Louisiana Voice

Already accused by a few letter writers of being anti-law enforcement, I’m probably not going to score many points with this post. In fact, I’ll probably be accused of being a jihadist.

But before I do, let me assure readers that I am firmly in favor of good, fair, even-handed law enforcement. Without law enforcement, there would be anarchy. Nothing we hold dear—our family, friends, possessions, homes, our very lives—would ever be considered safe.

And I’m Methodist.

So, no, I am not opposed to law enforcement to any degree. And unlike the occasional legislator who introduces some whacko anti-speed trap bill because he got pulled over in some hamlet while en route to conduct important state business, I’m not critical of State Police because I got a ticket I didn’t think I deserved (though I am disposed to run-on sentences). In fact, the last ticket I got was some 11 years ago—and it was from a local constable, not a State Trooper, for speeding. And you know what? I was speeding. And instead of calling the local mayor to get it fixed, I paid the fine.

But this column is not about State Police. And it certainly isn’t about me.

Instead, it’s about a guy named John Guandolo.

Never heard of him? Understandable. Let me enlighten you.

John Guandolo is a disgraced FBI agent who was fired after sleeping with a confidential source and then trying to keep it, well… confidential. Actually, Lori Mody was the FBI’s star witness in its case against then-Democratic Congressman William Jefferson.

Mody was wired to secretly record conversations with Jefferson and Guandolo was her handler—in more ways than one—who drove her to her meetings with the congressman.

After her meetings with Jefferson, at which Mody also delivered cash to him, she and Guandolo apparently would go undercover again—in a more literal sense.

His idiotic indiscretions nearly wrecked the government’s case against Jefferson who was ultimately convicted.

JAMES GILL wrote an interesting piece about Guandolo two years ago. He said Guandolo’s expertise was in counterterrorism, which made him an odd choice to become Mody’s handler.

It is his background, or perhaps more aptly, his obsession with Islamic terrorism, that brings us to report Guandolo’s whereabouts today.

He now runs an outfit called Understand the Threat (UTT, or more appropriately, UTTerly hysterical fear-mongering ) and goes around the country charging big bucks for folks to hear him expound on the threat of an Islamic attack looming behind every telephone pole in much the same manner as old Joe McCarthy made his name in the 1950s outing perceived communists from the State Department, Hollywood, newspapers and any other organization that caught his eye.

Just last week, Guandolo took his road show to HAMMOND in Tangipahoa Parish where he gave a closed-door presentation to prosecutors and law enforcement officials—probably consisting of a few deputies of Sheriff Daniel Edwards, Gov. John Bel Edwards’ brother. A few months before that, he was in St. Charles Parish spewing the same rhetoric.

That Guandolo is still able to train law enforcement officers following his breach of duty and ethics and his subsequent firing by the FBI should be a red flag for all law enforcement agencies and to those who elect them.

Nevertheless, his relentless pursuit of big bucks jihadists continues unabated.

Next week (Tuesday through Thursday, March 7-9) he will be at the historic Hotel Bentley in Alexandria, according to an ADVERTISEMENT in the Louisiana Tactical Police Officers’ Association (LTPOA), a little-known organization headquartered in Alexandria.

Frankly, the Bentley deserves better.

The three-day event “will blend overt anti-Muslim bigotry with tactics on investigating the alleged ‘jihadi’ and ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ threat in Louisiana.

(Odd that the Muslim Brotherhood should come up. Grover Norquist, author of that the infamous “no-new-tax” pledge that Bobby Jindal and half the Louisiana Legislature signed, is himself said to be a proponent of the Muslim Brotherhood. His wife is Islamic but no one has accused her—or Norquist—of sponsoring terrorism.)

Some of the scheduled highlights of the Rapides event include:

• Going over scenarios on how local law enforcement can “identify and pursue” so-called jihadis’ (sic) in local jurisdictions (you’d think whoever wrote this would learn to spell jihadist);
• Cover “training scenarios” on how to “investigate known Muslim Brotherhood entities in their areas;”
• Breaking off into “Investigative Teams” and running through “a number of training scenarios, discussions, and exercises” on how to “investigate known Muslim Brotherhood entities in their areas;”
• “Instruction on doctrinal Sharia (Islamic Law)” and “how jihadis (sic) use Sharia in furtherance of their operations;
• Run “through the process of building affidavits, discuss how to educate local city/district attorneys on this threat, and will be given resources to take with them to further their education.”

If you scroll down this SCHEDULE, you can see he goes all over the country spreading his venom and has even been shut down in a few of his appearances.

The Rapides Parish event will be the third UTT training seminar held in Louisiana in recent months. As mentioned earlier, it was the St. Charles Parish Sheriff hosting the event last September. Last week it was the Tangipahoa Parish District Attorney and next week the Rapides DA. The question is this: are the sessions are being held because Louisiana is a hot spot for Islamic terrorist activity or because Louisiana officials are just saps for giving taxpayer money to a fast-talking snake oil salesman?

The cost of this seminar is $12,500, according to Rapides DA Phillip Terrell. About 180 law enforcement officials are presently registered which equals less than $25 per officer per day for their training and education.

“We are surprised at the objections to this training seminar sponsored by the Rapides District Attorney’ Office,” Terrell said in defense of the expenditure to rid Central Louisiana of the radical Islamic scourge. “It is simply to educate our law enforcement community to the potential of terrorism faced by our nation. It is critical that we do everything in our power to protect our community from any threat whether it is drug dealing, violent crime or terrorism.

“If this training saves one Life, it is worth it,” he sniffed.

Hey, Mr. Terrell, it’s not so much the fact that you’re trying to keep local law enforcement types education to potential threats, even imaginary ones, if that’s how you want to run your office; it’s who you have chosen to do the educating.

The hatred of every conceivable minority that now infects this country is a festering wound that does not need to be exposed to the filth and contamination of the John Guandolo strain of bacteria. What he is selling is not a cure; it’s fear—a fear that focuses laser-sharp on only one target.

Yes, there is an immigration problem and yes, there are terrorists on the loose in this country. And while some may indeed be Islamic (Ft. Hood, Boston, Orlando, San Bernardino come to mind), more—many more—of those are of a lighter skin who profess a Protestant faith and who attack Jews, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, and yes, Islamics.

Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were not Islamic. Neither was Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. Nor is the KKK.

The Charleston church shootings, the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting, the Centennial Olympic Park bombing, last week’s shooting of two Indians, lynchings—all acts of terrorism carried out not by Islamics but by whites.

Attacking one perceived problem while ignoring the others is not a solution. To that end what Guandolo is selling is not productive or useful.

It’s exploitation, pure and simple—exploitation by a disgraced former member of the law enforcement community.

And he’s being aided and abetted by…the law enforcement community.

You can’t make this stuff up—(C.B. Forgotston)