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The five homegrown Jihadists created a video featuring battle footage and rhetoric regarding the need for Muslims to defend themselves

American Jihad: FBI, Pakistani agents interrogate US Muslims



US federal agents and Pakistani security officials reportedly interrogated the five American Muslims suspected of traveling from the Washington, DC area to to fight with al-Qaeda and the Taliban against coalition forces, according to a report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police.

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The five would-be terrorists, ages 19 to 25, who lived in the northern Virginia area, were captured this week in Punjab area's city of Sargodha. Pakistani Police in Sargodha have charged the American Jihadists with violating Pakistan's laws regarding foreigners and the use of computers as part of a criminal enterprise. According to the FBI and Pakistani security officials, the five suspects attended a madrasa, or radical Islamic school, and proclaimed that they wished to join the jihad, or Muslim holy war, against the US and its allies. The American Jihadists turned up on the FBI's radar when some of the relatives of the five suspects reported that the five men disappeared from their US homes and that they were "worried about what they were planning to do," according to the FBI. While the suspects' familes originally believed the suspects were still roaming the US, according to the FBI, family members became suspicious when one of the suspects telephoned them claiming he was still in the US, but the phone's caller ID indicated a foreign telephone number. The families alerted their religious leaders, who contacted officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. CAIR's Washington office then contacted FBI headquarters and relayed the information from the suspects' family members. The five homegrown Jihadists created a video featuring battle footage and rhetoric regarding the need for Muslims to defend themselves, according to FBI sources. However, CAIR refused to discuss the contents of the suspects' video, The capture of the American Jihadists comes on the heels of other incidents involving American citizens or legal immigrants, involved in terrorist activities. While common in Great Britain, France and other European counties, the phenomenon of "homegrown" terrorism was considered very rare in the United States. US law enforcement is also concerned over another phenomenon: "lone wolves" who act alone and aren't part of any terrorist cells or organizations. For example, investigations into the Fort Hood shootings in November reveal that an American-born Muslim who had contact with radical Islam killed 13 people at a military base. Also, a man from Chicago, David Headley, pleaded not guilty to charges that he helped last year's attack on Mumbai and conspired to attack Danish citizens who published newspaper cartoons deemed offensive by Muslims. The Americans being held in Pakistan were identified by the US Department of Justice as Ramy Zamzam, Eman Yasir, Waqar Hasan, Ahmad A Mini and Umer Farooq. All are naturalized US citizens: two were born in Pakistan, one is of Yemeni origin and another of Egyptian origin. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed that the US law enforcement were permitted access to the suspects, which she described as "part of the usual outreach" made in such cases by the US government.


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Jim Kouri -- Bio and Archives

Jim Kouri, CPP, is founder and CEO of Kouri Associates, a homeland security, public safety and political consulting firm. He’s formerly Fifth Vice-President, now a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, a columnist for Examiner.com, a contributor to KGAB radio news, and news director for NewswithViews.com.

He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at St. Peter’s University and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.

 

Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc.


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