Abstract:
The director of the FBI, James Comey, has stated that ISIS now has a presence in all 50 of the United States:
This presence varies in its form from state to state. It exists in the form of smaller cells attached to mosques run by radicalized imams, paramilitary groups operating out of compounds throughout the US, reinforced by veterans and command figures from ISIS’ Syria theater and bolstered by recruits from American minority communities. If all the reports outlined here are in fact found to be true, ISIS has managed to amass a terrifyingly impressive network across the United States that would be capable of wreaking heavy damage in the event of a large-scale terror incident.
I. Training Camps
One of the ways ISIS has established a military presence in the US is by directly franchising out training camps that build operations centers/cells in various parts of the country. Some of these camps are public knowledge although the media has tried to hide them from the public.
At least one established network of paramilitary training camps has been public knowledge since at least the 1980’s. The
Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or “Muslims of America” network has run a network of camps
estimated in a report from Sean Hannity to be spread across 35 different locations. The report (linked here) showed a number of Islamic jihadist style military training videos filmed at these sites in the United States. News site WND has placed the number of camps at least 22:
Here is a map showing the location of most of the compounds run by Jamaat ul-Fuqra:
The Clarion Project ran a report citing FBI documents which state that in 2014 the FBI investigated the organization “…based upon specific and articulate facts giving justification to believe they are engaged in international terrorism or activities in preparation thereof…” This was due in part to an “accidental” deadly shooting that occurred in one of their compounds, Mahmoudberg, in Texas:
Mahmoudberg was one of several compounds located on property Jamaat ul-Fuqra had purchased in the area:
Jamaat ul-Fuqra was based in Pakistan and its leader, Mubarak Ali Gilani was directly involved in the kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped while going to interview Gilani in Iraq. He was questioned but never arrested for the role he played:
You will recall of course, that the group who carried out the murder of Pearl was Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which was the forerunner of ISIS. This indicates that ISIS has had established connections to this network in particular since at least 2002.
Hannity’s report and the piece by WND both mention the fact that Jamaat ul-Fuqra has produced a video titled “Soldiers of Allah” where Gilani states:
We are fighting to destroy the enemy. We are dealing with evil at its roots and its roots are America.
Despite all of this troubling information, the Department of State does not list Jamaat ul-Fuqra as a terrorist organization. Here is a list of videos both showing footage these Islamic jihadist paramilitary groups have filmed or reports referencing them:
It appears that there may be a correlation between the states where camps run by Jamaat ul-Fuqra are located and recent terror attacks which have linked to ISIS.
For example, one of the largest compounds is located in Islamberg, New York. Many of the training and propaganda films made by Jamaat ul-Fuqra are produced at this location. It is interesting that this particular location is so significant to the group when one considers terror activity in the New York/New Jersey area, such as the recent pressure cooker bombings:
The authorities attempted to claim that the individual arrested, Ahmad Khan Rahami, acted alone and there was no cell. But that contradicts other prior reports complete with footage showing multiple other individuals who were active in the terror operation:
The “lone wolf” narrative pushed by the mainstream media is a lie in almost every single case. Wherever there is a “lone wolf” there is a bigger wolf pack nearby providing logistical and operational support. We’ve all seen the damage that individual attackers have caused in various terror incidents and how much chaos an entire squad of ISIS operatives such as those who perpetuated the 2015 Paris attacks can cause. Imagine what will happen when all of them decide to attack at once? The death toll in each location might potentially be in the hundreds, if not thousands.
It is also interesting to note that these pressure cooker attacks happened at the tail end of a spree of “gas leak” explosions in New York. The most recent one occurred in September and was first blamed on a Marijuana growing operation, then a meth lab showing apparent law enforcement confusion as to what and who had actually caused the blast. Others mention that residents didn’t actually smell gas leaking before the explosion. The shifting stories and common stated causes of the explosions are very interesting. When done intentionally, this is known as a “supplement narrative” or a cover story that the public is more likely to accept than what really happened. Here are a number of local news reports on the incidents:
In addition to Jamat ul-Fuqra, other Islamic groups in the United States are Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Masjid at-Taqwa (led by Siraj Wahhaj) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). I have not yet researched these other groups, am not alleging that they are paramilitary in nature and merely list them for referential purposes.
II. Using mosques as centers for radicalization
In addition to training camps, domestic ISIS terrorists seem to have been groomed to some extent at local mosques by extremist imams. It is of course not logistically tenable to have paramilitary wings located in every single US state. In such cases, smaller cells coordinated by handlers preaching extremist Wahabbist or Salafist Islam are a much more secure and low profile option.
