Investor's Business Daily, May 31st, 2007
Homeland Security: Imagine al-Qaida joining with the nation's most violent gangs. The nightmare scenario isn't far-fetched, and authorities in one city in particular are losing sleep over it.
At a recent UCLA forum on terrorism, Los Angeles officials said the city's estimated 40,000 gang members are an attractive target for terrorists like al-Qaida. "There are many, many more people who consider themselves jihadists now," said L.A. Police Deputy Chief Mark Leap. "And criminal enterprises are being used to support terrorist activities."
L.A. County Sheriff's Lt. John Sullivan said officials are worried al-Qaida could tap into smuggling networks that move migrants and contraband across Mexico's porous border and into the U.S.
Chief among them is the notorious MS-13 gang, which has infiltrated L.A. and other U.S. cities from Central America.
"MS-13 has a lot of characteristics that could facilitate terrorist activities," Sullivan said, noting that al-Qaida has stated its intent to smuggle black-market nuclear devices into the U.S. and kill at least 4 million Americans.
Los Angeles remains a prime al-Qaida target, officials at the forum warned.
Al-Qaida leader Adnan El Shukrijumah was recently spotted in Central America, sparking rumors he's recruiting Hispanic gang members. The FBI has put out a $5 million bounty on El Shukrijumah, whom it suspects Osama bin Laden has lined up as "the next Mohamed Atta."
Muslim chaplains are actively recruiting imprisoned members of MS-13 and other gangs, such as the Crips and Bloods. Prisons have already proved to be fertile ground for al-Qaida, spawning the likes of alleged dirty bomber Jose Padilla and shoe bomber Richard Reid.
Since 9/11, the FBI has disrupted several homegrown terror plots involving Muslim converts who have been in and out of jail, including:
A group of black Muslim converts in Miami who allegedly conspired to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago.
A Chicago black Muslim, Derrick Shareef, who allegedly plotted to blow up a local shopping mall.
Black Muslims in Torrance, Calif., who allegedly planned to attack military recruiting stations and synagogues in the state. The plot was hatched in prison with a Pakistani inmate.
Over the past year, Al-Qaida's leaders in Pakistan have intensified efforts to court American minorities and recruit them as either facilitators or suicide attackers. The FBI suspects the terror group is trying to lower its Arab profile to avoid security scrutiny.
Al-Qaida's pitch is designed to appeal to minorities who may feel disenfranchised or alienated from American culture.
"I want blacks in America, people of color, American Indians, Hispanics, and all the weak and oppressed in North and South America, to know that when we wage jihad in Allah's path, we aren't waging jihad to lift oppression from the Muslims only," said bin Laden deputy Ayman Zawahri earlier this month in a videotaped speech. "We are waging jihad to lift oppression from all of mankind, because Allah has ordered us never to accept oppression."
Authorities fear such messages may resonate with ex-cons, particularly gangbangers, who already hold a grudge against American institutions.
Which is all the more reason to cut off the channels of such propaganda and permanently shut down al-Qaida's media machine. There's also a wartime imperative to get control of the borders so that L.A. and other cities plagued by gangs can devote more resources to head off future terror attacks.
The least thing we need is an "axis of evil" within our own borders that finds al-Qaida hooking up with immigrant street gangs.
