LeT

This is a teaser post for a larger one I am working on about this group.


Wajahidu Fee Sabilallah: Wage a holy war in the name of God Almighty. This is Hafiz Saeed favorite verse from the Koran (Mir, 2008).

Overview:
Laskar –e-Taiba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Party of the Pure (LeT) is a Sunni Muslim group that is waging jihad in central Asia. This group is fighting against India for Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and also to return to Muslim rule all parts of India that once fell under Islamic rule (SATP Staff, 2010). LeT, members have been encountered globally Iraq, Chechnya, Afghanistan, U.S., and other parts of central Asia. The LeT was added to the list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) on December, 26 2001 and has also been banned in Great Britain, is on the U.N. Terrorist lists, and has been banned in Pakistan. LeT is an ally of al-Qaeda, the Taliban and is part of the global jihadist network. The LeT has proved itself as a ruthless and prolific attacker of not only Indian by international targets. During the 2008 Mumbai, Indian attacks the terrorists killed 28 non Indian civilians.

Headquarters and Leadership:
The leadership of the LeT and their main headquarters are well known both to the public and intelligence services world wide. The LeT and its parent organization Jumat-ud-Dawa are led by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. The JUD was founded in 1990 and acts as a humanitarian organization offering social services and religious instruction in Wahabi (Saudi Arabian) Sunni Islam (SATP Staff, 2010). This is the same type of umbrella organization that groups like Hezbollah and Hamas use to ensure a base of recruits and support for their militant arms. The groups current headquarter is near Lahore, Pakistan.
The current leaders of the LeT and JUD is the, afore mentioned Hafiz Mohammad Saeed who acts as the Emir for both groups. Saeed is an Islamic scholar who preaches that war against the unbelievers is the ultimate duty of all Muslims. Zakir-ur- Rehman Lakhvi who serves as the groups chief or military operations, Haji Muhammed Ashraf LeT’s chief of finance, and Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq who is a LeT financer and is credited with being the main financier behind the establishment of the LeT and its activities in the 1980s and 90. Bahaziq is a Saudi national and conducts his activities from there. All of these men have been designated on the U.S. Department of Treasury’s designated terrorist list and have had any assets in the U.S. or it jurisdiction frozen (Treasury Targets LET Leadership, 2008).



Support:
Pakistan’s Inter-Services-Intelligence agency (ISI) is a known supporter of the LeT during its creation and even after the banning of the group by Pakistan. The jihad waged and supported by the ISI serves a strategic purpose in tying down Indian military and security assets that could be facing Pakistan across the line of control that separates the two countries. The ISI also helped create and is still supporting the Taliban now fighting U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. Pakistani control or influence in Afghanistan gives Pakistan the strategic depth it thinks it needs against India (Coll, 2004). After the 2008 Mumbai, India attack Pakistan arrested LeT’s leader Hafiz Saeed but he was released in June of 2009. This shows further that Pakistan has no intention of trying to stop LeT or JUD activities. Funding for the group comes from a variety of sources donations from Pakistani, and Muslim Kashmiries, the Persian Gulf, and it is reported from the ISI as well (SATP Staff, 2010).


Attacks:
This is just a partial list of the attacks carried that the LeT has claimed or has been accused of.

August, 2000 Rajwas, India armed militants (terrorists) killed 30 persons at a community kitchen.
January, 2001 Srinagar Airport, India terrorist killed five civilians another attack killed eight security officers
December, 2001 New Delhi the attacks kill 12, India blames Let and Jaish-e-Mohammed
May, 2002 and Indian army bases is bombed killed 36.
August, 2003 Mumbai, India two bombings killing 40 (Global Security Staff, 2008)
August, 2008 the LeT is suspected in the suicide bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul Afghanistan. The Afghan, Indian, and U.S. Governments also blame the Pakistani government in having a hand in the attack based on intercepted communication between the ISI and the attackers (Mazzetti & Schmitt, 2008). The attack killed 54 people.
November, 2008 Mumbai, India the Indian Government blames the LeT for the well coordinated attacks against a train station, hotels, security officers, and a Jewish center that resulted in over 160 deaths. Pictures of the attackers show welled armed terrorists carrying out coordinated attacks throughout the city. It has been learned that the terrorists were giving nearly real time intelligence from their handlers in Pakistan via cell phone. Hamid Gul the former head of the ISI is suspected as being one of the handlers of the Mumbai attackers (Roggio, 2009). While not a direct link the former head of Pakistan’s main intelligence agency participating in terrorist attacks would at least indicate tacit support from the Pakistani State.

