Not counting 9/11, Muslims or Arabs have murdered or attempted to murder Americans as part of hate crimes or terrorism as evidenced below: 21 cases with over 43 dead and over 1000 wounded. Some of these cases were plots that were foiled, therefore, the death toll could have been much higher.
1. Robert Kennedy in 1968; 1 murdered by Arab.
The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy occurred on June 5, 1968. Kennedy, New York's junior United States Senator and a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, was fatally wounded by gunshots at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles at approximately 12:16 a.m. PDT; he died more than 25 hours later at Good Samaritan Hospital. On March 3, 1969, in a Los Angeles court, Arab Sirhan Sirhan claimed that he had killed Kennedy.
2. B’nai Brith attack in 1977; 2 murdered by Muslims
The 1977 Hanafi Muslim Siege refers to an incident that occurred March 9-11, 1977, in which three buildings in Washington, D.C. were seized by 12 African-American gunmen. They were held responsible for taking 149 hostages and the death of two people. After a 39 hour standoff all hostages are released from the District Building (city hall) – now called the Wilson Building, B'nai B'rith headquarters, and the Islamic Center.
One of those killed was 24-year-old Maurice Williams, a young radio reporter from WHUR-FM, who stepped off a fifth floor elevator into the crisis. (The fifth floor is where the Mayor and City Council President have their offices). The gunmen also shot security guard Mack Cantrell, who died a few days later in the hospital of a heart attack. Then-D.C. council member, later mayor, Marion Barry walked into the hallway of the District Building after hearing a commotion and was hit by a ricocheted shotgun pellet just above his heart. He was taken out a window and rushed to a hospital.
The gunmen had several demands. They "wanted the government to hand over a group of men who had been convicted of killing seven relatives – mostly children – of takeover leader Hamaas Abdul Khaalis. They also demanded that the movie Mohammad, Messenger of God be destroyed because they considered it sacrilegious."[1]
Time magazine noted: "That the toll was not higher was in part a tribute to the primary tactic U.S. law enforcement officials are now using to thwart terrorists—patience. But most of all, perhaps, it was due to the courageous intervention of three Muslim ambassadors, Egypt's Ashraf Ghorbal, Pakistan's Sahabzada Yaqub-Khan and Iran's Ardeshir Zahedi."[2]
3. Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1990; 1 murdered by Arab Muslim
In 1990, after a speech in a Manhattan, New York Marriott hotel, Kahane was assassinated. The prime suspect, El Sayyid Nosair, was subsequently acquitted of murder but convicted on gun possession charges.
Nosair later stood trial as a co-conspirator of Shaikh Omar Abdel Rahman. Both men received life sentences for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, conspiracy to use explosives against New York landmarks, and plotting to assassinate U.S. politicians. Nosair received life plus 15 years of imprisonment.[5] Nosair's relatives obtained funds to pay for Nosair's defense from Osama bin Laden.[6]
4. 1993 CIA shootings in 1993; 2 murdered by a Muslim
An attack took place on January 25, 1993 near the entrance of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) headquarters in Langley, Virginia where two CIA employees were murdered and three others wounded. The perpetrator, Mir Aimal Kasi, shot CIA employees in their cars as they were waiting at a stoplight.
Kasi fled the country and was placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, sparking a four year international manhunt. He was captured by FBI agents in Pakistan in 1997 and rendered back to the United States to stand trial. He admitted that he shot the victims of the attack, and was subsequently found guilty of capital and first-degree murder, and executed by lethal injection in 2002.
5. WTC bombing in 1993 and Day of Terror; 6 murdered and 1042 wounded by Arab Muslims
In the 1993 World Trade Center bombing (February 26, 1993) a car bomb was detonated by Radical Islamic terrorists in the underground parking garage below Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,500-lb (680 kg) urea nitrate-fuel oil device was intended to knock the North Tower (Tower One) into Tower Two, bringing both towers down and killing up to 250,000 people.[1][2] It failed to do so, but did kill six people and injured 1,042.
The attack was planned by a group of conspirators including Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammad Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Abdul Rahman Yasin and Ahmad Ajaj. They received financing from al-Qaeda member Khaled Shaikh Mohammed, Yousef's uncle. In March 1994, four men were convicted of carrying out the bombing: Abouhalima, Ajaj, Ayyad and Salameh. The charges included conspiracy, explosive destruction of property and interstate transportation of explosives. And in November 1997, two more were convicted: Yousef, the mastermind behind the bombings, and Eyad Ismoil, who drove the truck carrying the bomb.