Mosques in Europe have been proved to be at risk of being coopted by jihadi groups for use as operations centers. In the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks, French authorities raided a number of mosques and made more than 200 arrests, confiscating 334 weapons of which 34 were described as “war grade.” The raids led to the closure of over 100 mosques in France:
American security officials have also highlighted that many mosques in the United States are involved to some extent with extremism. Breitbart cited a former FBI counter-terrorism special agent as opining that as many as 75% of American mosques were used by jihadist networks:
The imams and mosques of specific “lone wolf” attackers in the U.S. have been suspected of having varying levels of involvement in their radicalization process. The Los Angeles cleric Roshan Zamir Abbassi who ministered to the San Bernardino terror attackers was questioned after it emerged he had exchanged a flurry of texts with attacker Syed Rizwan Farook and was allegedly lying about the fact that he knew his wife:
In a revelation suggesting evidence that mosques can and do play host to more than one radicalized attacker, it was revealed that Pulse nightclub attacker Omar Mateen and American suicide bomber Moner Abu Salha both were enrolled in the radical cleric Marcus Dwayne Robertson’s Timbuktu Seminary.
In the aftermath of the Pulse shooting, the imam of The Husseini Islamic Center was caught on camera calling for death to gays:
The imam of the Boston Marathon bombers, Abdullah Faaruuq, denied radicalizing them despite videos emerging of him making fiery sermons alluding to committing acts of violence. New also surfaced that he was on the radar of groups monitoring preachers of extremism before the attacks occurred:
More moderate imams also spoke to the press talking about how extremist clerics had taken over many Boston mosques in recent years:
It has also been revealed in a report by The Gateway Pundit that yesterday’s airport shooter, Esteban Santiago lived within walking distance of the only mosque in Alaska. As more information emerges about the cleric running this facility, will we find out that he too has a history of preaching extreme Islamic ideology?
III. Smuggling Syria veterans and command figures into the US
A. ISIS operatives’ presence and activity are now being routinely reported at the southern US border
While developing domestic paramilitary capabilities, ISIS and groups collaborating with them are attempting to move military assets including combat veterans and command figures from the Syrian/Iraqi theaters into the West. These redeployments are likely rapidly increasing as regional and international coalitions have been closing in on their Middle East territories. ISIS movements into Europe among the refugee population are already fairly well documented. Not so well known are a growing number of reports that ISIS members are locating into the Western Hemisphere and infiltrating the United States.
In 2015, Judicial Watch ran a series of reports based on testimony from various Mexican military sources stating that ISIS was running a small camp just a few miles from the border of Texas near El Paso:
The watchdog further claimed that ISIS was paying multiple cartel organizations to smuggle members across the US border using rural smuggling routes and regional airports to avoid the U.S. Border Control:
They supported their sources with a leaked document from the Texas Department of Public Safety stating that several known members of Islamic terror organizations have been apprehended attempting to enter the U.S. in recent years:
Additionally cited was a 2004 document from the Department of State, which stated that multiple known Arab extremists were using Mexico to enter the United States, including a top Al Qaeda operative, Adnan G. El Shurkrjumah who was wanted by the FBI:
These reports follow a 2014 project conducted by Judicial Watch documenting the existence of an operation stretching from the southern border to Chicago being run by cartel and ISIS members to move drugs, weapons and individuals from Mexico into the US. This is especially interesting considering the fact that the recent Ft. Lauderdale attacker was Hispanic:
This year, Judicial Watch reported they had been tipped off by a Homeland Security official that cartel groups were helping multiple ISIS members, including leadership figure Shaykh Mahmood Omar Khabir, enter the United States to conduct surveillance for an attack on American soil:
In April 2016 Khabir bragged to Italian newspaper
Il Giornale that it would be easy for him to “get in with a handful of men, and kill thousands of people in Texas or in Arizona in the space of a few hours.”
Judicial Watch quoted Mexican officials who were incredulous that the Obama administration was not taking these threats more seriously.
Judicial Watch’s reports were
denied by Texas DPS Director Robert Bodisch. However, the language Mr. Bodisch indicates that his denial is in fact untrue, though it does not legally qualify as perjury. When confronted about the two reports that Judicial Watch had obtained from Texas DPS contradicting his statement, he merely asserted that neither he nor intelligence officials could “confirm” the reports and he did not accuse Judicial Watch of misquoting their other sources. Notice the language here: to explicitly deny the authenticity of the documents would be to make an untruthful statement, hence Bodisch’s decision to merely state that he could neither confirm nor deny their authenticity. The two reports outlined plans by ISIS operatives to attack Fort Bliss, Texas, and that four of their members had been detained in Texas.
Politifact made a similarly disingenuous attempt to discredit Judicial Watch’s reports. The report also cited Texas DPS officials who merely said they could neither “confirm nor deny” the documents and sources cited by Judicial Watch. In fact, officials with El Paso’s Sherriff’s Department expressed shock the Judicial Watch’s findings, before their superiors told Politico they similarly “couldn’t provide relevant information” about the report. Again, notice that no authorities have outright denied Judicial Watch’s findings as to do so would be to commit perjury, especially if the official in fact had knowledge suggesting that the reports and information was in fact true. Finally, Politico cited a Border Patrol official who merely cast doubt on Judicial Watch’s reports before it emerged that he had left the Border Patrol in contentious circumstances. None of this refutes the findings and reports of Judicial Watch.
