Letters from the Supermax

The strange case of American Muslim convert Ismail Royer came back to light today via Scott Shane and the NY Times.  Shane is corresponding with Royer, who is currently incarcerated at ADX Florence, the same Supermax prison housing the Unabomber, Terry Nichols, Ramzi Yousef, and abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph.

It's strange because Royer was charged with arranging for some of his DC area paintball buddies to attend LeT training camps in Pakistan after 9/11--he claims to train for their fight against India (LeT was not considered a terrorist group by the USG at the time)--and for a traffic stop in September 2001 while driving in DC where an AK47 was found.  He was also affiliated with CAIR.   Reason magazine published this article in 2003, which failed to grasp a possible 20 year sentence, although some Islam critics like Daniel Pipes weren't too surprised.  Still, he wasn't attempting to kill his fellow Americans, so far as is known. 

No telling what Shane is really up to here.  The Times published several long letters by Royer from inside prison explaining his views of jihad and AQ, the latter of which he has been consistently critical.  He is very well read and articulate, and the letters do not advocate violence or overly blame the west for 9/11.  Fascinating reading, actually.  But in sifting through them it's hard to know for sure whether he's engaging in what fellow Supermax inmate Zacarias Moussaoui declared permissible at his own trial--lying for jihad. 

For instance, Royer was part of the same paintball team associated with one Ali al-Timimi, a computational biology professor at George Mason University who preached jihad to the paintball group.  Some have said Timimi had university access to leading biowarfare experts such as Soviet defector Ken Alibek.  He was charged and convicted via the rarely-used sedition statute while the FBI was still dangling Steven Hatfill as a person of interest in the anthrax mailings--ironically Shane has been the lead Times reporter on that case. 

Could this be why someone like Royer--himself prosecuted under the seldom-used Neutrality Act--ended up at the most secure prison in America?   History has shown that prosecutors have not been hesitant to use obscure statutes to justify getting someone they considered dangerous off the streets for a long time if they can't make a terrorism case.  Shane quotes some prosecutors as saying Royer was swept up in a show of force after 9/11 even though his public words were nowhere near as incendiary as others espousing violent jihad.  But if indeed a show of force can be used to explain his arrest and long sentence why did two members of the paintball team have their charges dropped?

Besides, Royer testified against al-Timimi as part of his deal.  Meanwhile al-Awlaki, whom Obama just droned to death, had interactions with some of the hijackers before 9/11 and was invited to the Pentagon to explain moderate Islam shortly thereafter.  He also may have had contact with al-Tamimi.  According to Shane, Royer's Baptist father is still befuddled:

“He loved his family,” the father said of his son. “Why would he put this cause ahead of his family? I still don’t really know what happened. I’m still trying to figure it out.”

Well, even devout Christians would agree that God comes before family and work, but at least in public Royer didn't preach violent jihad.  He did work to get some of the paintballers to LeT camps in Pakistan, and did get caught with an AK, but was that worth 20 years or were the Feds worried about something else?  Was it the two degrees of separation with Awlaki, or something worse? 

Meanwhile, parts of Royer's letters were redacted, whited out, presumably by the Bureau of Prisons (we assume the Times wouldn't do it).  Speculation for why could range from him mentioning the names of individuals all the way to spilling more details about something embarrassing that occurred between two of the higher-profile inmates.   Rest assured that Shane and the Times won't be developing much interest in that area anytime soon.   

I Betcha a Million Bucks

That the spin from Romney's ill-advised 10,000 dollar bet offer with Perry in last night's debate will end up being spun more as elitist than just generally stupid:

After trying so hard to prove to people that he is just a regular guy, multi-millionaire Romney "may have given his GOP rivals and President Obama a gold-plated gift in Saturday’s debate in Iowa," writes the LA Times. "Not a lot of 99%'ers are out there making $10,000 bets," tweeted a former Obama White House aide, adding, "If corporations were people, $10,000 bets actually wouldn't be that big of a deal."

Uh, which candidate in the race, or former candidate currently residing in the White House, isn't a 'multi-millionaire'? Had Romney used 5 dollars that would have been too small to back his claim.  Maybe he should have used a trillion, since that would have served to remind people of the debt and couldn't have been spun as couch cushion change in his den.

Thanks, Important GWoT Ally

Hard to figure if the Pakistanis are still our allies against terrorism or if two recent events are just more chapters in the greatest Hollywood act in the history of Hollywood acts.  One--they are threatening to shoot down drones that cross into their airspace (after closing a drone base inside the country in retaliation for their troops firing on our soldiers)--and just as Iran captured a drone we gave them.  Two, they are going to release UBL's three wives, including the 'hot' one.

It's like they're mad at us or something.  But that can't be! Obama just chastised a reporter who dared question his foreign policy successes by telling him to "ask bin Laden.." (maybe he should ask UBL's wives).  Meanwhile, if Pakistan is still bluffing they've just made it nearly impossible to attack and kill any more enemies in the tribal areas, so Obama's foreign policy success appears to be all stealth.  Or maybe Obama's next foreign policy move is to invade Pakistan.  Unless they are all bluffing.

Side Tracks

Getting into the spirit...

Speaking of Cores

Who can forget what David Axelrod told the baby bird media just a few days ago:

U.S. President Barack Obama's chief campaign strategist Sunday slammed Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, saying he lacks a political core.

That's some high irony there. Even a few liberals searching valiantly for hope and change might agree. Well today Mr. Core defined his core for the first time since blundering it out to Joe the Plumber:

"I'm here in Kansas to reaffirm my deep conviction that we're greater together than we are on our own," Obama said. "I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot. When everyone does their fair share. When everyone plays by the same rules."

