Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT) today released an 8-minute online video clip describing a network of Islamic radicals operating in New England. The video focuses on the October arrest - and the response to that arrest - of a Sudbury, Massachusetts resident who the FBI charged with planning to machine gun shoppers in a New England mall.

"The arrest of Tarek Mehanna was shocking," said APT President, Dr. Charles Jacobs. "It occurred just two weeks before the murder of 13 Americans at Fort Hood.

Jacobs said "What is especially disheartening, given the historical moderation and success of Boston Muslims, is the current groundswell of support for Tarek within a segment of the Boston Muslim community and its virulent response to his arrest."

Jacobs said "our video offers a glimpse into a loosely-coordinated web of radical Islamic individuals and organizations based in New England with ties to Islamic terrorist groups overseas." He added, "what we're witnessing is the radicalization of the next generation of American Muslims."

The video shows how Islamic radicals have been using the Internet to organize thousands of supporters and raise money for Tarek - a man who the FBI alleges had enjoyed gloating over propaganda videos of Al Qaeda terrorists disemboweling and burning the bodies of American GIs in Iraq. (Tarek and his friends mockingly called these mutilations "Texas BBQs.")

Jacobs noted that Tarek's Internet support groups are rife with anti-American and anti-Semitic sloganeering ("Close Guantanamo - Re-open Auschwitz") and support for violence in the name of Islam.

Jacobs said the decision to release the film now was precipitated by a campaign launched by Tarek's supporters against Aloke Chakravarty, the assistant U.S. attorney in Boston responsible for Tarek's prosecution.

Jacobs said, "We learned from the Jihadist Fort Hood massacre that our political leadership class, blinded by political correctness, has failed to deal effectively with the threat of radical Islam to American society. It will take a grassroots effort to break the silence about this threat."

APT is working to organize such a movement in order to compel our failed leaders to protect our communities, and in order to support those officials like Mr. Chakravarty who are seeking to do justice in the face of intimidation.