Easy to forget about homegrown terrorism

Even though President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have decided that it's politically incorrect to call it a War on Terror, American troops continue to pursue and attack al-Qaida and Taliban terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world while the FBI searches for terrorist "sleeper cells" in the U.S.

As mainstream media focus on so-called "overseas contingency operations," it's easy to overlook what's going on in communities throughout our nation. This issue came to my attention when I read a recent Seattle Times article about the upcoming New York federal court trial of an accused terrorist who's charged with trying to establish a jihad (holy war) training camp in southern Oregon. It's a fascinating story and a cautionary tale for the FBI and domestic law enforcement.

According to the Times, a Swedish jihadist named Oussama Kassir and Muslim convert James Ujaama (the former Jim Thompson, of Seattle), went to the small hamlet of Bly, Ore., 10 years ago to set up a terrorist training camp on U.S. territory.

They were allegedly following orders from Hamza al-Masri, a radical Islamic preacher and purported al-Qaida recruiter in London. Ujaama will be the key witness against Kassir when the latter goes to trial on 12 felony counts of offering material support to terrorists, conspiring to kill innocent civilians and providing information about chemical weapons to potential terrorists.

Apparently, Thompson/Ujaama converted to radical Islam after beginning a promising career as a community organizer and motivational speaker in Seattle in the 1990s. At one point, the Times noted, he "was honored by lawmakers in Washington and Nevada." Kassir's federal indictment asserts that Ujaama went to work for al-Masri at his London mosque, where he ran a virulently anti-American Web site called "Supporters of Shariah" (Islamic law).

FBI Director Robert Mueller believes that there may be as many as 100 al-Qaida sleeper cells in the United States, and that's why Congress and the Feds should strike a reasonable balance between national security concerns and the alleged "rights" of accused terrorists. I hasten to add that Ujaama, a U.S. citizen, enjoys full constitutional rights.

And that brings me to the touchy subject of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (i.e. torture). Veteran Washington Post correspondent Walter Pincus recently warned that a highly publicized investigation of those techniques would damage the CIA's ability to carry out its responsibilities.

"Today's atmosphere blurs not only the reality of the past (think 9/11), but infects what's going on now," Pincus wrote.

So in our haste to punish former officials who may have stepped over the torture line, let's also protect the CIA from those who are dedicated to the destruction of the agency.

- Guy W. Farmer, a semi-retired journalist and former U.S. diplomat, resides in Carson City.