Adam Yahiye Gadahn was apparently expelled from Muzammil Siddiqi’s Islamic Society of Orange County, but what I want to know is this: what did he learn from Siddiqi before that? In this AP story, Siddiqi says: “He was becoming very extreme in his ideas and views. He must have disliked something.”
And then there was the mysterious arrest:
Gadahn, who was named Wednesday as one of seven suspected Al Qaeda operatives sought by the FBI, was later expelled from the mosque after attacking an employee. Records show he pleaded guilty to assault and battery charges in June 1997 and was sentenced to two days in jail and 40 hours of community service.
“He was becoming very extreme in his ideas and views,” said Muzammil Siddiqi, the society’s religious director. “He must have disliked something.”
But what did he learn from Siddiqi before that? After all, Kenneth Timmerman has noted that:
During an anti-Israel rally outside the White House on Oct. 28, 2000, Siddiqi openly threatened the United States with violence if it continued its support of Israel. “America has to learn … if you remain on the side of injustice, the wrath of God will come. Please, all Americans. Do you remember that? … If you continue doing injustice, and tolerate injustice, the wrath of God will come.” By “injustice,” he meant U.S. support for Israel.
Siddiqi also has called for a wider application of sharia law in the United States, and in a 1995 speech praised suicide bombers. “Those who die on the part of justice are alive, and their place is with the Lord, and they receive the highest position, because this is the highest honor,” he was quoted as saying by the Kansas City Star on Jan. 28, 1995.