Nor was the World Trade Center episode the sole planned act of violence. Shortly after the bombing, the conspirators sent a letter to The New York Times in which they proclaimed themselves an army and promised more bloodshed if the United States did not disengage from the Middle East and promptly cease all economic, military, and political support of Israel. Consistent with this threat, other members of the same U.S.-based jihad organization planned to assault Americans again in June 1993 -- only this time, on a far greater scale. The goal of their planned "day of terror" was the indiscriminate murder of thousands of mostly civilian Americans by simultaneously bombing the United Nations complex and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels (through which hundreds of thousands of commuters travel each day between New Jersey and New York City). Future plans by the group included attacks on the FBI's headquarters in New York City, various U.S. military installations, political and judicial officials, and foreign heads of state. Thanks to vigilant law enforcement, and especially its infiltration of the terrorist organization by an undercover operative, all these plans were foiled.
6. Brooklyn bridge murder; in 1994: 1 murdered and 3 wounded by Arab Muslim.
The Brooklyn Bridge Shooting occurred March 1, 1994. A van carrying 15 members of Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish students were traveling on the Brooklyn Bridge. Lebanese-born Rashid Baz used a Cobray machine gun to strafe the van, and a Glock 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol to shoot at students. He also had a 12-gauge Streetsweeper shotgun in his trunk.
Four students were shot. The two most serious included Ari Halberstam, a sixteen-year-old, who died four days from a shot to the head. The other student, also shot in the head, suffered permanent major speech impediments.[1]
7. Empire State Building murder in 1997; 1 murdered and 6 wounded by an Arab Muslim
Ali Hassan Abu Kamal was a Palestinian teacher who went on a fatal shooting rampage atop the Empire State Building on Sunday 23 February 1997. He opened fire at the observation deck of the Empire State Building, killing one person and wounding six before shooting himself in the head, knocking his dentures out. He was later taken to a hospital where he died more than five hours later.
He began shooting shortly after 5 p.m. on the 86th floor observation deck using a .380-caliber Beretta handgun that he apparently bought in Florida several weeks earlier.
Witnesses said the gunman shouted, "Are you from Egypt?" during the shooting. NYPD said they did not know whether it was said in an effort to spare or identify potential victims.
His passport said he was from Ramallah, on the West Bank, and entered the United States on Christmas Eve.
The murdered man was a 27-year-old Danish musician visiting the Empire State Building with an American friend from Connecticut, Matthew Gross, 27, who was also wounded.
The wounded included a French couple from Verdun, whose 16-year-old daughter escaped injury; a 30-year-old Swiss man; an Argentinian man, 52; and a man from the Bronx. One of the wounded men was shot directly in the head. Two children were hurt when they were knocked from parents' arms and four women suffered minor injuries in the rush to the exit.[1]
8. Millenium Bomber in 1999; Muslim attempted to bomb LA airport
On December 14, 1999, Ressam boarded the M/V Coho at Vancouver Island and crossed the border at the Port Angeles, Washington ferry landing. Upon noticing that he appeared nervous, customs officers inspected him more closely and asked for further identification. Ressam panicked and attempted to flee. Customs officials then found nitroglycerin and four timing devices concealed in a spare tire well of his rented car. He was arrested by customs, and investigated by the FBI. He had shared a room in Canada with Abdelmajid Dahoumane, a suspected terrorist. A suitcase in the room which they lived in tested positive for chemicals used for making bombs. Ressam began cooperating with investigators in 2001, and revealed that al-Qaida sleeper cells existed within the United States. This information was included in the famous Presidential Daily Briefing delivered to President Bush on August 6, 2001, entitled "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US".
Ressam's testimony was used by the Guantanamo Bay Combatant Status Review Tribunal to decide that friends of his, like fellow Algerian Ahcene Zemiri, should continue to be held as Unlawful Combatants.
On July 27, 2005, Ressam was sentenced to 22 years in prison plus five years of supervision after his release.[3] According to the Seattle Times U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, the Judge who sentenced Ressam's: "...used the occasion to unleash a broadside against secret tribunals and other war on terrorism tactics that abandon 'the ideals that set our nation apart.'"
9. New York City subway bomber in 1999; 1 Arab Muslim perpetrator
Federal District Judge Reena Raggi sentences Arab Muslim immigrant Ghazi Ibrahim Abu Maizar to life in prison for plotting to bomb New York City subway.
