Its Terrorism To Stop Drinking The Kool-Aid

	Infowars Digg: http://digg.com/world_news/Wiesenthal_Center_presents_9_11_sites_alongsi... CORRECTION: Bruce Hoffman is a former, not current RAND employee. Text corrected below. On Tuesday, November 6, 2007, a House Homeland Security Subcommittee had a hearing on "Terrorism and the Internet".* The hearing featured presentations from several groups, including a former employee of the RAND Corporation, and Mark Weitzman of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. The hearing was chaired by Democratic Rep. Jane Harman, and ranking Republican, Rep. Dave Reichert. Toward the end of the hearing, Weitzman rolls out a PowerPoint presentation that presents a few 9/11 truth sites sandwiched in between websites that offer training in terrorist tactics, and a website that glorified the attack of 9/11. Among the websites presented under the heading "Internet: Incubator of 9/11 Conpiracies and Disinformation", are Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, and other sites, such as Killtown's, who brought this Hearing to our attention. Now, we wouldn't want anybody getting the wrong idea here. Here at 911blogger we are opposed to any and all terrorist activities, including STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM. Don't really care who the state is either. It's all bad. Californians, if Harman is your representative, please set her straight. Washington state, if Reichert is your critter, don't let him absorb this crap with no static. CSPAN has been more than fair to 9/11 skeptics. Last year they broadcast Alex Jones' American Scholars Symposium, in 2005, they broadcast David Ray Griffin, and they will probably listen to feedback regarding this broadcast. View the hearing as a video stream here -- the pertinent section begins at the 43:31 mark, but I recommend watching the entire program, because there is so much disinformation in the broadcast itself, it's hard to know where to begin unraveling it. Homeland Security - Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_... Please ask the Simon Wiesthenthal Center (Mark Weitzman in particular) to stop conflating terrorist violence with 9/11 truth, and even though he has not extended the courtesy to us, be polite; mweitzman@swcny.com * Exact Hearing title: "Using the Web as a Weapon: the Internet as a Tool for Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism"
	June 26, 2003 The Terrorist Hunter Speaks An amazing story of an Iraqi Jew at the heart of dismantling terrorism. A Q&A by Kathryn Jean Lopez http://www.nationalreview.com/interrogatory/interrogatory062603.asp .../...Anonymous was revealed as Rita Katz, director of the Site Institute, an international terrorist-investigation and information group. (Katz has written for NRO, here and here and here.) Katz, born an Iraqi Jew, recently talked to NRO about her book, the lawsuit, the war on terror, Iraq, and her terrifying job, among other things. Kathryn Jean Lopez: You are the "anonymous" "Terror Hunter." Did you expect to be outed when you decided to write the book? Where you prepared for it? .../... Lopez: What do you hope people come away from the book with? Katz: Although my book is a story, my story, and not a textbook on terrorism per se, I wrote it mainly to deliver two important messages through this story. One is to reveal the gravity and the extent of Islamic fundamentalism in America. Even now, after 9/11, many believe that radicalism is something that is prevalent only in the Middle East or in Afghanistan. From what I'd learned by attending mosques, conferences, and rallies, fundamentalism is a major problem right here, in our own backyards. I give numerous examples in my book of statements that I had recorded, some of which are blood chilling, and of others that openly call for jihad. I wanted my book to demonstrate that and to explain how we have to fight this phenomenon in order to be able to eradicate terrorism. The other point I make in Terrorist Hunter is that although many in the American public believe that now, after 9/11, government agencies all work together as one to fight terrorism, unfortunately, this is not the case. I give several examples in Terrorist Hunter of how certain government agencies fight amongst themselves, how they hide information from others, how they try to take over investigations, how they even deliberately slow down terrorism investigations. All this is happening now, almost two years after 9/11. I wanted the American public to know that, because knowing about it is the necessary first step toward fixing what is wrong. Lopez: You grew up a Jew in Iraq. What was that like? I grew up in a rich family, surrounded by love and by servants who took care of all my needs. We lived in a huge mansion and went to a private school. We were happy. I had no idea that we were sitting on a ticking time bomb until my father was suddenly taken by Saddam's people and accused of spying for Israel. Since that day, our world fell apart. We suffered terrible abuse, all of us, until we were able to leave Iraq. Lopez: When and why did you leave Iraq? Katz: My father was tried in one of Saddam's kangaroo courts and hanged in broad daylight, in Baghdad's central square, to the cheers of a half a million spectators. My family and I we were held under house arrest in a small hut in Baghdad, and we suffered additional abuse and other tragedies, until my mother was finally able to orchestrate a daring escape. My father was hanged in 1969, and we escaped two years later, through Iran, to Israel. Lopez: Have you been back to Iraq since liberation? If not, do you hope to? Katz: No, I have not been to Iraq yet after we left it three decades ago, but I would definitely go there when it becomes possible. I would very much like to try to retrieve my father's remains and bring them to a decent burial in Israel. That could finally bring closure for me, and even more so for my mother. And although it is a very long shot, I would also like to try to find some documents that might reveal what exactly happened and why my father was chosen as a scapegoat by Saddam's people. There are many questions in my mind that remain unanswered, and perhaps I will be able to retrieve something in Iraq to help me learn what