randall_s
04-08-2014, 09:12 AM
FULL STORY WITH LINK:
http://nyyrc.com/blog/2014/04/senator-leland-yee-al-qaeda-and-the-milf/
Senator Leland Yee, al Qaeda, and the MILF
A story came out a few weeks ago regarding a certain California Democrat State Senator and his adventures illegally smuggling weapons to a terrorist organization. Leland Yee, a member of California’s State Senate from the 8th District, was arrested by the FBI on March 26, charged with public corruption and gun trafficking. Senator Yee’s actions, revealed in the investigation, should be enough to make any decent citizen scream bloody murder.
The Kidnapping
First, some background on Yee’s business partners. In the month’s preceding September 11, 2001, the American media was focused on a missionary couple, Martin and Gracia Burnham, who were kidnapped, in the Philippines, by a local al Qaeda franchise known as the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). Gracia was eventually rescued, but during the rescue operation, her husband was shot three times in the chest and died. Who was this al Qaeda franchise, the Abu Sayyaf Group?
Philippine Politics and Insurgencies
Following WWII, the Philippines gained independence a provisional American government in 1946. While the American provisional government had limited the prerogatives of the Philippine Catholic Church, once it was dissolved, the Muslim populations on the Philippines’ southern islands came under the rule of Filipino Catholics. This led to unequal development standards on the northern and southern Island, with the Catholics privy to more support from the Philippine government.
From 1942-1954, a Communist anti-Japanese insurgency group formed to fight the Philippine authorities. Known as the Huks, or People’s Army, it challenged the dominance of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police. Eventually, the Huk rebellion was defeated, and many of the ex-Huk (Christians) moved to the (predominantly Muslim) southern islands, especially Mindanao. The tipping point that turned relations violent between Filipino Christians and Muslims, and spawned Filipino Islamic terrorist groups, was a botched attempt by President Markos to instigate an uprising among the Muslims as a pretext for a crackdown on the southern islands.
This failed conspiracy of Markos in turn created the Bangsamoro movement, an insurgency which sought independence from the Catholic dominated Philippine government. With the assistance from a Muslim Filipino Congressman, the Bangsamoro trained a militant group known as the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). The Markos government sought to contain the insurgents, but the reemergence of the Huks (in the form of the New People’s Army, or NPA), made it impossible for Manila to reassert effective control. Markos, brutal and determined as he was, could simply not manage a two front war against the NPA and the MNLF. The Communist Huks had, in effect, saved the MNLF.
Enter the Islamists
Within the MNLF remained the question of whether it was primarily a nationalist movement or a religious (i.e. Islamic) movement. Eventually, this led to the creation of a splinter group in the MNLF, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Observing the Iranian revolution, the MILF found sharia, or Islamic law according to the Koran, attractive because it promised to end traditional tribal boundaries and usher in a utopian Islamic state.
It was in this environment that the Abu Sayyaf group was founded by Abdurrazzaq Janjalani in the early 1990s. Janjalani, observing the conditions of Filipino Christians in Saudi Arabia under Sharia law, where they were (and still are) little more than serfs, determined that Sharia law could unite the Philippines under Islamic rule. Janjilani had studied Islam in Pakistan under Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, the translator of Sayyid Qutb’s (the most prolific author the Muslim Brotherhood, and ideological mentor to both Ayman al Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden) works into Pashto.
ASG recruited its initial members from the MNLF and MILF.
Yee’s Terrorist Buddies
In the southern Philippines, ASG has worked in partnership with MNLF and MILF for two decades. Wikipedia gives several examples of cooperation between ASG and al Qaeda formal, including:
• ASG may have received funding from Osama bin Laden’s brother-in-law, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa.
• Ramzi Yousef, the World Trade Center bomber, operated in the Philippines in the mid-1990s and trained ASG soldiers.
• It is alleged that Osama bin Laden himself provided $6 million to create a more explicit Islamic faction of the MNLF.
In an effort to broaden the traditional support network of the Bangsamoro, ASG has worked with the Maoist Naxali group in India. Operating out of Gujarat, which borders Pakistan, the Naxali are complicit in the trafficking of Indian women to the Pakistani ISI. These women often end up in Thailand in prostitution rings, which have been linked to local Thai affiliated of al Qaeda. Presumably, ASG would be familiar with these contacts.
Rampant Corruption
While Americans are scrambling to file and pay their taxes by April 15, before his arrest, California Senator Leland Yee was busy figuring out how to profit of providing arms to insurgents, terrorists, and human traffickers. Yee was set to sell out his country, our ally the Philippines, and ostensibly innocent Indian women for the price of $2 million. For this hefty price tag, Yee was willing to provide everything from automatic rifles to shoulder launched rockets. Yee was under no illusion; he stated that he knew the MILF had no problem “kidnapping individuals, killing individuals, and extorting them for ransom.” The arms were allegedly going to be sourced from a Russian arms dealer.