10. LA Airport murders in 2002; 2 murdered by an Arab Muslim
Hesham Mohamed Hadayet (died July 4, 2002) was an Egyptian-American who on July 4, 2002, killed 2 people at Los Angeles International Airport. The two people killed were Israelis at the El Al ticket counter at the airport, one of whom was identified as a ticket agent (Victoria Hen). Hadayet was killed during the attack by security personnel. The other Israeli national killed was Yakov Aminov.
In September 2002, federal investigators concluded that Hadayet hoped to influence U.S. government policy in favor of the Palestinians, and that the incident was a terrorist act.[1][2] In April 2003, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice confirmed the earlier conclusion that the incident fit the definition of terrorism.[2]
11. Beltway murders of 2002; 10 murdered and 3 wounded by a Muslim
The Beltway sniper attacks took place during three weeks in October 2002 in the Mid-Atlantic United States. As ten people were killed and three others critically injured in and around Washington, D.C., in various locations throughout the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area and along Interstate 95 in Virginia, it was widely speculated that a single sniper was using the Capital Beltway for travel, possibly in a white van or truck. It was later learned that the rampage was perpetrated by two men, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, driving a blue Chevrolet Caprice sedan, and had apparently begun the month before with murders and robbery in Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia which had resulted in three deaths. An earlier spree for which the pair was responsible had killed victims in California, Arizona, and Texas, for a total of 16 deaths identified as of March 2007. After their capture, there was much confusion about the names of the two men. The older of the pair, born John Allen Williams (age 41 at the time of capture), had joined the Black nationalist organization the Nation of Islam some years earlier, and in October 2001 had changed his name to John Allen Muhammad. The younger man was born Lee Boyd Malvo, but also calls himself John Lee Malvo and had posed as Muhammad's son (17 years old at the time of his arrest). Malvo's actual relationship with Muhammad was initially unclear, although it was later learned that Malvo was found by John in a homeless shelter after John lost custody of his children.
12. Houston murder in 2004; 1 murdered by an Arab Muslim.
Saudi pleads guilty to killing Jewish friend. No motive established but Houston student went to mosque afterwards
After apparently undergoing a religious awakening, a Saudi Arabian student in Houston killed his Jewish friend by slashing his throat. Mohammed Ali Alayed, 23, pleaded guilty to the Aug. 6 attack on Ariel Sellouk, also 23, who almost was decapitated with a knife, the Houston Chronicle reported. Houston police said they could not find evidence the slaying was tied to race or religion. However, they said no clear motive has been established, and Alayed went to a local mosque after the slaying. Alayed, who faces up to 60 years in prison, befriended Sellouk a few years ago, according to Sellouk's father. Michel Sellouk is a Moroccan Jew who came to Houston in 1982. He said his son had been attending Houston Community College but was working in his father's business when he was killed, the Chronicle reported. Alayed broke off contact with Ariel about two years ago after undergoing a "religious experience" and became a devout Muslim, Sellouk told the Houston paper. Sellouk said Alayed called his son the day of the slaying and suggested they get together. They went to Alayed's apartment about midnight after going to a bar for drinks. Alayed's roommate told police the two were not arguing before Sellouk was killed, according to the Houston daily. The Saudi student was receiving about $60,000 a year from his family for studies, but prosecutors believe he had dropped out of school. Alayed initially was held without bail after allegedly telling his roommate he would flee to Saudi Arabia. A judge in October set bail at $5 million, however.
13. L.A.'s Thwarted Terror Spree
by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun
September 6, 2005
http://www.danielpipes.org/2920/las-thwarted-terror-spree
[NY Sun headline: "L.A. Terrorists Threaten American Jewry"]
The Jewish High Holidays this year fall in early October, and that's when a massacre was planned against two Los Angeles synagogues, as well as other targets, according to an indictment just handed down against four young Muslim men.
Law enforcement traces the origins of this plot to 1997. That's when Kevin Lamar James, a black inmate at New Folsom Prison, near Sacramento, Calif., founded Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (Arabic for "Assembly of Authentic Islam" and known as JIS). JIS promotes the sort of jihadi version of Islam typically found in American prisons. As the indictment puts it, James, now 29, preached that JIS members have the duty "to target for violent attack any enemies of Islam or ‘infidels,' including the United States government and Jewish and non-Jewish supporters of Israel."
James, serving a 10-year prison sentence for an armed robbery in 1996, recruited acolytes among fellow inmates. Volunteers swore to obey him and not to disclose the existence of JIS. On release from prison, they promised to get directives from him at least every three months, recruit Muslims to JIS, and attack government officials and supporters of Israel.
