Erick Stakelbeck The Terrorist Next Door Summary

Chaz Woodson
Jus 630
Speaker #2 Analysis & Critique

1. SPEAKER’S NAME, TITLE, AND PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION:
Erick Stakelbeck, The Terrorist Next Door, Author and CBN News Host
2. TOPIC(S):
What the real threat of terrorism is in the United States.
Why the Obama Administration is concealing the true magnitude of terrorist attacks and activity in the US.
3. DATE OF PRESENTATION:
June 25, 2013
4. ONLINE SOURCE: BookTv.org

During his presentation and in his book Erick Stakelbeck takes us through the world of Islamic terrorism. He recounts his experience interviewing al-Qaeda terrorist leaders and his conversation former al-Qaeda operatives and associates of Osama bin Laden. During the presentation Stakelbeck tells us how the international
terrorist organizations operate. Stakelbeck also discusses his investigation into a network of dozens of Islamic compounds scattered in rural areas across the U.S. He explains how these compounds are controlled by a terror-tied Pakistani cleric who has been videotaped conducting terrorist training sessions with his followers on bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations. During the presentation Mr. Stakelbeck made a few interesting points that I feel were very important. One of the first points he makes is that we can’t identify our enemy. Stakelbeck says that there are so many people following different ideologies here in the U.S. that we can’t even begin to identify our targeted enemy, and he goes on to explain how the #1 rule in war is to “know your enemy”. Another point Stakelbeck made that I thought was interesting was how our government tries to down play many terrorist as “lone wolfs” who act alone for whatever reasons. When the truth is that most of these so called “lone wolfs” are part of a larger more global ideological movement, but the government doesn’t tell us that. Another important point I feel Erick Stakelbeck made was the fact that 80% of American Mosques are funded by dirty money. And that many Religious Sanctuaries here in the US are just a cover-up for terrorist battalions. Mr. Stakelbeck also discussed the support for terrorism and terror attacks in this country. He states that 13% of all American Muslims support suicide bombings, and 26% of young American Muslims support suicide bombings. So the threats here at home are very real with more supporters than we think.
During the presentation Stakelbeck explains how he broke the story of terror associate Louay Safi, who was captured on federal wiretaps talking with Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al-Arian and was named an unindicted co-conspirator in his terrorism trial — speaking on Islam to troops departing for Afghanistan at Fort Hood just weeks after Major Hasan’s shooting spree there that killed thirteen. Following the Fort Hood massacre, Safi had attributed the cause of the incident to “Islamophobia,” saying that “the extremist ideology response for violent outbursts is often rooted in the systematic demonization of marginalized groups.” After Stakelbeck’s report appeared, Safi was suspended as a military subcontractor.
Stakelbeck has also been willing to delve deeply into the taboo subject of the widespread extremism of the American Muslim community, and even on the impact extremism has on American Muslims who dissent from it.
Just one day after Anwar al-Awlaki issued a fatwa calling for the killing of millions of Americans, Stakelbeck found that –just a few miles from the White House — the largest Islamic store in the Washington, D.C., area featured a prominent display of Awlaki’s CDs and DVDs, along with other racist hate materials and books defending Islamic terrorism. When he interviewed the store’s owner he was told that the materials were for sale because “they were very good sellers.” Erick Stakelbeck has been willing to ask prominent U.S. Muslim leaders hard questions about their support for Islamic radicalism. Mr. Stakelbeck has traveled to Dearborn, Michigan, and interviewed supposed “interfaith” leader Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi, who regularly consults with the Detroit FBI leadership. Imam quickly got tongue-tied after being asked about his open support for terrorist groups and the photographs on his own website that showed him with former Iranian dictator Ayatollah Khomeini and with leaders of
Hezbollah.
Erick Stakelbeck’s reporting is an alternative to the minimal coverage given to homegrown terrorism. For example when a large cell of would-be jihadists was busted in North Carolina in 2009, after all the networks had given their two-minute superficial coverage of the story and left the area, Stakelbeck continued to report with interviews of those who knew the suspects and provided new details about the case. When Tulsa, Oklahoma, resident Jamal Miftah was expelled and banned from his mosque for writing an editorial in the local newspaper attacking al-Qaeda, it was Erick Stakelbeck who was there to interview Miftah, not CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, or MSNBC. And while the media was huffing and puffing about opposition to the Ground Zero mosque last summer, Stakelbeck looked into the possible foreign funding sources for the wave of mega-mosque building occurring all over the country which he discussed in his book, and the presentation.
Erick Stakelbecks presentation will certainly challenge many of the things you’ve heard from the establishment media and from our own government officials charged with addressing the homegrown terror threat. There’s a reason why ten years after 9/11 we’re still flying blind in the War on Terror, and Stakelbeck does a great job at exploring these reasons.

References:

Stakelbeck, E. (2011) "The Terrorist Next Door: How the Government is Deceiving You about the Islamic Threat," Published by Regnery Publishing

"The Terrorist Next Door: How the Government is Deceiving You about the Islamic Threat,".http://booktv.org/Program/10832/A+Different+Shade+of+Blue+How+Women+Changed+the+Face+of+Police+Work.aspx. July 2013