Right-Wing vs. Islamic Terrorists
Justin Rood who writes about (I previously incorrectly noted that he worked at DHS, my bad)s at the Department of Homeland Security writes that right-wing terror groups, such as white supremacists, have been omitted from the DHS terrorist list.
An interesting decision by the DHS given that prior to 9/11, the largest death toll due to a terrorist act in the U.S. was the result of a domestic, right-wing terrorist act.
Interesting, too, given that CNN reports that white supremacist August Kreis is "reaching out" to Al Qaeda to form an alliance.
In that same CNN story, Mark Potok, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, says that while some U.S. extremists applauded the September 11 attacks, there is no indication that such an alliance exists. Potok goes on to say that "The notion of radical Islamists from abroad actually getting together with American neo-Nazis I think is an absolutely frightening one. It's just that so far we really have no evidence at all to suggest this is any kind of real collaboration."
However, doing some digging for connections between white supremacists and Islamic terrorist groups, there is one name that comes up often, and that is Ahmed Huber. Huber a Swiss-German convert to Islam, was, early in his life, a devotee of Adolf Hitler. Later, he moved on to praising former Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, who led that nation's Islamic revolution. It's hard to write-off Huber as merely a crackpot. A Swiss businessman who once served on the board of directors of a Swiss bank and holding company that President Bush accused of funding Al Qaeda, so clearly has a level of respectability (the board seat) coupled with some dangerous philanthropic interests (the Al Qaeda connection). And, he's reportedly committed to forging an alliance between Islamic radicals and neo-Nazis in Europe and the United States, and according to one account, Huber
recently helped organize a march of 4,000 neo-Nazis through a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Berlin.
So, while the continues to say there's "no evidence" of a connection between these two types of terrorist groups they certainly bear watching. Of course, the internet makes alliances between groups in different countries as simply as sending an email. Too bad the Department of Homeland Security doesn't think these groups merit a place on their watch list.
An interesting decision by the DHS given that prior to 9/11, the largest death toll due to a terrorist act in the U.S. was the result of a domestic, right-wing terrorist act.
Interesting, too, given that CNN reports that white supremacist August Kreis is "reaching out" to Al Qaeda to form an alliance.
In that same CNN story, Mark Potok, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, says that while some U.S. extremists applauded the September 11 attacks, there is no indication that such an alliance exists. Potok goes on to say that "The notion of radical Islamists from abroad actually getting together with American neo-Nazis I think is an absolutely frightening one. It's just that so far we really have no evidence at all to suggest this is any kind of real collaboration."
However, doing some digging for connections between white supremacists and Islamic terrorist groups, there is one name that comes up often, and that is Ahmed Huber. Huber a Swiss-German convert to Islam, was, early in his life, a devotee of Adolf Hitler. Later, he moved on to praising former Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, who led that nation's Islamic revolution. It's hard to write-off Huber as merely a crackpot. A Swiss businessman who once served on the board of directors of a Swiss bank and holding company that President Bush accused of funding Al Qaeda, so clearly has a level of respectability (the board seat) coupled with some dangerous philanthropic interests (the Al Qaeda connection). And, he's reportedly committed to forging an alliance between Islamic radicals and neo-Nazis in Europe and the United States, and according to one account, Huber
recently helped organize a march of 4,000 neo-Nazis through a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Berlin.
So, while the continues to say there's "no evidence" of a connection between these two types of terrorist groups they certainly bear watching. Of course, the internet makes alliances between groups in different countries as simply as sending an email. Too bad the Department of Homeland Security doesn't think these groups merit a place on their watch list.
posted by Jessie Daniels at
2:24 PM
