Portland Christmas tree lighting jihadist caught on video: “You know what the whole West thing is? They want to insult our religion.”
Yes, but the learned analysts know that he did it because his parents got divorced. “Video Gives Glimpse Into Terror Suspect’s Beliefs: FOX 12 Obtains Exclusive Video Of Mohamed Mohamud,” from FOX12 (KPTV.com), December 1 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
PORTLAND, Ore. — A source tells KPTV this video of Mohamed Mohamud was recorded on an iPhone on May 22 inside an Oregon State University dorm room.
We don’t know much about why this recording was made, but the source says it was taken following a confrontation.
From the video:
“He wants a fight. That’s what he wants, and he’s trying to do….You know what the whole West thing is? They want to insult our religion. They want to take our lands. They want to rape our women while we’re bowing down to them. This is what they want. This country and Europe and all those countries, that’s all they want. They want Muslims to -”
The recording appears to be edited, and we don’t know what led up to the recording or who he’s talking about.
Again, from the video:
“If I met him, I would get five, six Muslims, beat the (expletive) out of him. That’s something I have zero tolerance for. When it comes to our prophet, nobody can say anything. They’re calling it freedom of speech. It’s not freedom of speech. They’re doing it.”…
Pakistani jihadist groups issue death fatwa for country’s Minister for Religious Minorities
Shabhaz Bhatti, a Christian, has spoken out against the death sentence issued for Asia Bibi, falsely convicted under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. He also condemned a Muslim cleric’s offer of a reward to anyone who kills her in the event that she is acquitted or pardoned.
Those who demand Islam’s dominance and the full implementation and enforcement of Sharia in Pakistan cannot bear the challenge of an uppity infidel in government, least of all when they cannot even abide the “threat” of Asia Bibi’s unwillingness to renounce her faith for Islam. “Pakistan: Islamist terrorists issue death sentence for Christian government official,” from Spero News, December 4:
The Islamic terrorist organization “Lashkar-e-Toiba”, one of the largest in Southern Asia, and other Taliban groups have launched a “fatwa” (an official proclamation) against the Pakistani Minister for Religious Minorities, Shabhaz Bhatti – who happens to be a Catholic. Reliable sources in Pakistan confirmed that the minister is now being targeted by militants. He has become a “legitimate objective” and “may be killed for being an accomplice to the blasphemy.” The proclamation is motivated by Bhatti’s commitment to the revision of the Islamic blasphemy law. An international furor was unleashed when Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman, was condemned to death by an Islamic court for alleged blasphemy under Muslim religious law. Appeals from Pope Benedict XVI and various governments have yet to be heeded.
The Minister had already received warnings and threats. The radical organization “Majlis Ahrar-e-Islam”, in recent days had told him to “keep your mouth shut and do not criticize the blasphemy law.” Months ago, the religious leader Ahmed Mian Hammadi had accused him of blasphemy and threatened him with “decapitation”. The position of the Minister in the case of Asia Bibi and his real effort to carry through a draft revision of the law have generated, in a growing climate of intolerance, the new “fatwa” by Taliban terrorist groups.
Mehdi Hasan, President of the “Commission for Human Rights in Pakistan” commented, “We condemn these irresponsible claims by extremist groups and express solidarity with Minister Bhatti. We are in a situation of increasing polarization and intolerance. But some political parties are trying to exploit the support of Islamic militant groups. It is the government’s responsibility to stop terrorists, but even the government is under pressure.”
“The social situation is taking a turn for the worse and tension is growing. Pressure from fundamentalist groups becomes stronger and manifestations follow one after another. We are concerned about possible violence on Christian leaders and places of worship,” says a source in the Christian community.
