Thursday, February 23, 2006

Do You Know How Many?


While we've heard about some high profile cases such as the Lakawana Six and the men from Lodi, according to this report, there are some figures you may not be aware of:

Since Sept. 11, 417 people have been charged in federal terrorism-related cases, resulting in 228 convictions or guilty pleas, according to the most recent Justice Department data. Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra said the department does not categorize arrests by ethnicity or religion.

Immigration data underscores the extra attention the government has paid to immigrants from predominantly Arab and Muslim nations since the attacks.

Between October 1, 2000, and September 30, 2001, the U.S. deported 589 immigrants to 20 nations around the Middle East and Central Asia. In the next 12-month period, beginning weeks after Sept. 11, deportations to those nations rose to 1,674 and peaked at 1,759 in 2003.

By last year, the number of deported immigrants to the nations had fallen to 1,167, according to Homeland Security Department data.


As I once noted, the people that have the most to lose in the face of another terrorist attack by Islamists, are the American Muslim population.

Also, I would be little surprised if the details of the convictions noted above and the deportations were connected to Hamas and Hezballah support, though, it's clear there have been other cases of people trying to insert themselves into the general "jihad" movement. It's just that the Palestinian "cause" has been around much longer and actively working the Muslim community as well as campuses around the US.

I just wonder how many people knew there have been over 200 convictions for terrorist related activities in the US?

As can be seen by the graph above, the highest number of deportations have been to Pakistan. I think this is an important number because it recognizes Pakistanis as the highest risk immigrants to the US. This should be no surprise to anyone since the Lodi men and the Lawana Six, along with the London 7/7 - 7/21 bombers were Pakistani ex-pats or second generation. Iyman Faris (Brooklyn Bridge would be bomber) was from Kashmir, the war torn disputed country between Pakistan and India. It's also widely believed that Zawahiri and possibly Osama bin Laden are held up in the Pakistan region of Waziristan. Khalid Sheikh Hohammed and several other known terrorists have been captured there. Pakistan has one of the most conservative Muslim populations in Central Asia. It's ISI (Pakistan Intelligence Agency) was involved insupporting the Taliban prior to the US invasion.

All in all, it might not be Saudi's that we need to worry about, but Pakistani's and the government appears to have the same impression by these numbers.

Security Programs Strain Muslim-U.S. Ties - Yahoo! News

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