Archive for October, 2018

October 28th, 2018 Related News

Jihad in America

(UNDERSTANDING THE TRUTH) — From a military perspective, the Islamic Counter-State has gained significant ground in the last five years to prepare the battlefield in the United States, while U.S. intelligence and security forces remain nearly completely ignorant of the true nature of the threat.

The following is UTT’s brief Domestic Enemy SITREP (Situation Report) as it relates primarily to the Islamic threat in the United States:

SUMMARY

Since 9/11/01, the Islamic Counter-State has been able to conduct military operations inside the United States without any assessment by U.S. intelligence, law enforcement or military forces attributing these actions to the massive Islamic jihadi network supporting them. The 9/11/01 attack and nearly all of the 71 attacks on U.S. soil by jihadis since 9/11, were all conducted with the support and assistance of a massive jihadi network in the U.S. primarily controlled by the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. Yet, there has been no concerted effort by any U.S. government entity to target and destroy this network, or even seek to identify it.

This points to a highly sophisticated and successful enemy Information Operation which has matured to the point the leadership of the Islamic Counter-State controls the national security decision-making process to the point it has kept the current administration from designating the Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

ENEMY’S PREPARATION OF THE BATTLEFIELD

Hostile domestic and foreign Islamic entities continue to build Islamic Centers/mosques at a rapid rate in all 50 states. The number of mosques in the U.S. increased by 900 between 2000 and 2010 (from 1209 to 2106), and by over 1000 between 2010 and 2015. Today, there are over 3200 mosques in all 50 states. As an example, there are 52 mosques within 20 miles of the center of Dallas, Texas. The majority of the mosques in the U.S. (at least 81%) teach that war against non-muslims (jihad) is legal under sharia (Islamic Law), and they also teach jihad is one of the three duties of every muslim. In Islam, the primary purpose of a mosque is NOT a “place of prayer.” A mosque is the center of the Islamic government, where sharia is adjudicated, Islam/sharia is taught, and jihad is planned. A mosque is the place from which jihad is launched. This is why U.S. troops found weapons in mosques in Afghanistan and Iraq, Europeans are finding military grade weapons in the mosques they raid, and why the U.S. government has discovered weapons training takes place in U.S. mosques.

Muslims continue to: (1) purchase fuel centers (gas stations) and mini-marts (pre-positioning); (2) take positions as managers or assistant managers in the biggest hotels in major metropolitan areas (intelligence gathering); and (3) purchase hotels in small rural areas.

Across the United States, hostile Islamic organizations and their emissaries are purchasing property immediately adjacent to key communications, financial, military and logistic nodes. This is causing great concern by local officials who understand the Islamic threat, not only because they see the intentional actions by jihadis in their jurisdictions, but because federal agencies with legal duties to act generally have no interest in taking any action.

The organized Islamic Counter-State in the U.S. is currently consolidating forces. Domestically, the Muslim Brotherhood, Deobandi, Iranian/Hizbollah, and other Islamic jihadi forces have been growing and coordinating for several years. The creation of the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO) in June 2014 brought a more focused avenue for the jihadi efforts. Recently, the Turkish government has literally established official Turkish government entities in the United States without any permission or official sanction from the U.S. government. The development of the Diyanet and its related mosques on the East Coast, is the next major step of the development of the extension of Turkish Islamic power in America. The Diyanet Center of America was officially opened in 2016 in Lanham, Maryland as a part of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), an institution of the Government of Turkey. President Erdogan of Turkey, who came to America in support of the Diyanet when it was opening, makes clear he is moving to be the next Caliph with Turkey at the center of the Caliphate. It should be noted, the last Caliphate – the Ottoman Empire – which was dissolved in the early 1920’s, was centered in modern-day Turkey.

UTT assesses the Islamic Counter-State will use the U.S. as a staging platform for its war in Europe after the Caliphate is officially established, which will be in the near future. Once they assess they have gained significant control of Europe and established control of the power base in the U.S., they will focus their efforts here.

Based on the information provided herein, and a significant amount of other information collected by Understanding the Threat (UTT), UTT assesses America’s security vulnerability to the Islamic Counter-State as GRAVE at this time. Without a significant and radical course change, the U.S. cannot win this war at the federal level.

However, UTT assesses a significant awakening at the local level in a number of areas across the United States where police, elected officials and citizens trained by UTT are coordinating efforts and taking the fight to the enemy at the local level.

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October 18th, 2018 Breaking News

Islamic State returning to insurgent roots as caliphate disappears

(CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR) — After being nearly defeated on the battlefields of its would-be caliphate, the Islamic State group has reverted to what it was before its spectacular conquests in 2014, analysts say – a shadowy insurgent network that targets civilian populations with guerrilla-style attacks and exploits state weaknesses to incite sectarian strife.