Levar Haney Washington, 25, allegedly joined the JIS and swore allegiance to James just before being released from New Folsom in November 2004, having served his six-year sentence for a 1999 assault and robbery. On getting out, Washington immediately began recruiting at his mosque, Jamat-E-Masijidul Islam in the Los Angeles area. "He regarded Osama bin Laden very highly," reported one person whom Washington tried to recruit.
Two men, both 21 years old and without criminal records, did sign up: a lawful Pakistani immigrant and student at Santa Monica College, Hammad Riaz Samana; and a black convert who had worked at a duty-free shop in Los Angeles International Airport, Gregory Vernon Patterson The three, plus James, now face up to life in prison for conspiring "to levy a war against the Government of the United States through terrorism."
They did so in five ways. They conducted surveillance of American government targets (military recruitment stations and bases), Israeli targets (consulate in L.A. and El-Al airlines), and Jewish targets (synagogues). The trio monitored the Jewish calendar and, the indictment notes, planned to attack synagogues on Jewish holidays "to maximize the number of casualties."
They acquired an arsenal of weapons. To fund this undertaking, they set off on a crime wave, robbing (or attempting to rob) gas stations 11 times in the five weeks after May 30. They engaged in physical and firearms training. Finally, they tried recruiting other Muslims.
But Patterson dropped a mobile telephone during the course of one gas station robbery, and the police retrieved it. Information from the phone set off an FBI-led investigation that involved more than 25 agencies and 500 investigators. The police staked out Patterson and Washington, arresting them after they robbed a Chevron station on July 5. Washington's apartment turned up bulletproof vests, knives, jihad literature, and the addresses of potential targets. Patterson was waiting to acquire an AR-15 assault rifle.
The JIS story prompts some worried observations.
Although Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales lavished praise on "the work of able investigators at all levels of government" in solving this case, law enforcement was as clueless about the JIS gang as was its British counterpart about the July 7 bombers. If not for the lucky break of a dropped phone, the jihadists probably would have struck. It is extremely disturbing to see law enforcement pat itself on the back for ineptitude.
American prisons are comparable to the banlieues in France, the principal recruiting grounds for a criminal form of Islam. As Frank Gaffney observes, "The alleged New Folsom State plot had better rouse us out of our stupor." Will it? Senate hearings in 2003 on prison jihadism yielded distressingly few results.
The emergence of a primarily African-American Islamist terrorist cell signals a new trend. Native-born Americans have taken part in terrorist operations before, but (again, as in London), this case this marks their first large-scale plot.
Terrorist plans that fail don't make headlines, but they should. This was a near-miss. Home-grown radical Islam has arrived and will do damage.
Even though most Jews resist acknowledging it, the Muslim threat is changing Jewish life in the United States. The golden age of American Jewry is coming to an end.
14. University of North Carolina hit and run in 2006; 9 wounded by an Iranian Muslim
Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar (born May 5, 1983 in Tehran) is an Iranian-born American citizen who confessed to intentionally hitting people with a car on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to "avenge the deaths of Muslims worldwide" and to "punish" the United States government. While no one was killed in the attack, nine people were injured awaits trial. In one letter, Taheri-azar wrote, "I was aiming to follow in the footsteps of one of my role models, Mohammad Atta, one of the 9/11/01 hijackers, who obtained a doctorate On the afternoon of Friday, March 3, 2006, Taheri-azar drove a rented silver 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee through a common courtyard area of campus known as The Pit. The Pit is a highly trafficked area centered between the student bookstore, student center, dining hall, and libraries. It is a popular gathering spot, filled not only with students going to and from class but also with participants in various student organization-related activities.[2] His top speed was estimated by witnesses to be from 40 to 45 MPH.[3] He struck nine pedestrians, six of whom were taken to the hospital for treatment and released; the other three declined to be treated. The Pit is not readily accessible to vehicular traffic; a car could only get there through a small service access. While there are normally barricades to prevent cars from approaching The Pit, they were not in place on the day of the attack.
