Citizen's Empire: The Threat Posed by the Self-proclaimed Caliphate's and leader of ISIS.

July 5^th, 2014

The Threat Posed by the Self-proclaimed Caliphate's and leader of ISIS

Yesterday, we as Americans, celebrated our Independence Day with Bar-B-Qs, firecrackers and cold drinks. We enjoyed music, pick-nicks and the company of our fellow citizens. Our struggle for independence did not come easy, it did not come without a fight and our liberties were not preserved without extensive sacrifice. In Mosul, the newly proclaimed Caliphate gave his first speech as such in a Mosul Mosque. If you value your liberty and freedom, then how can you possibly ignore the events transpiring in between Iraq and Syria. The failures of Assad and Al-Malaki are well known, but that does not mean that America and the world can simply stand back and do nothing as Abu Bakr Al Husayni Al-Qurashi Al-Baghdadi establishes a Caliphate and begins a five year plan to try and secure control of territories as far reaching as Spain.

Abu Bakr Al Husayni, claims to represent Allah, yet he calls for violence against Jews, in defiance of his Prophet Mohammed's own treaty of Medina, the constitution for any true Caliphate, that expressly provides for the security of both Jewish and non-Muslim believers in God, along with equality of political rights. The Prophet Mohammed's own words in the treaty of Medina translate clearly, in article 17. that “No Jew will be wronged for being a Jew,” and in article 18. that “The Enemies of the Jews who follow us will not be helped.” Abu Bakry, directly defies his own Prophet and ancestor with apostasy claiming,“So listen, O ummah of Islam. Listen and comprehend. Stand up and rise. For the time has come for you to free yourself from the shackles of weakness, and stand in the face of tyranny, against the treacherous rulers – the agents of the crusaders and the atheists, and the guards of the jews.” If by crusaders, he means soldiers who consider themselves Christian serving in the Middle East, and the guards of the jews, the numerous willing to protect our Jewish allies and friends from violent oppression, Mohammed wrote, in article 34, “Those in alliance with the Jews will be given the same treatment of the Jews,” expanding upon article 30, “The Jews of Bani Awf will be treated as one community with the believers. The Jews have their religion. This will also apply to their freedmen.” The Pact, written by Mohammed provides equal political writes for Jews, saying that both Jews and their freedmen, “have the same standing, as other parties of the pact.” Yet Abu Bakry contradicts his prophet claiming, “Soon, by Allah’s permission, a day will come when the Muslim will walk everywhere as a master, having honor, being revered, with his head raised high and his dignity preserved. Anyone who dares to offend him will be disciplined, and any hand that reaches out to harm him will be cut off.” Abu Bakry calls for administrators to come join his state, yet denounces democracy as a deviant idol. He calls for experts in Islamic Jurisprudence, yet defies Islamic Jurisprudence. In his opening statements, he claims, “Whomeever Allah guides can never be lead astray, and whomever Allah leads astray, can never be guided.” Well it seems, Abu Bakr Al Husayni has been lead astray. Abu Bakr's organization has viciously butchered Muslims, using executions, beheadings and other savagery, defying Article 3 of the treaty of Medina where Mohammed proclaimed, “In case of war with any body they will redeem their prisoners with kindness and justice common among Believers.” We need not even judge Abu Bakr Al Husayni by Western notions of law, or to the rulings of the United Nations, or the iron fisted rule of the regions secular leaders for Abu Bakr defies his own prophet's treaty originally establishing the Caliphate, in the first speech he has made as the caliphate. Abu Bakr is a hypocrite and false prophet according to his own religion and faith, to the United States of America, our allies around the world, the good and the community of the faithful, he is a violent threat that we cannot afford to tolerate. Abu Bakr could have focussed on his near enemies in Baghdad, he could have reached out for support from Israel and Saudi Arabia, to provide a Sunni buffer from Iranian empirical ambition directed at the oil fields of the Arabian Peninsula, sought the military support of Israel and America against Assad and Iranian domination, but he has instead made open calls for terrorism, “So take up arms, take up arms, O soldiers of the Islamic State! And fight, fight!” He told his American captors upon his release in 2009, “I'll see you in New York,” and even claimed, “soon we’ll be in direct confrontation,” continuing “watch out for us, for we are with you, watching.” Will it take yet another explosion, another blast to wake us up, or will United States of America and our allies begin taking these threats seriously and actively take action to mitigate these threats of violence.