actually transpired there. Lopez: What are your thoughts about the current state of things in Iraq? Katz: The situation in Iraq is complicated by a number of factors. One is the conflict between Iraqi Shiites, the majority of the population, and the Sunni minority that ruled the country until the regime was recently overthrown. Into this already tumultuous powder keg come in countries with strong interests in the region, causing serious tensions in the Muslim and Arab world. The Sunnis, mainly Saudi Arabia and Syria, on the one hand, and the Shiites — Iran — do not want to lose control of the region. Another important factor is the current movement of Muslim terrorist organizations into Iraq, into parts that are becoming no man's land, perhaps similarly to Afghanistan, as operatives from al Qaeda, Jihad, and al Gamaa are moving in to fight the Americans. Some of the most ferocious battles our soldiers had to fight in Iraq were against non-Iraqis. Lastly, being a country that never had the privilege of democracy, it may be a long process before a stable regime can be established there. Lopez: You do a lot of consulting with government intel and law enforcement. Is that a sign of U.S. intelligence shortcomings still? Katz: I do work with government agencies on counterterrorism investigations, but this is not a sign of the government's shortcomings. On the contrary, this is a very positive development. As I describe in the book, my research is based mostly on public records: old publications, tax documents, trial transcripts, and so on. I compile the information I find, I connect the dots, and then give my conclusions as leads to the government. As I have studied many Islamic terrorist organizations, their front groups, and their financiers in great depth, and as I understand their mentality and their language well, I could assist the government in such investigations. However, I do not provide "intel" information per se. The government gets its intel by recording, wiretapping, surveillance, etc. Before 9/11, I tried to give the government important leads, but many of these leads weren't taken seriously. These same leads of mine, and, of course, many others, were picked up by the government after 9/11 — and a large number of investigations stemmed from them.
	.../... Lopez: Since the terror attack in Riyadh last month, do you have any reason to believe progress has been made vis-à-vis our relationship with the kingdom and the kingdom itself cracking down on al Qaeda and other terror groups within? Katz: Saudi Arabia plays an important role in educating and funding Islamic radicalism and worldwide terrorism. I explain in my book why the Saudis want jihad and what their reasons are to finance worldwide jihad. I give examples of the radicalism they teach in their schools, and I give examples of how the Saudi government funds terrorist organizations, both directly and indirectly. The Saudis claim now that they are our allies in the war on terror. This is not unlike their claim that they have been "cracking down" on terrorism funding during the last decade. But in reality nothing has changed in Saudi Arabia in that respect. The recent attacks in Riyadh were not targeted against Saudi Arabia, but against the West. Claims that the Saudis have suffered too, even if it is only via collateral damage, are nonsensical; Bin Laden himself responded to a question about the embassy bombings in Africa, when he was asked about the hundreds of Muslims who perished in the attack, by saying that they all went to heaven. For the terrorists who attacked in Riyadh, the target was the West. In their twisted minds, the collateral damage — including their own lives — is only paving those people's path to paradise. And thus, to eradicate Islamic terrorism and radicalism, the U.S. government has to apply pressure on the Saudis to stop educating for jihad and funding terrorists. Only then could a new generation grow in Saudi Arabia that will be willing to hear the moderate voice, which now is non-existent there. Lopez: There are miles to go yet, though, as you tell vividly in your book. What have been our (the U.S.) biggest mistakes? What must be addressed if we are ever to win the war on terror? Katz: Changes need to be made both in strategy and in tactics. As for the latter, the short-term fight needs to include the capture of al Qaeda operatives and the destruction of their infrastructure. To do that effectively and to be able to prevent another attack on us, law enforcement agencies have to correct some critical operational flaws. The most serious, in my view, is the competition between agencies and the way some agencies refuse to cooperate with others in the war on terror. I give a number of very disturbing examples demonstrating that pattern in my book. Another problem is that certain law-enforcement agencies approach Islamic terrorism as if it were a criminal investigation: find the culprits if you can, put them in jail, end of story. But Islamic terrorism is different from organized crime on several levels and it needs to be confronted accordingly. For terrorists, money is not a goal, but rather a means. Islamic terrorists, unlike other criminals, have no value for life, not even their own. Without understanding their motives and way of thinking, they cannot be defeated. Therefore, Islamic terrorism needs to be studied in depth, and it needs to be addressed as a global, long-term problem. Which brings me to the strategic planning of the war on terror. The only way we can win this war is if we, the West, will force countries, governments, and organizations that educate, preach, and fund jihad to stop what they are doing. As long as radical Muslim clerics will preach for jihad, and as long as Saudi textbooks will teach their youngsters that we, the "infidels," will always be their enemies, Islamic terrorism will not be eradicated. Through political pressure, diplomacy, sanctions, and similar measures, the West, spearheaded by the U.S., has to force governments such as that of Saudi Arabia to stop spreading this incitement and to engender a new generation that does not have that blind, vicious hate against the West and everything it represents. And then — in a generation — we will be able to win this war once and for all.