15. Seatle Jewish Federationb murder in 2006; 1 murdered and 5 wounded by an Arab Muslim
The Seattle Jewish Federation shooting occurred on July 28, 2006, at around 4:00 p.m. Pacific time, when Naveed Afzal Haq shot six women, one fatally, at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, USA. Police have classified the shooting as a "hate crime" based on what Haq is alleged to have said during a 9-1-1 call.[1] King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng described the shooting as "one of the most serious crimes that has ever occurred in this city".[2] Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske alleged that the suspect, Naveed Afzal Haq, had selected his target by researching "something Jewish" on the Internet. Haq is said to have legally purchased two semi-automatic handguns in Seattle-area stores, receiving the weapons on July 27, 2006, after the mandatory waiting period had expired. Haq allegedly received a traffic ticket on the way to the shooting, but did nothing to arouse the officer's suspicions.[3] Shortly before 4 p.m., Haq is reported to have forced his way through the Jewish Federation building's security door armed with two large-caliber semi-automatic pistols, a knife, and extra ammunition. Police believe Haq entered the lobby of the building and grabbed the 14-year-old niece of Federation employee Cheryl Stumbo, whom Haq later shot. Haq allegedly held a gun to the girl's back and forced her to use the intercom in order to gain entry to the Federation's offices.[3][4] With a gun to her back, Haq reportedly told the girl, "Open the door," and "careful", as she was buzzed into the building. Haq then said, "I'm only doing this for a statement," and proceeded to follow the girl up the stairs to the second floor. Haq stopped to ask receptionist Layla Bush about speaking with a manager, at which point the girl walked to a bathroom and locked herself inside. At this point, Cheryl Stumbo asked fellow employee Carol Goldman to call 911. Her niece, in the bathroom, heard her and dialed 911. But, before Goldman could complete a call, Haq shot her in the knee.[5] Witnesses reported that Haq began shouting "I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel" before he began his shooting spree. Haq is reported to have walked down the hallway, shooting into offices as he passed by. Haq then shot three more women in the abdomen: Layla Bush, Stumbo, and Christina Rexroad.[6] Pamela Waechter received a gunshot in the chest. As the wounded Waechter attempted to flee down a flight of stairs, Haq allegedly reached over the railing and shot her for the second time in the head, killing her.[6][5] Dayna Klein, a Federation employee who was five months pregnant, heard the shots being fired and as she went to the door of her office, Haq fired at her abdomen, but the bullet missed, hitting her raised arm. According to Klein, Haq then moved to another section of the building and Klein, bleeding profusely, crawled to her desk and dialed 911, despite Haq's threats to kill anyone who called the police. Haq eventually returned to Klein's office and discovered her on the phone, at which point he reportedly shouted "Now since you don't know how to ... listen, now you're the hostage, and I don't give a (expletive) if I kill you or your baby." Klein told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that Haq "...stated that he was a Muslim, (and) this was his personal statement against Jews and the Bush administration for giving money to Jews, and for us Jews for giving money to Israel, about Hezbollah, the war in Iraq, and he wanted to talk to CNN." Klein then offered Haq the phone and suggested that he tell the dispatcher what he had just told her.[7] Still pointing his gun at Klein, Haq took the phone and informed the police that he had taken hostages. He repeated his previous explanation that he was upset about the war in Iraq and U.S. support of Israel. He also said, "[t]hese are Jews. I’m tired of getting pushed around, and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East." He also demanded that the US military get out of Iraq.[8] He asked if he could be patched through to CNN. The dispatcher told Haq that wasn't possible, and informed him that talking with the media wouldn't alter U.S. policy. Haq calmed down and told the dispatcher that he would surrender. He then put his guns down and walked silently out of the building with his hands on his head.[5][9] He surrendered at 4:15 and was taken into custody by police. At 10:38 PM he was booked into King County Jail on one count of investigation of homicide and five counts of investigation of attempted murder.[10][11]
16. San Francisco hit and run in 2006; 1 murdered and 19 wounded by an Afghan Muslim
Omeed Aziz Popal is a native of Afghanistan. He is alleged to have intentionally struck 18 pedestrians with his black Honda Pilot SUV on August 30, 2006, and faces a murder charge and 19 counts of attempted murder.[1][2] Popal was 29 at the time of the attack. Several major news organizations have described his attack in the San Francisco Bay Area as a "rampage".[3] In error and without a foundation to substantiate the claim, Californian newspapers have described the incident as an example of Sudden Jihad Syndrome. [4] The first person to be attacked, Stephen J. Wilson, 54, was struck in Fremont, California, and died at 11:50 am. Another victim was hospitalized in critical condition. Popal struck two men at the intersection of Sutter and Steiner Streets in San Francisco. He passed through the intersection again in an attempt to hit the men a second time—and then a third time—before moving on. A witness said he saw one victim's body "thrown 25 feet." Multiple witnesses and victims said that the driver appeared to be aiming for people, intentionally hitting them. Other victims included Vera Jenkins, 40, Pedro Aglugov, 70, and Leon Stevens, 56.[5] One police officer was slightly injured when Popal was apprehended. Popal remains in custody on charges of murder, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, battery of a police officer, and evading arrest.[6] If convicted, he faces life in prison. Popal's case is currently in preliminary hearings in San Francisco. Earlier procedures determined the accused is fit to stand trial for 36 felony counts in San Francisco county, and an additional two in Alameda county. [7]
17. Texas honor killings in 2008; 2 murdered in Texas by Arab Muslim
Honor Killing in Texas by Robert Spencer Posted: 01/08/2008
Amina Said, 18, and her sister Sarah, 17, smile happily in one widely circulating photo, and Amina is wearing what looks like a sweatshirt bearing the name “AMERICAN.” But their fate may have been the herald of a new, disquieting feature of the American landscape: honor killing. Amina and Sarah were shot dead in Irving, Texas, on New Year’s Day. Police are searching for their father, Yaser Abdel Said, on a warrant for capital murder.
