Daniel Aljughaifi: yet another misunderstander of his new religion. Memo to Ibrahim Hooper: why can’t you guys develop a program to help head off converts from joing the jihad you profess to oppose?
“Ex-Houstonian linked to al-Qaida pleads guilty,” by Cindy George in the Houston Chronicle, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
Former Houston resident Daniel Joseph Maldonado pleaded guilty today to participating in an al-Qaida training camp in East Africa, federal prosecutors said.
Maldonado, 28, was the first American charged in connection with an attempt to establish an extremist Islamic state in Somalia.
He also used the name Daniel Aljughaifi, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Maldonado, who was charged with receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization, agreed to plead guilty to the government’s criminal complaint in exchange for an agreement that prosecutors would not file any other charges against him, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez….
Maldonado, a Muslim convert and blogger under the name Daniel Aljughaifi, came to Houston from Boston for a short time in 2005 to work for the Houston-based IslamicNetwork.com, a Web site frequented by terrorism suspects….
While fleeing Somalia in January, Maldonado was captured by Kenyan soldiers who turned him over to FBI agents for interviews.
During that time, he penned statements in which he confessed going to training camps to prepare for jihad, or holy war.