In a lengthy piece on December 13, the New York Times reported on the role Western Hemisphere drug trafficking plays in financing the Shiite, pro-Iranian terrorist organization Hezbollah. The Times took a lengthy look at the Treasury Department’s investigation of the Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) and the organizational structure that moves illegal drugs from South America to Europe and the Middle East via West Africa and launders hundreds of millions of dollars monthly through accounts held at LCB, as well as through trade-based money laundering involving consumer goods throughout the …
A recent analysis of data accumulated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland reveals a disturbing depth to the level of extremism and violence perpetrated within the United States over the past decade. In sum, START’s Global Terrorism Database, an open-source database comprising “information on over 87,000 domestic and international terrorist events around the world since 1970,” identified over 200 acts of terrorism having occurred in the United States since 2000. Of those acts, 17 resulted in fatalities. …
In this week’s Heritage in Focus, expert Ray Walser discusses the increasingly anti-U.S. policies in Latin America. PODCAST: Terrorism in Latin America Threatens U.S. In the past decade, Iran has increased its influence in Latin America. Considering Iran’s long history of bad actions, this increased activity in the Western Hemisphere should give Americans pause. This year alone, Iran refused to abandon its nuclear ambitions, its military sat idly by as Iranian students stormed a British embassy, it attempted to assassinate a Saudi ambassador in Washington, D.C., and now is aggressively expanding its …
Iranian protesters illegally broke into two British Embassy compounds in Tehran today as police stood by idly, and the attack was broadcast live on Iranian television. It is unclear as yet whether British diplomatic personnel were harmed or taken hostage. Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported that six British officials had been taken hostage but withdrew the story from its website minutes later without explanation. Iran’s rogue regime once again has exhibited a flagrant defiance of international law by failing to protect the embassy compounds, and it undoubtedly orchestrated the …
A New York City Police car is seen outside a Manhattan apartment building November 21, 2011, where New York police arrested Jose Pimentel. REUTERS/Mike Segar On Saturday afternoon, just moments before authorities say Jose Pimentel was about to complete work on a powerful pipe bomb intended to kill American citizens, New York Police Department personnel burst into his apartment and put a hasty end to his aspirations. Pimentel, who went by the alias Muhammed Yusuf, was described by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a “lone wolf, motivated by …
Tonight at 8 p.m. ET, eight Republican presidential candidates will take the stage at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., to tell America where they stand on foreign policy and national security in a special debate hosted by The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, broadcast on CNN and moderated by Wolf Blitzer. The debate marks the first time that either Heritage or AEI — both nonprofit, nonpartisan research institutes — has sponsored a presidential debate. Businessman Herman Cain, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Speaker …
Late last night, al-Qaeda sympathizer Jose Pimentel was arraigned for his plans “to build a bomb and use a bomb to assassinate U.S. servicemen and women returning from active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Pimentel’s arrest marks at least the 43rd Islamist-related plot aimed at attacking the U.S. homeland since 9/11. Heritage’s James Carafano explains in a new paper that this latest foiled plot teaches important lessons about “lone-wolf” terrorists: The arrest of Pimentel reminds that lone-wolf operations can be effectively detected and disrupted by law enforcement. As with other …
With the 2014 Afghan troop withdrawal quickly approaching, a recent House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia hearing stressed the need to press Pakistan to fight terrorists who find sanctuary on its soil. In this most recent hearing, the four witnesses, including former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalizad, presented a united stance on the need to hold Pakistan accountable for its actions in the region. Lisa Curtis, a senior fellow for South Asia in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation, has been encouraging the U.S. …
Following a devastating suicide blast earlier in the week in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu, leaders from the regional terror group al Shabaab issued a statement declaring that the perpetrator of the attack was American Abdisalan Hussein Ali. In an audio tape released by al Shabaab, and purported to be of Abdisalan Ali, the speaker exhorts the virtues of jihad and calls on his Western brothers to join the fight: “My brothers and sisters, do jihad in America, do jihad in Canada, do jihad in England, anywhere in Europe, in …
It was supposed to be the second full day in federal court for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The so-called “Christmas Day bomber” aka “The Underwear Bomber” faced eight charges, including attempted murder on an aircraft. But, acting as his own attorney, Abdulmutallab surprised many Wednesday by pleading guilty. He faces a maximum possible sentence of life without parole. The case never was a “whodunit,” nor was there ever a question of why he did what he attempted to do. A guilty plea in this case simply means that the public will not …