While this review of the LeT is not about Pakistan’s role in terrorism it should be noted that when groups like the LeT or the Taliban are mentioned the ISI is not far behind. Also Pakistan’s refusal to take substantial action against the LeT or JuD following the evidence obtained after and during the 2008 Mumbai attacks would indicate further State of support or at least acceptance of such attacks made against Pakistan’s main enemy, India.


New Articles:
http://www.middleeasttransparent.com/spip.php?article4957&lang=en&id_forum=11759
In this interview with the Emir of the LeT Hafiz Saeed makes his world view and what he thinks the obligations of all Muslims is to fight jihad (jehad) in the name of Allah. However throughout the interview Saeed denies any allegation to ties of terrorism and tries to refute any Pakistani involvement in the Mumbai attacks. Meanwhile he and his organization preach the jihad in the name of Allah is a Muslim’s sacred duty.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8664179.stm
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab the only Mumbai attacker that was captured is sentenced to death in an Indian court. This article also points out that only after a great deal of evidence was accumulated did Pakistan acknowledge that Qasab was a Pakistani citizen that the attacks were in part planned in Pakistan.

http://www.hindu.com/nic/dossier.htm
This is the dossier of evidence showing LeT’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks.


Bibliography
Coll, S. (2004). Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 . New York: Penguin Books.
Global Security Staff. (2008). Lashkar-e-Tayyiba / Lashkar-e-Toiba / Lashkar-i-taiba (LeT). Retrieved May 19, 2010, from Global Security.org: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/lt.htm
Mazzetti, M., & Schmitt, E. (2008, August 1st). Pakistanis Aided Attack in Kabul, U.S. Officials Say . Retrieved May 19, 2010, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/world/asia/01pstan.html?_r=1
Mir, A. (2008, December 6). Interview with Prof Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. Retrieved May 19, 2010, from Middle East Transparen: http://www.middleeasttransparent.com/spip.php?article4957&lang=en&id_forum=11759
Roggio, B. (2009, January 7). Mumbai Attackers Cheer After Ordering Murders Over the Phon. Retrieved May 19, 2010, from The Long War Journal: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/01/mumbai_handlers_in_p.php
SATP Staff. (2010, May). Laskar-e-Toiba: Army of the Pure. Retrieved May 19, 2010, from South Asian Terrorism Portal: http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/jandk/terrorist_outfits/lashkar_e_toiba.htm
Treasury Targets LET Leadership. (2008, May 27). Retrieved May 19, 2010, from US Department of Treasury: http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/hp996.htm

Lone Wolves, single attackers, and sponsored attackers

During the course of the last four months got two very different opinions on these matters. It is my view that our government including the FBI has been reluctant to classify lone wolf attackers such as the Ft. Hood shooter and the Arkansas recruitment center attacker as terrorists. Also our counter-terror experts are saying that Islam has nothing to do with terrorism....Well I had a professor who works for the FBI say that he thinks his department does a good job of identifying terrorism as such even though it might come later than people would like. Secondly another professor agrees that current Islamic terrorism is all about the jihad. This professor is just as frustrated as I am about our government since the 19802 has not recognized the driving force is in fact jihad.

That being said how do we stop the recruitment of young Muslim men and women to the jihad. It is not a military mission even though eventually they will have to be fought. Since we can agree it is a religious issue the next question would be why will Islam not renounce terrorism in its name? Could it be as Daniel Pipes and Robert Spencer and many other continue to say and that is that Islam is fueled and expanded by jihad.

Fuel for thought.

Hezbollah

I have wanted to post this paper for awhile but waited until I was done with school to do so.

