If you see this text then you need to update your flash player.
Friday, 16 May 2008
"I learned classical Spanish not the strange dialect he seems to have picked up."

Oftentimes when reading government reports like the one which arrived in my mailbox this morning, I am reminded of Basil Fawlty and his insistence that he spoke true, "classical" Spanish, not that "strange dialect" spoken by Manuel, the Spanish waiter. Illustrative YouTube here. The following is from the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

The first hearing on the homegrown threat considered the potential for radicalization in U.S. prisons, including an examination of the activities of Kevin Lamar James, an American citizen. While in prison, James adopted a variant of violent Islamist ideology [read: became a Muslim], founded an organization known as the Assembly for Authentic Islam (or JIS, the Arabic initials for the group), and began converting fellow prisoners to his cause. Upon release, James recruited members of JIS to commit at least 11 armed robberies, the proceeds from which were to be used to finance attacks against military installations and other targets in southern California. James and another member of the group eventually pled guilty to conspiring to wage war against the United States.

The James case is only one example of how the violent Islamist terrorist [read: Muslim] threat has evolved and expanded since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Al-Qaeda planned the 9/11 attacks and recruited the hijackers abroad before sending them to the United States to make final preparations for the operation. The 9/11 hijackers were indoctrinated into the violent Islamist [read: Islamic] mindset long before they set foot in the United States. As the James case and others illustrate, however, radicalization is no longer confined to training camps in Afghanistan or other locations far from our shores; it is also occurring right here in the United States.

During the 110th Congress, under the leadership of Chairman Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT), the Committee continued its investigation into the threat of domestic radicalization and homegrown terrorism inspired by violent Islamist ideology [read: Islam].

etc., etc., etc.

Posted on 8:45 AM by Rebecca Bynum
Comments
16 May 2008
Send an emailHugh Fitzgerald

"homegrown terrorism inspired by violent Islamist ideology"

Not enough protective coloration. I'd apply a few more layers of mediating maquillage thus:

"violent radical extremist Islamist ideology"{

There. That should do the trick.