“R-e-s-p-e-c-t”: find out what it means to… “radical Islamic groups”:
Radical Islamic groups protested yesterday in Quetta and Lahore, asking for “namuus-e-risalaat” (respect for the Prophet). Preacher Yousaf Qureshi, from the Masjid Mohabaat Khan Mosque in Peshawar, has offered a prize of 500 thousand rupees for the scalp of Asia Bibi, defying the Government to make any move to amend the blasphemy laws. Tomorrow, December 5, another demonstration will take place in Islamabad to put pressure on the political and judicial institutions. On 6 December, the Lahore High Court should rule on the petition that would prevent the President from granting a pardon, and announce the date of the first hearing for the appeal process of Asia Bibi.
Meanwhile, work on selection proceeds for the Commission, that, appointed by President Zardari and under the leadership of Minister Bhatti, will study appropriate amendments to the blasphemy law. The Commission will include political leaders, Muslim clerics and scholars, and representatives of civil society and will draft a proposal for revisions in order to prevent abuses.
The law is inherently abusive of freedom of speech and conscience. “Reforms” and lip service to preventing “abuse” of an abusive law are ultimately decorative, and will always leave waiting behind the veneer of due process and judicial review a ticking time bomb, as the notion that government intervention upon “insults” to Islam as an acceptable use of power remains intact.
Thailand-based jihadist group at heart of raids in Spain also had airport rubber stamps, relied partly on pickpockets
More on this story. “Spain Deepens Probe Into European Jihadist Passport Network,” by David Roman for Dow Jones Newswires, December 3:
MADRID (Dow Jones) Spanish and Thai police have discovered a trove of documents including Chinese and European visas, as well as airport rubber stamps, amid a deepening probe into a Thailand-based Jihadist group, Spain’s interior ministry said Friday.
Investigations shed new light on ties between terror groups and petty crime, with evidence showing that an Islamist cell in Thailand supplied doctored passports and other documents to organizations like al Qaida, Pakistan’s Lashkar e Taiba and Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers, but also to groups involved in human trafficking and illegal arms trading.
The passports were stolen in several locations across Europe, the Spanish ministry said. In particular, one cell comprising six Pakistanis and one Nigerian-all detained earlier this week -stole passports from tourists in the Barcelona area, which it later sent to Thailand.
According to a report in Spanish newspaper El Pais, the Barcelona cell relied on pickpockets, who were paid for stolen passports. These passports, from specific nationalities and age brackets, were selected following criteria set by the group’s alleged head in Thailand, a Pakistani citizen identified by Spanish police as Muhammad Athar Butt.
One of those passports was carried by one of the Lashkar e Taiba terrorists who carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, killing 175, El Pais said. That discovery triggered the current probe, the newspaper added.
Athar Butt and two accomplices were in posession of doctored passports from Canada and Italy when they were detained in Bangkok earlier this week, Spain’s Interior ministry said, as well as sophisticated equipment used for forgeries. Thai police has also discovered large amounts of documents and files belonging to the group, that are current being studied.
Pakistan: Jihadist group tells Punjab government to fire all non-Muslim officers — or else
Sharia forbids a non-Muslim to have authority over a Muslim. “TTP threatens non-Muslim civil servants in Punjab,” by Adnan Adil for Central Asia Online, December 3:
LAHORE – The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) warned the Punjab government to fire all non-Muslims officers or they and their offices will be targeted, Express Tribune reported December 3.
The TTP issued the warning through letters sent to the Punjab government….
Pakistan: Jihadist group tells Punjab government to fire all non-Muslim officers — or else
Sharia forbids a non-Muslim to have authority over a Muslim. “TTP threatens non-Muslim civil servants in Punjab,” by Adnan Adil for Central Asia Online, December 3:
LAHORE – The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) warned the Punjab government to fire all non-Muslims officers or they and their offices will be targeted, Express Tribune reported December 3.
The TTP issued the warning through letters sent to the Punjab government….
British public libraries see major influx of jihadist literature
This comes despite “hate speech” laws, which are, of course, a subject open to much debate. Such laws have become a handy weapon across Europe against those who would criticize Islam, while “extremist” Muslim clerics are left quite free to spew all the pious bile they can muster.
