Prison converts to terror

Visit our News page Prison converts to terror We frequently read in the media about Muslims who have been “radicalized.” Rarely is there an examination of what that means or how it happened. We know that a high percentage of mosques in this country contain materials that promote political Islam, sharia law, hatred of Jews and “infidels,” and jihad. Not surprisingly, the number of homegrown jihadists in America is growing. But another area that has been exploited by Islamists is our prison system, which is also contributing to the accelerating threat of homegrown jihadism. http://www.nypost.com/f/print/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/converts_to_terror_obRTTSrOgZxZDoVzcKdzaP Sep. 2, 2010, 4:01 AM Converts to terror By PATRICK DUNLEAVY Reporting on the terrorism trial now under way in federal district court in Manhattan is focusing on defense attorneys' "entrapment" claim. But to me, the more interesting question is how the four accused were radicalized to the point where they'd even consider plotting to bomb synagogues in The Bronx and shoot down aircraft with missiles. What stands out is the prison connection. All four defendants were former inmates. More important, all three imams at the mosque in Newburgh that the defendants attended after being released from prison had a connection with the prison system. Imams Salahuddin Muhammad, Hamin Rashada and Melody Rashada worked for the Department of Correctional Services. All had been hired by Warith Deen Umar -- who for years headed ministerial services for the New York state prison system. Umar stated in a 2003 Wall Street Journal interview that prisons were a prime place to recruit homegrown terrorists. As recently as last year, at an Islamic Society of North American convention, he made disparaging remarks about Israel and Jews in 2009. He's an an avowed Salafist. The Wahabbi/Salafist sect of Islam adheres to a strict interpretation of the Koran and aims to restore the caliphate form of government, functioning under Sharia law. It views Jews and other groups of nonbelievers as infidels and enemies of Islam. And it has been the dominant Islamic theology in the prison Muslim community for decades -- thanks to generous Saudi funding for literature and training for the chaplains. It's been so dominant that Shia Muslim inmates in New York filed a class-action lawsuit against the prison administrators, claiming religious persecution, threats and overt acts of intimidation by other Muslim inmates at the behest of the civil-service chaplains. Several years ago, authorities recorded conversations of convicts in Imam Salahuddin Muhammad's congregation. One claimed that both the governor and the president of the United States were "Zionist puppets." Another called Jews "pigs and dogs." Is it any wonder that one of the defendants, alleged ringleader James Cromitie, was recorded making anti-Semitic remarks and stating that he wanted to destroy the Jews, seeing them as enemies of Islam. Where and when were these seeds of hatred planted -- and where was the prison chaplain when all this was going on? In an interview with The New York Times after the arrest of the four suspects in May 2009, Imam Salahuddin Muhammad insisted he'd seen little evidence of radicalization in prison, claiming, "I don't hear any of that wild stuff," he said, "and if I did hear it, I would stomp it out. It's totally un-Islamic." Yet, during his time as chaplain in the Fishkill State Prison, he hired several inmates with known radical Islamic ties as clerks in the chaplain's office. One was a Palestinian Hamas member; another was a Yemeni inmate with ties to the Lackawanna Six -- a US-grown terrorist cell that attended al Qaeda training camps in the Middle East. He even allowed the inmates to use his office phone to call the Middle East and North Africa. One need only look at the amount of money from inmate funds that were sent to the Newburgh mosque over the years to see a well-established connection. Inmates from the chaplains' prison congregations have also sent thousands of dollars to pseudo-Islamic charities, such as the Holy Land Foundation and others, which in turn provided material support for terrorist organizations. Radical Islamic recruitment in the prison system is a reality. Years of sowing seeds among a captive audience are bearing fruit. It was no coincidence that the authorities focused on this particular congregation. Patrick Dunleavy, a former deputy inspector general of the state Department of Correctional Services, spent more than 26 years working in law enforcement. As head of the Criminal Intelligence Division, he probed the radical Islamic-recruitment movement inside and outside prison walls. A version of this article ran at investigativeproject.org. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACT for America P.O. Box 12765 Pensacola, FL 32591 www.actforamerica.org ACT for America is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing the most powerful grassroots citizen action network in America, a grassroots network committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America’s national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam. We are only as strong as our supporters, and your volunteer and financial support is essential to our success. Thank you for helping us make America safer and more secure. The news items, blogs, educational materials and other information in our emails and on our website are only intended to provide information, news and commentary on events and issues related to the threat of radical Islam. Much of this information is based upon media sources, such as the AP wire services, newspapers, magazines, books, online news blog and news services, and radio and television, which we deem to be reliable. However, we have undertaken no independent investigation to verify the accuracy of the information reported by these media sources. We therefore disclaim all liability for false or inaccurate information from these media sources. We also disclaim all liability for the third-party information that may be accessed through the material referenced in our emails or posted on our website. HOW CAN I TELL OTHERS ABOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION? Send a personalized version of this message to your friends. HOW CAN I SUPPORT YOUR ORGANIZATION? Click here to give an online donation.