Giving Thanks for the FBI
By now you’ve heard about Mohamed Mohamud, the Somali-born teenaged jihadist arrested for attempting mass murder last Friday night. Mohamud thought he was detonating a van laden with explosives parked at a crowded Christmas tree-lighting event in downtown Portland, Oregon. Thankfully, the FBI had interposed itself between Mohamud and his overseas mentors, so the explosives were fakes.
The good news—and it is very good news—is that unlike the TSA, which limits its politically correct attentions to dangerous objects, the FBI still focuses on identifying dangerous people—what we used to call “the bad guys.” And the nineteen-year-old Mr. Mohamud, dreaming of jihad for four years, certainly fit the bill. The Oregonian reports this exchange with undercover agents during Mohamud’s drive back from a successful test explosion in a remote area.
"Do you remember when 9/11 happened, when those people were jumping from skyscrapers? I thought that was awesome," said Mohamud, his words later printed in an FBI affidavit. "I want to see that, that's what I want for these people. ... I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured."
How does a naturalized citizen living in the United States from the age of five become so thoroughly radicalized to the precepts of Al Qaeda-style Islam? On the one hand, ubiquitous computer technology gave us the Stuxnet worm, which appears to have tossed a cyber-wrench in the apocalyptic gears of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nuclear program. On the other, the Internet delivers an ideological worm to susceptible individuals--giving an angry teen the ability to reconnect with the violent world his parents left behind. Without the Internet, would Mohamed Mohamud be just another moody American teen?
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Jul '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
Internet? Or the local mosque? The figure has been bandied about that 80% of American mosques were founded or connected with Wahhabism, a radical Muslim sect that has been a pillar of the House of Saud since their return to power in the 1920s. I know Muslim families here who avoid the local mosques altogether thanks to the Wahhabi influence.
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
The figure is quoted in Mitchell Bard's book The Arab Lobby, and seems well-sourced to me. Why Americans aren't going nuts about this, I have no idea. Hardly makes much sense to be sending Predator drones over Yemen when this is going on at home.
Edited on Nov 28, 2010 at 9:20amRe: Giving Thanks for the FBI
Wahhabist expansionism is a worldwide phenomenon. Addis Ababa is one of the poorest capital cities on the planet, but nevertheless shiny new Saudi-financed mosques are sprouting seemingly everywhere. Perhaps we need to restrict Saudi largesse just as we ban foreign contributions to domestic political campaigns?
May '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
Worrying about the internet when there are Saudi-funded Wahabbist mosques in every major city seems roughly equivalent to the TSA banning shampoo. The tool is nothing apart from the ideology, which would be going strong with or without poorly-written jihadist websites.
This is an issue where Fox News too closely resembles the "mainstream" media. I get a sense that no one wants to touch radicalism in mosques for fear of CAIR and the liberal thought police, which is a shame because CAIR would have no power if Fox would quit handing them the mic.
For Washington's part, some of the "nuance" politicians love would be a great help. If the government were forceful and consistent in stating that Wahabbism is a powerful, negative force in Islam today, we could better fight it -- and better identify moderate Muslims from jihadists. But there's the tiny issue of the Saudis sitting on all that oil, which would be tough for political leaders to get past even without the same fear of being labeled racists that Fox deals with.
Nov '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: The figure is quoted in Mitchell Bard's book The Arab Lobby, and seems well-sourced to me. Why Americans aren't going nuts about this, I have no idea. Hardly makes much sense to be sending Predator drones over Yemen when this is going on at home. · Nov 28 at 9:19am
Edited on Nov 28 at 09:20 am
I hate to go all religious and what not, and I certainly don't want to be seen as one of those whacko end-timers. But I've spent a lot of time trying to understand why it is that Americans seem so willing to believe that Islam is a wonderful religion of peace while they believe Christianity is such a horrible blight on humanity. Both religions have historical and current examples of the opposite. But I believe the reason is captured in 2 Thessalonians, v. 9-12. Also whenever I say Thessalonians out loud I feel like I have a lithp.
Aug '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
There must be considerable cognitive dissonance in uber-progressive Portland, Oregon today.
Nov '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
nordman: There must be considerable cognitive dissonance in uber-progressive Portland, Oregon today.
· Nov 28 at 9:56am
Is that a fancy way of saying liberals don't pay attention?
Oct '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
Ken Owsley
nordman: There must be considerable cognitive dissonance in uber-progressive Portland, Oregon today.
· Nov 28 at 9:56am
Is that a fancy way of saying liberals don't pay attention? · Nov 28 at 10:01am
Nah, I don't believe that they don't pay attention. It's all about what they pay attention to. Liberals don't seem to be affected by the facts. More like they want to feel good and appear to be doing good to their associates. The whole group is too superficial to include facts. Especially unpleasant ones.
