In the absence of media coverage and in the quiet of virtually empty Dallas immigration courtrooms, a government effort was underway to remove more Holy Land Foundation supporters from the country After years of counter-terror investigations, indictments and, this year, winning convictions at trial, the U.S. government in North Texas is not finished with the Elashi family. The government … [Read more...] about Wives of Holy Land Foundation terrorists to be deported
Permanent Collections
Texas Muslims host Ayatollah Khomeini tribute attended by “mainstream” Muslim leaders
In 2004, a North Texas Muslim organization staged a fateful "tribute" conference honoring the life and works of the "Great Islamic Visionary" Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. One of the scheduled speakers, Mohamad Elibiari, became a prominent national security adviser who occupied the spotlight as a Muslim civil rights "spokesman" until journalist Patrick Poole saw this story and began reporting on … [Read more...] about Texas Muslims host Ayatollah Khomeini tribute attended by “mainstream” Muslim leaders
Texas Internet hosting companies profit from outlawed terrorist groups
Long before ISIS became infamous for its Internet exploitation, back in the mid 2000s, al-Qaeda in Iraq was caught using Texas server companies to incite and recruit. So was Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian leaders. This series explores the confounding legal issues that arise when American Internet companies are caught profiting from outlawed terrorist groups. Nov 14, 2004CBS-11 CARBONDALE, … [Read more...] about Texas Internet hosting companies profit from outlawed terrorist groups
SABBATH CANDLES GLOW AGAIN FOR JEWS IN SHANGHAI
By Todd Bensman, The Dallas Morning News, December 29, 2001 SHANGHAI, China -- Just before sundown one Friday, an ancient religious rite unfolded that had all but vanished from China five decades ago. About two dozen Jews and their bearded rabbi gathered in a plain conference room of a gleaming high-rise hotel, chatting amiably and waiting for the sun to drop the last little bit. Soon, the … [Read more...] about SABBATH CANDLES GLOW AGAIN FOR JEWS IN SHANGHAI
Forgotten Victims: African Tribe Wants Apology
From 1904 to 1915, the Kaiser's troops in Germany's then- Southwest Africa colony systematically exterminated as many as 80,000 members of the rebellious Herero Tribe. It was a scarcely known slaughter of Teutonic efficiency that produced forced labor camps, sex slaves and the first academic "studies" of supposed Aryan superiority, a prelude to the Jewish holocaust. Now the tribal remnant in north … [Read more...] about Forgotten Victims: African Tribe Wants Apology
Proposed Dam Threatens To Wash Out African Subsistence Tribe’s Way of Life
Economics is a modern term inconceivable to a people who still wear animal skins, till small plots of maize, grind millet daily, cook over open fires, and weave baskets. A proposed government dam project at the ancestral center of Himba life, Epupa Falls on the Cunane River threatens a place early explorers once called "The Land of the Red Women" Update: Nearly 18 years after this article was … [Read more...] about Proposed Dam Threatens To Wash Out African Subsistence Tribe’s Way of Life
Thousands Sold into Servitude in Lesotho as ‘Herder Boys’
An estimated 60,000 "herder boys" are trapped in an insidious form of indentured servitude virtually unnoticed by the outside world. Boys as young as 6 are forced to roam alone with their masters' cattle for months through the bleak highlands of this African kingdom. Their impoverished families hire away their boyhoods to wealthy cattle owners for food, a cash pittance or debt forgiveness. On … [Read more...] about Thousands Sold into Servitude in Lesotho as ‘Herder Boys’
Fidel Castro’s Africa
With more doctors per capita in the world, Cuba has deployed more than 1,000 physicians, dentists and psychiatrists to Angola and other African countries where leftist movements that Cuba once helped are now governments in power. The two dozen countries that Cuba is targeting include southern nations of particular strategic or economic value such as Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South … [Read more...] about Fidel Castro’s Africa
My War In Bosnia 1992-1993
This essay was originally published in The Arizona Republic after a return from nearly a year of covering the siege of Sarajevo and the war elsewhere in the Balkans at the height of hostilities. Includes previously unpublished photos from Bensman's private collection. Reflections on Homecoming By Todd BensmanSpecial to The Republic LATE ONE NIGHT NOT LONG AGO, some soldiers in the front … [Read more...] about My War In Bosnia 1992-1993
Balkan War and Peace
On background: I mounted my first reporting trip to the Balkans in March 1992 from my base in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where I had been covering the aftermath of the recently ended Cold War. Months of brutal civil war to the south in Croatia was wrapping up with a peace agreement, to be initially enforced Canadian troops under the United Nations banner. Opportunity was knocking. The Canadian Press … [Read more...] about Balkan War and Peace