matters.

Unlike JMB, which used various terror tactics in the country ranging from suicide attacks to planting bombs and explosives, the IoM aims to wage jihad with small arms, focusing on weapons and ammunition manufacturing in their hideouts. Police seized shotguns, bullet-making materials, and books on jihad from all the IoM cadres they have arrested so far. Both Abdur Rahim and Selim vehemently opposed many of the JMB’s activities, especially bomb blasts. Instead they have chosen assassination-style killings with small arms as their main tactic.

Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano announced the appointment of Richard Spires – who brings decades of experience managing complex information technology systems – as Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Department of Homeland Security.