KT McFarland in the Media

DEFCON 3 by KT - Pakistan is the Key

KT on The Live Desk with Martha MacCallum - Pakistan and Afghan bombings 10/28/09 (FOX News)

KT on Studio B with Shepard Smith - President Obama's Afghan War options 10/26/09 (FOX News)

KT's op/ed for FOX Forum - Afghanistan Matters Because of Pakistan

Islamic Terrorists Converts of the Prison System

By Brigitte Gabriel

The latest arrests and killing of the imam in Detroit is the latest alarming example of homegrown terrorism and its spread across America especially in the prison system. All of the followers of Imam Abdullah were African American felons converted in the prison system including him.

Terrorist organizations working with Wahabbi imams in America are actively and rapidly recruiting out of our prison system through the African American community. When these felons leave prison, they are becoming recruiters themselves within the inner cities radicalizing their fellow gang members and families.

Of the almost fifty home grown Islamic terrorists who have been arrested in the last seven months, they are either born into the Islamic faith or have converted to Islam in the prison system. The majority of the converts are African Americans.

Imam Abdullah used his mosque as a weapons training and shooting range to commit terror acts against America and work with like-minded Islamic organizations to establish an Islamic government in the United States.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a front group for Islamic terrorist organizations in America, came out in defense of the Imam and his mosque.

Obama in No Rush on Afghanistan, Giving Islamism a Head Start

By Roger Hedgecock

After 9/11, the nation's heart was ripped nearly in two, and sons and daughters were shipped off to foreign battlefields to confront the brutal killer: Islamism. To this day, nearly 800 American heroes have made the ultimate sacrifice on the battlefields of Afghanistan in the name of liberty. But while those heroes toil and die as their president fiddles, our enemies here at home in states like Massachusetts plot to kill.

The latest incarnation is Tarik Mehanna, an Islamist who planned to attack "soft target" shopping malls with machine guns. Tarik is no stranger to law enforcement. He had been monitored by the FBI since 2001 as he and an associate James Maldonado traveled abroad to receive jihadi training. Maldonado is widely suspected to have been involved in Yemen and Somalia, with Tarik being focused on the Middle East. To hear Tarik tell it, he is just like any other American, except that his computer contained videos of American soldiers being cut down by IEDs and their body desecrated and defiled after death by the jihadi "warriors." Tarik Mehanna had been brought in for questioning by the FBI about Maldonado. In November 2008 he was charged with lying to the FBI. He still faces that charge.

Muslim Matters, a defender of the oppressed members of the religion of peace, immediately sprang into action, defending this righteous Muslim being attacked by the Kafir. Muslim Matters no doubt learned these tactics from the Council of American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, who, according to the book "Muslim Mafia" has made an art form of lying to protect terrorists.
On Wednesday last week, Mehanna was picked up again by the FBI, this time for plotting those attacks on shopping malls with machine guns. Tarik is an American citizen, just like Najibullah Zazi in Queens, N.Y. [more...]

Terrorism Update

By Brigitte Gabriel

The recent arrest of Tarek Mehanna in Massachusetts plotting to kill innocent Americans at shopping malls brings the number of home grown terrorists to 47 arrested in the last 7 months. This rise of home grown jihadists and arrests has forced even Janet Napolitano the Chief of the Department of Homeland Security to admit that terror cells operate all over America today.

While the economy and then health care has moved the issue of national security to the back burner in the minds of Americans, terrorists continued operating full steam.

Here is a list of city where terrorist cells are operating and monitored by the FBI:

Lackawanna, NY - Rochester, NY - Hancock, NY - New York City - Boston - Cleveland - Cherry Hill, NY - Detroit - Columbus, OH - Dearborn, MI - Toledo, OH - Milwaukee - Chicago - Indianapolis - Columbia, MO - Rockford, IL - Charlotte, NC - Memphis - Minneapolis - Kansas city, MO - Denver - Portland, OR - Bly, OR - San Francisco - Santa Clara, CA - Lodi, CA - Los Angeles - San Pedro, CA - San Diego - Tuscon, AZ - Phoenix - Oklahoma city - Fayetteville, AR - Ruston, LA - Arlington, TX - Dallas, Houston - New Orleans - Oxford, MS - Rome, GA - Orlando, FL - Tampa, FL - Boca Raton - Ft Lauderdale, FL - Miami - Atlanta - Raleigh, NC - Washington DC.