Aug '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
Political correctness kills.
Let us count the ways.
Jun '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
In one of those book-selling interviews given by George W Bush, it would have been nice if someone would have asked him about his great friendship with the Saudi Royal Family and how he justifies that friendship in his own mind as he consoles the family of a dead American soldier. He is a sincere man, as far as I can tell. I believe he genuinely cares and cares deeply for our American heroes. How can he ignore the relationship of the House of Saud and Wahhabist financing worldwide, about which he of all people has to know, to the death and suffering of people worldwide as a result of terrorist acts and/or our need to fight them? It requires an even greater degree of cognitive dissonance than that to which nordman refers at #6.
Edited on Nov 28, 2010 at 10:57amAug '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
Ken Owsley
nordman: There must be considerable cognitive dissonance in uber-progressive Portland, Oregon today.
· Nov 28 at 9:56am
Is that a fancy way of saying liberals don't pay attention? · Nov 28 at 10:01am
I'm referring to the possible realization that despite all the 'tolerance' that progressives champion there are still people out there for which none of that matters. They laugh at its naivete. They want them just dead just for existing, no matter how enlightened, politically correct, and wonderful the infidels think themselves.
It's a bit more more difficult to maintain utopian fantasy world idealism when in the crosshairs themselves. Who knows? They might even come to doubt the wisdom of importing terrorists, open borders, cultural relativism, etc, etc....
Targeting families at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony is a tough one to rationalize away.
Aug '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
It's not just Bush - the Obama administration just did a $64 billion arms deal with the Saudis.
I completely fail to understand the US government's coziness with Saudi Arabia - but only if I rule corruption, bribes, and payoffs out of the equation.
There is zero goodness that comes out of Saudi Arabia. Something sure stinks about the entire affair.
Nov '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
Nordman, to your point:
They want them just dead just for existing, no matter how enlightened, politically correct, and wonderful the infidels think themselves.
One of my first experiences in seeing the world through non-American eyes came while I was sitting at a Burger King with two Israeli's. These guys were in the states for business reasons, but I was struck by their lack of political correctness when talking about Islamic terrorism. I asked them "How should Americans feel about the struggle between Palestinians and Israelis?" One of them commented, and I paraphrase, "American's should behave in a way that is consistent with their interests. But they should know that whenever a Palestinian burns the Israeli flag, they are burning the American flag at the same time, whether your television shows it or not."
I found that to be an interesting comment, because it confirms what I believe and you are saying: the terrorist just wants you dead. He doesn't care if you feel his pain or not. I think we can all learn a thing or two from this story out of Portland.
Aug '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
nordman
It's not just Bush - the Obama administration just did a $64 billion arms deal with the Saudis.
It allows US presidents to get all the oil they want and to appease the people who obstruct any energy exploration/extraction on US soil or to restart the nuclear energy program. Third rail for contemporary pols.
The depth of that commitment to environmentalism is almost religious in it's intensity. But as was disclosed the other day(http://liten.be//xUV6M) , it's not about the climate, it's an attempt at a massive redistribution of world wealth (and that means us) to the developing world. The holy grail of progessive socialism, level fields.
Guess who is one of the top dogs in that milieu ? Here's a hint : 12 stitches in lip, loves Chavez, favorite color-red. big white house
Edited on Nov 28, 2010 at 11:44amJul '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
nordman: There must be considerable cognitive dissonance in uber-progressive Portland, Oregon today.
· Nov 28 at 9:56am
Not to worry. They just give Obama the credit.
Perhaps they'll respond by banning Christmas-tree lighting events as being needlessly provocative.
Nov '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
The horrible irony is, Saudi Arabia would be nothing but a dirt-poor nation of sheep-herders and camel-traders— incapable of exporting anything — if American technology had not transformed them into oil tycoons.
The God of Unintended Consequences is the most terrible of all deities.
Edited on Nov 28, 2010 at 3:25pmMay '10
Re: Giving Thanks for the FBI
Come on, don't you know a political slight-of-hand when you see one? This was a sting operation. The FBI invested money and manpower in busting a teen that probably would've been completely unable to pull off such a thing had he not been approached by undercover agents. This is more troubling than comforting - that this passes for proof of success in preventing domestic terrorism. It's manufactured prevention, all for the cameras. If he had any real, actionable intelligence to offer, like knowledge of a sophisticated secret cell in the US, his arrest wouldn't have been made public. He's small potatoes. Let's hope that the FBI is actually doing more with their time than throwing the media a bone to argue that this administration is tough on terrorism.