Kentucky: Iraqi refugee convicted of terrorism trying to avoid life sentence

Lawyer says the FBI took advantage of “bigoted and susceptible immigrants.”

This is the latest on those Iraqi “refugees” who lied (can you believe it!) on their paperwork to get into the US and were subsequently convicted on terrorism charges in Bowling Green, the refugee chicken factory capital of Kentucky.  (We first reported on the arrests, here, in June 2011.)

Now, one of them is employing an unusual tactic to try to avoid a life sentence.

Read all about it in the Courier-Journal:

Hoping to avert a life sentence, one of two Iraqi refugees to be sentenced Tuesday in Kentucky for attempting to send weapons and cash to al-Qaeda alleges the government improperly schemed to get him a longer sentence.

A lawyer for Mohanad Shareef Hammadi cites a study of more than 500 terrorism prosecutions since 9/11 that found an FBI informant led more than one-third of the plots and provided all the necessary weapons, money and transportation.

In a sentencing memorandum, Hammadi’s appointed lawyer, James Earhart, says his client was unemployed and had no money, weapons or means of transporting them when he was recruited by a confidential government informant.

In the first terrorism case in Kentucky, Hammadi and Waad Ramadan Alwan are to be sentenced in Bowling Green by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Thomas B. Russell.

They both pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and lying about their backgrounds when they applied to be admitted into the United States as refugees.

They were arrested in May 2011 after they agreed to help a government informant load cash and weapons, including surface-to-air Stinger missiles, into a tractor-trailer, believing it was destined for al-Qaeda.

Alwan also pleaded guilty to attempting to kill to kill U.S. soldiers when he was an insurgent in Iraq.

The story is a long one, but please read the whole thing.

Fantasies of “bravado and bigotry.”

He [author of a report critical of the FBI—ed] says the government, understandably trying to protect Americans from terrorism, has found “bigoted and suggestible” immigrants who are incapable of committing terrorism on their own and created acts of terrorism out of their “fantasies of bravado and bigotry.”

But, wait!  What is this bigotry business.  Only white Americans are bigoted!  And, aren’t we supposed to believe that refugees like us and that they come here seeking an opportunity for a good life!

We have 556 previous posts on Iraqi refugees in case someone out there wants to write a book!

Washington is starting to get it: terrorists can get into US through refugee program

Editors note:   I’m going away for a few days and won’t be able to post, so LOL! you’ll get a little break from the bleak news about refugees gone wild.  If you have a story idea send me an e-mail and put ‘news tip’ in the subject line so I’ll see it as soon as I get back.

Now, here is some encouraging (well, sort of)  news from Judicial Watch in Washington, DC that maybe, just maybe! cases like the Iraqi refugee bomber in Arizona or the Somali jihadist in San Antonio, might actually be breaking through the political correctness shield that surrounds the three-decade old refugee resettlement program of the US State Department.

Here is Judicial Watch reporting on a Congressional hearing this week (emphasis mine)

Islamic terrorists—including two al Qaeda affiliates indicted last year in Kentucky—have entered the United States legally through a resettlement program that helps tens of thousands of “the world’s most vulnerable refugees” start a new life in America each year.

JW then goes into a discussion of how the program works.  For more on the Kentucky Iraqi terrorists which we have discussed ad nauseam here at RRW (no time for links, just type ‘Kentucky Iraqis’ into our search function.)

Now to the Congressional hearing:

In fiscal year 2011 Uncle Sam generously offered 56,424 persecuted foreigners refuge and in fiscal year 2012 the number increased to 58,236, according Barbara Strack, the Refugee Affairs Division Chief at USCIS. This week Strack testified at a congressional hearing, “Terrorist Exploitation of Refugee Programs,” that addressed the serious security vulnerabilities in her division. She told the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “has been working closely with interagency partners to improve, refine, and streamline the security vetting regime for refugee applicants and for other immigration categories.”

Last May two Iraqi nationals who were given refugee status under USRAP were arrested and federally indicted for plotting to send weapons and money to al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) as well as conspiracy to kill U.S. national abroad. The men, Waad Ramadan Alwan and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, lived in Kentucky and have pleaded guilty to the charges, which are outlined in this FBI document. They are scheduled to be sentenced early next year.

At this week’s hearing, the congressman who chairs the counterterrorism and intelligence committee revealed that the Kentucky case is not a fluke and that the “threat posed by refugees with ties to al Qaeda is much broader than was previously believed.” He reiterated the testimony of FBI Director Robert Mueller before a House Intelligence Committee last year, in which the FBI chief admitted ongoing concerns about individuals who may have been resettled here in the United States that have some association with al Qaeda in Iraq.

USRAP, which has helped relocate millions of refugees over the decades, has come under fire in recent years because it’s gotten too big and security measures are lax. A report released last year by a nonprofit that researches immigration matters says this is because the U.S. has lost control of the program, instead surrendering to U.N. policies to determine who’s admitted and because meaningful background checks are difficult to obtain for refugees admitted from countries without reliable government records.

As a result the program is a bloated disaster, admitting nearly three times the number of refugees as the rest of the developed world combined, the probe found. Additionally, the investigation found that “common criminals, war criminals, international fugitives, and terrorists have all used the USRAP and its related asylum provisions for entry into the United States.” Here is another interesting tidbit: “Bribery of U.N. officials is commonly reported among those attempting to secure refugee admission to the United States.”

Amazingly we have just had two cases in the last week to support the report’s claims.

Be sure to read Rep. Patrick Meehan’s (R-PA) testimony to the committee, here.