re: "Military-Academic Conflict"

James Joyner at Outside the Beltway ("an online journal of politics and foreign affairs analysis") discusses the contradictions in military higher education.

Money quote(s):

"Thomas Ricks has had a series of blog posts over the academic quality and integrity of the Air War College and its parent Air University in Montgomery, Alabama. It was sparked by a book chapter written by disgruntled retired AU professor named Daniel Hughes, which prompted Ricks to argue for closing the college."

See my earlier post on this topic.

"The war colleges simply have to be hybrid institutions, blending the best cutting edge scholarship with practical training. Each of the services now sends a large number of promising mid-career officers to civilian universities and Washington think tanks (including my own) to broaden their horizons. And that’s great! But the vast number of young colonels and captains need to learn to be strategic thinkers in today’s environment. That means being around really smart scholars who’ve had the luxury of thinking really hard about Iraq, Afghanistan, counterinsurgency, military interventions, and a host of related issues. There just aren’t many institutions in the country with more than one or two of these people on staff.

Now, here’s where my own bias comes in: Anders’ arguments for having most of the faculty at the war colleges consist of active duty officers are well taken. While almost by definition they’re less accomplished scholars than some of their civilian peers–it’s not their chosen career after all–it’s perfectly reasonable to have senior officers training the next generation at these institutions.

But, as Anders notes, Congress stepped in two decades ago and mandated that a certain percentage of the faculty at the various professional military education (PME) schools and the service academies (West Point, Annapolis, and Air Force) be civilian academics. The rationale was obvious: leaven the faculty with professional scholars to move the education-training balance further in the direction of the former while at the same time broadening the perspectives to which students are exposed."

Read the whole thing.

re: "The Muslim Brotherhood in America (Part IV) - Crossing the Bridge: The Implications of the Holy Land Foundation Trial (Part 1)"

John Guandolo at Big Peace explains some things which should be common knowledge.

Money quote(s):

"On a seemingly normal day on the outskirts of Annapolis, Maryland, a singular event led to the revelation of a deep-rooted enemy with a massive infrastructure inside the United States well on its way to achieving its goal of overthrowing the United States Constitution."

Sounds kinda melodramatic, don't it?

"Traveling on 50 West is a Baltimore County (MD) Marine Police unit carrying two officers. They are slowly overtaking a silver Infiniti sport utility vehicle when they notice the passenger is fully covered in what they believe is traditional Islamic garb. Her attire is not what gets their attention though – she is filming the support structures of the Bridge with a video camera. As they come alongside the vehicle she pulls the camera down, and resumes the filming when the police have passed. The officers catch that move. They notify the Maryland Transportation Authority (MTA) who has jurisdiction of the bridge. The officers conduct a vehicle stop at just about the time the MTA unit arrives on scene."

The view from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, on a clear day, is rather nice; but the bridge's support structures aren't all that telegenic even on such a day.

"The way this was handled was a fair reaction from law enforcement officers when we understand the driver of the vehicle was identified as Ismail Elbarasse – a Hamas operative (and, therefore, a Muslim Brother), wanted on a Material Witness warrant in a Hamas case out of Chicago. As more officers and the FBI are notified, the cops on scene realize there is something big going on. Why is a Hamas guy filming the support structures of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge? Investigators will later suggest that because of Al Qaeda’s reduced ability to operate in the U.S. after 9/11, it was using other groups, like Hamas, to conduct pre-operational surveillance of its targets. What is most historically earth-shattering is what follows the car stop.

The FBI executes a search warrant of Elbarasse’s home and vehicle in Annandale, Virginia. In the basement of the residence is a sub-basement. In the sub-basement, the archives of the Muslim Brotherhood are discovered. Historical documents, financial documents, strategic documents, organizational documents, and all kinds of other items are found among this incredible discovery.

Many of these documents will be entered into evidence at the largest successfully prosecuted terrorism financing and Hamas trial in U.S. history – US v Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (or “HLF” for short). These documents were stipulated to by the defense counsel, meaning there is no legal basis to contest their validity as being what they purport to be." (Bold type added for emphasis. - CAA.)

Mr. Guandolo then summarizes ten key facts established by these documents, facts you might not know, or perhaps disbelieve.

"1. Holy Land Foundation was the largest Islamic non-profit in the United States and it was a Hamas entity.

2. The leaders of HLF were senior Hamas leaders.

3. Hamas was created out of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood.

4. There is a significant Muslim Brotherhood Movement in the United States which began in the 1950’s.

5. The first national Islamic organization, the Muslim Students Association, was created by the Muslim Brotherhood.

6. The MB seeks to subordinate existing U.S. law to Shariah (Islamic Law) and re-establish the global Islamic State (Caliphate).