Islamic cells are recruiting from the American public and brainwashing them to wage Jihad against Americans. Al-Qaida is actively trying to recruit Americans and even facilitating for those who are trusted and worthy to go train in training camps in Afganistan.

Khamenei’s Demise?

By Ryan Mauro

The Obama Administration may have found its breakthrough in dealing with Iran, but not through its diplomatic engagement. Rumors are spreading in and outside of Iran that Supreme Leader Khamenei, who at 70 years old has been known to be in poor health, is in a coma or dead. The regime denies this, but has failed to offer any proof that he is alive. Khamenei may ultimately prove to be alive, but it is clear something happened to him and his near-term fate is uncertain. The rumors that Khamenei was in a coma began to quickly spread after prominent Iran expert, Michael Ledeen, wrote on his blog on October 13 that an “excellent” source “who is in a position to know such things” had informed him that Khamenei had fallen into a coma on October 13, his health was deteriorating, and could die. His report was picked up by prominent news outlets, even though Ledeen says that a left-wing Iranian website was the first to report on Khamenei’s condition. [more...]

Al Qaida Prepares to Attack Obama's America

By Roger Hedgecock

After the attacks of 9/11/01 George Bush batted .1000: we were not hit again on American soil. Why aren't the terrorists responding to Obama's repeated peace gestures and preparing more attacks against us? What if President Obama's pledged outreach to the Taliban is mistaken by our enemies as a sign of weakness? What if that extension is met with al-Qaida's still clenched fist? We don't have to wonder 'what if?' We have to wonder, 'when?' Terror cells operate all over America today. So said Department of Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano this week. Recent FBI arrests indicate she's right - and, while the FBI is doing heroic work, little is being done by DHS to stop terrorists from coming to America to plot to kill Americans. [more...]

Time for a Hail Mary On Iran

By KT McFarland

Diplomacy without leverage isn’t negotiating, it’s begging. And with Iran standing at the threshold of nuclear weapons, begging is NOT the right strategy.

Iran’s nuclear game is in the final quarter, they’re ahead and they’re playing out the clock. If they can string us along with diplomacy for a few more months, and forestall sanctions, they’ll be the first Muslim country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons.

At this point, is there any way to stop Iran short of bombing? Maybe.

Sanctions, with Russian and Chinese cooperation, might be enough to convince the Mullahs to drop their nuclear weapons program, or encourage the growing dissident movement to force a change of government.

It’s a Hail Mary pass, but we should give it a try – because the only remaining options – bombing Iran or letting Iran get the bomb – would be catastrophic. But the sanctions must be crippling, designed to bring Iran’s economy to an immediate and screeching halt, and they must be imposed now.

If we wait to start sanctions at some vague point in the future AFTER we’ve exhausted diplomacy – the Iranians will make sure negotiations don’t fail but they’ll make sure negotiations don’t succeed either.-- They, like the North Koreans, will keep the West's hope of diplomacy alive right up to the point when they declare BINGO we’ve got the bomb!

Getting Russia and China to cooperate won’t be easy, of course. Russia sells Iran military equipment and China buys their oil, and neither feel directly threatened by a nuclear Iran.

Russia might have been more willing to help out, had we held out the missile shield as a quid pro quo. But President Obama cancelled it recently, hoping that his goodwill gesture would encourage Russia to ‘reset’ relations with us.--Instead it’s got them laughing behind our backs. We’ve thrown away our best bargaining chip and gotten nothing in return.

Now the Russians see very little between them and their dream world-- high oil prices and no competition – which is exactly what will happen if Israel concludes it has no choice but to attack Iran. A military conflict would also likely turn into a larger regional conflict as Iran retaliates by mining the Strait of Hormuz-- the chokepoint for Arab oil-- and unleashes Hezbollah and Hamas on Israel and awakens sleeper cells around the world.

But the United States and hopefully Germany, France and the United Kingdom, should move ahead with banking and financial sanctions even if we have to do it alone. We can give companies a choice-- do business with Iran or with us-- but not both.