Whimsical thinking and constructivist theories will not protect you from the increasingly organized and sophisticated transnational networks threw which groups such as ISIS operate. There are thousands of student visas being rewarded to individuals from the countries where ISIS has active recruitment, at least some of these are here in an effort to carry out jihadi missions, many more are vulnerable to recruitment. The NSA could care less about porno viewing behavior or obsession with Alex Jones; what we are concerned about is armed insurgencies interfering with the provision of earned benefits for the elderly and sick, terrorist groups spying on vital military systems and suicide bombers acquiring chemical and biological weapons from research labs on US Universities to detonate in densely crowded public spaces.

I have dedicated the past three years of my life to the extensive and close study of homeland security, pushing the field from a department, to a growing science, spending countless hours listening to the soldiers and warriors who have been stationed oversees and learning from the FBI, Federal Prosecutors, ATF and Department of Homeland Security on the realistic threats various groups represent. I entered the field skeptical, weary of the military industrial complex, the role of money in politics and the history of both false flag ops and clandestine methodologies. I have worked to build relationships and trust with the Islamic communities in San Diego, both visitors from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Somalia, the Emirates and US citizens with ethnic origins from Afghanistan and Iraq. I have studied the multitude of networks operating within our borders, including Al-Qaeda, Al-Shahbab, Hezbollah and made headway on the operations of Iran's clandestine forces, the Quds or Jerusalem Force, and am very weary of the growing influence of ISIS and Abu Bakr Al Husayni Al-Qurashi Al-Baghdadi. I have reviewed every single Islamic terrorist prosecution the United States has conducted. These are not CIA creations, nor are they groups constructivist theories and warm tea are going to convert to friends. They are hardened, uneducated radicals, ignorant of modern social science and hardened by hatred, clinging to ancient texts that lack the answers to the problems they are facing.

Without a budget, without an authoritative position as an officer, a gun and a badge or officers acting at my direction who have them; however, there is very little that I can do. In a recreational field in University City, San Diego, for example, while enjoying a work out, I noticed a young gentlemen of Arab descent along a fence at the edge of a field, where on the far side of the fence, at O'Doyle elementary school was a farmer's market. His dress was normal, he appeared to have a nice head phone and be listening to music. As a Master of Science in Homeland Security, I interact with Muslims regularly. Profiling has always been a pet peeve of mine, so the fact he was a young gentlemen seemingly of Arab descent is not what caught my attention. What was strange, was the fact he was pacing back in forth at the crease of the lawn. As I jogged around the track, I suddenly saw him walk back behind a water shed in an obscure corner of the park. It was so suspicious, that I felt obligated to stop what I was doing and investigate. I pulled my head phones and crept to the right side of the watershed. He took a phone call in what was clearly Arabic. When he completed the phone call, I decided to speak with him.

I simply asked him, “What are you doing?”

To which he claimed with hostility, “I'm singing? Can't I sing? I like to come out here and sing.”

I told him, “Of course you can sing. Look, I want you to enjoy your time here but what you are doing is very suspicious. Do you understand, “suspicious?”

He was somewhat frustrated and think he knew I was right. For one thing, he wasn't singing, he was listening to music and taking a call behind a water shed in a remote corner of a public park in San Diego in Arabic. I understand, that sometimes, you need space, but it could have easily been that he was amping himself up to take a call from an ISIS commander, contributing intelligence on our numerous military assets in the region, not least of which, the clear flight path from the marine airforce base overhead. It is a very tough situation, I prefer to give individuals the benefit of the doubt and do not wish for our government and its law enforcement agencies to over focus extra attention on America's Muslim community, but still, I would have certainly preferred to be able to ask a few more questions and cross reference the number he's dialing with the NSA and their list of known terrorist operatives. His suspicious behavior would have warranted further investigation. Does anyone disagree? I've hosted Muslim exchange students, I've listened to their frustrations, but we have to be strong enough to defend ourselves from those who wish to distort religions and God to justify immense acts of violence.

