CRITICAL REMINDER - AT 11:48 P.M. ET:  Terror expert Steve Emerson reminds us of a painful truth that came out of this week's bust of a terror group in New York - that the chaps learned their hatreds in prison.  We ignore this at our peril:

Amid all the shocking details in the disrupted plot to bomb Bronx synagogues and fire missiles at American military aircraft, one component of the case should come as no surprise - three of the alleged culprits converted to radical Islam in prison.

Radical Islamists have targeted prison populations for recruitment for years.

And...

In New York, the man who was the head Muslim chaplain for state prisons considered the 9/11 hijackers to be martyrs. Warith Deen Umar spent 20 years working with New York prisons, overseeing the hiring of Muslim chaplains and leading prayer services.

And...

That President Obama now wants to transfer hundreds of hardened jihadists into American prisons is a guarantee that they will serve as emissaries and proselytizers of jihad to the thousands of prisoners they are exposed to.

And...

The Guantanamo prisoners will be looked up as jihadi rock stars and each one could potentially produce a hundred new ticking time bombs ultimately walking the streets of America. Although the President tried to reassure us that no inmate has ever escaped from a super maximum security prison, what about the newly indoctrinated jihadists among the existing inmates who will be certainly released after their terms are up?

Finally...

Unless prison authorities start collecting intelligence on those in prison who belong to radical groups and who talk about carrying out violence once they get out, law enforcement is faced with a total blank slate, critically dependent upon confidential informants to help them thwart terrorist attacks.

COMMENT:  Nothing has been done to stop the infiltration of our prisons, and nothing probably will be done by this administration.  Any move would undoubtedly bring a flood of lawsuits by the ACLU, claiming violation of religious freedom.  We came close to paying a terrible price for our indifference this past week.  We may not be this lucky next time.

May 24, 2009