Analysis: The spread of U.S. homegrown terrorism

By Paul Cruickshank and Nic Robertson, CNN

Why would an American, living the American dream, set out to attack the United States? Watch the special "AC360°" investigation "American al Qaeda," tonight at 10 ET on CNN. The full documentary airs on CNN Saturday and Sunday, May 15 and 16, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET.

(CNN) -- Nearly a decade ago, a group of Saudis and other men from the Middle East came to the United States to carry out the worst terrorist attack on the U.S.

Not a single one had American citizenship.

Almost nine years after the September 11 attacks, the threat of another major terror strike is still a concern, but where the threat is coming from has changed.

A growing number of American citizens and longtime residents of the United States are becoming radicalized enough by al Qaeda's extremist ideology to kill their fellow Americans, counterterrorism officials say.

A growing number are also learning the bomb-making skills necessary to become potentially dangerous terrorists, the officials say. They are training in the mountains of Waziristan in northwestern Pakistan, where al Qaeda still enjoys significant safety.

That's where, according to the U.S. government, alleged Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad was trained by the Pakistani Taliban, a group with close ties to al Qaeda.

Shahzad's case has strong similarities to that of another American who plotted with terrorist groups in Pakistan to attack the United States. His name is Bryant Neal Vinas, a Catholic convert to Islam from Long Island, New York, who became radicalized, traveled to Pakistan to join up with al Qaeda and helped Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization plot a bomb attack on New York City.

When news of Vinas' arrest broke last summer, family members, friends and terrorism experts where dumbfounded by how a studious, middle-class, baseball-loving, all-American kid and onetime U.S. Army recruit could end up plotting to kill in the name of al Qaeda.

CNN's investigation into Vinas has resulted in an intimate portrait of a homegrown terrorist, charting the disturbing story of a young American's obsessive quest to join al Qaeda.

Watch a preview of 'American al Qaeda' 

Vinas' case sheds significant light on why Shahzad and an increasing number of other young Americans have become seduced by al Qaeda's ideology.

Both Vinas and Shahzad were well-integrated into American life before becoming radicalized. Both traveled to the heart of al Qaeda's operational command in Pakistan's tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.

And both allegedly met with the most senior leaders of the Pakistani Taliban in the weeks before allegedly plotting against the United States.

"Bryant Neal Vinas is almost a poster child for the process, the unremarkable nature of the people who might go through this process and, frankly, the potential to link up to al Qaeda and the danger that presents," according to Mitch Silber, the director of intelligence analysis for the New York City Police Department.

Several top U.S. counterterrorism officials had the same message: Americans radicalized at home and trained in Pakistan represent a new and disturbing threat to the American homeland.

The changing face of terrorism

"In the 9/11 world and in the immediate aftermath, the theory was and the reality was that a terrorist attack, if it were to occur again on U.S. soil, would be someone coming from abroad and coming in to the United States," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said. "That paradigm has changed, and there are now individuals in the United States, some who have grown up here and are American citizens. ... They haven't done anything to violate the law, but yet they have become radicalized to the point of violent extremism and to the point of ... considering coming back to the homeland and conducting an attack of some sort".

In the last year, there have been 16 cases of Americans or American residents implicated in Islamist terrorism, a surge in such cases. The Times Square plot is case No. 17.

These cases include the plot last September by Denver taxi driver Najibullah Zazi to conduct multiple suicide bombings on subway cars in New York City, an al Qaeda plot described by U.S. officials as the most serious on U.S. soil since 9/11. Like Vinas and alleged Times Square bomber Shahzad, Zazi and two associates allegedly received terrorist training in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

"Radicalization is definitely on the rise in the United States," said Silber of the NYPD, adding that there's "a new wrinkle" to that radicalization: "For years, many of these people almost exclusively sought to fight overseas, [but] now, we're seeing individuals looking to target the United States itself".

Counterterrorism officials believe that interactive online social media sites and a new generation of charismatic English-speaking preachers have helped al Qaeda and other terrorist groups spread their ideology into the United States like never before.

But not only radical online preaching has caused increasing concerns. CNN investigations have revealed that radical preachers are attempting to spread al Qaeda's message on the streets of American cities, including even on Times Square in New York.