7. The most prominent Islamic organizations in North America are controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Movement to include, but not limited to: Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), Muslim Students Association (MSA), International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) which was demonstrated to be a Hamas entity in the United States.

8. ISNA and NAIT are Hamas support entities.

9. ICNA is partnered with the Muslim American Society (MAS), and their training program to Muslims across North America includes the call to “wage war” against all systems of government not under Islamic rule, and calls Muslims to “hate and despise” all un-Islamic governments, among other things.

10. “Islamic Societies” and “Islamic Centers” across North America are controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, meaning along with the mosques, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups, for-profit businesses, and the covert organizations controlled by the MB, the Muslim Brotherhood has thousands of entities in the U.S. at all levels of society working daily to bring Islamic law and Islamic rule to the United States." (Bold type added for emphasis. - CAA.)

Now, you may choose to disbelieve, but remember the provenance of this information. In my academic research (and that paper garnered an "A," by the way*). I've had occasion to read some of the documents which were entered into evidence in the Holy Land Foundation trial. They're acessable on the internet without a great deal of searching.

"What is most disturbing from this factual information is that federal agencies charged with the security of the United States, as well as state and local law enforcement organizations, have primarily worked with ISNA, CAIR, MSA, MAS or other hostile organization over the years – and continue to do so today. This creates a significant legal and practical danger to American citizens when the very agencies sworn to “protect and defend” are taking their advice from an enemy – the Muslim Brotherhood / Hamas / Al Qaeda – who has made their violent objectives crystal clear to anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear."

This is one of the reasons I find it hard to take a lot of our "homeland security" efforts very seriously.

Be sure to read the final paragraph.

_____
* In the course of some of my academic work, I made it a point of putting the academic integrity of my instructors to the test, by submitting well written, assiduously documented, and painstakingly reasoned research papers leading to quite politically incorrect conclusions.

To their credit, not a single professor ever downchecked me on the basis of their personal leanings. I was very impressed.

IHT - American seeks return of abducted sons

From my archive of press clippings:

International Herald Tribune

American seeks return of abducted sons

Published: June 13, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland: When the mother of Michael Shannon's two sons abducted them and hustled them out of the country to Egypt, she accomplished two things: turning the boys against their father and guaranteeing he wouldn't stop trying to get them back.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"And he hasn't. He sought recourse with the police, the courts, even the State Department, winning victories small and large along the way.

But what's a father to do when a foreign country refuses to recognize international child custody laws?

When his own government has no leverage to force the children's return or prevent them from being spirited to yet another country?"

A clarification: there's no such thing as international child custody laws, just as Amb. Bolton famously said about the United Nations.

Despite what international lawyers would have you believe, there really isn't any such thing as international law either, although (not unlike the belief in God) even its unbelievers often find it practical to act as if they believe it does.

There is an international convention, the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, but just like every other sort of treaty, individual nation-states get to decide whether it's to their own benefit whether or not to sign it and ratify it. Some countries never will, and some that do have trouble with compliance.

"Shannon separated from his wife, Nermeen Khalifa, in January 2000, after nearly four years of marriage.

A Maryland court granted him custody of Adam, and Khalifa was granted custody of Jason.

Shannon had visitation rights with Jason, who was only months old, and was later given custody of him by a Maryland court.

In August 2001, Shannon let both sons go with Khalifa and her mother, Afaf N. Khalifa, to visit a cousin in New York.

But the boys were put on a plane to Egypt and when Shannon went to pick them up at the time they were due back in Maryland, he found an empty apartment."

"Aggressive assistance from Maryland authorities has yielded legal victories and Shannon's attorneys have even worked with international authorities to get the boys back.

But, he says, the State Department hasn't helped much.

He feels he's been met with indifference."

"The boys' maternal grandmother, who is the wife of a wealthy Egyptian businessman, was arrested that year while vacationing in California.

She stood trial in Maryland and was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for helping to abduct the boys.

She served about three years before being paroled."

"Police have issued a warrant for Shannon's ex-wife, who has dual U.S. and Egyptian citizenship."

"Since 1988, the government has opened files on more than 13,000 cases of international child abduction.

Parents can spend years trying to get them back, often with no luck."

&

"Egypt does not recognize the 1980 Hague Abduction Treaty, which includes about 80 countries that enforce child custody laws in the United States.

No Muslim countries recognize it"

To carry my earlier comments (see above) a little bit further, it's not a matter of Egypt recognizing the Hague Convention, it's a matter of them joining it as a multilateral agreement on how different countries will resolve these disputes and then actually complying with it. Egypt apparently doesn't see that the benefits to their country outweigh the perceived costs.