Foiled Oregon jihadist: "I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured"
The kid must not read the news. Mohamed Osman Mohamud's foiled plot and subsequent arrest were in many ways an exact replica of those of Hosam Smadi, the failed Dallas jihadi, and Talib Islam, who tried to bomb an Illinois federal building just before Smadi's arrest. And tellingly, his rhetoric was also familiar, as he said he was looking for a "huge mass [i.e., crowd] that will ... be attacked in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays," just as Smadi proclaimed "We shall attack them in their very homes."
One thing we're waiting for: the mainstream media's account of how Mohamud got "radicalized." How was Islam misunderstood this time? That is, if Islam is mentioned at all except to 1.) recite the standard boilerplate that Islam is a religion of peace and denounces "terrorism" (wink), and 2.) broadcast the also-standard material playing up the risk of anti-Muslim "backlash" wherein criticism of Islam is cast as dangerous. Let the verbal game of Twister begin.
More on this story. "Somali teenager 'tried to set off car bomb in US'," from the Telegraph, November 27:
Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, attempted to detonate what he believed was an explosives-laden van at an annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon. However, undercover FBI agents had been monitoring his plans and had ensured that the "bomb" was a dud.
Mohamud, a naturalised US citizen of Somali descent, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Portland police around 5:40 pm Friday (0040 GMT Saturday). Detectives swooped on him just after he dialled a cell phone number that he thought would set off the bomb. As they closed in, Mohamud tried to kick at them and yelled "Allahu Akbar!" - Arabic for "God is great!"
Prosecution documents lodged in a US court claimed that since the summer of 2009, Mohamud had been in email contact with a suspected terrorist in Pakistan's lawless northwest frontier province, currently a haven for al Qaeda cells. After discussing the possibility of Mohamud traveling to Pakistan to engage in jihad, or holy war, the accomplice allegedly gave Mohamud contact details of a terrorist cell overseas with whom a terror plot would be hatched.
It's not that northwestern Pakistan is "lawless." Rather, the past few years in the area have seen the ever-increasing encroachment of Sharia, imposed by jihadists advancing on a government in Islamabad that was unwilling to assert sovereignty over its own territory.
Repeated attempts by Mohamud to contact his would-be partners failed, and then last June, an FBI undercover agent contacted Mohamud via email pretending to be an associate of his Pakistani contact.
At a meeting in Portland a month later, Mohamud told the FBI operative that he had written articles that were published in "Jihad Recollections," an online magazine that advocated violence against non-Muslims.
He later told the agents that he had wanted to conduct a holy war against "infidels" since the age of 15, and that he had identified the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square as a good target.
There would be massive casualties and panic at the site, the symbolic significance of attacking an event related to a non-Muslim religious holiday, and economic impact well beyond Portland -- on "Black Friday" weekend, of course (and one just knows the jihadist propaganda puns that would follow from that).
Earlier this month, Mohamud and the agents traveled to the Oregon backcountry and detonated a bomb as a trial run. On the drive back, the undercover officials asked Mohamud if he was capable of looking at the bodies of those killed, according to the federal documents.
"Mohamud responded: 'I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured."'
On Friday, an undercover agent and Mohamud drove to downtown Portland in a white van that carried six 55-gallon drums with detonation cords and plastic caps, but all of them were inert.
They got out of the van and walked to meet another undercover agent, who drove to Union Station, the Portland train station, where Mohamud was given a cell phone that he thought would blow up the van.
They had enough details to look after, but this would have made a nice ringtone for the occasion.
FBI operatives apparently cautioned Mohamud several times about the seriousness of this plan, noting that there would be many children at the event. But Mohamud responded that he was looking for a "huge mass that will ... be attacked in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays," the court documents said.... Posted by Marisol on November 27, 2010 12:44 PM
And this, related, also from Jihad Watch:
Oregon jihad car bomb plot: "The threat was very real"
"Since I was 15 I thought about all this...It's gonna be a fireworks show ... a spectacular show," said Mohamed Osman Mohamud as he plotted "violent jihad."
More on this story. "Feds: Somali-born teen plotted car-bombing in Ore.," by William McCall for Associated Press, November 27 (thanks to JCB):
PORTLAND, Ore. - Federal agents in a sting operation arrested a Somali-born teenager just as he tried blowing up a van he believed was loaded with explosives at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, authorities said.
The bomb was an elaborate fake supplied by the agents and the public was never in danger, authorities said.
Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested at 5:40 p.m. Friday just after he dialed a cell phone that he thought would set off the blast but instead brought federal agents and police swooping down on him.
Yelling "Allahu Akbar!" -- Arabic for "God is great!" -- Mohamud tried to kick agents and police after he was taken into custody, according to prosecutors.
"The threat was very real," said Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. "Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale," [sic]...
It said Mohamud was warned several times about the seriousness of his plan, that women and children could be killed, and that he could back out, but he told agents: "Since I was 15 I thought about all this;" and "It's gonna be a fireworks show ... a spectacular show."
Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Corvallis, was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. A court appearance was set for Monday. Few details were available about him late Friday. [...]
U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton released federal court documents to The Associated Press and the Oregonian newspaper that show the sting operation began in June after an undercover agent learned that Mohamud had been in regular e-mail contact with an "unindicted associate" in Pakistan's northwest, a frontier region where al-Qaida and Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents are strong.
The two used coded language in which the FBI believes Mohamud discussed traveling to Pakistan to prepare for "violent jihad," the documents said....
An undercover agent met with him a month later in Portland, where they "discussed violent jihad," according to the court documents....
"This defendant's chilling determination is a stark reminder that there are people -- even here in Oregon -- who are determined to kill Americans," Holton said....
Yes, there are "people" who are "determined to kill Americans," even "here in Oregon"! If only there were some way to figure out who they are, or where they might congregate!
Posted by Robert on November 27, 2010 7:11 AM
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