What is ultimately at issue here is the fact that, where such laws are on the books, Islamic hate speech appears to be getting a pass again. Those who are intensively working to attack the country, its people, its rights and freedoms, economy and infrastructure, and its way of life are again in line for special dispensation, as if that might slow or prevent someone’s “radicalization.”
The Muslim Council of Britain quotes familiar talking points below (“wonderful diversity”) entirely to its own purpose. But of course, the jihadists, their sympathizers, and active and passive enablers would certainly see to the demise of libraries as Britons know them. The rights to personal privacy and freedom of inquiry, speech, and conscience, which guide Western library ethics (though the American Library Association itself has fallen dismally short of its own stated ideals), would be utterly devastated by Sharia.
“Wonderful diversity” would quickly become much less diverse, and drastically less wonderful. “Islamist hate books inquiry call,” by Johnny McDevitt for Channel 4 News, December 3 (thanks to Twostellas):
Among the authors was the first person to be banned from entering the country by the Coalition Government earlier this year.
Works by Zakir Naik as well as other banned Islamist leaders, such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Abdullah Al-Faisal and Bilal Philips, are available to borrow across London’s libraries.
Indian televangelist Naik was barred from entering the country in June, after Home Secretary Theresa May uncovered comments attributed to him, which she said represented “unacceptable behaviour”.
Egyptian Qaradawi was excluded in 2008, when the Home Office said it would not tolerate the presence of those who seek to justify acts of terrorist violence.
During his previous visit in 2004, Qaradawi defended suicide attacks on Israelis as “martyrdom in the name of God”, during a BBC interview.
Al-Faisal was jailed in 2003 after cassette tapes of his sermons, which solicited the murder of Jews, Christians and Americans were found. He was deported from Britain in 2007.
Others authors included Muhammad bin Jamil Zino, in whose book, Islamic Guidelines – which we borrowed from Bethnal Green library in Tower Hamlets in east London – tells readers that “The Last Hour will not appear unless the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them.”
The Channel 4 News investigation found hundreds of books, DVDs and ‘talking book’ cassettes by these authors in libraries around several London boroughs.
The borrowed books were taken out with a normal library card, with many coming from Whitechapel library, also in Tower Hamlets.
Until January, the library used to stock taped sermons by Anwar al-Awlaki, the so-called ‘Osama bin-Laden of the Internet.’ […]
The Muslim Council of Britain, which branded the exclusions of Naik and Qaradwi “serious errors of judgement,” called for caution about the removal of their books.
“Libraries remain sources of information through which debate and ideas are shaped on a range of issues,” it said.
“It is difficult to justify the removal of books by authors and speakers who have been banned by the Home Secretary but have not broken any laws, especially, when they are outspoken critics of the underlying narratives that drive the terrorist mindset, are examples of individuals who have been maligned and deliberately misquoted by those who have sought to politicise the issue of national security.
“The removal of books by these sorts of authors simply plays into the hands of those on the right who seek to censor and limit free speech. Given the unique role our libraries play, such a move would be unfortunate and would impact on the wonderful diversity of books that our libraries currently have on offer.”…
Here, “diversity” serves the cause of Islam. How about when it doesn’t? How about a little Geert Wilders on the shelves? A little something from Kurt Westergaard? Ayaan Hirsi Ali? Wafa Sultan? One could go on and on.
The article continues, with more detail on jihadist authors and books.
US ambassador to UK visits jihadist mosque, expresses “great admiration” for it
Could Susman — and Obama — really be this clueless? Really? “Empowering Islamists: Repeating U.K. mistakes, Obama’s ambassador to Britain reaches out to Muslim radicals,” by Shiraz Maher in the Wall Street Journal, December 1:
The East London Mosque is among Britain’s most extreme Islamic institutions. Built with financial aid from Saudi Arabia, the sprawling facility is home to the London Muslim Center where incendiary preachers are regularly welcomed. On Monday, the East London Mosque hosted a very different kind of visitor-the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, Louis Susman. Urged by President Barack Obama to engage with British Muslims, Mr. Susman spoke of his “great admiration” for the mosque and his enthusiasm for meeting its staff.
