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Jewish World Review June 19, 2000 / 29 Sivan, 5761
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http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
ISLAMIST terrorism has afflicted nearly every Western country and is likely
to get worse. One reason is the radicals' aggressiveness; another is the
feeble Western response. I personally experienced both of these problems just
this past week.
This story began in early 1998, when John Miller of ABC News sought an
interview with Usama bin Ladin in Afghanistan. Needing an intermediary, his
producers found Tarik Hamdi of Herndon, Virginia, a self-described journalist
who helped make contacts and then accompanied the ABC news team to
Afghanistan.
Hamdi, it turned out, had his own purposes for traveling there; he was to
bring Bin Ladin a replacement battery for Bin Ladin's vital link with the
outside world, his satellite telephone. From the remoteness of Afghanistan,
Bin Ladin could not simply order a battery himself and have it overnighted to
him. He needed someone unsuspected to bring it. So, one of Bin Ladin's top
aides ordered a replacement battery on May 11, 1998, and arranged for it to
be shipped to Hamdi at his home in Herndon. Hamdi took off for Afghanistan
with Miller on May 17 and shortly afterwards personally delivered the
battery.
Just over two months later, two bombs went off nearly simultaneously at the
U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 and wounding thousands.
When the U.S. government brought four of the embassy bombers to trial in New
York City this year, it focused on the phone powered by the battery from
Herndon; Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Karas called it "the phone that bin
Laden and the others will use to carry out their war against the United
States."
The trial also established Hamdi's centrality to Bin Ladin. Magnus Ranstorp,
a terrorism specialist at St. Andrews University, described him as seeming
"to serve important functions" for him.
After five months, a jury found all four bombers guilty of all 302 charges
against them, validating the prosecutor's interpretation of Hamdi's role.
WHICH IS where I come in.
Explaining this guilty verdict in the Wall Street Journal on May 31, I
co-authored an article with Steven Emerson arguing in favor of this outcome
but pointing out that it did little to protect American lives; defeating
Usama bin Ladin and his murderous gang will require the U.S. government to
deploy armed forces, not policemen and lawyers.
The article then focused on the huge body of evidence made public in the
trial proceedings, noting that Bin Ladin had "set up a tightly organized
system of cells" in six American cities, including the small town of Herndon,
Virginia - an allusion to Tarik Hamdi.
Picking up on this reference, Jeannie Baumann, a reporter at The Herndon
Observer, contacted us to learn more. Mr. Emerson explained to her Hamdi's
role and several times referred her to the complete court transcripts (at
http://cryptome.org/usa-v-ubl-dt.htm). But Ms Baumann spurned his offers,
replying that her newspaper is "not equipped to handle such information."
Instead of doing research, Baumann turned to Herndon's police chief,
Toussaint E. Summers Jr., for an opinion. He in turn called the F.B.I.,
which told him nothing. From this lack of information, Summers blithely
concluded that "there appears to be no truth "at all" to a Bin Ladin-Herndon
connection.
Baumann then cited this opinion to the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR), for a statement. Ibrahim Hooper, the spokesman for this Islamist
organization (and sometime Bin Ladin apologist), pounced on the police
chief's statement and declared our Wall Street Journal article inaccurate and
prejudicial against Muslims. "It's like the assumption is that Muslims are
genetically predisposed to violence and the peaceful Muslims are the
exception."
Baumann's article, published on June 15, then carried the title "Police,
Muslims Refute Herndon Link to Terrorism."
This episode clearly demonstrates three problematic Western responses to
Islamist violence: Law enforcement officials resist the fact that this
scourge exists in their jurisdictions. Reporters fail to do the spadework
needed to dig out stories in their own backyards. And the most prominent
Islamic organizations shamelessly talk away Islamist terrorism and smear
anyone who points out the realities of this hideous phenomenon.
If Usama bin Ladin and his band of killers are to be stopped, it will take
more vigilance from law enforcement officers like Police Chief Summers,
better journalism from reporters like Ms Baumann, and the rise of moderate
Muslims who will take the microphone out of the hands of extremists like Mr.
By Daniel Pipes
JWR contributor Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and the author of several books, most recently Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes from. Let him know what you think by clicking here.