The girls’ great aunt, Gail Gartrell, told reporters, “This was an honor killing.” She explained that Yaser Said had long abused the girls, and after discovering that they had boyfriends, had threatened to kill them -- whereupon their mother fled with them. “She ran with them,” said Gartrell, “because she knew he would carry out the threat.” But Said found them, and apparently did carry it out.
Honor killing, the practice of murdering a female family member who is believed to have sullied the family honor, enjoys widespread acceptance in some areas of the Islamic world.
18. Honor killing in Atlanta, 2008 - 1 murdered by Arab Muslim
The newspaper below was too PC to state the TRUTH that the man is Muslim and being South Asian has nothing to do with it as non-Muslim South Asians do not murder their daughters in honor killings. ONLY Muslims engage in this barbaric practice.
chicagotribune.com
'Honor killing' alleged in Georgia
Pakistani immigrant is accused of strangling daughter who opposed her arranged marriage
By Dahleen Glanton and Antonio Olivo
Chicago Tribune correspondents
2:29 AM CDT, July 8, 2008
JONESBORO, Ga. — Twenty-five-year-old Sandeela Kanwal was not happy with the marriage her father had arranged for her. So after the ceremony was performed in Pakistan three months ago, she went to Georgia and her husband went to Chicago.
Early Sunday, after a heated argument with her father, police in Clayton County near Atlanta said, the Pakistani immigrant allegedly took a bungee cord, wrapped it around his daughter's neck and killed her.
Shortly after police arrived, officials said, Chaudhry Rashid, 54, had a seizure and was taken to the hospital. Hours later, he was released, transferred to jail and charged with murder.
The problem of "honor killings" and other domestic violence after failed arranged marriages is spreading as some culturally rigid Pakistani and Indian immigrants settle in different parts of the country, said Najma Adam, a sociology professor at Governors State University in suburban Chicago who co-wrote a 2007 study on the issue.
Such cultural unions serve as social contracts among South Asians and other communities, where a marriage agreement is more about families joining forces than about two people finding love—akin to the arranged marriages of European royalty, she said.
When the marriage breaks down, both families are dishonored—especially the bride's, she said.
Subsequently, "family members, parents, are the ones who end up either taking their life or further abusing them," Adam said.
In arranged marriages, "even if [the husband] is beating her and very abusive toward her, because of the very strong patriarchal underpinnings, she is the one who has committed the crime by leaving him or by wanting out of this relationship," Adam said.
Rashid made his first court appearance Monday, but Chief Magistrate Daphne Walker delayed the case until Tuesday because she said she did not feel comfortable conducting the proceedings without an interpreter for Rashid, who speaks Urdu and very little English.
Rashid was returned to jail and held without bond.
Officer Timothy Owens, a spokesman for the Clayton County Police Department, said Rashid owns a pizza restaurant in the area. The family lives in a two-story house in a middle-class neighborhood in Jonesboro, an Atlanta suburb.
Members of Rashid's family, several of whom were in court Monday, had obtained a lawyer for him. Attorney Tammi Long said the family had written a letter to Rashid in Urdu, saying she would represent him and that they supported him.
In accordance with Pakistani custom, Kanwal had traveled to Pakistan three months ago to marry a Chicago man, also of Pakistani descent. Owens, who said the investigation had been slowed because of the language barrier, said the name of the husband was not immediately known.
Owens said Kanwal returned to Jonesboro after the wedding and had not seen her husband since. The officer said Kanwal lived in her father's house along with other relatives, including Rashid's wife, who is not Kanwal's mother.