B. How ISIS can cross from West Africa to the Western Hemisphere
It is, in theory, actually incredibly easy for ISIS operatives and commanders to leave the theater of war in Syria and move into the Western Hemisphere, potentially linking up with paramilitary forces located in some of the camps mentioned above. South American and Mexican drug cartels have been increasingly running drugs into West Africa using entire fleets of decrepit and unregistered cargo planes:
In order to move the drugs from West Africa to their ultimate markets in Europe, narco groups have been working to smuggle them in cooperation with multiple Islamic terror groups. These terror groups benefit financially from the arrangement. Below are reports from the United Nations and Financial Action Task Force explaining these business arrangements in addition to an article from The Telegraph outlining the arrangement:
ISIS has known franchises in West Africa, most notably the Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram. It would logistically possible to move assets from Syria into West Africa via their franchises in Libya and jump the Atlantic into the Western Hemisphere:
ISIS’ estimated monthly income of $80-120 million USD (and that number relies only on what is public knowledge) also shows that it is financially possible for them to pay their way through Western smuggling networks. All that would be needed is the willingness to outbid competing state agencies reaching out to cartels in the hope that they will keep extremists out of the United States and the adjacent countries:
As a final note, once ISIS members have entered the United States, it is quite easy for them to take up positions and embed themselves within Sanctuary Cities, where lax immigration laws give them a veritable free pass to move around without fear of harassment from or detection by local law enforcement.
IV. Radicalizing black American youth
There are also indications that recruitment and radicalization is occurring in various black American communities in recent years. ISIS has publicly stated its desire to recruit African Americans and exploit unrest caused by police violence incidents to increase sympathy for it’s cause in the black community:
In some of their recruitment media, ISIS has actually used Black Lives Matter talking points in an attempt to convince Americans to join the organization:
Recently I came across a nine month long program Black Lives Matter has been running labeled as the “Youth Empowerment Strategy program at Dubai.” The stated purpose of the program is to “to empower our youth with the knowledge, skills and confidence to conduct themselves with poise and professionalism”.
Here is BLM’s main web page with the program visible in their event calendar:
Here is the website for the program in Dubai
Given that it is common knowledge Saudi and UAE state groups use educational programs as a way to radicalize youth and infect them with the Wahabbist ideology that breeds terrorism, what exactly is this program BLM is partnering with? Does it involve religious teaching? More research and demands for clarification from Black Lives Matter is needed to clarify that American youth are not intentionally being exposed to state agents who are radicalizing them.
It is worth remembering that George Soros funds Black Lives Matters:
The man who broke the Bank of England makes his money and gains control through sewing economic and political chaos. In fact, documents released by DC Leaks have proved he has used Black Lives Matter protests to further his agendas in the past. This current “educational” program and recent shifts towards extremist behavior should be alarming to many given what is known about the way he uses the organization:
V. The United States government is either negligently ignoring these facts or factions within it are attempting to prevent action from being taken to deal with ISIS
From what information is publicly available, ISIS or groups affiliated with them are creating and training paramilitary groups around the country, infiltrating American mosques to turn them into centers for radicalization and staging points for “lone wolf” style attacks and attempting to engage in recruitment and radicalization campaigns among American minority groups. It beggars belief that the United States government is not aware of these developments. In fact, Director Comey’s statement about ISIS’ presence in all 50 states implies that intelligence agencies do in fact know of this threat.
The State Department, who Wikileaks have revealed to have illegally helped Hillary Clinton delay the process of turning email records over to Congress, has tried to deny that ISIS operatives are present on the US southern border.
Their claims that Judicial Watch’s reports are “unfounded” are in direct contradiction to their reports from over 10 years ago which describe Al Qaeda terrorists operating in and around Mexico in attempts to gain entry to the United States just as ISIS allegedly seeks to do now. And again, they do not explicitly deny the authenticity of the documents produced by Judicial Watch because this would legally land them in very hot water.
Other reports of government failure to tackle this apparent extremism exist as well. In 2016, the Daily Mail reported that the FBI had failed to inform American citizens that their names were present on a “kill list” of 15,000 potential targets complied by ISIS:
There are two conclusions to draw from incidents such as this. Either the US government and current administration is so hopelessly incompetent that they are unable to detect domestic and foreign threats which are discoverable by investigative journalists and whistleblower organizations. Or, there are factions within the United States government who are seeking to prevent competent, well-intentioned members of the intelligence community, law enforcement, and legislative/regulatory branches from taking action against ISIS operatives and extremist recruits who are active both on the American border as well as in the United States.
The fact that certain agencies and news groups have engaged in legalistic denials of reports about the growing ISIS threat to the United States certainly indicate that the latter might sadly be the case.
One final note
I am taking this opportunity to go public with my identity and formally introduce myself to all of you here at t_d.
My name is William Craddick, I am a 25 year old law school graduate.
I have started a Twitter which you can follow if you'd like here:
I have also worked with a number of collaborators to launch our own webpage, Disobedient Media. We hope to use it as a place to post research projects as well as archive things we have worked on in the past. Currently the site is a fairly bare state so bear with us while we try to convert it over from Wordpress to something proper over time:
This article has been uploaded as our first piece and can be found
HERE