The Strasbourg Terror Attack: Only The Names Have Changed

"Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent." That was the opening line for the well-known TV and radio show "Dragnet," which told the story of criminals and law enforcement authorities' efforts to stop them.                                                                                                  The abbreviated version of that slogan, "Only the names have been changed" may well be applied to the latest terror attack that occurred in Strasbourg, France. A gunman identified as Cherif Chekatt shouting "Allahu Akbar" opened fire last Tuesday on a crowd enjoying the annual Christmas Market, snuffing out the lives of five innocent people and wounding 13 others. ISIS has claimed credit for the heinous attack.                                                              A close examination of the incident and the perpetrator reveals an all too familiar pattern.                                                                   

Cherif Chekatt, a French Moroccan, had 
1. an extensive criminal history
2. was radicalized in prison
3. known to authorities
4. on a terrorist watch list.              

We have heard that description too many times in recent years to not feel both frustration and anger.         
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CAIR Continues Building Its "Wall of Resistance" Against Law Enforcement

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)  claims to want to work with law enforcement agencies to "protect our nation," but recent actions by its San Francisco chapter reveal that the policy to "Build a Wall of Resistance" continues to be its driving force.  CAIR believes that the Department of Homeland Security's Countering Violent Extremism program unfairly targets Muslims and that law enforcement only uses the CVE programs to spy on the Muslim community. They also believes that all DHS CVE funding is "tainted" because it comes from the Trump administration, even though the Obama administration started the program.  Their most recent opposition was directed at the Alameda County Sheriff's Office for initiating a program that would work with community organizations to  "assist those individuals most susceptible to violent extremism." In other words, they wanted to help inmates avoid radicalizing influences from extremist groups seeking new members. The program would also address the issue of recidivism.
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TERRORISTS IN PRISON REMAIN ACTIVE

Mohammed Achraf a 44 yr old Moroccan in prison for terror attacks is the leader of a jihadi recruitment cell operating in the Spanish prison system. This is not the first time he's accomplished this. Authorities ask, what is the attraction that draws common criminals to radical Islamic ideology?    Read More in IPT News...

House Passes the Tracer Act

A bill that passed the U.S. House on September 12th of this year would create a vital tool to help the United States track dozens of convicted terrorists whose prison terms are nearing completion. The Terrorist Release Announcements to Counter Extremist Recidivism Act (TRACER) would direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to inform state and local authorities about anticipated release dates and the locations where the terrorists would live post-release. "TRACER would actually do the same thing [as a sex offender registry] and be providing notification that someone has been released," said According to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas.   
The bill passed on a voice vote which may indicate strong bipartisan support.  However it has not been without its naysayers. Karen Greenberg, director of Fordham University's Center on National Security, demonstrated her naïveté when she said, "I do not distinguish them [terrorists] as any more dangerous than other people who might have been apprehended before they committed a crime or people who were convicted of committing a crime."                                         To think that an individual who indiscriminately mows down innocent pedestrians on a New York City walkway or who travels overseas to join a terrorist organization and fight against U.S. coalition forces is no more a threat to society than a third rate burglar or confidence artist is, in a word, absurd. Thankfully, House members did not agree. A companion bill in the Senate is awaiting action in the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The very real threat of recidivism by a released terrorist or a prison-radicalized parolee must be dealt with effectively and the Tracer Act is a step in the right direction. 
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Common Criminal or Enemy Combatant

When a person attempts to join, or declares allegiance to an international terrorist organization that has declared war on the United States and Western democracies, are they a common criminal or do they become enemy combatants? Should they be isolated from other inmate, housed in a maximum security prison, treated humanely, not tortured or abused, but not released until the hostilities are over or the enemy has surrendered?                             In the case of Ali Saleh, who was arrested in 2015 for providing material support for a terrorist organization it would seem the war has not ended.  He told authorities,
"I am ready to die for the Caliphate, prison is nothing."           

 His words were not the idle braggadocio of a wayward youth. Less than two weeks before his guilty plea, Saleh plunged a shank into a correction officer at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, reportedly smiling as he did, telling the wounded officer, "I hope you die."                       

For Islamic Terrorists Jihad Doesn't End When Jailed            Read more in IPT News...