Kanwal and her father had not spoken in two months, Owens said, because of their disagreement about ending the marriage, which in Pakistani culture could have disgraced her family.
"There is a stigma in the wife wanting the divorce," said Owens.
Dahleen Glanton reported from Jonesboro and Antonio Olivo from Chicago.
dglanton@tribune.com
aolivo@tribune.com
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune
19. Guilty verdicts in Fort Dix trial: none murdered
5 foreign-born Muslims guilty of conspiracy, acquitted of attempted murder
The Associated Press
updated 1:29 p.m. CT, Mon., Dec. 22, 2008
CAMDEN, N.J. - Five Muslim immigrants were convicted Monday of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in a case the government said demonstrated its post-Sept. 11 determination to stop terrorist attacks in the planning stages.
The defendants were acquitted of attempted murder charges but face life in prison for conspiring to kill military personnel. The federal jury spent about 38 hours deliberating over the past six days.
The men lived in and around Philadelphia for years. The government said after their 2007 arrest that an attack had been imminent and that the case underscored the dangers of terrorist plots hatched on U.S. soil.
Although investigators said the men were inspired by Osama bin Laden, they were not accused of any ties to foreign terror groups.
Defense lawyers argued that the alleged plot was all talk — that the men weren't seriously planning anything and that they were goaded by two paid FBI informants.
During the eight-week trial, the government relied heavily on information gathered by the informants, who infiltrated the group and secretly recorded hundreds of conversations.
Prosecutors said the men bought several assault rifles supplied by the FBI and that they trekked to Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains to practice their shooting. The government also presented dozens of jihadist speeches and videos that the men supposedly used as inspiration.
Convicted were: Jordanian-born cab driver Mohamad Shnewer; Turkish-born convenience store clerk Serdar Tatar; and brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka, ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia, who had a roofing business.
A sixth man arrested and charged only with gun offenses pleaded guilty earlier.
Mixed record on prosecutions
The government has had a mixed record on terrorism prosecutions since Sept. 11. It won guilty pleas from Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, Richard Reid, who tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner with a shoe bomb, and the Lackawanna Six, a terrorist cell outside Buffalo, N.Y. And it convicted Jose Padilla of plotting terrorist attacks.
But a case against four men in Michigan fell apart after a federal prosecutor was accused of withholding evidence. And a case in Miami against seven men accused of plotting to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower has produced one acquittal and two mistrials.
Prosecutors in the Fort Dix case said the group chose the Army post because one of the defendants was familiar with it. His father's pizza shop delivered to the New Jersey base, which is 25 miles from Philadelphia and is used primarily to train reservists for duty in Iraq.
The group's objective was to kill "as many American soldiers as possible," according to prosecutors.
"I think they were in the last stage of planning," then-U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said at the time of their arrest. "They had training, they had maps, and I think they were very close to moving on this."
He added: "This is what law enforcement is supposed to do in the post-9/11 era — stay one step ahead of those who are attempting to cause harm to innocent American citizens."
But during the trial, prosecutors said the men were probably months away from an attack and did not necessarily have a specific plan.
Although investigators said the men were inspired by Osama bin Laden, they were not accused of any ties to foreign terror groups.
In his final remarks to the jury on Dec. 16, Deputy U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick portrayed the case as an example of law enforcement officials averting a potentially deadly attack.
"The FBI investigates crime on the front end. They don't want to have to do it on the back end," Fitzpatrick told the jury of eight women and four men. "They needed to know that these guys, these defendants, did not have another source of supply for weapons. They needed to make sure that these guys aren't going to get weapons from somewhere else and do something right under our nose."
Defense lawyers argued that the men were not seriously planning anything and that two paid FBI informants prodded them toward action.
"We know that this is all political talk by young Muslims in the post-9/11 world," said Troy Archie, the lawyer for defendant Eljvir Duka. "They were angry, yes. ... Did they have an intent to kill? No."
'Allah Akbar' on video
It was a video from the group's January 2006 trip to the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania that tipped off authorities and led to the charges.
A Circuit City employee told police the men asked him to transfer a video of the trip to DVD, and that it included scenes of the men firing weapons and shouting "Allah Akbar," Arabic for "God is great."
Some of the men returned to the Poconos in February 2007 for training, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hammer said in his closing arguments Monday.
Evidence showed that the men went to gun stores to look for weapons, fired guns at a firing range, played paintball and watched jihadist videos while there.