There you go--socialist Obama.  Maybe next he'll invite Ayers to a campaign speech and call him comrade while praising OWS, then quote Jesus and advocate tax cuts in a photo-op conversation about college hoops with a redneck NASCAR fan at a Christmas lighting ceremony.

MORE  12/07/11

Gulp. The WaPo takes on Obama's Teddy Roosevelt impersonation and actually finds some "facts" lacking:

Inserting the words “for the wealthy” was interesting phrasing by the president, since he suggests these tax cuts were intended to benefit only the rich. The bulk of the 2001 tax cuts were marginal rate cuts, which extended to all taxpayers, while the 2003 tax cuts included a reduction in taxes on dividends and capital gains. But the 2001 tax cuts also included tax changes that benefited the middle class, such as a reduced marriage penalty and expanded tax credits, along with an instant tax rebate. Still, it is correct that most of the benefits of the tax cuts flowed to the wealthy (who, let’s not forget, pay the largest share of income taxes). Obama has said repeatedly he wants to keep the Bush tax cuts for people making less than $250,000; he wants to reinstate higher tax rates only for the wealthy. (In fact, he would retain about 70 percent of the overall tax cut.) But he should not suggest that the Bush tax cuts were aimed only at the wealthy, since that is not correct.

Nice of them to notice the part I bolded, after all this time and all those speeches.  But better late than never.

Women Drivers!

A lot of fur flew over the story about Saudi Arabia not wanting their womenfolk to drive over fears it could lead to adultery, homosexuality, porn use and a lack of earthly virgins (which could presumably put a dent in the heavenly virgin population):

In a report presented to the country's legislative assembly, the Shura Council, Subhi warns that letting women take the wheel will encourage pornography and prostitution, and lead to increased rates of divorce, homosexuality, and sex before marriage -- leading to a shortage of virgin brides.

People made appropriate fun, and moved on. But were the Saudis right?!

Former Miss USA Rima Fakih was busted on drunken driving charges, her lawyer said yesterday.

Exposing bare body to win an infidel beauty contest, and now drinking.  While driving.  Heavens.  Surely the fatwa has been prepared.

Were the Saudis right?  Of course  not.  But what better way to justify posting another photo(s) of Rima? 

OK, but...

Thomas Joscelyn points to a US court ruling this past week where a judge ruled that Iran was complicit in helping AQ pull off the African embassy bombings in the late 90s by offering bomb-making assistance through their Hizballah franchise...

Support from Iran and Hezbollah was critical to al Qaeda's execution of the 1998 embassy bombings. See Tr. Vol. II at 181. Prior to its meetings with Iranian officials and agents, al Qaeda did not possess the technical expertise required to carry out the embassy bombings. In the 1990s, al Qaeda received training in Iran and Lebanon on how to destroy large buildings with sophisticated and powerful explosives. Id. at 188; Tr. Vol. III at 314-15. The government of Iran was aware of and authorized this training and assistance.

Fine and dandy--as Joscelyn says, this isn't news. Yossef Bodansky wrote about Hasan al-Turabi's goal to bring together Shia and Sunni Arabs/Persians to fight the west before 9/11.  This little Sudan consortium also included Saddam and Iraq, who sent emissaries to Khartoum around the same time.  In the same year of the embassy bombings president Clinton retaliated by bombing a chemical plant in Khartoum, which was thought to be making VX with help of Iraqi scientists.  And yes, similar suits have been filed against Iraq for their alleged complicity.  But we must never go there, the conventional wisdom cement has dried. 

The timing of this story is certainly interesting based on the happenings with Iran and Syria, but there's seemingly an unanswered question left by the judgment:  the judge concluded that AQ didn't have the knowledge to create massive, shaped charge truck bombs before getting trained by Hizballah/Iran, so if true, where does that leave Ramzi Yousef?

Yousef's Ryder truck bomb in 1993 did massive damage to the innards of the World Trade Center and he was apparently not part of the Turabi group-hug, at one point even setting off a bomb inside Iran against a Shia mosque.  So where did Yousef learn his trade?   And if, as some believe, Murrah bomb planner Terry Nichols got truck bomb-making assistance from AQ during his trips to the Philippines in 1994, who was he talking to, and why couldn't UBL have tapped the same source thereby staying within the Sunni realm?  Besides, wasn't Yousef part of AQ?  Former terror czar Richard Clarke told the 9/11 Commission he was:

But the investigation, both the CIA investigation and the FBI investigation, made it very clear in '95 and '96 as they got more information, that the Iraqi government was in no way involved in the attack. And the fact that one of the 12 people involved in the attack was Iraqi hardly seems to me as evidence that the Iraqi government was involved in the attack. The attack was al-Qaida; not Iraq.

Of course this same guy told the Clinton bigwigs (during the time period of the embassy bombings) that UBL might "boogie to Baghdad" if they missed getting him in Afghanistan so take that Wiki page with the appropriate salt.  In reality it's likely that neither Yousef nor uncle KSM were associated with UBL in the early 90s when they were effectively blowing stuff up, so again, if they weren't associated with the apostate Shias and were "stateless" terrorists as the government contends, where did they get that truck bomb knowledge?  From this guy? 

Not to say the judge was wrong in deciding that AQ couldn't have created the truck bombs without Iran's help, but perhaps the confabs between AQ and Iran/Hizballah (and the Iraqi Mukhabarat) were more of a "we won't attack you and you don't attack us and we'll all attack the west" sort of thing than a bomb-making school.