Can Mohammed Taheri-Azar Be Prosecuted for a Terroist Offense?

[uchiuke123]

http://counterterror.typepad.com/

Have to wonder, would it be different IF the nine had been killed? Or no? This brings to mind the Oklahoma Stadium bombing where the student on the park bench outside a fully packed Sooner's game blew himself up---accidentally or on purpose...no one killed but the student. Just what does constitute a "lone wolf" terrorist act, and the government announcing it as such?

Can Mohammed Taheri-Azar Be Prosecuted for a Terrorist Offense?

On Friday, Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar drove a Jeep through a crowd at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, hitting nine people. Fortunately, none of the nine were seriously injured. Taheri-azar has been charged with nine counts of attempted murder for his actions. The case has garnered quite a bit of press attention because Taheri-azar may have had a terrorist-type motivation. A search of his apartment suggests that Taheri-azar planned the attack for months and was disappointed that he didn't inflict more damage. He told police that he believed the U.S. was "killing his people across the sea," and that his actions reflected "an eye for an eye." Indeed, in his confession to a 911 dispatcher, Taheri-azar said that he wanted to "punish the government of the United States for [its] actions around the world," and he told the judge in his criminal case that he was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah."

Despite Taheri-azar's statements, some question remains about his true motivations. One question mark, as my colleague Andrew Cochran pointed out, is the fact that Taheri-azar called 911 to turn himself in right after his Jeep escapades. Nonetheless, Taheri-azar's statements to authorities and to the court makes clear that there may have been an Islamist motivation to the attacks. Today I was on Studio B with Shepard Smith to discuss whether Taheri-azar could be charged with a terrorist offense. As it turns out, the answer is no.

Taheri-azar is being prosecuted in state court. But North Carolina does not have an applicable terrorism offense that can be brought to bear against him. There is a terrorism offense for weapons of mass destruction (not applicable here) and a terrorism sentencing enhancement for murder -- but Taheri-azar did not succeed in murdering anybody.

The federal sentencing guidelines do contain a sentencing enhancement in Guideline 3A1.4 for offenses designed to promote terrorism. (In turn, 18 U.S.C. 2232b(g)(5) sensibly defines a federal crime of terrorism as occurring when the act "is calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct.") The problem is that there appears to be no federal crime in this case to provide the federal courts with jurisdiction. The prosecution could argue that there is a federal civil rights violation because this was carried out on the basis of religion. The problem with that argument, though, is that Taheri-azar didn't target his victims on the basis of their religion. Taheri-azar may have been motivated by religion, but the civil rights laws only really come into play when the victim is targeted because of his religion.

This gives rise to a serious point. Terrorist crimes are worse than other crimes because of their potential to disrupt society. Terrorists make war on the United States, and we should provide prosecutors with an additional ability to punish the terrorists. In the future, we may well see a shift not only to more decentralized terrorist cells that act autonomously from broader terror networks, but also to more lone-wolf acts of terrorism. If we take Taheri-azar's statements in this case at face value, this would be an act of lone-wolf terror for which there is no way to enhance the perpetrator's sentence due to his terrorist motivations. This is an issue that states should now begin to address in their criminal codes.

Posted by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross at 07:43 PM | Permalink | TrackBack (2)

[uchiuke123]

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/417984.html

UNC attack called terror
Experts say driver was, luckily, inept

Jim Nesbitt, Staff Writer
Only luck and lack of training kept Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar from committing a deadly act in the name of Allah, three terrorism experts said Monday.
Even so, the former high school honor student, who drove a rented sport utility vehicle into a crowded campus gathering spot at UNC-Chapel Hill on March 3, matches the modern profile of the unaffiliated, lone-wolf terrorist.

Such hard-to-track suspects present a burgeoning security challenge to law enforcement and counterterrorism agents, said Solomon Bradman, chief executive officer of Security Solutions International, a Miami company that will present a one-day suicide terror prevention course for local law enforcement officials today at Wake Technical Community College.

"Well, he's a terrorist," Bradman said of Taheri-azar. "In this world of global terrorism, you don't have ties back to any particular group. In this new world, terror comes from incitement -- it doesn't come from an organization. The only thing that makes this not look like a terrorist act is that he did a lousy job of it."

Taheri-azar's open-court statement that he plowed a Jeep Cherokee through The Pit, injuring nine people, to avenge the killing of Muslims by the U.S. government echoes the motivations of Middle East suicide bombers and the suicide hijackers of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said Bradman, whose lead lecturer will be Omer Cohen, a former officer with the Israeli internal security and counterintelligence agency Shin Bet.

