Allahu Akbar, the Ghost Dance and Magic Bullets - Part III

This week, I've dedicated some time in talking about the Islamist terrorists' use of "Allahu Akbar" (God is great!) as their rallying call, their "Ghost Dance". That which is supposed to give them their cause and protect them from harm. We've also talked about the perception that they are some how "invincible" or "mystical", undefinable and possibly unconquerable by the general populace.

We use the word "terrorist"and "militant" and "resistance" and "insurgent" as interchangable and so general that we cannot truly identify them. They are an unknown entity. We cannot quantify them.

We think.

In not understanding, not being able to fully identify them, they have taken on this mystical persona in some people's minds. Like the bogeyman. Something we may never be able to defeat. Their tactics are beyond any we have seen in our time: flying planes into buildings, suicide bombings, car bombs, beheadings, blowing up innocent civilians, mutilation of bodies including burning and cutting off body parts. Sometimes carrying them around.

And we recoil in horror. Your first instinct is to draw back. Cut yourself off from these images. Don't look. Because it is beyond our understanding. Most of us will never come in contact with a dead body, much less carry the parts around while screaming "Allahu Akbar" or some other senseless meme. Unless you are a doctor, run a morgue or are a mortician. Even then, you are likely to be trying to put the pieces together or have respect for the dead, not using them as props in your latest media masterpiece.

These tactics are nothing new. They are actually quite old and are the tactics of a weak enemy. Weak in numbers, weak in philosophy, weak in strength of arms and materials. This psychological warfare is their one major weapon. They want you to believe that they number in the hundreds of thousands. That they are invincible. That they can appear among us at anytime and inflict damage at will. That it is only through their grace and benevolence that they have not done so. Yet. They offer "truces" as if they can commit all out war on us and we have no option but to submit, to treat with them.

Now I am going to re-iterate something the government has said that seems to pass over some of our heads: Be diligent, but don't be afraid.

Franklin D. Roosevelt said it best: "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself."

These people are not invincible. They walk, they talk, they eat, they even take a crap like we do. Yeah, I think they are messed up in the head to be able to do some of this stuff, but when they are captured and face prison or death, they are no different than your common criminal. They make deals to save their asses. They tell us about other operations, other people. And we round them up, too. Because no amount of "Allahu Akbar" is going to save them from getting a needle in the arm, a bullet in the head, a JDAM in the ass or the electric switch. Once the reality sets in, away from the group cult thinking, self preservation kicks in.

You see, they are afraid, too. They can bleed. They can die. And in the final hour, God has little to do with it. He is but a spectator in this current little sports arena.

No amount of "Allahu Akbar" or Ghost Dances in the mosques are going to save them from the final judgement of a 19 year old boy with an M16 who just saw his buddy get killed with an RPG or an FBI agent with handcuffs that had his sister killed in the towers or a CIA agent, who infiltrates their group, whose friend died at the Pentagon. Or even your average, every day person flying on an airplane and notices some idiot trying to light his shoe on fire.

So, as the President said, "They can run, but they can't hide." And even if they hide, they can be found.

Today, the news is full of people that are arrested, taken down because they are humans. They cannot slip the bonds of the earth and fly away. Dematerialize and escape their captors. Fly at the speed of bullets. Climb walls like an insect or deflect bullets with their magical wrist bands. Nothing superhuman about them. Just people who are on the wrongside of the rule of law.

At Fox news today, they are reporting the capture of a known terrorist in Saudi Arabia:

CAIRO, Egypt — Saudi police arrested a top Saudi terror suspect, officials said Friday, weeks after the cleric reassured followers he was "taking all necessary precautions" to evade a government sweep.

Faris Ahmed Jamaan al-Showeel al-Zahrani (search) was No. 12 on the kingdom's list of 26 most-wanted terror suspects.

And they tell us something else important, too.

All those ahead of him, and several others on the list, have been either killed or captured in a crackdown that followed a series of bombings in Riyadh (search) in May, 2003

Did you get that? The 11 top terrorists above this guy have either been caught or killed. Because they were human after all. Just when he was proclaiming that his magic shirt would protect him:

Four weeks ago, al-Zahrani posted an Internet message saying he was evading the Saudi crackdown.

"I would like to reassure the people who love me," he wrote on the Voice of Jihad site. "I am careful in my movements and contacts, and I take all necessary precautions."

Or maybe he understood all too well that he was only human and had to be careful after all, because his magic shirt is now in the laundry with the other inmates and he must be wondering if "Allah" abandoned him. Or not. Maybe he thinks that this is "part of Allah's plan" and he must submit himself to his fate, play his part in the plan?

And of course, his fellow Ghost Dancers are shocked that "Allahu Akbar" did not protect him from the magic bullets:

A contributor who used the name Abu Asli said of the arrest: "I pray to God that this news is false."

Abu Asli, you should be worried, too. You are not immune to the magic bullet.

Who else has bitten the magic bullet?

