Lieberman Aims To Strip American-Born Terrorists Of Their Citizenship

Just days after a Pakistani-American named Faisal Shazhad was arrested for allegedly attempting to detonate a car bomb in New York’s Times Square, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) unveiled legislation aimed at preventing future American-born terrorists from traveling out of the country with the intent to return and wage attacks on U.S. soil.

The Terrorist Expatriation Act would update an existing federal law that strips U.S. citizens of their citizenship if they voluntarily perform one of several acts “with the intention of relinquishing United States nationality.” If adopted, the new law would authorize the State Department to “revoke the citizenship of a U.S. national who provides material support or resources to a Foreign Terrorist Organization, as designated by the Secretary of State, or who engages in or supports hostilities against the United States or its allies,” according to a summary of the bill released by Lieberman’s office.

“This proposal updates the existing law to include American citizens who are found to have joined and worked with a foreign terrorist organization whose aim is to attack and kill Americans,” said Lieberman to reporters. “Those who join such groups join our enemy and should be deprived of rights and privileges of U.S. citizenship and the ability to use their American passports as tools of terror.”

According to reports, Shazhad, who moved to the U.S. when he was 18 and became a citizen last year, has confessed to traveling to Pakistan for a period of several months last year, during which time he attending a terrorist training camp affiliated with the Taliban. He then used his passport to return to the U.S., and shortly thereafter purchased a vehicle along with a series of bomb-making materials, presumably with the intent of blowing up the vehicle. The SUV he purchased was found late Saturday night, rigged with explosives in the middle of Times Square. Shazhad nearly escaped, but was captured Monday night after he had boarded a plane that was 30 minutes from taking off to Dubai.

Though Lieberman said he was prompted to move on the bill by Shazhad's failed attack as well as the failed airline attack on Christmas Day, in which a Nigerian man aboard a flight headed for Detroit attempted to detonate an explosive he had hidden in his pants during the plane's descent, the Senator said the new law would not apply to terror suspects like Shazhad because he was captured on U.S. soil.

'Terror Gap' Allows Terrorists To Purchase Guns, Explosives

By Benny Martinez
University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee today that there are loopholes in the United States’ current gun laws that allow known and suspected terrorists to legally purchase guns and explosives.

“To put it simply, right now the Federal Government cannot block the sale of explosives or firearms to someone because they are on the terrorist watch list,” Lautenberg said.

According to a statement released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), since 2004, terrorists attempted to purchase guns and explosives in the United States with a 91 percent success rate. Lautenberg said that these figures are perfect examples of how the “Terror Gap” is being exploited in this country.

The Senator has introduced new legislation that would close this loophole in the U.S. by giving the Attorney General the authority to stop the sale or transfer of guns or explosives to terrorists. In an effort to protect America’s right to bear arms, Lautenberg said that in this new legislation, a gun holder who disagrees with the Attorney General’s finding has the power to challenge the ruling.

“This commonsense legislation is not anti-gun, it’s anti-terrorism,” he sad.

In light of Saturday’s incident where an SUV loaded with flammables and explosive material was abandoned in Times Square, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was invited to the hearing and testified in support of the new legislation.

“At a time when the threat of terrorism is still very real...it is imperative that Congress close this terror gap in our gun laws, and close it quickly,” he said.

Similar legislation is currently being drafted on the House side.

Bloomberg Speculates Times Square Bomber Was Protesting Healthcare Law

Hours before U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrest of a Pakistani-American suspected of being involved with an attempt to detonate a car bomb in the middle of New York’s Times Square, the city’s Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, told CBS News anchor Katie Couric that the alleged attacker may have been trying to make a political statement.

Couric interviewed Bloomberg to discuss the possibility that the failed attack might have been a precursor to something bigger and potentially, more deadly. At one point, the veteran anchor asked the Mayor whether or not he thought the suspect was American.

“A home-grown?” she asked, to which Bloomberg responded, “Home-grown, maybe a mentally deranged person or somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something. It could be anything.”

Technically, Bloomberg was right about one thing. It is now known that the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, 30, was born in Pakistan, but had lived in the U.S. for a number of years. He had a home in Bridgeport, Connecticut and was granted American citizenship last year. It is also known that Shahzad traveled to the Peshawar region of Pakistan for a period of about five months last year.

Today, a law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told a reporter with Reuters that Shahzad, who appeared in federal court to face charges of "driving a car bomb into Times Square on the evening of May 1," claimed he acted alone. However, there are reports now that authorities in Pakistan say they’ve arrested a person they believe conspired with Shahzad to carry out the attack. This new revelation contradicts yet another statement Bloomberg made to Couric last night.

"There is no evidence here of a conspiracy,” he said. There is no evidence that it's tied in to anything else. It looks like an amatuerish job, done by at least one person.”