Midwest arrests stoke memories of OKC bombing

The arrests of nine people last week in the upper Midwest no doubt sent shivers through many Oklahomans. If any state is sensitive to the threat of domestic terrorism, it should be this one. The bombing of Oklahoma City's Murrah Building on April 19, 1995, killed 168 people. It remains the country's deadliest home-grown attack. Whether the Apocalyptic Hutarees' alleged plan to attack police in April was meant to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing may never be known, the possibility is inescapable. "It's certainly suggestive," said David Cid, the executive director of the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, formed in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing to train law enforcement officers in counterterrorism measures.

Cid, a former FBI counterterrorism specialist, said signs of potential violence had been evident for some time. "In March 2009 we felt something would happen within a year," he said. "We missed it by about a month." Cid noted a slight increase in milita-type activity around Oklahoma in recent months, but he said it is important to draw a distinction between "those who enthusiastically oppose something and those willing to kill people. We haven't seen anything that constitutes a threat," he said. Some of Oklahoma's better-known extremists and paramilitary organizations have left the state or faded from the public consciousness.

• "Famous Trials: Oklahoma City Bombing Trial", website.
• "After Oklahoma City", NewsHour Online Special, website.
  

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The Domestic Terror Threat

It is still too early to tell what exactly motivated Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan to open fire on fellow American soldiers earlier this month, but the massacre came on the heels of a series of foiled terrorist plots involving Americans. In light of revelations that Anwar al-Awlaki, an extremist American cleric based in Yemen, had e-mailed with Hasan, it is worth asking whether America faces a growing threat from domestic terrorism, and to what degree those involved in terrorism are becoming radicalized not in some far-flung locale, but right here in the United States.

In the years after 9/11, Muslims in the United States were widely assumed to be less sympathetic to Islamist radicalism than their European counterparts. This has been attributed to the high skill level of many Muslim immigrants, their relative economic success, the peaceful form of Islam being preached in nearly all American mosques, the American principles of free speech and religious pluralism, and the melting-pot culture of the United States. And, indeed, the danger from homegrown terrorism in the years after 9/11 was less acute in the U.S. than in Europe, where many more serious plots were disrupted.

But recent events suggest that things may be changing. As Mitchell D. Silber, the director of intelligence analysis for the New York City Police Department, told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday, "U.S. authorities have uncovered a significant and increasing number of radicalized clusters or individuals intent on committing violent jihad either in the U.S. or abroad," and that arrests during the last 12 months and intelligence gained by the U.S. government "indicate that radicalization to violence is taking place in the United States."

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Domestic U.S. Terror Plots Uncovered

Three domestic terror plots have been uncovered by the FBI in recent days which points out that so much vigilance is necessary to keep ourselves safe. These home grown plots seem to be on the rise.

Denver man charged in plot to bomb civilian targets in the U.S.

Documents filed in Brooklyn against Najibullah Zazi, allege he bought the chemicals hydrogen peroxide, acetone and hydrochloric acid to build a bomb using homemade TATP explosives. Many of the ingredients were purchased off local beauty supply store shelves, which sell common household products that can be explosive. Zazi is alleged to be a legal immigrant from Afghanistan, who had carefully prepared for a terrorist attack. He attended an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, received training in explosives and stored in his laptop computer nine pages of instructions for making bombs from the same kind of chemicals he had bought.

Convert to Islam Charged with Plotting to Blow up a Federal Building in Illinois

Michael C. Finton (aka Talib Islam) has been charged with plotting to blow up the federal building in Springfield, Illinois. Finton, who converted to Islam in prison, came to the attention of federal authorities in August 2007 when a search of his vehicle revealed a letter about his desire to be a martyr. Also discovered was a document about waiting for a return letter from John Walker Lindh, the American who was captured fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. Finton traveled last year to Saudi Arabia, where he stayed about a month, and received about $1,400 from a man in that country. FBI agents then posed as low-level operatives for al-Qaeda, which culminated in a sting operation last Wednesday, September 23, 2009, when Finton drove a van he thought was loaded with explosives to the Paul Findley Federal Building. He parked and locked the vehicle, then moved a few blocks away before twice making cell phone calls he believed would trigger an explosion.

Jordanian Teenager Arrested in Plot to Blow up Dallas Skyscraper

Hosam Smadi, a Jordanian national aged 19, allegedly plotted to blow up the Fountain Place Tower in downtown Dallas. He came to the attention of the FBI through tirades against Americans on extremist chat sites and desire to wage jihad. The criminal complaint stated that an agent posing as a senior member of an al-Qaeda sleeper cell befriended him. He pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and expressed anger over the invasion of Gaza by Israel, and said he was ready for the jihadi life. Over the next six months, he met with two agents who posed as terrorists and discussed plans to attack several buildings, settling on the Fountain Place, which contains several bank offices. On Thursday, September 24, 2009, FBI agents provided Smadi with a vehicle containing a fake bomb. He drove it to the parking lot under the tower, armed the fake explosives, and then drove with the agent several blocks away, where he used a cell phone that was supposed to ensure detonation.

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