Fox NewsAt least 20 people have been detained in Pakistan in the past month, and Britain is holding 12 men from raids on Tuesday after releasing one person. British police on Thursday announced the arrest of another man, wanted in the United States for allegedly helping finance terrorist activity.

Among the 12 held in Britain was a senior Al Qaeda member, known as Abu Eisa al-Hindi or Abu Musa al-Hindi, who the official said is suspected of having written the surveillance reports detailing security, construction and other features of the five U.S. financial buildings.

British police also said Thursday they had arrested a British man, Babar Ahmad, wanted on terrorism charges in a warrant issued by a federal prosecutor in Connecticut, and that anti-terror officials were searching three "residential premises" and one business in southwest London on behalf of U.S. authorities.

Ahhh...the magic bullets can travel very far, too.

And the magic bullets like to bounce around. They travel from country to country and sometimes end up close to home:

Albany, NYLast summer, U.S. troops discovered Yassin Muhhiddin Aref's name, telephone number and address in a book left behind in a vacated terrorist training camp, (in Iraq..ed.) a U.S. official told FOX News. The book also revealed that Ansar al-Islam, the group running the camp, had given Aref a title: "the commander."

Aref, 34, is the Imam of the Masjid As-Salam mosque in Albany, N.Y. He and one other mosque leader were arrested Thursday(...)

Aref and Mohammed Mosharref Hossain, the 49-year-old founder of the mosque and owner of the local Little Italy Pizzeria,(...)

And what, pray tell, were they planning to do?

Authorities said the men were paid $65,000 in checks and cash to purchase a missile and disguise the source of the money involved.

The men are charged money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to conceal material support for terrorism. Both could face up to 70 years in prison and a $750,000 fine.

But it wasn't just a name in a book in a terrorist camp that got them. As I noted, when they are captured, they tend to "give up the ghost" (dance) to save themselves:

The informant cited had been previously arrested in Albany and had pleaded guilty to a felony related to the fraudulent acquisition of documents. The informant, not a U.S. citizen, is cooperating in the hopes of getting a reduced sentence and has provided information leading to other arrests. (...)

The informant told the men he was associated with Jaish-e-Mohammed (Army of Mohammed), an Islamic extremist group in Pakistan that the U.S. government considers a terrorist organization. According to court records, the informant told the pair that the missile would be used to kill the Pakistani ambassador in New York. Hossain then allegedly referred to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (search) as an "idiot" and a "bastard."

And did they participate in the Ghost Dance?

On Dec. 5, Hossain told the informant he had been questioned by FBI agents about others around Albany; they discussed having Aref as a witness to the transactions and Hossain allegedly said Aref is "not afraid of anything. He's only afraid of God."

Well, cookie...I think you have two things to be afraid of now. One, pray they never put you in general population. Two, the magic bullet. Of course, it's a little late for that.

Give you more, you say? How about the fact that the last few weeks have been terribly busy as we round up the Ghost Dancers(tm):

Also arrested in August were Yehuda Abraham, 76, a New York diamond dealer, and an Indian citizen, Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed, 38.

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani (search), a Tanzanian wanted in the 1998 bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, was giving authorities "very valuable" information, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat said Friday.(...)

Ghailani, who also goes by the names "Foopie," "Fupi" and "Ahmed the Tanzanian," was also one of seven wanted Al Qaeda suspects that the FBI and Justice Department asked for help in finding in May to help avert a possible terror attack over the summer in the United States.

Pakistan had said earlier that some of the 16 suspects arrested Sunday were from Africa, but had not said whether they were linked to Al Qaeda.

And how were they found? The magic bullet keeps bouncing around:

Cheema said the raid in Gujrat was carried out on information from a suspected Pakistani militant who was arrested in a separate operation in eastern Punjab province.

And just to show you that it is foolish to believe that profiling Arab men is a foolish notion that the government is right in resisting:

WTOP News-A South African woman picked up in Texas almost 10 days ago may turn out to be a key, high-level al-Qaida operative.

Her name is Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed. She was stopped at McAllen Miller International Airport on July 19. She was headed to New York.

Allahu Akbar! The magic bullets are working!

But it's no time to rest. The bullet is still traveling. The Ghost Dancers(tm) are running like crazy. We have to keep after them and keep them moving. They cannot be allowed to re-supply or re-group. We must follow them to their base camps and destroy them with all haste.

And for the Ghost Dancers(tm), I have some news for you. I don't think Allah really cares to have you claiming his name as you chop off people's heads. I'm pretty damn sure he would prefer that you not sully his house with your presence and not shout his name with your filthy tongue as it drips with the blood of his people.

So, while you're kneeling to pray at sunset, with your head pointed towards Mecca and your ass in the air, proclaiming his greatness with "Allahu Akbar", you might want to take a peak over your right shoulder and see if Allah's boot is about to be rammed up your ass. After all, Allah has the best magic bullets of all.

The bullets are stamped: Made In America; Parts by Pakistan; Packaged in England and Shipped via Texas to Iraq and Afghanistan.