I try not to think about this stuff too much. No more than I absolutely have to. This stuff really depresses me. Fills me with anxiety and fear. Unfortunately, the flow of this activity lately is just too much to ignore. So here I go again, ranting in an attempt to exorcise my demons.
From Purple Mountains Majesty to the Big Apple
The most high profile case of jihad to come forth recently is the “alleged NYC terror plot” involving two men from Colorado, and one from New York. Najibullah Zazi, an Afghanistan-born naturalized US citizen, is accused of receiving explosives training from Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan. His first criminal charge was of making false statements to authorities. When questioned about the existence of bomb-making instructions on his laptop, he explained that he must have inadvertently downloaded the instructions while downloading a religious text. He also explained that he immediately deleted the text when he discovered its contents discussed jihad. Now he has been charged with conspiring to detonate a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Surely this has nothing to do with jihad, and surely if bomb-making instructions were in fact found to be bundled with a religious text, they must have been planted there by Islamophobic FBI agents bent on defaming the Religion of Peace.
Others also arrested include Zazi’s father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, and a Queens “religious leader,” Ahmad Wais Afzali. Afzali, an Imam, is now accused of acting as a double-agent -- working with federal agents and warning Zazi of their activities and inquiries. When will the FBI cease molesting Islamic Centers and mosques throughout this country? Don’t these scumbags realize that in America we have freedom of religion?
Virginia and North Carolina
Last month, seven North Carolina men were charged with “conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and for conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure people overseas.” On Thursday, two of these men received additional charges of conspiring to murder US military personnel, specifically Marines at Quantico, Virginia. Daniel Patrick Boyd is the alleged leader of the group, and a US citizen. Hysen Sherifi is a legal US resident, but a citizen of Kosovo. The group was originally denied bail when prosecutors presented evidence of the suspects discussing “jihad” as part of their plans to attack foreign lands.
Clearly the prosecutors fail to grasp the true meaning of the word “jihad” -- the internal struggle within a pious Muslim. Moreover, is there any reason to believe that either of these men are in fact Muslim? “Boyd” is hardly an Islamic surname and as we all know, while Kosovo has been ravaged by conflict for the last few decades, this is purely an ethnic conflict. The Muslim Albanian Kosovars should find themselves equally at odds with the Serbian Kosovac Muslim minority as they do the Kosovac Christian majority. The Kosovar majority is nominally Muslim, having had their religious identity repressed under decades of socialist rule. They are Muslims by name only, and therefore harmless. Better than harmless, actually: allies!
Illinois
On Wednesday an Illinois man was charged in a plot to bomb federal offices. Talib Islam, who converted to Islam while serving a prison sentence, parked a van that he believed carried a ton of explosives at a federal building in Springfield, Illinois. FBI agents began following the man after, upon returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia, he told an FBI source of plans to fight against Israel in the Gaza Strip. It is evident that these agents failed to distinguish between the conflict in Gaza and the larger jihad, and that this man is simply a victim of religious profiling. Islamic PR organizations would do well to distribute more educational pamphlets to the feds in order to educate officers on the true influence of Islam.
Dallas
A 19-year old Jordanian male, Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, was arrested on Wednesday in Dallas after placing an inactive bomb at a 60-story building. Smadi said, “We shall attack them in their very own homes. Brother, by God, we shall attack them in a manner that hurts, an attack that shakes the world.” (Full text here.)
Dallas Mayor Tom Leppart, acknowledging the incidents in New York, Springfield, Denver and his own city said, “It’s a comment on the world we live in. All of us need to be vigilant.”
But Mr. Mayor, let’s not jump to conclusions! Just because it looks like a jihadi, smells like a jihadi, acts like a jihadi, shops like a jihadi, talks like a jihadi, is named like a jihadi, builds bombs like a jihadi, has friends that are jihadis, worships like a jihadi, travels like a jihadi, and studies like a jihadi… that doesn’t necessarily mean anything!
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