President Obama has put great store in diplomacy and his personal ability to get negotiations going. But diplomacy without leverage isn’t negotiating, it’s begging. And with Iran standing at the threshold of nuclear weapons, begging is NOT the right strategy.

Kathleen Troia "K.T." McFarland served in national security posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. She is a frequent contributor to the FOX Forum and FoxNews.com's "Strategy Room." She also appears weekly in the Foxnews.com video blog "DefCon3."

Democrats Display Recklessness on Patriot Act

By Ronald Kessler

In large part because of the enactment of the USA Patriot Act, we have not had a successful terrorist attack since 9/11. But with key provisions of the act set to expire, Democrats are seeking to weaken the law under the guise of protecting civil liberties.

The Patriot Act removed the wall - real and imagined - between criminal investigations and intelligence gathering so that leads could be shared between agencies and within them. Before the law was passed, an FBI agent following intelligence leads could not share his knowledge with other agents working the same case on the same squad if those agents were pursuing a criminal case.

The Patriot Act allowed the FBI to wiretap a terrorist regardless of what phone he used. Incredibly, before passage of the Patriot Act, the FBI could employ what are known as roving wiretaps in organized crime or drug trafficking cases, but it could not use them in terrorism cases.

Before passage of the Patriot Act, if a terrorist switched from a home phone to a disposable cell phone or a pay phone, the FBI would have to reapply for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) order, a process that took weeks. In the meantime, the terrorist likely would have changed phones.

Since each roving wiretap has to be approved by a judge, there is no more question of infringing on civil liberties than when a judge approves a search of the house of a suspected child molester. It is a question of making it at least as easy for the FBI to do its job as it is for a terrorist to do his. [more...]

The Inevitable Victory Over Iran

By Ryan Mauro

Iran has admitted to the existence of a second uranium enrichment site that can house 3,000 centrifuges, enough for a nuclear weapon but not enough for nuclear power. This comes three months after Ahmadinejad held a meeting in Qom where he told high-level officials that a “new revolution” has begun, since Iran has been acting more aggressively. While the crisis with Iran is getting more frightening and has the potential to cause incalculable damage, there is a reason for optimism: Over the long-term, the regime cannot survive. Between 60 and 70 percent of the population is under the age of 30, helping to create a population opposed to the theocratic rule of Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad. The regime’s unpopularity with the large majority of the population became evident after the fraudulent presidential elections of June 12 when millions of Iranians protested in the streets. Demonstrations demanding democracy and civil rights continue to be a daily occurrence. [more...]

FBI, CIA Successes Go Unsung by Obama

By Ronald Kessler

In the past several weeks, both the FBI and CIA have scored startling successes, but you would never know it by listening to President Barack Obama. The FBI arrested five men in separate alleged plots to blow up federal buildings or subways, attack Americans, and create mass destruction. All the plotters shared allegiance to radical jihad and devotion to al-Qaida. The CIA, meanwhile, pinpointed an underground uranium enrichment facility Iran has been secretly building. Along with much of the media, Obama has made a career of bashing the CIA and second-guessing interrogations that led to the roll-up of plots that would have killed thousands of Americans. Eric Holder Jr., Obama's attorney general, has decided to reopen criminal investigations of CIA officials involved in the interrogations, sending a message to CIA officers that they may suffer consequences if they take risks to uncover new terrorist plots. According to the Washington Post, before he decided to reopen the cases, "Holder did not read detailed memos that prosecutors drafted and placed in files to explain their decision to decline prosecutions." [more...]

Juan Cole Gives Iran the Benefit of the Doubt

By Ryan Mauro

Reputed Mideast expert Juan Cole didn't trust President Bush for a minute - but he takes the mullahs at their word.

Intellectually grappling with a man of University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole's knowledge base is an intimidating task, but an appearance he made on MSNBC on September 19 cannot go unchallenged. Cole, in remarkable fashion, downplayed the threat from Iran's nuclear program and gave the regime a benefit of the doubt that he never gave the Bush administration and the dreaded neoconservatives. "I think American intelligence has a very good idea of what's going on [in Iran]," he said. "It seems clear that they are not pursuing a nuclear weapon, but they are pursuing the capability to close the fuel cycle, which means that in the future, if they change their mind, they could start up a weapons program." [more...]