Terror News
There were at least two interesting terrorism-related stories today. Frankly, I don't have much to say about either of them, but they're worth noting. Former Republican Congressman Mark Deli Siljander was charged with money laundering and other crimes in connection with another faux Islamic charity, Islamic American Relief Agency, that was in reality a terrorist front. The news story is frustratingly cryptic, but this description is tantalizing:
[Siljander] was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.A 42-count indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency of paying Siljander $50,000 for the lobbying—money that turned out to be stolen from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
There's a story buried there somewhere. How the money was stolen from AID, what the subject of Siljander's lobbying was, what happened in the Senate--interesting questions with no answers.
In England, a top cyber-terrorist has been sentenced to prison. Younes Tsouli, an IT college student, is the son of a Moroccan diplomat. British authorities describe him as one of al Qaeda's top internet operatives, specializing in the distribution of murder videos. This, I thought, was interesting:
At first intelligence operatives who came across his activities dismissed him as a joke. It was only when anti-terrorist detectives began trawling through files on his computer after his arrest that they realised his true significance.
That's typical of the war we're fighting. It's hard to tell, sometimes, whether we're dealing with a goofball or a mass murderer. Or both.
