What does the First Amendment mean to you?

Not since 1971 have we seen the government so blatantly attack the freedom of the press. Working for local news organizations most of my life, I have a strong affiliation to the principles that should guide the news. I also hold in equal regard the freedoms that must be upheld for our democracy to flourish.

Who did it? That’s the question on most minds as the investigation into the terrorist slaughter of three people and the maiming of nearly 200 in Boston on Monday continues.

On Wednesday afternoon we had to suffer through one of the worst failings of the media: false reporting. There has been an arrest, respected outlets such as CNN said. No there hasn’t, law enforcement authorities quickly responded.

Dear Editor:

The NRA really shot itself in the foot last Friday. CEO Wayne LaPierre’s proposal to turn our schools into free-fire zones qualifies him as certifiably insane. If he wants a national database for the mentally ill, his name should be the first one in it.

NRA stands for either Not Really Awake or Not Reality-Anchored. The Second Amendment is not a suicide pact. It was written when the only gun was a single-shot musket that had to be reloaded each time it was fired.

Gun violence kills 34 people every day. The NRA makes Hitler look like an under-achiever and is more dangerous than Al Qaeda. NRA RIP ASAP.

This year in Southeast Queens, there were plenty of highs and lows, accomplishments and disappointments, most involving crime and politics.

In an effort to curb violence, two gun buybacks were held, resulting in 564 weapons being taken off the street. But there were still several shootings, including a triple homicide involving an AK-47 and another in which a Nassau County cop was killed.

Bosnian born Queens terrorist Adis Medunjanin, 34, was sentenced to life in prison for multiple terrorism offenses, after the Flushing resident joined al Qaeda and then plotted and attempted suicide attacks.

Medunjanin and accomplices were days away from executing suicide bombings in the New York City subway system in September 2009, directed by senior al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. The plot was foiled, leading Medunjanin to crash his car on the Whitestone Expressway in a last-ditch suicide attack attempt.

Residents in the quiet Jamaica neighborhood where alleged terrorist Quazi Nafis lived were unwilling to talk about the foiled bank bomb plot when questioned by the Chronicle late Friday morning.

“I don’t know this guy,” said a man who lived next door, where an American flag is prominently displayed. “I don’t know anything. I don’t have time to comment on this.”

The FBI has arrested 21-year-old Jamaica resident Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis for his alleged role in a foiled plot to blow up the New York Federal Reserve Bank in downtown Manhattan.

Nafis, who is being charged with possessing a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to Al-Qaeda, was arrested on Wednesday in the culmination of an investigation by the FBI. He allegedly arrived in the U.S. from Bangladesh in January 2012 with the intent of forming an Al-Qaeda terrorist cell in New York. However, one of the men he tried to recruit was an FBI informant. Thus, NYPD, FBI and New York Joint Terrorism Task Force investigators were able to closely monitor Nafis’s movements in the U.S.

Dear Editor:

The 11th anniversary of the attacks occurs during the Presidential election of 2012. After years of bloodletting America remains in the cross hairs of terrorists with our troops fighting and dying in Afghanistan.

The persistence and dedication of our enemies is remarkable considering their losses. Their leadership has been decimated and their foot soldiers are killed or wounded daily. Their zealotry is that of a fanatic believing their cause is true based upon religious beliefs with their reward being paradise.

In the United States, acrimony and outright hatred between the parties dominate politics, the election process and Congress. The Administration is stymied by a Republican call to arms ensuring that “Obama is a one-term president.”

Democrats who held power failed to accomplish their goals during the first two years of the Obama Presidency. Their petty bickering demoralized the nation which empowered the Tea Party. The Tea Party extremes and the devastation of the economic collapse created the Occupy Wall Street movement.

One must concede that al-Qaeda and their affiliates are patriotic to their cause. As repulsive as their beliefs are they adamantly will continue fighting for years to come. Death and inability to succeed seem to mean nothing to those who believe God is on their side.

Our election process should have evolved to a discussion of what is best for the nation. Rather it is marked outwardly by rhetoric that comes down to questioning one’s patriotism and love of country. Until there is consensus that regardless of party affiliation opponents accept each other as firmly committed to the welfare of the Republic, the divisions that are ripping us apart will unfortunately continue.

Police stood guard in front of the Sikh Cultural Center on 97th Avenue in Richmond Hill Monday morning out of what they called "an abundance of caution," the day after a gunman open fire and killed six people at a gurdwara — a Sikh place of worship — outside Milwaukee, Wis. 

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) sees her run for Congress as a natural extension of her work on the City Council.