So far, Taheri-azar, 22, faces only state charges of first-degree attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill for each of the nine people he struck with the rented vehicle. He is being held at Raleigh's Central Prison in lieu of $5.5 million bail.

But Taheri-azar shows the characteristics of a terrorist with religious and cultural motivations, Bradford said. The UNC graduate has said he intended to kill those he struck, will defend himself in court with the aid of Allah and sees a future trial as a forum for instructing people about the will of Allah.

"The person who is willing to do this is the perfect recruit for terrorists," said Bradman. "The guy made a decision and he went through with it. We got lucky he wasn't better trained."

Taheri-azar, who was born in Iran but reared in the U.S., is also reminiscent of home-grown terrorists such as Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for the 1995 bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma City, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at the California State University at San Bernardino.

Operating alone or in small, ad-hoc groups, a would-be terrorist can use the Internet for indoctrination and a sense of belonging to a larger movement. Instructions for home-made explosives and bomb-laden vests can also be found in the virtual universe.

"The battle against terrorism today is against a violent ideology rather than a well-organized, top-down group," Levin said. "It's just a matter of time before we get someone -- an immigrant or someone American-born -- who commits a higher-intensity act of terrorism."

Cohen said terrorist cells are already operating in America and could aid would-be suicide bombers with money and explosives. He points to the wave of suicide bombings that struck Israel in 2001 and 2002 at a rate of one a week. Those bombings crippled the Israeli economy and caused people to fear leaving their homes.

"It's out there and things are going on right under our noses in the U.S.," Cohen said. "It took us a lot of time to understand this and find ways to prevent it."

Today's training session is expected to draw more than 200 law enforcement officials, including officers from the Raleigh Police Department and the Wake County Sheriff's Office. It will focus on the recruiting and intelligence-gathering tactics of groups that sponsor suicide bombers, Bradman said. Case studies of past attacks, including the Sept. 11 jetliner strikes, video interviews with failed suicide bombers and how to harden potential targets will also be presented.

"We're trying to get them to know the enemy better," said Bradman, whose company has a sister organization in Israel. "If you think like a terrorist, it's going to help you."

uchiuke123

[NYer]

Taheri-Azar suffers from Sudden Jihad Syndrome. (http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21630)

n brief, Taheri-azar represents the ultimate Islamist nightmare: a seemingly well-adjusted Muslim whose religion inspires him, out of the blue, to murder non-Muslims. Taheri-azar acknowledged planning his jihad for over two years, or during his university sojourn. It’s not hard to imagine how his ideas developed, given the coherence of Islamist ideology, its immense reach (including a Muslim Student Association at UNC), and its resonance among many Muslims.

Were Taheri-azar unique in his surreptitious adoption of radical Islam, one could ignore his case, but he fits into a widespread pattern of Muslims who lead quiet lives before turning to terrorism. Their number includes the 9/11 hijackers, the London transport bombers, and Maher Hawash, the Intel engineer arrested before he could join the Taliban in Afghanistan.

An interesting read ...

[uchiuke123]

That WAS a good read.


This is what I have dubbed the Sudden Jihad Syndrome, whereby normal-appearing Muslims abruptly become violent. It has the awful but legitimate consequence of casting suspicion on all Muslims. Who knows whence the next jihadi? How can one be confident a law-abiding Muslim will not suddenly erupt in a homicidal rage?

This guy at UNC makes me wonder about the OU "park bench" blowup.

uchiuke123

[uchiuke123]

http://www.wfmy.com/news/local_state/article.aspx?storyid=59520

Crash Attack Suspect Says He Acted Out Of Love For Allah

The UNC Chapel Hill graduate faces nine counts of attempted murder.


Raleigh, NC -- A recent University of North Carolina graduate who is accused in this month's attack on the campus says he did not act out of hatred for Americans but out of love for Allah.

Mohammed Taheri-azar sent a two-page letter to WTVD in Durham to explain his actions.

In the letter, he said his attack on Americans at UNC was in retaliation for what he said were attacks orchestrated by the US government on followers of Allah in Islamic territories.

His letter said Allah gives permission in the Koran for followers of Allah to attack those who have raged war against them.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Muslim civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations, says Islamic scholars have clearly stated that attacks on innocent civilians are prohibited by Islam and should be repudiated.


uchiuke123