And yet no one seems to have pointed out to him how he was Misunderstanding Islam. “Portland Terror Suspect a Self-Proclaimed Moral Authority Online,” by Jana Winter for FoxNews.com, December 3:
The Somali-born American teenager accused of plotting to blow up a tree-lighting ceremony in Portland, Ore., potentially killing thousands, was trying to reach out to terrorist contacts in Pakistan while proclaiming himself an expert on jihad online, according to court documents and copies of the articles obtained by FoxNews.com.
According to the FBI affidavit filed in support of his arrest warrant and criminal complaint, Mohamed Osman Mohamud wrote three articles for Jihad Recollections, a monthly English-language jihadist magazine that was a precursor to the Al Qaeda magazine Inspire. The affidavit names one article; FoxNews.com located copies of the other two.
In the series, Mohamud wrote using the pen name Ibn al-Mubarak and assumed the role of an Al Qaeda aerobics instructor, dietitian and media analyst proffering advice on how best to succeed in carrying out violent jihad. Topics ranged from rambling daily recaps; non-sequiturs on avoiding wasting money on expensive milkshakes; and the editors at As-Sahab Media who succeed in keeping nearly all typos out of their magazine.
Mohamud, 19, who was arraigned in federal court Monday on charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, had articles published in April, May and August 2009 in Jihad Recollections, which was run by American turncoat Samir Khan, the North Carolina man believed to be behind Inspire.
In the three articles he wrote, Mohamud presented himself as an authority on jihad, while at the same time he was just beginning to reach out to real-world contacts in an attempt to become an operational jihadist, documents show.
By August 2009, the court filing says, Mohamud was involved in email exchanges with an unnamed man referred to in the FBI affidavit as “Unindicted Associate One,” with whom Mohamud later discusses the possibility of attending a jihadi training camp overseas.
That same month, Mohamud published “Assessing the Role and Influence of As-Sahab Media,” in praise of Al Qaeda’s media arm. The article includes a list of the most inspiring themes used to win over the hearts and minds of potential jihadis. At the top: the wills and last testaments of the Sept. 11 hijackers….