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| The Sword, How Islamism is Spread or Metaphor for Right and Wrong? |
When the FBI was putting out feelers for the young man who had already reached out to Al Qaeda and written for a Jihad magazine, they wanted to find out how serious he was about being an operational terrorist. They spent months writing emails back and forth with Mohamed Mohamud in two separate and consecutive FBI probes.
Mohamud was arrested on November 26, 2010 for attempting to detonate–twice–a weapon of mass destruction that, if it had been real, would have wiped out two blocks of downtown Portland, Oregon murdering thousands of onlookers who had gathered for the lighting of “The Tree” at Pioneer Courthouse Square.
The man who helped oversee the first probe did so as a member of the Portland Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). FBI Special Agent Jason Dodd testified in Mohamud’s trial Wednesday that he worked alongside a paid informant and helped write a series of emails to Mohamud in 2009.
Under the email name “TruthBeSpoken@gmail.com” they posed as a recent convert to Islam living in Idaho. Using the name “Bill Smith,” the FBI wanted to find out how to help “the brothers,” and if Mohamud knew anybody he could talk to.
Mohamud helpfully suggested to watch out for spies, told him to avoid Saudi Salafists (though he himself was a believer in that extreme form of Islam) and said Arab brothers were “sketchy.” He eventually encouraged the FBI informant to move to Seattle and hang with the Somali ‘brothers.’
When the informant asked Mohamud how “these guys get their things” –referring to weapons– Mo Mo told him they shouldn’t discuss such things via email and encouraged him to find ‘brothers who share your views.’
At this point in the trial yesterday the defense introduced another email in which Mohamud suggested that his mosque in Portland was such a place. “It’s cool. Saber or something. Yeah, Saber. It’s legit.”
The mosque to which Mo Mo was referring is the same one, Masjed As-Saber which produced the Portland 7 terrorists. The same one endorsed by one of the Portland 7 because the Imam taught violent jihad there. The same one in which Mo Mo was let out to pray in when he lived nearby in school as a youngster and where he wanted to meet FBI agents in their first face to face meeting as a prospective mujahid. (They met in a downtown hotel instead. )
Five of the members of the mosque, including the Somali born Imam, are on the DHS No Fly list.
One mosque, 8 convicted or accused terrorists, in nine years. Now THERE’S a track record.