By any measure the East London mosque is a troubling institution. Last year, for example, it hosted an event titled “The End of Time: A New Beginning,” where pamphlets were distributed showing Manhattan crumbling under a Hadean apocalypse of meteors, which shattered the Statute of Liberty asunder and set the city ablaze. One of the invited speakers, Khalid Yasin, described the beliefs of Christians and Jews as “filth.” Most worryingly, the event also featured a live video question-and-answer session with Anwar Al Awlaki, the U.S.-born preacher aligned with al Qaeda.
Awlaki’s terrorist credentials rival those of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Two of the 9/11 terrorists as well as Major Nidal Hasan, who murdered 13 U.S. soldiers in Fort Hood last year, attended his sermons in Washington. From his new base in Yemen, Awlaki called Major Hasan a “hero” and boasted of having directed the “underpants bomber,” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, in his bid to blow up a Delta airlines flight last Christmas.
Last year was not the first time Awlaki’s vitriol resonated through the East London Mosque. In 2003 the mosque hosted him for an event on policing where he told the audience that “A Muslim is a brother of a Muslim, he does not oppress him, he does not betray him and he does not hand him over… You don’t hand over a Muslim to the enemies.” The enemies in this context were the police.
A trustee of the East London Mosque, Azad Ali, has been quite explicit about his feelings in this regard. “I really do love [Awlaki] for the sake of Allah, he has an uncanny way of explaining things to people which is endearing” Azad Ali said, before going on to support the killing of British and U.S. troops in Iraq.
Mr. Susman’s visit illustrates the blunders Western politicians often make by reaching out to the wrong Muslim “dialogue partners.” The U.S. ambassador could have easily found out about the mosque’s sympathies for reactionary Islamism by consulting the British government. A report published last year by the Department for Communities and Local Government on the Pakistani Muslim community in England states that “the East London Mosque [is] the key institution for the Bangladeshi wing of JI [Jamaat-e Islami] in the U.K.”
Jamaat-e Islami is the radical South Asian party created by Syed Abulala Maududi, which aims to create an Islamist theocracy. The Bangladeshi government is currently investigating scores of Jamaat members for alleged war crimes during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
None of this should come as a surprise to Mr. Susman. Congressional reports from as far back as 1993 have warned of Jamaat’s links to terrorism, particularly in Kashmir….
After jihadist attempts mass-murder in Oregon, New York Times worries that law enforcement authorities may be offending Muslims
Muslims in Portland and elsewhere are angry because undercover agents helped the jihadist plan the attack; apparently they’re trying to paint a picture of a naif led along and ultimately framed by unscrupulous and “Islamophobic” agents. The lingering question, however, is this: what would it take to lead you to participate in a terrorist mass-murder plot? If undercover agents approached you and tried to entice you into working to kill large numbers of innocent people, how hard would it be to convince you to do it? Speaking strictly for myself, I have absolutely no worries of ever being entrapped in this way; there is simply nothing, under any circumstances, that anyone could say to me to convince me to blow anyone up. If Mohamed Mohamud had not already had jihad and murder on his mind, he could never have been cajoled into participating in this plot — if, indeed, he needed to be cajoled at all.
“Terror Cases Strain Ties With Some Who Can Help,” by William Yardley and Jesse McKinley in the New York Times, November 30:
PORTLAND, Ore. — The arrest in a plot to bomb a popular Christmas tree-lighting ceremony here has renewed focus on the crucial but often fragile relationship that many Muslim communities have with federal law enforcement agencies.