Hezbollah: The Party of God

Viewed as both hero and villain, Hezbollah is possibly the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world today. Hezbollah’s worldview is fueled by the perception that the Muslim world is experiencing a period of deep crisis and as a result, members of the organization are encouraged to strike at the forces of evil in the world in order to accelerate the final battle between Muslims and the West (Hezbollah Dossier, 2009).
In 1982-83 Hezbollah literally exploded onto the international scene with attacks on U.S. Marine and French army peacekeepers in Beirut, Lebanon resulting in nearly 300 deaths. This was followed by attacks on the U.S. embassy in Beirut which killed the top six Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives in the Middle East (White, 2006). Hezbollah then began a campaign of kidnapping westerners, primarily Americans. Two of these kidnappings resulted in the torture and murder of the CIA station chief in Beirut, as well as a Marine Colonel working for the United Nations. What made these attacks even more effective is that there was no evidence directly linking Hezbollah to these actions (White, 2006). This ability to deny any culpability protected Hezbollah and its sponsors, Iran and Syria, from retaliation. Hezbollah’s ability to deny any involvement is part of its strength. It is a well known fact that Hezbollah was behind theses attacks but without any ability to draw a straight line to them as the perpetrators the United States was unable to take any significant action against the organization.

U.S. Embassy Lebanon 1983

Hezbollah’s next phase of development is what makes the organization potentially even more dangerous because it can cover its attacks in a cloak of legitimacy. In 1992, Hezbollah entered the world of Lebanese politics as a legitimate political party. The Hezbollah candidates, supported by a massive Iranian-sponsored electoral machine, scored a victory and won eight parliamentary seats. At the same time, Sheikh Nasserallah, the leader of Hezbollah voiced his staunch commitment to the continued armed strategy of Islamic resistance to Israel (Ranstorp, 1995). The political growth of Hezbollah and their continued control of the southern part of Lebanon made the organization a force to be reckoned with in Lebanese politics. Hezbollah’s new legitimacy enabled them to turn their terrorist tactics against Israel into a national resistance movement. Even while working to consolidate Hezbollah’s gains in Lebanon, the international wing had grown in strength and capability. In 1992 and again in 1994, Hezbollah struck Israeli and Jewish targets in Argentina killing 113 people. Imad Mughiyah the supposed leader of Hezbollah international is suspected of being behind these attacks. Even though, as in the past, there is no direct proof of Hezbollah’s involvement (White, 2006).
In 2000, Israel pulled the last of its forces from southern Lebanon, a move that further increased Hezbollah’s standing in the Middle East and Muslims world wide. No Arab army had been able to stand and fight, let alone defeat Israel or any other Western army. Hezbollah was now credited with not only driving the U.S. and France from Lebanon but now the Israelis as well (White, 2006). While Hezbollah was growing its military and political strength it was also reaching out to its Lebanese brothers and sisters. This outreach included the building of schools which served to perpetuate its message to new generations. As well as schools Hezbollah supplies healthcare, builds roads and even water routes not only for its Shiite brothers, but also for a wide array of the Lebanese population (Hezbollah Dossier, 2009). These social programs are services that the Lebanese government had not been able to provide it citizens and serves to further increase Hezbollah’s standing.
The rise and success of Hezbollah would not have been possible without outside support. To this end, Iran as the largest and most powerful Shiite entity in the Middle East is credited with forming, supporting, and to some great degree leading Hezbollah. It was Iran’s desire for more control over Hezbollah that Sheikh Nasserallah was put into the Secretary General position in Hezbollah (Ranstorp, 1995). The support from Iran plus Hezbollah’s popularity along with its armed military might have fixed them to the Middle Eastern landscape. With Hezbollah, Iran has a way to wage jihad directly against Israel the United States.
The years 2000-2006 were spent well by Hezbollah and Iran. During these six years, Iran and Syria increased their assistance and support of Hezbollah. Both countries regard Lebanon as their front line against Israel and Hezbollah as their strategic proxy. Iran, along with Syria has upgraded Hezbollah’s military capabilities, primarily by providing the organization with rockets and constructing an arsenal of between 12,000 to 13,000 surface to surface rockets of various ranges. In addition, Iran also provides Hezbollah financing (more than $100 million annually), training in Iran and Lebanon, supplying state-of-the-art weaponry, and intelligence about Israel (Hezbollah as a strategic arm of Iran, 2006 ).
These weapons and training were put to use in 2006. When in retaliation for a Hezbollah raid that killed and captured several Israeli soldiers, Israel attacked Hezbollah and other Lebanese targets. Not only was Hezbollah able to survive this attack, but were in some areas, were able to stop and force back Israeli advances. During this war Hezbollah was able to keep up a steady bombardment of northern Israeli towns. Once hostilities ended, Hezbollah had not only survived, but also with Iranian assistance, helped rebuild areas of Lebanon destroyed by Israeli attacks. Again Hezbollah proved to the Arab world that the Israeli’s could be fought to a stand still furthering the legitimacy of Hezbollah’s military wing as defenders of Lebanon.