In Iraq and Syria, hardly a week goes by without the group staging an attack on a town or village, keeping its opponents on edge even as it fights US-backed forces advancing on the last remaining slice of territory under its control near the countries’ shared border.

Hisham al-Hashimi, an IS expert who advises the Iraqi government, said the group now operates like it did in 2010, before its rise in Iraq, which culminated four years later with the militants seizing one of Iraq’s biggest cities, Mosul, and also claiming the city of Raqqa in Syria and declaring an Islamic caliphate across large areas of both countries.

Mr. Al-Hashimi said the world’s most dangerous insurgent group is trying to prove that despite losing its territorial hold, “it still has long arms to strike.”

While it fends off attacks on its remaining pockets in Syria, a recent surge in false claims of responsibility for attacks also signals that the group is struggling to stay relevant after losing its proto-state and its dominance on the international news agenda. The main figures behind the group’s once sleek propaganda machine have mostly been killed. Raqqa fell a year ago this month, and the group has lost all but 2 percent of the territory it held in Iraq and Syria.

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October 18th, 2018 Related News

India, Pakistan, Philippines among 5 countries with most terrorist attacks in 2017

(GULF NEWS) — Almost 59 per cent of all terrorist attacks in 2017 took place in five Asian countries, including India and Pakistan, a US report said Thursday. The other three countries, according to the The annual State Department Country Report on Terrorism, include Afghanistan, Iraq and the Philippines.

The total number of terrorist attacks worldwide last year decreased by 23 per cent. Similarly, the total deaths due to terrorist violence decreased by 27 per cent, according to the report.

The decline in terrorist violence was largely due to dramatically fewer attacks and deaths in Iraq, Nathan Sales, State Department Coordinator of Counter-terrorism, said during a conference call with reporters on Thursday.

“Although terrorist attacks took place in 100 countries in 2017, they were concentrated geographically. Fifty-nine percent of all attacks took place in five countries. Those are Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Similarly, 70 per cent of all deaths due to terrorist attacks took place in five countries, and those are Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, and Syria,” he said.

The report, he added, notes a number of major strides that the United States and its allies made to defeat and degrade terrorist organizations in 2017. “We worked with allies and partners around the world to expand information sharing, improve aviation security, enhance law enforcement and rule of law capacities, and to counter terrorist radicalization with a focus on preventing recruitment and recidivism,” Sales said.

However, despite these many successes, the terrorist landscape grew more complex in 2017, he said. “ISIS [Daesh – the extremist terrorist group], Al-Qaida, and their affiliates have proven to be resilient, determined, and adaptable,” Sales added. He said foreign terrorist fighters were heading home from the war zones in Iraq and Syria or traveling to third countries to join Daesh branches there.

“We also are experiencing an increase in attacks by home-grown terrorists – that is, people who have been inspired by Daesh but have never set foot in Syria or Iraq. We’ve seen Daesh-directed or Daesh-inspired attacks outside the war zone on soft targets and in public spaces like hotels, tourist resorts, and cultural sites,” Sales said.

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October 18th, 2018 Related News

China defends mass internment of Muslim ethnic minorities

(VOA) — China is defending its mass internment of Muslim ethnic minorities, saying it is preventing terrorism by helping them improve job skills, by teaching them the Mandarin language and encouraging them to accept modern science.

A senior Chinese official made that argument in a report released Tuesday, the latest action in a broad campaign to defend its internment of Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities in the face of growing criticism.

The report, published by China’s official Xinhua News Agency, said the ruling Communist Party’s vision for the far western Xinjiang region is the assimilation of the indigenous Central Asian ethnic groups into Chinese culture and introducing them to a “modern” way of life.

Governor Shohrat Zakir said in the report the extrajudicial internment of the Muslims was an effort to provide “free vocational training” in centers. He said they are paid a “basic income” during the training and that free food and accommodations are provided.

China’s Communist Party has resisted Western pressure related to the internment camps. The resistance is seen as an indication of China’s growing faith in President Xi Jinping, the country’s most powerful leader in decades.

China has insisted that its vast police pursuit and surveillance program is needed to counter latent extremism and to maintain stability.

Former detainees have described the facilities as political indoctrination camps where they were forced to condemn Islam and declare loyalty to the Communist Party.

Turkik-speaking Uighurs have resented restrictions on their religious practices and have complained about widespread discrimination in the job market and obtaining access to passports.

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October 8th, 2018 Breaking News

With boundaries blurring between criminals and terrorists, international cooperation’s vital, UN highlights

(UN NEWS) — Terror groups are getting increasingly-involved in “lucrative” criminal activities such as trading in natural resources and human trafficking, Michèle Coninsx, the Executive Director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), told the Security Council briefing on the issue.

Similarly, criminal groups join hands with terrorists, and are providing services such as counterfeiting, arms dealing, and helping to smuggle terrorists from one country to another, she said.

