To balance my weblog entry on "Stupid Terrorists," here follow some examples, in reverse chronological order, of stupid counterterrorists.
"Radical Muslim Cleric's Pentagon Lunch: Top DOD Lawyers, Executive Director of CAIR Invited": Catherine Herridge investigates for FoxNews.com how the military brass had lunch with the man today considered the most lethal anti-American Islamist ideologue:
/The Pentagon's top lawyers and the executive director of controversial Muslim group Council of American Islamic Relations were invited to lunch with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki on Feb. 5, 2002, as part of the Defese Department's outreach to moderate Muslims. ….
more than 70 people were copied on the luncheon invitation at one of the Pentagon's executive dining rooms. While most of the names were redacted by the defense department, citing the privacy exemption, the names that remain include Deputy General Counsel Charles Allen, former Deputy General Counsel Whit Cobb, former principal Deputy General Counsel Dan Dell'Orto, former General Counsel William Haynes, Deputy General Counsel Paul Koffsky and former deputy General Counsel Douglas Larsen. …
According to the email, there was at least one civilian on the guest list. The email invitation reads: "Mr. Nihad Awad, President of the Counsel on American-Islamic Relations has also expressed interest in attending." Fox News sent questions to Awad though a spokesman at CAIR, including whether he had provided positive recommendations for Awlaki to either the FBI or the Defense Department immediately after 9/11. … Fox News contacted CAIR multiple times over a 10 day period and there was no response after the initial contact when a spokesman asked for questions to be submitted.
Separately, the email invitation suggests that Awlaki was trying to pad his resume for the Defense Department employee who vetted him for the lunch. The email invitation reads: "[Awlaki] is currently working on his PhD in Human Resource Development at George Washington University, received a Master of Education Leadership from San Diego State University..." But Fox News confirmed the cleric did not receive either degree. And while some embraced the cleric as a moderate in 2002, the FBI had interviewed him four times in the first eight days after 9/11 because of his contacts with the hijackers. His rap sheet also included arrests for soliciting prostitutes and loitering around a school.
FoxNews.com made the lunch invitation available at http://www.foxnews.com/interactive/politics/2011/06/07/pentagon-memo-on-awlaki-lunch/. (June 7, 2011)
"Terrorists Claim to Seize CIA Files": In its takeover of Gaza, Hamas have seized Central Intelligence Agency files stored with Fatah. "The CIA files we seized, which include documents, CD's, taped conversations, and videos, are more important that all the American weapons we obtained the last two days as we took over the traitor Fatah's positions," said Muhammad Abdel-El, spokesperson for the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees.
Abu Abdullah, a member of Hamas' so-called military wing, said, "Now our job is to study these files, which are already showing that they are crucial for our fight against the Zionists and anyone who collaborates with them, including the Americans." Mr. Abdullah said the CIA documents they browsed so far contain "information about the collaboration between Fatah and the Israeli and American security organizations; CIA methods on how to prevent attacks, chase and follow after cells of Hamas and the Committees; plans about Fatah assassinations of members of Hamas and other organizations; and American studies on the security situation in Gaza." Mr. Abdullah claimed the documents also detailed CIA networks in other Arab countries, and "how to help beat Islamic allies of Hamas in other Arab countries, including Egypt and Jordan."
"We will use these documents and make portions public to prove the collaboration between America and traitor Arab countries," Mr. Abdullah said. Committees Spokesman Abdel El told the Sun he was sitting in a Gaza mosque today pouring through some of the files on the Committees when he found his name mentioned in the documents four times. "I am amazed by the material and the context of the documents," he said.
(June 14, 2007)
"U.S. invites terror suspect to dinner—he declines": Les Zaitz in The Oregonian:
A designated terrorist with ties to Oregon was invited to sit down with U.S. government officials and their guests at an embassy event Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Soliman al-Buthi, 45, is well known to the Treasury and Justice departments and the National Security Council. In 2004, he was designated a terrorist under an alternate spelling of his name for his role in operating the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation in Ashland. The first entry of a Google search using his name as spelled in the invitation says he "has been linked to al-Qaida funding." …
An embassy political officer in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, invited al-Buthi to a restaurant dinner honoring the chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. … [Al-Buthi's Portland attorney, Tom] Nelson said al-Buthi intended to attend the dinner but the lawyer advised him not to step onto embassy grounds, which would make him subject to arrest. Otherwise, he was safe from capture because the U.S. has no extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia. In an e-mail to The Oregonian, al-Buthi said "I was surprised, particularly because I am supposed to be a fugitive from the U.S. government!" Al-Buthi said the U.S. embassy called Tuesday to confirm he was coming.
(May 31, 2007)