Soldiers leave Lebanon (Photo: AP)


Hezbollah’s rise to prominence in Lebanon and its influence on regional matters is two fold: (1) Hezbollah’s political leverage over the Lebanese government and (2) choices by Hezbollah’s leaders to moderate their objectives to achieve domestic political goals (Wiegard, 2009) . Hezbollah’s message has changed to match the environment it finds itself. The audience will dictate the message Hezbollah’s leadership delivers.
1. Jihadists: The use of militant language and holy war.
2. Nationalists: Avoid jihad analogy and calls on Sunni, Shiites, Christians, and secularists to fight for Lebanon.
3. Pan-Arabic: Point to Israel as a colony of the west and denounce Europe’s imperial past.
4. International: Cite United Nations resolutions and claim Israel violates international law (White, 2006).
The ability of Hezbollah to change it political tactics has resulted in a terrorist organization that has achieved political legitimacy. This makes directly taking on Hezbollah a challenge to Israel and the West, as it is hard to single out a legitimate political party for attack. Directly attacking Hezbollah would only increase this organizations stature as a defender of Lebanon. While the United States views Hezbollah as a terrorist group, Lebanese Shiites, some European countries and much of the Arab/Muslim world do not (Hezbollah Dossier, 2009). It must be said that Hezbollah’s support of Palestinian terrorist groups is a major reason why Hezbollah officially remains a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. Department of State and several U.S. allies including Israel, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom (Wiegard, 2009) .
The growth and maturation of Hezbollah since its inception in the 1980s have brought the organization political clout and conventional military capability. This however does not diminish Hezbollah International ability to strike international targets. Hezbollah has cells operating all over the world, especially in the United States (Hezbollah Dossier, 2009). There has also been documented Hezbollah cell activity in the Isla de Margarita and the town of Ciudad del Este in the tri-border area of Paraguay (Kinsell, 2001). There has also been an Iraq arm of Hezbollah formed that has gone into combat against U.S. and coalition forces.
The question now that Hezbollah has become a major Middle Eastern force is what threat does the group pose to the United States? Hezbollah has been active with Iran in attempting to disrupt U.S. measures to bring peace and security to Iraq (Hezbollah Dossier, 2009). With both Iranian Qods force and Lebanese Hezbollah members captured in Iraq, Iran is waging yet another proxy war against its sworn enemy the United States. U.S. Air Force Colonel David Bacon stated on May 5, 2008 that coalition forces are holding detainees who indicated that Hezbollah, is training Iraqi exremists at Iranian Qods force training camps outside of Tehran, Iran. These cases first appeared in early 2007, after the capture of Ali Mussa Daqduq a Lebanese Hezbollah commander in Iraq. While Iraqi Shiite may look upon Iran as an enemy of Iraq, they view Iran as an ally against the U.S. (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs U.S. Department of State, 2008).
While Hezbollah maintains cells in the United States, using these cells would be a cause for retaliation directly against Hezbollah and perhaps even Iran or Syria. With its usual pragmatism this may be the reason no U.S. mainland targets have been attacked by Hezbollah. This could change if the U.S. continues to expand the war on terror by specifically targeting Hezhollah, or its sponsors Syria or Iran, then the threat level would rise immensely (Hezbollah Dossier, 2009). Hezbollah does not have to carry out any attack on the U.S. or the West directly or alone. Director Imad Mugniyah (On February 13, 2008, Mugniyah was killed in a car bombing in Damascus) of Hezbollah International is believed to have interactions with jihad groups and narcotics traffickers worldwide. This network blends Hezhollah and al-Qaeda. The existence of the international aspect of Hezbollah, accoriding to research, proves that the organization is part of an internal jihadist struggle that uses crime and state support to wage a campaign of terrorism (White, 2006). This blending of jihadist groups Shiite and Sunnis with the same agenda is a hard target for intelligence agencies and law enforement to track and interdict due to the fluid and sometimes short lived nature of such alliances.
Before Hezbollah is given the international legitimacy that it craves and is close to receiving. It should be remembered that Hezbollah, before 9/11 had killed more U.S. citizens than any other terrorist organization. It should be noted however that apart from Iraq Hezbollah has not launched any attacks against the U.S. partially to avoid the war on terror and partially to keep its forces intact to use against Israel. Daniel Byman, a professor in security studies at Georgetown University, says there is no question about the terrorist ageenda of Hezbollah. It might have credibility in the Islamic world, but its record of blooshed and hostility speaks for itself. It is not a question of whether the Unites States should stop Hezbollah, Byman writes but how (White, 2006).
While Hezbollah’s intentions maybe hidden by its charities and some political legitimacy. It should be remembered that Hezbollah was founded on the idea of jihad. This jihad has included terrorist attacks targeting American and European military and civilian targets in Lebanon during the 1980s, suicide and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and is suspected in the hijacking of TWA flight 847 in 1985 (Wiegard, 2009) . With Hezbollah being supported and guided by Iran with its constant rhetoric of “Death to America” and calls for the destruction of the “Jewish Entitiy” there is no question that Hezbollah has been and always will remain a terrorist oganization. It is only be a matter of time before the world has to confront them.

