The arrest of a fifth person in connection with an FBI investigation into people who are possibly linked to and suspected of cooperating with Al Qaeda has started shoving terrorism’s threat to the U.S. homeland back into the national consciousness in this post-color-code world.
The terrorism color codes that had been so prevalent largely vanished shortly after the elections (many Democrats don’t feel that’s coincidental). But these latest cases seemingly serve as a jarring reminders of original fears shortly after 911 that places Americans once took for granted as safe might not safe anymore since Al Qaeda is believed to have “sleep cells” of operatives who blend into local communities waiting for their orders. A serious threat? Or paranoia? Few believe that in this case it’s mere paranoia.
As The Christian Science Monitor puts it:
The arrest this week of two rural California men, after one acknowledged he attended an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan to “learn to kill Americans,” has revived questions about the hidden presence of potential terrorists on the home front.
To some experts, the arrests in what appears to be a widening investigation in Lodi are a sign that some homeland-security procedures are working as hoped. To others, the news suggests that Al Qaeda still has a dangerous and unknown reach into cities and towns across the US.
And that stands to reason: just because it’s been relatively quiet on the home front doesn’t mean the threat has vanished. If you look at many big terrorists attacks, they didn’t usually come blatantly telegraphed in advance. MORE:
For now, Lodi, a farm town outside Sacramento with a longstanding Muslim community, has become a locus of concern. But beyond the ongoing investigation here in California, the case renews a broader question of how far Al Qaeda’s US reach extends.
“This shows that Al Qaeda is still communicating with, recruiting, training, and sending people … to carry out major operations worldwide, as they have steadily since 9/11,” says Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert at RAND Corp. in Santa Monica, Calif. At the same time, he says, the arrests also highlight the unprecedented coordination of intelligence services around the world to foil possible attacks.
Terror-related arrests have occurred this month in other parts of the country as well. In Florida and New York, two US citizens – Tarik Shah and Rafiq Abdus Sabir – were arrested in an FBI sting, accused of conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization. And in Falls Church, Va., Maher Amin Jaradat was arrested for fraudulently procuring US citizenship, with federal agents alleging he failed to disclose ties to militant groups.
In Lodi, the FBI arrested two US citizens, Hamid Hayat and his father, Umer, on charges of lying to federal agents about involvement and financing of a terror camp in Pakistan.
The Monitor notes that there are concerns about growing American complacency, particularly because it’s believed there may be 100 Al Qaeda operatives in the U.S. On the other hand, the paper points out, the fact that there hasn’t been a big attack since 911 suggests the Al Qaead infrastructure isn’t that big here.
But we’ll add our own “on the other hand…” which is: it could be that Al Qaeda operatives are doing what terrorism experts have long said the terror group does as part of its MO: it may be simply biding its time.
CBS 5 from San Francisco reports:
Local Muslim leaders met Thursday morning at Lodi City Hall, and talked about fears of a backlash after the arrest of two suspected terrorists there.
Meantime, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that people from the Bay Area who have associated with the men were being questioned by the FBI.
Agents say 22-year-old Hamid Hayat attended an Al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, and his 47-year-old father Umer Hayat is accused of financing the trip. The FBI says the younger Hayat first denied any links to Al Qaeda, but then took a lie detector test and admitted spending six months in training.
“He further stated that he had specifically requested to come to the United States to carry out his jihadi mission,” said U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott.
The Hayats are both American citizens. Umer Hayat drove an ice cream truck, and Hamid Hayat had been working at a cherry plant. Some in the Muslim community in Lodi say the men were set up by other Pakistani Americans who were jealous of their expanding business plans.
“We are absolutely certain that they have no ties to Al Qaeda,” said Taj Khan. “We think eventually some sanity will prevail and justice will be done.”
Hayat allegedly mentioned supermarkets and hospitals as potential terror targets, but a cousin says the FBI used intimidation to force a confession.
“It wasn’t a couple of hours of interrogation,” said Usama Ismail. “We’re talking about two days straight.”
Three other men have been detained on immigration violations, including two mosque leaders: Mohammad Adil Khan and Shabbir Ahmed. Khan’s 19-year-old son was also taken into custody.
And it’s important to also note the cautionary words in this AP news story about jumping to conclusions:
A terrorism investigation in this quiet farming town has led to the arrests of a father and son who said he trained at an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan and planned to attack U.S. hospitals and supermarkets, authorities said.
Federal investigators believe a number of people committed to al-Qaida have been operating in and around Lodi, a wine-growing region about 30 miles south of Sacramento, FBI Agent Keith Slotter said Wednesday. He would not elaborate.
Slotter added that investigators did not have information about any specific plans for an attack, and the father and son were charged only with lying to federal agents about the son’s training at the al-Qaida camp. Two local Muslim leaders also have been detained on immigration violations.
So far we have some arrests, some suspicions but no confirmation that there were specific plans for an attack. Officials are operating on the old adage “better to be safe than to be sorry” — a wise one when it comes to terrorism issues.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.