Allahu akbar
PB&J Jihad. "FBI accuses man of lying in terror case: Sudbury resident arrested on way to job overseas," by Shelley Murphy and Milton J. Valencia for the Boston Globe, November 12 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Statements that Tarek Mehanna allegedly made to the FBI two years ago in the midst of a terrorism investigation came back to haunt him last weekend, when the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy graduate was arrested as he was about to board a Boston flight to start a new job overseas.Mehanna, 26, who was living in a sprawling house in Sudbury with his parents, is charged with lying to the FBI in December 2006 when questioned about the whereabouts and activities of Daniel J. Maldonado, a former Methuen resident who was suspected of training at an Al Qaeda terrorist camp to overthrow the Somali government.
An FBI affidavit unsealed in federal court in Boston Monday alleges that Mehanna told agents on Dec. 16, 2006, that he had known Maldonado for three or four years and that when he last spoke to him two weeks earlier, Maldonado was living in a suburb of Alexandria, Egypt, and working for a website.
But Maldonado had actually placed several calls from Somalia to Mehanna's Sudbury home four days before the FBI interview, urging him to "join him in training for jihad," the affidavit says.
After Maldonado's capture a month later, a cooperating witness secretly recorded conversations with Mehanna, who fretted about lying to the FBI, according to the affidavit.
"When the FBI asked me where Dan was . . . I told them he was still in Egypt . . . and he had called me the day before that from Somalia," Mehanna told the witness, according to the affidavit. "That's very bad. I don't know how the heck I'm gonna explain that one."
The affidavit says Mehanna was recorded saying, "I don't ever remember if he said the word Somalia on the phone, but that's a problem because, like, lying to them in and of itself is a crime."
The complaint filed against Mehanna in Boston charges him with knowingly making false statements concerning an FBI investigation involving international terrorism. He is not facing any charges of terrorism....
J.W. Carney Jr., a Boston lawyer who represents Mehanna, said, "If this is the FBI's idea of a terrorist, they are using a net that is designed to catch minnows instead of sharks."
Mehanna's father did not want to comment on the case, referring questions to Carney. But he said his son had a good reputation and earned a doctorate in pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in May.
And if you think that poverty causes terrorism and forget the doctors' jihad plot in Britain last year, you might just fall for that.
He questioned the FBI's decision to arrest his son two years after they interviewed him and just as he was about to board a flight to Saudi Arabia, where he had a new job awaiting him."Tarek is an American citizen with no prior criminal record whatsoever," Carney said. "He recently graduated from a Massachusetts college and was on his way abroad to begin a job working in a renowned medical facility."...
The affidavit filed in Mehanna's case in Boston says that Maldonado admitted to authorities that while in the southern part of Somalia, he called Mehanna and, using code words, urged him to join in fighting for an Islamic state in Somalia.
The affidavit says Mehanna told the cooperating witness that when Maldonado called him from Somalia he did not say anything that provided direct evidence that he was doing anything illegal.
But, Mehanna told the witness that Maldonado used code words, including "culinary school" and the phrase, "making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches," which meant, "I'm here fighting," according to the affidavit.
UPDATE: Dr. Rusty Shackleford of Jawa Report writes in with this news:
Tarek Mehanna had a blog and goes under the name "Abu Sayaba" online. Here's his blog.
Thanks, Rusty!
Renowned medical facility. Ummm... I wonder where would that be? The silent Jihadis in the US. War is deceit. Lie in wait and strike terror in the hearts of the infidels. Pretend to be friends with the infidels until the UMMAH is powerful at which point smite at the necks of the non believers. Allah is watching.
Allah likes "making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches"
I just would feel a lot easier knowing that someone filling my prescription had not been inculcated in a total belief-system, one that caused him to think of himself as in a permanent war with ne and other Infidels. And what makes me -- and should make potential employers of such people -- nervous, is that the texts of Islam are so clear about this, so that no one can claim, should an untoward event happen, that there was "no reason to suspect." There will be blood. And respondeat superior. CVS, and other pharmacies, are you listening? Don't say you haven't been warned.
And then there is another problem. How do we know, what can we foretell, about the kind of incident that might, in an outwardly perfectly amiable Muslim, one who may even be lapsed or lukewarm in his or her observance, to suddenly experience a change of mind and heart, and re-acquire that old-time religion, and all of its inculcated hostility toward Infidels (see the case of "Mike" Hawash or dozens of others), not necessarily trigged by any political event, but may be the kind of thing -- loss of a girlfriend or boyfriend, a poor evaluation by a superior, family problems -- for which Islam provides the all-purpose explanation and scapegoat: Infidels.
Pharmacy may be, like the profession of airline pilot, or nuclear engineer, or water sanitation engineer, that one just would prefer, for obvious reasons, not be accessible to Muslims in Infidel lands. It's called minimizing risk. We do it all the time, every day, in all kinds of ways.
"making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches," which meant, "I'm here fighting," according to the affidavit.
Connecting the dots here. Our newly elected Pres. made a (at the time) harmless statement about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches just a few days before the elects. ??????
Oh, well never mind.
Then again this might have caused quite a commotion among our jihad's when they heard those words.
The Amazing Mumford comes to this pun-addled mind.
That's actually kind of funny because back when I was a pothead I would always refer to weed when on the phone as "Chinese take-out," as in "can I get a half order of Kung Pao tofu?" or "I'm off to pick up some Chinese take-out. Can I call you back when I get home so we can have dinner?" I wonder what those wiretap people think of all those euphemisms when they hear them. I would imagine that half the time they think that terrorists are talking about drugs and half the time potheads are talking about bombs.
"Mohammad" (PB&J): you can't spell it without the "mad".
Mr Spencer, Mr Ibrahim
this guy kept a blog under the name 'Abu Sayaba'.
What does that mean in Arabic?
An additional note: it's interesting to compare this news item with the following report from Jihadwatch, November 2007, concerning the 'code' used by jihad plotters in Germany:
http://jihadwatch.org/archives/018975.php
From that article:
"A terrorism suspect {tr: a suspected Muslim jihad plotter - dda} on trial in Germany declared Thursday his devotion to Osama bin Laden and explained the code words used by Islamists during internet chat.
"Moroccan-born {tr: Moroccan-born Muslim - dda} Redouane al-H said that when a member of an Islamist internet community was arrested, the others told one another he was "sick."
"The codeword for explosives was "dough."
"He added that a "taxi driver" meant a suicide bomber and to "marry" meant dying as a martyr."
His folks must be fairly wealthy because a "sprawling" home in Sudbury is probably in the $1M range, even now with home values depressed... It's a fairly affluent area West of the city.