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| Probe Fans Fears of Prison Terror Plots |
| By San Diego Union-Tribune |
| Published: 08/23/2005 |
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LOS ANGELES On the surface, the investigation of an alleged terrorism plot involving at least one former California inmate seems to confirm the fear that the nation's prisons may be a breeding ground for terrorists. Law enforcement officials here have said little about the investigation into potential terrorist targets such as Los Angeles-area National Guard centers and synagogues. Muslim leaders, as well as some academic experts on terrorism and Islam, question whether the fear of prison-bred terrorism is valid. "It's pretty doubtful that a sophisticated international terrorist organization is going to be using the good-old American prisons system to do recruiting," said Robert Dannin, a New York-based scholar. Officials acknowledged they are looking into whether the alleged plot, which also reportedly targeted an Israeli consulate, was organized by members of a militant Islamic group based at the California State Prison, Sacramento. Three Los Angeles-area men being investigated are in custody, including two arrested and charged in a string of gas station holdups. Levar Haney Washington, 25, was allegedly part of the prison group known as Jamiyyat Ul Islam Is Saheeh, or JIS, when he was incarcerated. Washington was arrested last month with Gregory Vernon Patterson, 21, and both are in custody at the Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles. Pakistani national Hammad Riaz Samana, 21, was arrested by federal authorities this month and faces charges that have been filed under seal. Also, two state prison inmates are being scrutinized as part of the investigation. The allegations seem to support comments that FBI Director Robert Mueller made to the Senate Intelligence Committee: "Prisons continue to be fertile ground for extremists who exploit both a prisoner's conversion to Islam while still in prison, as well as their socio-economic status and placement in the community upon their release." Fears that Islamic prison groups could foster terrorism have grown since the arrest in 2002 of Jose Padilla, a former Chicago street gang member and former convict who converted to Islam and a few years later allegedly attended an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. Padilla is in jail, accused of plotting to create a crude radioactive device, or "dirty bomb." "The prisons are a breeding ground for drugs, for violence, for rape, for gangs, for everything," said Maher Hathout, a senior adviser to the Muslim Public Affairs Council. "There should not be hysteria or fear because we're dealing with that ghost named Islam." Dannin said the cases often cited by public officials and terrorism experts as proof of possible Islamic proselytizing in prison are incorrect. Padilla did not convert to Islam while in prison, but discovered the religion while living in Florida and working at a Taco Bell, he said. |
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