Note how topsy-turvy that is: a Muslim tries to kill thousands of Americans. In response, Muslim communities in this country ought to be redoubling their efforts to show that they’re loyal Americans, and that they’re teaching against the Islamic ideas that inspired Mohamed Mohamud. But instead, a Muslim tries to murder non-Muslims in the name of jihad, and non-Muslim authorities rush to repair their “fragile relationship” with Muslims — as if, once again, it’s all our fault, as it always is: Islamic supremacists never, ever take responsibility for their own bloody actions.
Many Muslim leaders nationwide say they are committed to working with the authorities to fight terrorist threats and applauded the work in Portland. But some say cases like the one in Oregon, in which undercover agents said they helped a teenager plan the attack, risk undermining the trust of Muslim communities that federal agents say is essential to doing their jobs.
The failed Portland plot is one of several recent cases, from California to Washington, D.C., in which undercover agents helped suspects pursue terrorist plans. Some Muslims say the government appears to be enabling and even sensationalizing threats that can lead to backlashes against Muslim communities.
On Sunday, a mosque in Corvallis, Ore., was firebombed. It had been attended by the Portland suspect, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a naturalized American citizen from Somalia.
“Unlike the so-called plot at Pioneer Square, that was a real terrorist attack, against a house of worship,” said a man who attends the Islamic Center of Portland and Masjed As-Saber, another mosque where Mr. Mohamud worshiped.
Note the deflection strategy: the arson attack against the mosque was a real terror attack, while the jihad bomb at the Christmas tree lighting in Portland wasn’t. That is absurd regarding the attempted bombing in Portland, but it also is not definitively established that the arson inside the mosque was a terror attack at all. If it was truly a retaliatory vigilante attack following Mohamud’s attempted jihad bombing, then it is hateful and must unequivocally be condemned. It is important to note, however, that while the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on the FBI and local police to protect the mosque, CAIR and other Muslims have not hesitated to stoop even to fabricating “hate crimes,” including attacks on mosques. CAIR and other groups like it want and need hate crimes against Muslims, because they can use them for political points and as weapons to intimidate people into remaining silent about the jihad threat.
Was the arson attack against the Islamic Center in Corvallis a staged event designed to deflect attention away from Mohamud’s jihad attack and onto Muslims as victims? There is no way to tell unless law enforcement officials consider this possibility, which they should do given the many faked incidents in the past. But whether they will actually do so is another matter.
“What the F.B.I. did can be seen in Corvallis,” the man said, one of several people who spoke with a reporter but refused to give their names out of concern that they would bring negative attention to the mosque. […]
They’re doing that just fine anonymously — by blaming the FBI for the arson attack against this mosque. The twisted logic here is that the FBI, by entrapping Mohamed Mohamud, which is preposterous enough in itself, provoked this “backlash,” which is not proven to have been a “backlash” at all, and thus bears responsibility for it. But while it is remotely possible that some vigilante idiot lit the fire, if that turns out to be the case, only that vigilante idiot would bear responsibility for the fire. Remember, these are the people who loudly decry the idea of “collective responsibility” for jihad attacks, saying that it is “bigoted” to think that Muslims should have to apologize for jihad terror attacks or even work against such ideas in their communities. That claim sidesteps the fact that jihadists use Islamic texts and teachings to justify their actions, but the point here is that if Muslims have no “collective responsibility” for jihad violence, the FBI cannot be said to have any responsibility for one criminal’s act of rage.
Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said law enforcement was going too far.
” ‘Forward-leaning’ seems to be basically if someone has not crossed the bridge, we will push them forward, we will tip them over the edge,” he said. “And that is not how a government should be treating its citizens.”
“My worry would be that the F.B.I. is pushing to a point where it becomes difficult to trust the F.B.I.,” said Mr. Ayloush, who added that he was a graduate of an F.B.I. Citizens’ Academy. “When people start doubting, then they might feel like, ‘Well, maybe it might make things worse if I call,’ and we don’t want this.”