Another interesting facet of the story has to do with one of Yee’s accomplices, a dentist and former San Mateo County Commissioner. Both Yee and this dentist, Wilson Sy Lim, are Chinese. Yee was born in Guangdong, China, which borders Hong Kong. The dentist Lim is a native of the Philippines, and ethnically Chinese (he had previously been charged in an investigation that targeted a criminal ring inside of San Francisco’s Chinatown).
Ladies and gentlemen, two public officials, one former Commissioner and a current state senator, don’t suddenly hatch a plan to smuggle illegal Russian arms to an Islamic insurgency. The networks that facilitate these kinds of schemes already exist. In the case of Leland Yee, given that he was working with a dentist in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and that Yee himself is a native of Guangdong, it seems likely, perhaps obvious, that these men are involved in Chinese triad groups. Hong Kong is a hotbed of triad activity, and it would not be surprising if the investigators subsequently discover that Yee and his dentist friend employed flying money. Used to move illegal funds, flying money is very difficult to detect and common practice among triads. Shrimp Boy seems like the logical place to start digging. Don’t forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.
The First Act
Finally, it should be recalled that in September, 2013, three brothers (one an active cop in the NYPD Customs and Border Protection unit) were caught conspiring to sell arms to the Philippines. Using the brother’s status as a law enforcement officer, they were to obtain discounted prices on high caliber automatic weapons, which were going to be sent to terrorist organizations. Said the prosecutors in this case, “The evidence of the defendant’s guilt is overwhelming.”
Conclusion
Considering the Obama administration’s implicit and explicit support in ousting Egyptian Hosni Mubarak, Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi (both whom were subsequently replaced by Muslim Brotherhood governments), and the administration’s ongoing attempts to force Bashar Assad to cede control of Syria to al Qaeda rebels, the transgressions of Senator Yee highlight yet again a disturbing trend in the American government to provide aid and comfort to al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. If Senator Yee is found guilty of his crimes, he should be charged with treason and sentenced accordingly. The weapons he was planning to sell would have been used to murder and kidnap innocent civilians, and likely have been used in the violence of human trafficking.
There is absolutely no way that Americans can look at this situation and not be outraged, even deeply alarmed. Since 9/11, the government was supposed to be separating terrorists and terrorist sympathizers from the civilized world, not using their positions of public influence and stature to prop up barbarians. Provided the evidence holds up in court, Yee should be made an example of, using all laws on the books to ensure he gets what he deserves, in a very public way.
FULL STORY WITH LINK:
http://nyyrc.com/blog/2014/04/senator-leland-yee-al-qaeda-and-the-milf/
http://nyyrc.com/blog/2014/04/senator-leland-yee-al-qaeda-and-the-milf/
Senator Leland Yee, al Qaeda, and the MILF
A story came out a few weeks ago regarding a certain California Democrat State Senator and his adventures illegally smuggling weapons to a terrorist organization. Leland Yee, a member of California’s State Senate from the 8th District, was arrested by the FBI on March 26, charged with public corruption and gun trafficking. Senator Yee’s actions, revealed in the investigation, should be enough to make any decent citizen scream bloody murder.
The Kidnapping
First, some background on Yee’s business partners. In the month’s preceding September 11, 2001, the American media was focused on a missionary couple, Martin and Gracia Burnham, who were kidnapped, in the Philippines, by a local al Qaeda franchise known as the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). Gracia was eventually rescued, but during the rescue operation, her husband was shot three times in the chest and died. Who was this al Qaeda franchise, the Abu Sayyaf Group?
Philippine Politics and Insurgencies
Following WWII, the Philippines gained independence a provisional American government in 1946. While the American provisional government had limited the prerogatives of the Philippine Catholic Church, once it was dissolved, the Muslim populations on the Philippines’ southern islands came under the rule of Filipino Catholics. This led to unequal development standards on the northern and southern Island, with the Catholics privy to more support from the Philippine government.
From 1942-1954, a Communist anti-Japanese insurgency group formed to fight the Philippine authorities. Known as the Huks, or People’s Army, it challenged the dominance of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police. Eventually, the Huk rebellion was defeated, and many of the ex-Huk (Christians) moved to the (predominantly Muslim) southern islands, especially Mindanao. The tipping point that turned relations violent between Filipino Christians and Muslims, and spawned Filipino Islamic terrorist groups, was a botched attempt by President Markos to instigate an uprising among the Muslims as a pretext for a crackdown on the southern islands.
This failed conspiracy of Markos in turn created the Bangsamoro movement, an insurgency which sought independence from the Catholic dominated Philippine government. With the assistance from a Muslim Filipino Congressman, the Bangsamoro trained a militant group known as the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). The Markos government sought to contain the insurgents, but the reemergence of the Huks (in the form of the New People’s Army, or NPA), made it impossible for Manila to reassert effective control. Markos, brutal and determined as he was, could simply not manage a two front war against the NPA and the MNLF. The Communist Huks had, in effect, saved the MNLF.
