One More Powerful Weapon in the Jihadi Arsenal

Steven Senne/AP Photo

Immediately after the bombings of the London subway system in July 2005, British law enforcement authorities suspected a second bombing wave was coming. They suspected right. When they moved in to the area where the second wave suspects were thought to be hiding, the terrorists came running out with their hands up. They shouted, "We have rights, We have rights!"

Islamists often infiltrate Western societies, using the full array of rights and freedoms at their disposal to undermine those very rights and freedoms. As a result, most of them know our laws, our civil liberties,---our countries---better than we do. And they use that knowledge to full, devastating effect.

There seems to be a trend by the Islamists to work toward and gain citizenship. Major Nidal Malik Hasan was an American citizen and an officer in the U.S. Army, so when he became a full-blown Islamic radical bent on carrying out jihad, most in positions of authority looked the other way despite red flags flying all over the place. The Muslim garb? The speeches full of jihadi and anti-American rhetoric? The business cards that said, "Soldier of Allah?" Not THIS guy! THIS guy wouldn't betray his country.

He went on to kill 13 people and wound 29 others in a mass shooting at Fort Hood.

Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani, became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He went on to drive an SUV into Times Square loaded with explosives, and if not for great police work and attentive passers-by, would have proceeded to blow up the Crossroads of the World in New York and kill and maim countless people. He was captured and is now in the criminal justice system as a U.S. citizen.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev claimed not to have any American friends and is now suspected of the murder of one of the few he had in 2011. His application for U.S. citizenship was pending, despite being flagged as a radical Islamist by Russian intelligence, a visit and interrogation by the FBI, a six month-trip to Russia last year, during which he allegedly made visits to the terror hotbeds of Chechnya and Dagestan to meet with Islamist terrorist leaders, followed by yet another appeal by Russia last November to watch him more closely, and having personal social media sites overrun with jihadi and anti-American videos and material. His surviving brother-in-terrorist-arms, Dzhokhar, had already acquired U.S. citizenship, and now enjoys all of the rights and privileges allowed to him.

Islamists come to the West or turn once here, and use our rights, our laws, and our openness against us. They know how to do it, and they do it really well. Citizenship allows them to move in and out of the country and about the country undetected and without raising suspicion. It allows them to appear assimilated, "one of us." It allows them to plan and even carry out plots without ringing alarm bells, at least not right away. And if those attacks do not involve suicide missions, their citizenship affords them the whole array of Constitutional protections when they are caught (ie., Shahzad

and Tsarnaev.)

They know this. And they are increasingly using it to their advantage. In the words of the second wave Islamic bombers in London: "We have rights!" Once they become citizens, they do. And that becomes one more powerful weapon in their jihadi arsenal.