The New York Times makes no mention, of course, of the fact that CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case. CAIR operatives, including Hussam Ayloush when I challenged him directly and repeatedly to do so during a radio debate, have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several of its former officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. Two of its other officials have made Islamic supremacist statements. CAIR also was involved in the Flying Imams’ intimidation suit against the passengers who reported their suspicious behavior.
Amid the tension, Muslim leaders say their communities are doing more than ever to help in investigations — a fact they say is overlooked by many Americans.
A November report by the Muslim Public Affairs Council said Muslim communities had helped law enforcement agencies foil almost 4 of every 10 Qaeda-related terrorism plots since the Sept. 11 attacks. The report is based on information the group draws from news media accounts, affidavits, academic studies and other sources.
“There is an enormous countertrend that has emerged within the last few years,” said Alejandro Beutel, the author of the report. “People are saying: ‘This is a serious issue, and we are dealing with this. We are not tolerating this.’ “
The Investigative Project has a new report out on MPAC. Check it out here. Money quote: “MPAC’s report, Building Bridges, sets its sights on local and federal law enforcement, which is the front line of U.S. national security. Contrary to the report’s title, claiming that its recommendations will strengthen America, MPAC’s superficial endorsement of methods to address radicalization, in fact, weakens American law enforcement and intelligence operations and furthers the objectives of the Muslim Brotherhood global strategy to undermine the West.
Even as federal law enforcement officials have been criticized, they say their investigations have been strengthened by their outreach efforts and good relations with Muslims, including here in Oregon. […]
And so law enforcement officials hurry to repair relations with Muslims in Oregon. The picture here is entirely the reverse of what it ought to be.
State Department praises jihadist for helping US with Gitmo resettlement
A slight problem with “enemy identification.”
American Thinker Blog
Spain dismantles jihadist passport theft ring
Your stolen passport may be a jihadi’s ticket into a Western country. “Spain Dismantles Passport Ring For Islamic Cells Abroad,” by David Roman for Dow Jones Newswires, December 1 (thanks to Twostellas):
MADRID -(Dow Jones)- Spanish police arrested seven men in Barcelona, suspected of stealing passports for radical Islamic cells in Thailand and Pakistan, and collaborating with the group that carried out the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, the country’s Interior ministry said Wednesday.
The suspects, six Pakistanis and one Nigerian, are believed to be part of a European network that allegedly obtained passports to be forged in Thailand. The passports were later distributed to cells including Al Qaeda, Pakistan’s Lashkar e Taiba-which carried out the Mumbai attacks, killing 175-and Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers, the ministry said in a statement….
According to Spanish police, the group allegedly stole large amounts of foreign passports from tourists in Spain-practically all in or around Barcelona-over the 18-month period during which the group was under surveillance. The thefts were allegedly requested by the Thailand-based head of the group, who asked for passports with specific nationalities and age brackets.
Who Tipped Off The FBI About The Oregon Jihadist?
His American, Muslim father. Just as the Muslim father of the undie-bomber did as well. What would we do without Muslim tips on fighting the war on Jihadism? That's a question I doubt we'll be seeing raised any time soon on Fox News.
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
Who Tipped Off The FBI About The Oregon Jihadist?
His American, Muslim father. Just as the Muslim father of the undie-bomber did as well. What would we do without Muslim tips on fighting the war on Jihadism? That's a question I doubt we'll be seeing raised any time soon on Fox News.
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
Jihadist in Afghan police uniform murders six NATO troops
“NATO and Afghan officials were unable to confirm whether the person who carried out the shooting was actually a member of the border police or if it was an insurgent who had infiltrated the Afghan security forces.” And how hard could they be to infiltrate? How do they screen out jihadists? They don’t even attempt to do so, and if they did, how could they possibly do it?
“NATO says six troops shot dead in east Afghanistan,” by Paul Tait for Reuters, November 29 (thanks to all who sent this in):
KABUL (Reuters) – Six NATO troops were shot dead by a man wearing an Afghan border police uniform during a training exercise in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the coalition said, the worst apparent “rogue” shooting in more than a year.