Bibliography
Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs U.S. Department of State. Iraq Weekly Status Report. Status Report. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 2008.
"Hezbollah as a strategic arm of Iran ." 8 September 2006. Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies. 17 August 2009 .
"Hezbollah Dossier." Center for Policing Terrorism. 16 August 2009 .
Kinsell, Jeremy. "Hezbollah Cells in Paraguay Upset the Neighbors." 21 August 2001. Jane's Terrorism & Security Monitor. 16 August 2009 .
Ranstorp, Magnus Dr. "MIDDLE EAST, HEZBOLLAH'S FUTURE? - PART 2 ." 1 February 1995. Janes's Intelligence Review. 16 August 2009 .
White, Jonathan R. Terrorism and Homeland Security. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009,2006.
Wiegard, Krista E. "Reformation of a Terrorist Group: Hezbollah as a Lebanese Political Party." Studies in Conflict and Terrorism (2009): 669-680.

One more assignment and I am free

Four year degree in 2.5 years not bad for an old man.

Hope

Read today that some of the richest mineral deposits in the world have been found in Afghanistan. What a boon for the people there problem is as corrupt as the government is they will probably squander it. I do know that the war will intensify to gain control of the resources. I do hope the best for the Afghan people and maybe inshallah they will benefit from this find. Maybe now Karzi will let his military and NATO push the Taliban back into Pakistan and give his government some breathing room instead of the ticky tack stuff we have been doing. For those who think COIN operations are just hand holding they are wrong. So far we have not done one of the most important phases that is give the government breathing space. This is done by killing the terrorists that cannot be bought. However it will also depend on the Afghan government, military, and police to stop or at least minimize the corruption to levels that do not directly harm the population.

This was very cool

Over the last few days of school I have received some very nice compliments from fellow students about how interesting, insightful, and educational my discussion board postings have been. That is always very good to hear from peers. When this semester is over and I am done with my degree course work I will be posting some of my better stuff.

Be Safe Brother

My brother is now in the Stan. Be safe, get you and your gang back home. See you in a few months. Oh by the way blow the hell out of some bad guys for me.