Two New York City-based groups -- The Islamic Thinkers Society and Revolution Muslim -- have come under particular scrutiny because of their attempts to spread al Qaeda's ideology in the United States.

CNN investigations have revealed that Vinas hung out in Islamic Thinkers Society circles in New York before leaving to fight jihad in Afghanistan. U.S. counterterrorism officials tell CNN they believe he was radicalized by spending time with the group.

While the Islamic Thinkers Society and Revolution Muslim have few full-time members and their public rallies are sometimes sparsely attended, they have thousands of followers online, many of them American. And counterterrorism officials believe they often organize meetings in private.

"In a sense, they are almost bug lights for aspiring jihadists," Silber said. "They've got an anti-Western, anti-democratic, anti-U.S., pro-al Qaeda message".

One of the followers of Revolution Muslim's website was "Jihad Jane," the avatar of Colleen LaRose, a Pennsylvanian woman charged in March for allegedly plotting to murder a Swedish cartoonist.

After the rally, Islamic Thinkers Society spokesman Abu Mujaddid said the group planned to step up its activities in New York and was successfully recruiting new followers.The Islamic Thinkers Society, like Revolution Muslim, is still active. Last month, outside the Israeli Consulate in New York, it protested U.S. support for Israel.

Mujaddid, who said he believed the United States was at war with Islam, refused to give his real name.

Breeding ground

While it is still unclear whether Shahzad had radical associates in the United States, U.S. counterterrorism officials are concerned that others like him may be being radicalized through personal contact with proselytizers.

Most serious plots directed at the West in the last six years saw plotters either trained or directed by established jihadist groups in Pakistan, according to a recent study conducted for the New American Foundation.

In recent months, videos have emerged purporting to show two Americans fighting with militants along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

One of the alleged Americans, going by the name Sayfullah Amriki, was featured with his face blurred in a video produced by the propaganda arm of the Islamic Jihad Union, an al Qaeda-affiliated Uzbek group.

In the video, Amriki said he was not the only American who had joined up with militants in the area. He also made a plea in English for new recruits to fight American forces in Afghanistan.

"We must rush to the lands to jihad. It is an obligation on us," he said. "How can we lose when we wish for death?"

But it's what happens when fighters like Amriki come home that most worries U.S. counterterrorism officials.

CNN

Nepal says to miss constitution deadline; crisis fears

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal will miss a deadline to prepare a new constitution, officials said on Wednesday, raising fears of fresh political tension in a country yet to fully emerge from years of a civil war that killed thousands.

Responding to the political situation, the U.N. Security Council agreed on Wednesday to a request from Kathmandu to keep its peace-monitoring mission in place there for four more months.

Instability in Nepal could have regional implications. It is strategically located between China and India and has abundant potential to generate hydroelectric power and supply water for millions of people, including in India.

A specially elected constituent assembly has until May 28 to complete the draft of the nascent Himalayan republic's first constitution, two years after it got rid of the monarchy.

But assembly chairman Subas Nemwang said the panel, dominated by the Maoist former rebels, still had a long list of chores and could take at least four months to complete the task.

"There are difficulties to meet the May 28 deadline. We don't have enough time to follow the procedures and rules," Nemwang told Reuters.

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal seeks to extend the deadline, saying "a situation has arisen under which the constitution cannot be made in time", his office said.

And the leader's immediate concern is to ease a political standoff with the Maoists, who demand his resignation to make way for them to head a unity government, a year after they quit.

But the support of the Maoists, who control 40 percent of the seats in parliament, is a must for any change in the schedule.

The Maoists have said an extension of the deadline will be "meaningless" until the prime minister resigns.

"This government is not keen in pursuing peace and on preparing a new constitution," Maoist chief Prachanda said at a meeting.

HARDENING POSITION

In a sign of a hardening position, a Maoist strike last week closed transports and businesses for six days to press for their demands.

Analysts said missing the constitution deadline would erode the credibility of political parties, with people seeing them let their desire for power take precedent.

The parties are yet to agree whether to adopt a presidential or British-type parliamentary system, and how to create federal provinces and split resources between them.

Maoists and mainstream political parties have so far also failed to agree on the fate of more than 19,000 former guerrillas confined to camps watched by international monitors. Their future is important to Nepal's stability.

