Samir Khan has seemingly encountered no resistance as he went from a twerp with a computer sponging off of his parents to a high-profile al-Qaeda propagandist, now living in Yemen, nearer the operations of al-Qaeda’s franchise in the Arabian Peninsula. There is a very valid question regarding whether investigators made a tactical decision (as many would argue, at least he’s not here anymore), or failed to detect or act on information regarding Khan’s intentions.
An update on this story. “N.C. Rep.: U.S. missed terror connection,” from UPI, July 21:
CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 21 (UPI) — A U.S. politician says the intelligence community missed a connection between a terrorist group and a U.S. blogger now believed to be with al-Qaida in Yemen.
Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., said the connections should have been made when Samir Kahn [sic], now thought to be the top editor of an al-Qaida recruiting Web site, was in North Carolina, The Charlotte Observer reported Wednesday.
“It becomes clear to me that he had contacts with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula while he was in the U.S.,” she said. “And if that’s the case, the intelligence community should have been able to discover that. And if they knew it and didn’t do something, that raises more red flags.”
Khan, in his 20s, is a Saudi-born U.S. citizen whose family moved to New York when he was 7 and to North Carolina in 2004, the Observer said.
In 2005 Khan started a blog called “Inshallahshaheed,” or “a martyr soon if God wills,” from the suburban home in Charlotte he shared with his parents.
Khan, believed to be in Yemen, is suspected of editing “Inspire,” an online magazine designed as a recruiting tool for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, intelligence sources said….