“We know that terrorist groups recruit individuals with criminal background or criminal skills, and petty crimes are committed to finance terrorist activities, including travel of foreign terrorist fighters,” explained Ms. Coninsx, noting that conflicts and instability further entrench such deal-making.

The head of CTED said her office and other parts of the UN counter-terror effort, such as the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), were working together to address the scourge.

She also highlighted the Executive Directorate’s work with UN Member States, identifying good practices, including joint investigative units and effective prosecution mechanisms, to handle organized crime and terrorism.

Looking ahead, Ms. Coninsx urged the international community to strengthen cooperation in the fight against terrorism and its support structures, especially to identify new terrorist trends, map linkages between terrorists and criminal groups, and share information more effectively.
Links between organized crime and terrorism ‘not new’

At the briefing, Gustavo Meza-Cuadra Velásquez, the Chair of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), said that the links between terrorism and international crime syndicates is not new and has been high on the agenda of the Security Council as well as the General Assembly, for a long time.[READ MORE]

October 8th, 2018 Related News

Report: White House counterterrorism strategy dismantles terrorist networks, stops recruitment

(LAS VEGAS NOW) — The threat of terrorism and how to fight it is the topic of a 25-page report released by the White House this month.

The report states how counterterrorism isn’t just about killing or capturing terrorists; it’s also about dismantling terrorist networks and stopping recruitment for their groups, which is tough, considering they have a major tool in the internet that allows them to connect with people.

“We will continue to work with friends and allies to deny radical Islamic terrorists any funding, territory or support, or any means of infiltrating our borders,” President Donald Trump said.

According to the National Strategy for Counterterrorism, today’s terrorist landscape made up of radical Islamic terrorist organizations like ISIS and Al Qaida, along with domestic terrorism, is more fluid and complex than ever. The more technology advances, the more cyber threats increase.

“In cyber warfare or cyber terrorism, it can affect the entire United States,” said Shannon Wilkinson, Axiom Cyber Solutions. “It’s kind of like the new arms race if you think about it. Cybersecurity or cyber is like the new tenant of warfare.”

Axiom Cyber Solutions is a Las Vegas-based company that works with businesses and public agencies to help protect them from cyber threats, and at times to respond to them once they’ve already been hit.

“Cyber is really like the new frontier,” Wilkinson said. “They’re all nation-state actors from China, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, of course, and Ukraine, all trying to break into not only businesses.”

Terrorists are also using the internet to recruit. Wilkinson does public outreach at locations like schools. Her advice on cyber safety continues to evolve, just like the threats do.

“Just being kind of aware if your children are online; what are they doing? Who are they talking to? If they get sucked into one of these schemes where somebody is trying to recruit them overseas,” Wilkinson said.

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October 7th, 2018 Breaking News

‘TREATED LIKE ANIMALS’ ISIS sex slave reveals harrowing details of abuse suffered at hands of jihadi thugs as women screamed and vomited in terror

(THE SUN) — A YOUNG woman who has just won the Noble Peace prize has revealed horrifying details of being forced into sexual slavery by ISIS.

Nadia Murad, 25, spoke of how she and other Yazidi women screamed and vomited in sheer fear when jihadis kidnapped them.

At age 19, ISIS soldiers attacked the Yazidi community in her village, killing 600 people including six of her brothers and stepbrothers.

She was taken into slavery and beaten, burned with cigarettes and raped when she tried to escape.

Writing in her autobiography featured in The Guardian, Nadia recalled one night at a slave market following her capture.

She said: “We could hear the commotion downstairs where militants were registering and organizing, and when the first man entered the room, all the girls started screaming.”

Nadia’s book, “The Last Girl,” tells of her captivity, the loss of her family and her eventual escape.

It featured, recalls in harrowing detail this examination process before she was sold like cattle.

She said: “The militants touched us anywhere they wanted, running their hands over our breasts and our legs, as if we were animals.”

But her ordeal worsened when she met a high-ranking militant named Salwan – whom she described as “looking like a monster”.

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October 4th, 2018 Breaking News, Related News

ISIS’s Second Resurgence

(Institute for the Study of War) — The Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) is reconstituting a capable insurgent force in Iraq and Syria despite efforts to prevent its recovery by the U.S. Anti-ISIS Coalition. The U.S. Department of Defense stated in August 2018 that ISIS retains nearly 30,000 fighters across Iraq and Syria and is “more capable” than Al-Qaeda in Iraq – ISIS’s predecessor – at its peak in 2006 – 2007. ISIS is waging an effective campaign to reestablish durable support zones while raising funds and rebuilding command-and-control over its remnant forces. On its current trajectory, ISIS could regain sufficient strength to mount a renewed insurgency that once again threatens to overmatch local security forces in both Iraq and Syria. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is issuing a map update depicting ISIS’s current operating areas based on an analysis of its activity from January 1, 2018 to October 1, 2018.

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