But Michael Huff, who represents defendant Dritan Duka, said the government had it wrong.
He said the al-Qaida propaganda videos the men watched took up only one hour of the week they spent in the Poconos. He pointed to testimony about other movies they watched, such as an Eddie Murphy concert film.
Huff also reminded jurors of testimony from a Philadelphia police officer who said one of the suspects, Serdar Tatar, invited him on to go with his friends to the shooting range. Neither the officer nor Tatar ended up making the trip.
But it was still relevant, Huff said.
"Are you going to invite a police officer to your jihad training party?" he asked.
20. Four arrested in plot to bomb NYC targets
Authorities: Suspects were under heavy surveillance, dealt with informant
NEW YORK - Four men arrested after planting what they thought were explosives near a synagogue and community center and plotting to shoot down a military plane were bent on carrying out a jihad against America, authorities said Thursday.
The suspects were arrested Wednesday night, shortly after planting a mock explosive device in the trunk of a car outside the Riverdale Temple and two mock bombs in the backseat of a car outside the Jewish Center, authorities said.
At a news conference outside the Bronx temple, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly quoted one of the men as saying, "If Jews were killed in this attack ... that would be all right."
Authorities said the four men have long been under investigation and there was little danger they could actually have carried out their plan, NBC News' Pete Williams reported.
James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, all of Newburgh, N.Y., about 70 miles north of New York City, were charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, the U.S. attorney's office said.
The men, described as Black Muslims, had planned to detonate a car with plastic explosives outside a temple in the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale and to shoot military planes at the New York Air National Guard base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh with Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles, authorities said.
The defendants planned to "destroy a synagogue and a Jewish community center with C-4 plastic explosives," Acting U.S. Attorney Lev L. Dassin said.
The religious targets were the Riverdale Temple, founded in 1947, and the Riverdale Jewish Center, authorities said.
In their efforts to acquire weapons, the defendants dealt with an informant acting under law enforcement supervision, authorities said. The FBI and other agencies monitored the men and provided an inactive missile and inert C-4 to the informant for the defendants, a federal complaint said.
The investigation had been under way for about a year.
"They never got anywhere close to being able to do anything," one official told NBC News. "Still, it's good to have guys like this off the street."
In June 2008, the informant met Cromitie in Newburgh and Cromitie complained that his parents had lived in Afghanistan and he was upset about the war there and that many Muslim people were being killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan by U.S. military forces, officials said.
Cromitie also expressed an interest in doing "something to America," they said in the complaint.
In October 2008, the informant began meeting with the defendants at a Newburgh house equipped with concealed video and audio equipment, the complaint said.
Beginning in April 2009, the four men selected the synagogue and the community center they intended to hit, it said. They also conducted surveillance of military planes at the Air National Guard Base, it said.
Rep. Peter King, the senior Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, was briefed on the case following the arrests.
"This was a long, well-planned investigation, and it shows how real the threat is from homegrown terrorists," said King, of New York.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said if there can be any good news out of this case it's that "the group was relatively unsophisticated, penetrated early and not connected to any outside group."
Due in court Thursday
The defendants, all arrested in New York City, were expected to appear in federal court in suburban White Plains on Thursday.
They were jailed Wednesday night and couldn't be contacted for comment. The FBI didn't immediately return a telephone message Wednesday night seeking information on whether the men had lawyers.
Two years ago, two Muslims pleaded guilty to plotting to attack synagogues in Los Angeles. But officials said that they knew of no connection between those arrests and this latest plot in New York.
21. Major Nidal Malik Hasan: Arab/Muslim: murdered 13 and wounded 30
By Philip Sherwell in New York
Published: 1:41AM GMT 06 Nov 2009
Col Terry Lee, a retired officer who worked with him at the military base in Texas, alleged Hasan had angry confrontations with other officers over his views.
"He was making outlandish comments condemning our foreign policy and claimed Muslims had the right to rise up and attack Americans," Col Lee told Fox News.
"He said Muslims should stand up and fight the aggressor and that we should not be in the war in the first place." He said that Maj Hasan said he was "happy" when a US soldier was killed in an attack on a military recruitment centre in Arkansas in June.
Col Lee alleged that other officers had told him that Hasan had said "maybe people should strap bombs on themselves and go to Time Square" in New York.
Federal law enforcement officials have said Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats. The officials said the postings were made by Hasan.
Hasan was a US-born Muslim who had joined the military after high school. He had served as a psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC, which treats many badly wounded troops.