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terror fears
AP – FILE - In this June 5, 2009, file photo, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad is seen
in court in Little Rock, …
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press
Writer – 1 hr 21 mins ago
National security officials have long feared the emergence of a new breed of
American militants who would raise little suspicion as they move in and out of the
country carrying out the aims of terrorist groups like al-Qaida.
"It's the manifestation of a problem that the counterterrorism community has been
worried about all along," said Juan Zarate, a top counterterrorism official in the Bush
administration. Their worries center on "A RADICALIZED INDIVIDUAL WHO
DECIDES TO TAKE MATTERS INTO HIS OWN HANDS."
Muhammad, 23, told The Associated Press in a jail cell interview last week that the
shootings were an "ACT FOR THE SAKE OF GOD, FOR THE SAKE OF ALLAH,
THE LORD OF ALL THE WORLDS and also a retaliation on U.S. military."
Former West Point researcher and jihadist expert Jarret Brachman calls the Arkansas
killing a landmark case and "a giant step forward for the global jihadist movement."
Brachman, who wrote a book on global jihad, said Muhammad's case proves that the
U.S. can no longer pretend that violent jihadism is a foreign phenomenon.
"It is being born and bred here on American soil," he said. "The seeds have all been
sown over the past few years, between Iraq and Afghanistan on our side, and the
increased propaganda and increased jihadi education materials on their side."
While Western Europe has long grappled with homegrown terrorists, the U.S. has
only recently begun to see instances of American-born-and-raised citizens acting on
Islamic terrorist motivations. Counterterror officials say MUHAMMAD
SUCCEEDED WHERE OTHER HOMEGROWN MILITANT PLOTTERS HAVE
LARGELY FAILED.
Earlier this year four Muslim ex-convicts were arrested in New York for allegedly
plotting to bomb synagogues and shoot down military planes. While federal
authorities foiled the plan, the incident inflamed concerns about the spread of Islamic
extremism in prisons.
That fear has been exacerbated in recent months by the debate over transferring
suspected Islamic terrorists from the Guantanamo Bay detention center to U.S.
prisons.
Muslim converts who bonded in prison were also linked to a 2005 plot to launch
jihad-style attacks against Jewish and military targets in California. Law enforcement
authorities investigating a string of gas station robberies uncovered the plan when
they found a list of targets including three California National Guard facilities, the
Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles and several synagogues.
At the same time, he said, an individual's attack may not have the same impact or
widespread damage as one planned by a group against multiple, strategic targets.
Recent attacks by non-Muslims — including last week's shooting at the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and last month's slaying of an abortion
provider at a Kansas church — have garnered nationwide attention.
"There are very few ways to prevent them ... short of assigning a police officer to
every person in America," said the Southern Poverty Law Center's Mark Potok.
Counterterrorism officials warn that unless individuals attract attention either through
criminal behavior or even threat-laced Internet postings, U.S.-born radicals —
PARTICULARLY THOSE OPERATING ALONE — COULD GO UNSEEN until
they take action.
"One of the scariest things is that WE DON'T HAVE A PROFILE FOR HOW
SOMEONE BECOMES RADICALIZED," said counterterrorism expert Matthew
Levitt. "It's different for everybody."
"It can happen on the Internet. It can happen in prison. It can happen in a mosque,"
said Levitt, who formerly worked with the FBI and Treasury Department. "There are
different ways it manifests itself and that demonstrates how serious a problem it is."
"We can create space for lots of multiple competing voices — religious voices,
secular voices," said Levitt. "The more voices out there, the more there will be
competition for people who may be upset or frustrated about something but need not
necessarily express themselves in a violent nature."