“You can accomplish the same things on a larger scale,” she said in a recent interview with the Chronicle’s editorial board. “You deal with education, Social Security, jobs, infrastructure.”

Adis Medunjanin, 34, who joined al Qaeda and plotted to commit a suicide terrorist attack, was found guilty of multiple federal terrorism offenses after a four-week trial, the government announced Tuesday.

The defendant and his accomplices came within days of executing a plot to conduct coordinated suicide bombings in the New York City subway system in September 2009, as directed by senior al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan, the prosecution said. When the plot was foiled, the defendant attempted to commit a terrorist attack by crashing his car on the Whitestone Expressway in an effort to kill himself and others.

BROOKLYN, NY—Earlier today, following a four-week trial, Adis Medunjanin, age 34, a Queens resident who joined al Qaeda and plotted to commit a suicide terrorist attack, was found guilty of multiple federal terrorism offenses. The defendant and his accomplices came within days of executing a plot to conduct coordinated suicide bombings in the New York City subway system in September 2009, as directed by senior al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. When the plot was foiled, the defendant attempted to commit a terrorist attack by crashing his car on the Whitestone Expressway in an effort to kill himself and others.

Ibrahim and his co-conspirators had planned to explode fuel tanks and the fuel pipeline underneath the airport, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.

U.S. District Court Judge Dora Irizarry, who sentenced Ibrahim, hailed the outcome as an example of how American courts and security work.

Ibrahim and his co-conspirators had planned to explode fuel tanks and the fuel pipeline underneath the airport, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.

U.S. District Court Judge Dora Irizarry, who sentenced Ibrahim, hailed the outcome as an example of how American courts and security work.

This month marks the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. Politicians have varying opinions on the conflict, often depending on party affiliation, but what about the people who have served in the fight against terrorism?

For the military personnel assigned to duty in Afghanistan, it’s not about how much money is being spent on the effort or when the war will end. It’s about their buddies who died in Taliban attacks and wondering if the troops will be going home for good or be deployed again in the seemingly never-ending war in a far-off country.

Samir Khan left few apparent traces of his life as a youth in Glendale.

Khan, 25, was the editor of an online English-language al Qaeda magazine that preached jihad and supported violence against Americans and American interests.

Ulrich on target

Dear Editor:

Firehouses saved

Dear Editor:

The main terrorism charges against two Whitestone men have been dropped by a Manhattan grand jury.

Ahmet Ferhani, 26, and Mohamed Mamdough, 20, pleaded not guilty on June 15 to charges that included possession of a weapon as a terror crime. But the grand jury rejected the top charge of conspiracy as a terror crime, which carries a possible life prison sentence. The lesser crimes could bring up to 32 years in prison if convicted.

   BROOKLYN, NY—Following a four-week jury trial, Kareem Ibrahim was convicted today in the Eastern District of New York of conspiring to attack John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, by exploding fuel tanks and the fuel pipeline under the airport. The defendant believed the attack would cause extensive damage to the airport and to the United States economy, as well as the loss of innocent lives. The defendant faces a sentence of up to life in prison. Sentencing has been scheduled for October 21, 2011.

   The convictions were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Janice K. Fedarcyk, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York.

   Two Queens men were arrested last week and charged with plotting to blow up synagogues in Manhattan. Ahmed Ferhani, 26, was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday. His alleged accomplice, Mohamed Mamdouh, 20, is scheduled to appear in court on June 2, according the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. They face life in prison, if convicted.

   During a seven-month undercover investigation by the NYPD Intelligence Division, Ferhani and Mamdouh, both of Whitestone, allegedly told an undercover officer how they had learned to make bombs and were planning to target Jews by blowing up Manhattan synagogues, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a press conference from City Hall last Thursday, where he was joined by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and Mayor Bloomberg.

   So it looks like President Obama can handle that 3 a.m. national security phone call after all. Not to mention handling the most important matters of America’s national security, period.

   Sunday’s killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was a major victory in the war against terrorism, one that finally brought a measure of justice to his many victims — nearly 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. And nearly 20 years since the first assault on the United States linked to bin Laden, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

   I love O’Neill’s

   Dear Editor:

   A cross made from steel beams from the World Trade Center was a focal point for visitors to Ground Zero in the days after Osama bin Laden’s death. Queens Sikh, Harpreet Toor, often faces discrimination by people who wrongfully associate him with Al Qaeda’s former leader due to his apparel.

   A cross made from steel beams from the World Trade Center was a focal point for visitors to Ground Zero in the days after Osama bin Laden’s death. Queens Sikh, Harpreet Toor, often faces discrimination by people who wrongfully associate him with Al Qaeda’s former leader due to his apparel.