Connecting the terror dots

By Douglas J. Hagmann, Director, & Sean Osborne, Assistant Director & Military Affairs Expert

As detailed by Dave Macy and published on Canada Free Press yesterday, police in Houston responding to a domestic disturbance found something they did not expect: an AT-4 shoulder-mounted rocket launcher that can shoot a missile nearly 1,000 feet through buildings and tanks. Channel 2 in Houston also reported that police found Islamic terrorist literature at the same location. According to news reports, the items belong to Nabilaye I. YANSANE, who was charged with criminal trespassing related only to the domestic incident. No charges were filed for possession of the launcher or the literature. (A video provided by KPRC Channel 2 in Houston can be viewed at this link. All still images courtesy of Click2 – KPRC Houston).

The reasoning for lack of criminal charges, of course is that the “once used” AT-4 rocket launcher, in its present state, is essentially nothing more than an elaborate paper weight due to its single use application. It can be legally purchased on the open market, from gun shows to army surplus stores. With regard to the Islamic terrorist literature found at the same location, our own Bill of Rights allows us the ability to possess certain writings within the scope of the law, despite the increasingly unpopular fact under the Obama administration and the reign of Napolitano that we are fighting Islamic terrorists on our own soil.

Except for inquiring minds, this story could almost end here. But as the saying goes, “Houston, we have a problem.” Picking up where the media left off, this investigator looked deeper into this incident and the background of the suspect, finding some facts that should raise some important questions about events that have been taking place inside the U.S., and perhaps connect some dots in the asymmetrical war being waged against us by Islamic terrorists from within.

First, a cursory background investigation into Nabilaye I. YANSANE, 39, (DOB October 7, 1970), a resident of the Bellaire Wood Apartments, 5414 Elm Street, Houston, Texas, found recent unrelated brushes with the law, including a misdemeanor charge of possession of a prohibited weapon accompanied by a drug possession charge-both filed on October 5, 2009. The drug possession charge was dismissed, while the weapons charge was adjudicated.

The misdemeanor charges notwithstanding, further investigation conducted over the last several days with area residents familiar with YANSANE indicates a possible “connection” with the Al-Maghrib Institute in Houston, an Islamic center located less than 6 ½ miles from his home. According to two area residents, YANSANE might have some level of involvement with the Institute, participating in classes or events at that location within the past year.

If the al Maghrib Institute sounds familiar, it should. As we previously reported, the Al Maghrib Institute is the Islamic center that terrorist Umar Farouk Abdul-Mutallab, the Muslim terrorist who attempted to bomb Delta-Northwest flight 253 out of the sky on Christmas Day, attended in 2008. YANSANE’s connections to the al Maghrib Institute are admittedly tenuous at this point and our investigation is continuing. Unsurprisingly, we have been unable to verify his alleged association with anyone at the institute, and nothing was found to suggest any direct or personal relationship between YANSANE and Abdul-Mutallab beyond alleged attendance at the institute itself.

However, further investigation yielded a more disturbing prospect – one that has much larger implications of a systemic failure within our own defenses and infrastructure. According to information obtained during the course of this investigation, YANSANE was previously stationed at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina as part of the Second Marine Division, B Company. Serving within one of our most prestigious military installations should be commendable, unless, of course, the time spent, the lessons and tactics learned ultimately served a different purpose for which they were intended. Most assuredly, one of the lessons would likely include the use and potential reuse of an AT-4 rocket launcher – the type used in Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. forces, including those from Camp LeJeune.

As a veteran investigator, I don’t believe in coincidences, and I certainly don’t believe in coincidences when there is an active network of committed enemy operatives planning and plotting our destruction daily. Considering the massacre at Fort Hood last November, the various plots against out military bases, the murderous 2003 grenade and shooting attack by U.S. Army Sergeant Hasan Karim Akbar that killed two and wounded 14 other soldiers at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, other cases of spying, espionage and well-documented infiltration of Islamists within our military, it is incumbent that we dig deeper into incidents like the YANSANE case.

It is beyond the time that we understand that the consequences for our failures to admit who we are fighting will only result in more needless deaths of innocent men, women and children. We need to understand the level of infiltration that has been allowed to occur in all branches of our armed forces, intelligence agencies, and law enforcement under the guise of religious tolerance and political correctness. In many cases, our enemies are wearing our own uniforms.

Threats from shoulder fired rocket launchers

As verified by law enforcement, the AT-4 rocket launcher found at a Houston apartment was reportedly used. No one, however, can tell when or under what circumstances the rocket was fired from that weapon. To assume it was used in a legitimate military setting is to assume a lot, considering a March 27, 2006 ABC News item reporting that Shoulder-fired missiles pose a serious threat to passenger jets. As noted in that report, at least 24 civilian aircraft have been brought down by shoulder-fired missiles worldwide, and more than 500 people have been killed.

On November 26, 2005, we reported the suspicious incident involving American Airlines Flight 612 flying from Los Angeles to Chicago. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot of flight 612 reported a possible encounter with a possible surface-to-air missile. Our report includes the audio recorded between the pilot and the air traffic controller and provides the radar images associated with that incident.

On May 27, 2008, we reported another similar incident involving a passenger aircraft, this time flying from Houston to Cleveland. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot of Continental Flight 1544 reported seeing a rapidly moving object with a thick smoke trail closing in on his aircraft and shooting past his cockpit window. According to some of the crew and passengers aboard Flight 1544 traveling from Houston to Cleveland, it appeared like some type of missile was headed toward the aircraft. Unsurprisingly, federal authorities have been characteristically “mum” about this incident.

Coincidences all? Perhaps, but maybe someone should be connecting the dots.