Washington Post: “U.S. Resident Held Without Bail in Terrorism Case”

Hi Gang:

I have attached two news reports that appear in today’s editions of the Washington Post and the New York Times and deal with the ongoing prosecution and investigation of three terrorism suspects and the efforts to identify additional coconspirators.

What is important to make note of in both of these stories are the statements concerning how Al Qaeda has sought to recruit resident aliens and citizens of the countries in which they launch attacks. The Washington Times article, in fact, makes note of the fact that the terrorist ringleaders and major players who participated in the deadly bombings of trains in England all had resident status. Here is the relevant quote:

“The transit bombings involved people with backpack bombs, and all plots had ringleaders or other key participants with legal residency in the United Kingdom and who had traveled to Pakistan.”

The Washington Post report also makes the following points:

“A U.S. counterterrorism official said, “We’re obviously concerned about Westerners — and those with Western appearance — training with terrorists along the Afghan-Pakistan border,” although the number of Europeans and Americans believed to have traveled there to do so “isn’t thought to be high.”

In an August 2008 speech, Ted Gistaro, the outgoing U.S. national intelligence officer for transnational threats, singled out al-Qaeda’s training of operatives with North American or European residency documents, including passports, who could travel to the United States without a visa.

“Al-Qaeda is working to motivate more ‘homegrown’ extremists — radicals who are inspired, but not directed, by the group — to plan attacks inside the United States,” Gistaro told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a nonprofit foreign policy think tank.”

Here is a quote from the New York Times article that you should also consider:

“The charges stem from a long-running terrorism investigation that focused in some measure on Mr. Zazi, a Denver airport shuttle bus driver. Counterterrorism officials have said they were deeply concerned because of Mr. Zazi’s explosives training and because his legal resident status and eight years in the United States enabled him to operate while attracting little attention.”

I am calling these portions of the news articles to your attention to bolster a position I have long held and have, in fact, testified about when I have testified before Congressional hearings; when aliens are provided with resident alien status and especially United States citizenship, our nation is providing these people with the veritable “Keys to the kingdom.” That is why this process must have integrity. However, as I have noted in many of my commentaries, there is virtually no integrity to the process by which those applications for residency and United States citizenship are processed.

Furthermore, this is the number one reason that I am adamantly opposed to a massive program to provide millions of illegal aliens with residency and a pathway to United States citizenship under the auspices of a “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” program. This is also why I have stated at hearings that if our government ultimately enacts such fatally flawed legislation that Al Qaeda should giver those responsible for the legislation and its passage with the MVP award!

Finally I also want you to understand that the Visa Waiver Program should have ended on September 12, 2001. Yet instead of terminating this program that represents a serious threat to national security, our government has expanded this program to include the citizens of 35 countries even as our expectations of freedom and privacy are slowly eroding in the name of “national security!”

I have noted in many of my previous commentaries that there were many members of Congress who, in the days and weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, demanded to know why no one had connected the dots and protected our country to prevent the massive loss of life on that horrific day more than 8 years ago.

This commentary is yet another one that does, indeed, connect the dots!

Additionally I have attached a three page document that was prepared by Representative F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., who was at the time he issued his press release, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and reported on a GAO report that was prepared in 2006 at his behest and that of then Chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee, John Hostetler. The findings made it abundantly clear that immigration fraud has serious implications for national security and our nation’s so-called, “War on Terror.”

The concepts noted by the news reports and by my commentary and Mr. Sensenbrenner’s are not difficult to grasp for anyone who is truly concerned about national security and the lives of our citizens.

Any politician who could push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform given these facts is either a fool or disloyal to this nation and its citizens.

The only question that We the People need to ask our elected representatives who support Comprehensive Immigration Reform is, “Are you a fool or disloyal or both?”

Comprehensive Immigration Reform flies in the face of the oaths of office these officials took when they were sworn in!

In less than two years each and every member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection. In less than two years more than one third of the members of the United States Senate will have to face their constituents. They need to be reminded that they work for us, We the People!

However, the practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.
The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!
The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians.
I implore you to get involved!
If this situation concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation! You need to politely but pointedly, demand to know what they are doing to protect our nation. You need to ask them how they are protecting you and your families. You can also forward this commentary to them.
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!

-michael cutler-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/21/AR2009092103502.html?hpid=sec-nation

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