London Plotters and the New York Connection

A pair of interesting pieces in the New York Post this morning here and here detail how convicted London plotter Mohammed Junaid Babar grew up in the New York area yet never quite assimilated into American society and went on to join the murderous goons of al Qaeda. From the first link:

Babar's case yields numerous lessons:

* The U.S. Muslim community continues to shelter terrorists, and the time is past due for American Muslim leaders to conduct a thorough house-cleaning.

* In the globalized world, a conspirator in Queens may be a central player in deadly plans aimed at any country around the world.

* He found the New York Public Library extremely useful. In 2004, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey told the U.S. Senate that Babar used the NYPL's public computers. "We found out after we locked this guy up that he was going there because that library's hard drives were scrubbed after each user was done, and he was using that library to e-mail other al Qaeda associates around the world. He knew that that was a sanctuary."

Finally, realize that Babar was nabbed because the U.S. authorities were willing to patiently pursue the kinds of vague-seeming tips and slender information that critics of the War on Terror routinely dismiss. In anti-terrorism as in other crime-fighting efforts, the smallest clue may end up providing the biggest break.

The left in this country fight tooth and nail to prevent us from following leads or running surveillance operations. They'll never admit when they're wrong (which is usually all the time), but the fact this plot was uncovered using what were thought as innocuous clues should remind us all we must forever be vigilant in this fight for our survival.