Enter the Islamists
Within the MNLF remained the question of whether it was primarily a nationalist movement or a religious (i.e. Islamic) movement. Eventually, this led to the creation of a splinter group in the MNLF, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Observing the Iranian revolution, the MILF found sharia, or Islamic law according to the Koran, attractive because it promised to end traditional tribal boundaries and usher in a utopian Islamic state.
It was in this environment that the Abu Sayyaf group was founded by Abdurrazzaq Janjalani in the early 1990s. Janjalani, observing the conditions of Filipino Christians in Saudi Arabia under Sharia law, where they were (and still are) little more than serfs, determined that Sharia law could unite the Philippines under Islamic rule. Janjilani had studied Islam in Pakistan under Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, the translator of Sayyid Qutb’s (the most prolific author the Muslim Brotherhood, and ideological mentor to both Ayman al Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden) works into Pashto.
ASG recruited its initial members from the MNLF and MILF.
Yee’s Terrorist Buddies
In the southern Philippines, ASG has worked in partnership with MNLF and MILF for two decades. Wikipedia gives several examples of cooperation between ASG and al Qaeda formal, including:
• ASG may have received funding from Osama bin Laden’s brother-in-law, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa.
• Ramzi Yousef, the World Trade Center bomber, operated in the Philippines in the mid-1990s and trained ASG soldiers.
• It is alleged that Osama bin Laden himself provided $6 million to create a more explicit Islamic faction of the MNLF.
In an effort to broaden the traditional support network of the Bangsamoro, ASG has worked with the Maoist Naxali group in India. Operating out of Gujarat, which borders Pakistan, the Naxali are complicit in the trafficking of Indian women to the Pakistani ISI. These women often end up in Thailand in prostitution rings, which have been linked to local Thai affiliated of al Qaeda. Presumably, ASG would be familiar with these contacts.
Rampant Corruption
While Americans are scrambling to file and pay their taxes by April 15, before his arrest, California Senator Leland Yee was busy figuring out how to profit of providing arms to insurgents, terrorists, and human traffickers. Yee was set to sell out his country, our ally the Philippines, and ostensibly innocent Indian women for the price of $2 million. For this hefty price tag, Yee was willing to provide everything from automatic rifles to shoulder launched rockets. Yee was under no illusion; he stated that he knew the MILF had no problem “kidnapping individuals, killing individuals, and extorting them for ransom.” The arms were allegedly going to be sourced from a Russian arms dealer.
Another interesting facet of the story has to do with one of Yee’s accomplices, a dentist and former San Mateo County Commissioner. Both Yee and this dentist, Wilson Sy Lim, are Chinese. Yee was born in Guangdong, China, which borders Hong Kong. The dentist Lim is a native of the Philippines, and ethnically Chinese (he had previously been charged in an investigation that targeted a criminal ring inside of San Francisco’s Chinatown).
Ladies and gentlemen, two public officials, one former Commissioner and a current state senator, don’t suddenly hatch a plan to smuggle illegal Russian arms to an Islamic insurgency. The networks that facilitate these kinds of schemes already exist. In the case of Leland Yee, given that he was working with a dentist in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and that Yee himself is a native of Guangdong, it seems likely, perhaps obvious, that these men are involved in Chinese triad groups. Hong Kong is a hotbed of triad activity, and it would not be surprising if the investigators subsequently discover that Yee and his dentist friend employed flying money. Used to move illegal funds, flying money is very difficult to detect and common practice among triads. Shrimp Boy seems like the logical place to start digging. Don’t forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.
The First Act
Finally, it should be recalled that in September, 2013, three brothers (one an active cop in the NYPD Customs and Border Protection unit) were caught conspiring to sell arms to the Philippines. Using the brother’s status as a law enforcement officer, they were to obtain discounted prices on high caliber automatic weapons, which were going to be sent to terrorist organizations. Said the prosecutors in this case, “The evidence of the defendant’s guilt is overwhelming.”
Conclusion
Considering the Obama administration’s implicit and explicit support in ousting Egyptian Hosni Mubarak, Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi (both whom were subsequently replaced by Muslim Brotherhood governments), and the administration’s ongoing attempts to force Bashar Assad to cede control of Syria to al Qaeda rebels, the transgressions of Senator Yee highlight yet again a disturbing trend in the American government to provide aid and comfort to al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. If Senator Yee is found guilty of his crimes, he should be charged with treason and sentenced accordingly. The weapons he was planning to sell would have been used to murder and kidnap innocent civilians, and likely have been used in the violence of human trafficking.
There is absolutely no way that Americans can look at this situation and not be outraged, even deeply alarmed. Since 9/11, the government was supposed to be separating terrorists and terrorist sympathizers from the civilized world, not using their positions of public influence and stature to prop up barbarians. Provided the evidence holds up in court, Yee should be made an example of, using all laws on the books to ensure he gets what he deserves, in a very public way.
FULL STORY WITH LINK:
http://nyyrc.com/blog/2014/04/senator-leland-yee-al-qaeda-and-the-milf/