California jihad mass murder plotter regularly attended local mosque

And oddly enough, while there he somehow never imbibed the True, Peaceful Teachings of Islam. "Terrorism Arrests: Mosque’s members, neighbors react," by David Olson for the Press Enterprise, November 21:

A man who prayed at the same mosque as one of the Inland terrorism suspects arrested last week said he hoped Arifeen David Gojali is sent to jail if he really was plotting to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
“Muslim or not Muslim, he should go to jail” if he is guilty, said Gamal Atia, who has worshipped at Masjid al-Sabireen Cham American Muslim Community in downtown Pomona for 11 years.

Atia, 55, of Pomona, said he regularly saw Gojali pray at the mosque with his parents and brother.

“He's a good person,” Atia said. “They're nice people. I'd see him on Friday and in the evenings sometimes.”...

If Gojali is guilty, “I'm very, very sorry,” Atia said. “This is not our religion. Islam is a religion of peace.”

Atia said people shouldn't blame Islam for the actions of a small number of extremists, just as all Christians shouldn't be blamed for the actions of Timothy McVeigh, who blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 and injuring more than 600. McVeigh was raised Catholic but before he was executed in 2001 identified as agnostic, according to news reports.

This is the usual boilerplate. It never discusses the fact that jihadis use the texts and teachings of Islam to justify violence, in a way that no one uses the texts and teachings of Christianity.

Atia said that if Gojali is guilty, people should focus on him as an individual, not as a Muslim.
“It's not the religion,” he said. “It's the people who are crazy.”

His comments echoed those by Inland Islamic leaders on Tuesday, who said they worried that the arrests of the four suspected terrorists would increase fear of Muslims. They condemned terrorist acts and said that if the men are guilty, they weren't following Islamic teaching.

The men — Sohiel Omar Kabir, 34, a former Pomona resident who had moved to Afghanistan; Ralph Deleon, 23, of Ontario; Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales, 21, of Upland; and Gojali — were arrested last week after an FBI investigation found they had been plotting to join the Taliban and al-Qaida and wanted to attack U.S. bases in Afghanistan....

The imam of the mosque, who Atia said he knows only as Imam Kassem, is from Cambodia or Vietnam. He's been gone for about three weeks, apparently for a trip to Southeast Asia, Atia said....

The tan-and-cream-colored building does not have a sign identifying it as a mosque. The only indications it is an Islamic center are a parking lot sign that says, “For Imam Parking Only” in front of a space near the entrance doors, and Arabic writing in a side window.

Melkus has been in the neighborhood almost every weekday morning over the past four years to auction properties at the nearby Los Angeles County courthouse.

He said he's never noticed anyone enter or leave the building.

Mike Bee, who also works at the courthouse almost every weekday morning and parks near the mosque, said the arrest of Gojali worries him.

“I'll probably be more cautious,” said Bee, 47, of Los Angeles. “There could be terrorists in there. This just gives me a reason to believe there are more of them out there, for sure.”

Maria Gonzalez, whose morning walk takes her past the mosque every day , said she typically sees about eight people milling about before or after the dawn prayers.

Gonazalez [sic], 58, said in Spanish that she and her neighbors had long been nervous of seeing men in Islamic skullcaps at the mosque.

“We were afraid,” she said. “I thought they might be terrorists.”

Now that she knows a mosque worshipper was arrested on terrorism, she's even more nervous.

“You can't tell who it is who wants to kill people,” she said....

Stephanie Reyes, 24, who lives about two blocks from the mosque, said she was never worried about extremists at the Islamic center — until now.

Until now!

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7 Comments

| Leave a comment

boneshack | November 21, 2012 3:34 PM | Reply

“I thought they might be terrorists.”

OMG! The islamophobia! Better send Ms. Maria Gonzalez to a Re-education Camp immediately!!

Meryl Petkoff | November 21, 2012 3:47 PM | Reply

>We were afraid... I thought they might be terrorists
>she was never worried about extremists at the Islamic center — until now.
>until now

How islamophobic and racist of these latinas!, how dare they be afraid and worried about peaceful members of the peaceful "religion" of peace?. They need to be sued and incarcerated for hate crimes, to the Holder-and-CAIR mobile! nanananananananana... Pedohammed! http://bit.ly/RXhMQO

Loves God | November 21, 2012 5:57 PM | Reply

Well, well, well.

Isn't it interesting that despite the 11+ years since 9/11, that the average person who isn't reading sites like this, is still concerned that Islam really is associated with terrorists and violence despite all the MSM attempts to soothe the fears that there is no connection between Islam and violence.

I guess that since the attempts to replicate a Mumbai or London or NYC again keep appearing often enough, along with the association of the participants are associated with Islam, that the average American cannot accept the idea that Islam is really a religion of peace. They are willing to accept the idea that the Muslim(s) that they have met, are as an individual, peaceful - but that the faith ... isn't.

LemonLime | November 21, 2012 6:02 PM | Reply

Reporter David Olson sure tries to get a lot of reportorial juice from the one little Muslim fruit he found in "Atia, 55, of Pomona" -- who, coincidentally and conveniently, articulates all the talking points of PC MC/Muslim Apologists as though he had been briefed with a memo moments before.

jake-a-runi | November 21, 2012 6:16 PM | Reply

There's no such thing as a bad boy.

dumbledoresarmy | November 22, 2012 4:15 AM | Reply

I liked the commonsense of the Spanish-speaking lady. She appears to have her instinct of self-preservation in full working order.

'Maria Gonzalez, whose morning walk takes her past the mosque every day , said she typically sees about eight people milling about before or after the dawn prayers.

'Gonazalez [sic], 58, said in Spanish that she and her neighbors had long been nervous of seeing men in Islamic skullcaps at the mosque.

“We were afraid,” she said. “I thought they might be terrorists.”

'Now that she knows a mosque worshipper was arrested on terrorism, she's even more nervous.

“You can't tell who it is who wants to kill people,” she said....'

Run that last bit past again:

'You can't tell who it is who wants to kill people', she said.

Spot on, lady. Spot on.

dumbledoresarmy | November 22, 2012 4:22 AM | Reply

Something else that struck me.

This *mosque* was 'keeping a low profile. Some people hadn't even figured out it *was* a mosque.

I clicked on the link. annoyingly, the story seems to have been reworded somewhat, but it still contains (or contained) the following passage:

"MOSQUE BLENDED IN
Some who work near Masjid al-Sabireen were unaware that the nondescript building housed an Islamic center.
The tan-and-cream-colored building does not have a sign identifying it as a mosque....".

Or, in the version Mr Spencer posted:
"The tan-and-cream-colored building does not have a sign identifying it as a mosque. The only indications it is an Islamic center are a parking lot sign that says, “For Imam Parking Only” in front of a space near the entrance doors, and Arabic writing in a side window."

Like a Muslim who shaves, cuts his hair, and wears western dress;

;ike a Muslimah who wears western dress, with her hair uncovered;

it was nondescript, it 'blended in', so that some (except for the most observant and astute) didn't realize what it was.

'.
No apparent trouble with the neighbours over parking or 'praying' in the streets.

All very, very quiet. Not a great big ostentatious thing like a fort, that would raise people's hackles and ring their alarm bells.

Yet *this* mosque is where those Dangerous Convert and Born-Muslims were getting their spiritual poison from, while they were hatching their plots.

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