You do not have to love the American government, but as a country and people, we have a very real need to protect ourselves from the very real risks of terrorism. Government is a means threw which we can do such. There are few of us, who have the formal training that I have, in identifying the different groups that pose threats, with the ability to differentiate between peaceful muslim American Citizens. One of the interesting realities about terrorism, throughout the years, is that relatively few active terrorists prior to 9/11 had ever been to America. Our traditions respecting freedom of religion and our welcoming society created positive experiences for Muslims in America. This reality has shifted some since 9/11, but the reality is that more positive interactions with the Muslim community are going to help reduce the risk of terrorist attacks on US soil. This, of course, has to come with ongoing and continued improvements in our intelligence collection and policing capabilities. While I understand and sympathize with the concerns of civil libertarians, we also need to have a legal code that makes it possible for individuals such as myself, to complete our mission of preventing terrorism.

We need an effective foreign policy strategy and oversees policy for the rules of engagement that can combat groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda, that avoids providing the recruitment tools that instances of torture, inhumane treatment and egregious oppression provide. Gun rights extremists, radical libertarians, race based hate groups and excessive anti-government zeal undermine our ability to accomplish the dueling tasks of engaging positively with peaceful Muslims and defeating terrorist organizations. The international community needs to recognize the challenge of achieving these two directives, work with the United States and our partners in achieving these objectives. The United States of America does not wish to see campaigns of state terror, egregious torture and iron fisted policies, these actions only aggravate tensions with the Muslim world and are used to create sympathy among recruits. Russia tried these tactics in Chechnya and while they managed to hold the territory, it also clearly increased the number of terrorist attacks throughout Russia, including in Moscow. America and our allies do need to be sufficiently tough, thorough and aggressive to break up terrorist cells and capture terrorists before attacks are levied. America has shown its willingness to empower moderate voices of Islam. Americans are also capable of self-criticism, recognizing that while drones are valuable weapons to have in our arsenal, that we have been overly dependent on the use of drone strikes and need to continue to employ classic clandestine state craft, make use of its special forces, our air force capabilities, our law enforcement agencies and departments, along with our impressive military. As our enemy adapts, so must we. Our survival depends on this reality.

Mistakes are forgivable so long as we learn from them. In times such as this, political derisiveness is unacceptable. If Barack Obama made a mistake of pulling us out of Iraq too early, then let us allow him to learn from that mistake and not pull out of Afghanistan too early. We need be realistic in identifying the amount of residual force necessary to prevent a total collapse and the return of the terror state. A Taliban controlled Afghanistan, will severely destabilize Pakistan, a country that already has an extensive nuclear arsenal. The United Nations and Congress, may need to begin discussing what may not be politically popular, but what is responsibly correct, what type of military missions may be necessary to defeat ISIS militarily and empower the moderate Sunnis of the region. Part of this, is indeed, a fair criticism of both Al-Malaki in Iraq and even more so, Bashar Assad in Syria, with it clear, that the resignation of both could certainly help improve efforts to marginalize ISIS, or at least change its leadership and refine its message away from hatred. The July 20^th deadline for a deal with Iran on its nuclear program is fast approaching, the United Nations is certainly willing to work with various regional players in finding a solution to our mutual threats and problems, but the acquisition of a nuclear weapon on the part of Iran is no less acceptable than an anti-semetic Caliphate threatening New York and Israel. It is in the instability and unpredictability of radical extremists festering among groups such as ISIS, lurking beneath vulnerable nation states, that makes nuclear weapons unacceptable ambitions, whose acquisition need be deterred, and if necessary prevented. Even Vladimir Putin must recognize such as he wishes the United States of America the best on our July 4^th.

The combination of nuclear armed Iran and a rising Caliphate in the Levant goes against both of our interests, along with the regions respectable leaders of the Arab Peninsula and Jordan, along with Israel, who have managed a significant increase in the standards of living for their populaces by engaging peacefully and in cooperation with the Modern World. Russia can be certain, that if Iran attempts to procure a nuclear weapon we will interdict, and one way Russia can improve face with the US is to use your influence on Tehran to make sure such a procurement does not happen. The United States of America has made every effort at peace, shown every gesture of willingness to collaborate, invested heavily in the development of the Middle East and the well-being of its populace; but the United States of America will not cower, nor will it surrender upon the ideals and principles fundamental to her greatness. The United States of America will stand with resolve, shoulder to shoulder with the free people of the world, in defense of our liberties and freedoms, ready to take decisive action as necessary to preserve our borders and defend the aspirations of free people everywhere.