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The '''mesomeric effect''' or '''resonance effect''' in [[chemistry]] is a property of [[substituent]]s or [[functional group]]s in a [[chemical compound]]. The effect is used in a qualitative way and describes the electron withdrawing or releasing properties of substituents based on relevant [[resonance structure]]s and is symbolized by the letter '''M'''. The mesomeric effect is negative ('''-M''') when the substituent is an electron-withdrawing group and the effect is positive ('''+M''') when based on resonance the substituent is an electron releasing group.
[[Image:Emerson Steve.jpg|right]]
'''Steven Emerson''' is an American print and television [[investigative journalism|investigative journalist]], [[terrorism]] and national security expert. He is a terrorism analyst for [[NBC]] and is widely regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on [[Islamism|Islamist]] financial networks and operational structures. He is known for having predicted, before [[September 11, 2001]], that Islamists would launch a major [[terrorist]] attack on [[U.S]]. soil, and for having warned the [[Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress]] in 1998 about the dangers posed by [[Osama bin Laden]].
*Examples of -M substituents: [[acetyl]] (UPAC ethanoyl) - [[nitrile]] - [[nitro]]
Emerson is the author of five books on terrorism and national security, and has devoted years to the study of [[Islamist terrorism]] and to cataloguing the presence of international terrorists in the U.S. and [[Canada]], work that has made him the victim of a sustained campaign of criticism from some Islamic and Islamist organizations, which has included at least one death threat.
*Examples of +M substituents: [[alcohol]] - [[amine]]
The net electron flow from or to the substituent is determined also by the [[inductive effect]]. It's important to note that the mesomeric effect as a result of p - orbital overlap (resonance) has absolutely no effect on this inductive effect, as the inductive effect is purely to do with the [[electronegativity]] of the atoms and their structural chemistry (which atoms are connected to which).
He is also the founder and executive director of the Investigative Project, one of the world's largest intelligence archives on Islamist and Middle Eastern terrorist and militant groups. [http://www.investigativeproject.net] He started the Project in 1995, after the broadcast on the U.S. [[Public Broadcasting Service]] of his documentary ''Jihad in America'', which exposed the clandestine operations of Islamist groups in the U.S., and for which he received the George Polk Award for best television documentary, and the top prize for best investigative report from the Investigative Reporters and Editors Organization (IRE). Nearly all the U.S.-based Islamist militants Emerson identified in 1994 have been indicted, prosecuted or deported since the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]]. [http://www.harrywalker.com/speakers_template.cfm?Spea_ID=262]
The concepts of mesomeric effect, '''mesomerism''' and '''mesomer''' were introduced by [[Christopher Kelk Ingold|Ingold]] in 1938 as an alternative to the [[Linus Pauling|Pauling's]] synonymous concept of [[resonance effect|resonance]] <ref>''If It's Resonance, What Is Resonating?'' Kerber, Robert C. . J. Chem. Educ. '''2006''' 83 223. [http://www.jce.divched.org/Journal/Issues/2006/Feb/abs223.html Abstract]</ref>. Mesomerism is in this context is often encountered in German and French literature but in English literature the term resonance dominates.
Since September 2001, Emerson has testified before [[Congress of the United States|Congress]] dozens of times on terrorist funding and on the operational structures of [[al-Qaeda]], [[Hamas]], [[Hezbollah]] and [[Islamic Jihad]].
== External links==
Richard Clarke, the former head of counter-terrorism for the [[National Security Council]], said of Emerson: "I think of Steve as the [[Paul Revere]] of terrorism . . . We'd always learn things [from him] we weren’t hearing from the FBI or CIA, things which almost always proved to be true," (''Brown Alumni Magazine'', November-December 2002).
* IUPAC [[Gold Book]] [http://www.iupac.org/goldbook/M03844.pdf definition]
== See also ==
Because of the possibility of reprisals from Islamist groups, Emerson now lives undercover in the United States.
* [[List of publications in chemistry#Organic chemistry|Important publications in organic chemistry]]
==Criticism of Emerson==
<references />
A number of groups have been critical of the way Emerson gathers and uses information. In a 1999 article for ''Extra!'', which is published by [[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting|Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting]] (FAIR) [http://www.fair.org/whats-fair.html], a progressive media watchdog, John F. Sugg of the [[Tampa Bay]] newspaper ''Weekly Planet'' charges that Emerson's priority is "not so much news as it is an unrelenting attack against [[Arab]]s and [[Muslim]]s. [http://www.fair.org/extra/9901/emerson.html]
[[Category: JournalistsChemical bonding]] ▼Sugg claims that Emerson was behind a story in ''[[The Observer]]'' on June 28, 1998 headlined "Pakistan was planning nuclear first strike against India." The source for the story, Sugg writes, was interviewed by U.S. nuclear physicists and turned out to be a fraud, yet Emerson had telephoned a number of news outlets to alert them to the story, says Sugg, which gave it an authority it did not deserve.
[[de:Mesomerer Effekt]]
Sugg also claims Emerson may have taken some sections of his 1990 book, ''The Fall of Pan Am 103'' from reports that had previously appeared in the ''Post-Standard'' newspaper of [[Syracuse]], [[New York]]. Sugg quotes a ''[[New York Times]]'' review of Emerson's 1991 book ''Terrorist'' saying it was "marred by factual errors . . . and by a pervasive anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias." Emerson's documentary "Jihad in America" was, writes Suggs, "faulted for bigotry and misrepresentations," including by reporter Robert Friedman in ''[[The Nation]]'' which, on May 15, 1995, accused Emerson of "creating mass hysteria against American Arabs."