Weekly Nepali Times analyst Prashant Jha said if political parties failed to reach a consensus and extend the deadline Nepal would be in for a "serious political and constitutional crisis".

"There will be political confrontation which will probably turn violent," Jha said.

In the last four years, political parties and the Maoists have together abolished the monarchy and turned the majority Hindu nation into a secular republic.

The government had urged the United Nations last week to extend its peace mission, called UNMIN, an indication the peace process would take time to conclude amid rising political tension.

The world body had hoped to start withdrawing the mission after its current mandate expires on Saturday.

But in response to the Nepalese request, a resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council extended UNMIN's stay until Sept. 15, but said it should start preparing to withdraw.

Under a 2006 deal that ended the civil war between the government and the Maoists, the 250-strong UNMIN has arms monitors at the camps for former Maoist fighters where weapons are stored and at a weapons storage site in a Nepal army barracks.

Wednesday's British-drafted resolution instructed UNMIN to "immediately begin to make the necessary arrangements for its withdrawal, including handing over any residual monitoring arrangements" by Sept. 15.

It called on Nepal's government and the Maoists "to agree and implement a timetabled action plan with clear benchmarks" to integrate and rehabilitate former Maoist fighters.

Additional reporting by Patrick Worsnip at the United Nations; Editing by Paul de Bendern and Jerry Norton

Reuters India

Police: Mother said she was ‘happy’ after son’s drowning

By Cara McCoy

A 22-year-old Las Vegas woman whose toddler son drowned in a poollast week told police she was “happy that he’s gone and don’t have to suffer anymore,” according to a Metro Police arrest report released Wednesday.

The boy, 2-year-old Geno Valerio, had diabetes and his mother, Mary Jane Lopez, was his primary caregiver, police said.

She was booked Tuesday into the Clark County Detention Center on a count of felony child neglect with substantial bodily harm resulting in death. The boy’s grandmother found him May 2 in the family’s pool.

Before police were called, Lopez said she and her mother sat in the living room and took turns holding the dead child while they discussed possibly disposing of the boy’s body without involving authorities, the police report said.

She said she told her mother, “I think it will be easier that I don’t have to worry about him any more, about him suffering from his diabetes and measuring his insulin,” investigators said in their report. She also reportedly told her mother “I’m happy he left us now and not when he got older,” the report stated.

Investigators interviewed the boy’s grandmother, who adamantly denied such a conversation took place. She said there was no delay between when the boy was found and when police were called.

According to the report, police responded to the home in the 4800 block of Santa Barbara Street, which is north of the Tropicana Avenue interchange at U.S. 95, after receiving a 911 call in which the caller stated, “I don’t need medical, I need the police to come, my grandson drowned,” the report stated. When the dispatcher asked where the child was, the caller responded, “in my arms, he’s dead,” and said the child had been underwater for about three hours.

The caller, later identified as the boy’s grandmother, is heard saying, “I can’t believe this, Mary Jane,” the report said.

Investigators responded to the home and pronounced the boy dead. They interviewed Lopez and the boy’s grandmother and grandfather, all of whom lived in the home along with Lopez’s three young children.

They determined the child had been unsupervised for about three hours, the report said.

The police report indicated Lopez told police she was angry with Geno’s father because he refused to come home and spend time with her and the children, so she went for a walk and left the children without informing the other adult in the home – her father – that she was leaving.

The boy apparently went outside through a sliding glass door that was left ajar, the police report said. She told investigators she knew the door was open when she left, the report said, and admitted the boy’s death was probably her fault because she should have been watching him, the report indicated.

The boy’s grandmother said no attempts to resuscitate the boy were made because his body was cold and his lips were purple, police said.

A Clark County Coroner’s Office spokeswoman said Wednesday that an official cause of death was still pending.

Lopez is also facing two counts of felony child neglect for her 1-year-old twins, who were also left unattended. Police said earlier this week that the two younger children were taken into the custody of Child Protective Services.

In April 2009, Child Protective Services began an investigation into the boy’s medical care after his parents were suspected of not caring for him properly. A nurse was hired to visit the family and teach childcare skills, authorities said, and the investigation was closed in June 2009.

Lopez is being held without bail. She is scheduled to appear before a judge Thursday.

Las Vegas Sun