The incident appeared to be the latest in a string of recent attacks by renegade police and soldiers, underlining the pressure on NATO-led troops as they try to train Afghan forces rapidly to allow the handover of security responsibility from next year.
However, NATO and Afghan officials were unable to confirm whether the person who carried out the shooting was actually a member of the border police or if it was an insurgent who had infiltrated the Afghan security forces….
Divorce causes jihad: Oregon jihadist “embraced militant Islam not long after his parents split up”
The search for some explanation, any explanation, for Mohamed Mohamud’s attempted jihad mass-murder other than the texts and teachings of Islam has now begun in earnest. The first entry: Mohamud became “radicalized” after his parents split.
And it’s true: the divorce of parents has driven many an unhappy child to try to set off a bomb in a crowded place and murder hundreds, if not thousands, of people, hasn’t it?
Of course, many more terrorist attacks have been committed by Islamic jihadists who read and took seriously the Qur’an’s commands to wage war against infidels than by children traumatized by their parents’ divorce, but never mind: when it comes to exonerating Islam of any responsibility for motivating violent jihadists, government, law enforcement and media officials join Islamic spokesmen in grabbing hold of any alternative explanation, no matter how implausible.
“Neighbors say wannabe Christmas bomber Mohamed Mohamud embraced extremism after parents split,” by Lukas I. Alpert for the New York Daily News, November 28:
[…] Neighbors say Mohamud was doted on by his family but embraced militant Islam not long after his parents split up.
“He was a quiet kid, but with his folks splitting up, who knows?” Adam Napier, who lived next door to Mohamed Osman Mohamud for years told the newspaper.
Mohamud’s family moved to the U.S. when he was just 5 and were described as friendly and modern.
Mariam Barre did not wear a hijab and her husband, Osman Barre, reportedly worked as an engineer for Intel. Mohamud appeared to be particularly close to his mother, neighbors said.
“She always talked so good about him. He was just a good kid,” said Adam Napier’s mother, Stephanie.
In 2009, Mohamud parents split up, not long after he turned 18, the paper said.
Omar Jamal, first secretary to the Somali Mission to the United Nations, told KPTV that Mohamud’s father had remarried a woman in Minneapolis, which has a large Somali population and has been a hotbed for jihadist recruitment.
Later in 2009, Mohamud began communicating with jihadists abroad, and wrote articles for a website called “Jihad Recollections,” authorities said….
The Wikileaks Cable Leak vs The War On Jihadist Terror
I’ve just read through a couple of summaries. Overall, I have to say that this brief glimpse into how the government actually works is actually reassuring. The cable extracts are often sharp, smart, candid and penetrating. Who knew the US government had so many talented diplomats?
But then, of course, there are the real dangers of this random transparency. Take the perilous situation in Yemen, where al Qaeda has a foothold and whence it is planning mass murder of Western citizens. Will the following leak make al Qaeda stronger and thereby increase the likelihood of American civilian deaths? You decide:
It has been previously reported that the Yemeni government has sought to cover up the American role in missile strikes against the local branch of Al Qaeda. But a cable’s fly-on-the-wall account of a January meeting between the Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and Gen. David H. Petraeus, then the American commander in the Middle East, is nonetheless breathtaking.
“We’ll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours,” Mr. Saleh said, according to the cable sent by the American ambassador, prompting Yemen’s deputy prime minister to “joke that he had just ‘lied’ by telling Parliament” that Yemeni forces had carried out the strikes.
Mr. Saleh, who at other times resisted American counterterrorism requests, was in a lighthearted mood. The authoritarian ruler of a conservative Muslim country, Mr. Saleh complains of smuggling from nearby Djibouti, but tells General Petraeus that his concerns are drugs and weapons, not whiskey, “provided it’s good whiskey.”
Fascinating, colorful reporting – and an insight into the hypocrisy and cynicism among the elites in the Muslim Middle East. If it were reporting.