Emerson's "most notorious gaffe," writes Suggs, was his claim on ''[[CBS News]]'' that the 1995 [[Oklahoma City bombing]] showed "a Middle Eastern trait" because it was carried out "with the intent to inflict as many casualties as possible." Afterwards, Emerson's CBS contract expired and wasn't renewed, says Sugg. Emerson himself has written that CBS blacklisted him for five years. [http://iona.ghandchi.com/emerson.htm'
Sugg also quotes ''New York Times'' investigative reporter [[Seymour Hersh]], who says of Emerson, "He's poison."
In response to Sugg's article, the ''Journal of Counterterrorism and Security International,'' a publication Emerson has written for, issued a press release stating that it had "uncovered evidence that Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) together with Tampa Weekly Planet editor John Sugg and a radical Islamic group called the [[Council on American-Islamic Relations]] (CAIR) [http://www.cair-net.org] have collectively fabricated evidence in manufacturing a conspiracy against investigative journalist and terrorism expert Steven Emerson." The press release described FAIR as "an ultra-left wing group that has defended Iraqi dictator [[Saddam Hussein]], supported Islamic and Middle Eastern terrorists, and even promoted a known [[anti-Semitism|anti-Semite]]." The press release accused Sugg of having "falsely attributed quotes to people who never spoke to him," and of having "twisted the comments of the sources he claims to have interviewed." Sugg denied the charges. [http://www.fair.org/press-releases/emerson.html]
Emerson can be "his own worst enemy," according to journalist John Mintz. Mintz writes that: "''[[Miami Herald]]'' reporter Martin Merzer once called [Emerson] for comment on a case involving alleged terrorist sympathizers in [[Florida]], and said he had written an earlier piece on the controversy. He said Emerson replied: "What perspective did you take, that this is a brutal [[Zionism|Zionist]] plot against the weak, underprivileged Arab minority?" After sensing the new piece would be unflattering, Emerson sent a nasty letter about Merzer to his editor and local Jewish leaders.
"In 1998, Emerson heard a Muslim activist planned to leaflet against him at a New York speech of his. He dashed off a withering seven-page response, which included the false assertion that in the 1960s one of his critics, California journalist Reese Erlich, "was charged with conspiracy to carry out violence in support of the [[Black Panthers]]." Emerson apologized and paid Erlich $3,000," (''Washington Post'', November 14, 2001).
Jason Korsower, 29, a researcher for Emerson's Investigative Project, died — apparently in his sleep — in his Washington apartment on November 26, 2004. A graduate of [[Yeshiva University]], Korsower had served in the Israeli army and had previously worked for the U.S.-based Jewish Telegraphic Agency, who described him as "an expert on Muslim extremism who worked at a think tank researching terrorism." The FBI has refused to say whether they are investigating Korsower's death. [http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=4306]
[[Image:Americanjihad.jpg|frame]]
*[http://www.house.gov/judiciary/emer0125.htm Emerson's January 25, 2000 testimony to the House of Representatives' Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims]
*[http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/6453/emerson.html Emerson's February 24, 1998 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information, entitled "Foreign Terrorists in America"]
*[http://iona.ghandchi.com/emerson.htm ''How I made 'Jihad in America' and lived to tell about it"] by Steven Emerson, February 26, 2002
*[http://www.investigativeproject.net IP News Service website], a news service soon to be offered by Emerson's Investigative Project
*[http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=4306 Israeli Agent Found Dead in Washington, DC] ''National Vanguard'', December 8, 2004
*[http://www.fair.org/extra/9901/emerson.html Steven Emerson's Crusade] by John F. Sugg, ''Extra!'', Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, January-February 1999
*[http://www.cair-net.org/html/emerson.htm Who is Steven Emerson?], Council for Arab-American Relations, undated, retrieved on January 2, 2005
*[http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/01/19/bubba/index.html The prime-time smearing of Sami Al-Arian ] by By Eric Boehlert , ''Salon'', January 19, 2002
*[http://www.soundvision.com/info/terrorism/emerson.asp Criticism of Emerson in the news gathered on an Islamic website]
*''Brown Alumni Magazine'', November-December 2002
*John Mintz, ''The Washington Post'', November 14, 2001
*Robert Friedman, ''[[The Nation]]'', May 15, 1995
*Emerson, S. (2002), ''American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us'', Free Press; 2003 paperback edition, ISBN 0743234359
*Emerson, S. (1995), ''The worldwide Jihad movement: Militant Islam targets the West (Policy forum)'', Institute of the World Jewish Congress, ASIN B0006F8JCA
*Emerson, S. (1991), ''Terrorist: The Inside Story of the Highest-Ranking Iraqi Terrorist Ever to Defect to the West'', Random House; Villard paperback edition, ISBN 0679737014
*Emerson, S. and Duffy B., (1990), ''The Fall of Pan Am 103: Inside the Lockerbie Investigation'', Putnam, ISBN 0399135219
*Emerson, S. (1988), ''Secret Warriors: Inside the Covert Military Operations of the Reagan Era'', Putnam, ISBN 0399133607
*Emerson, S. (1985), ''The American House of Saud: The Secret Petrodollar Connection'', Franklin Watts, ISBN 0531097781
*Emerson, S. (1982), ''Dutton of Arabia'', ''New Republic'', ASIN B0006Y0BWM
▲[[Category:Journalists]]
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