He is clearly a convinced Islamic jihadist. He believes that the Qur’an teaches that Muslims should wage war against unbelievers, and that Muhammad engaged in that warfare in a way that Muslims should emulate. And Muslim advocacy groups in the U.S. feel no obligation to explain how and why they reject Abdulmutallab’s version of Islam, or what they’re doing to prevent Muslims here from picking it up. And no one ever challenges them on that. “Airline attack suspect starts trial with outburst,” by Ed White for the Associated Press, October 4 (thanks to Block Ness):
DETROIT (AP) — A Nigerian man accused of trying to bring down an international jetliner with a bomb in his underwear walked into the start of his federal trial Tuesday and declared that a radical Islamic cleric killed by the U.S. military is alive.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s outburst came as jury selection got under way for his federal terror trial in Detroit, where the 24-year-old is acting as his own attorney and has previously told reporters they should stop reporting that Osama bin Laden was dead.
“Anwar is alive,” Abdulmutallab said Tuesday, referring to American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed last week by a joint CIA-U.S. military air strike in Yemen.
“The mujahadeen will wipe out the U.S. – the cancer U.S.,” he added.
Abdulmutallab, a well-educated Nigerian from an upper-class family, was directed by al-Awlaki and wanted to become a martyr when he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in Amsterdam on Christmas 2009, according to the government….
“A well-educated Nigerian from an upper-class family”? Doesn’t AP know that poverty and ignorance cause jihad?
The judge has denied several of Abdulmutallab’s requests for the trial, including that the case be judged under Islamic law.
Abdulmutallab has pleaded not guilty to eight charges, including conspiracy to commit terrorism and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. The government says he wanted to blow up the plane by detonating chemicals in his underwear, just seven minutes before the jet carrying 279 passengers and a crew of 11 was to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport….
This Misunderstander of Islam also shouted something about defending Muhammad: “Accused underwear bombing changes clothes, shouts about Mohammed, ‘cancer of U.S.’ during jury selection,” by Tresa Baldas and David Ashenfelter for the Detroit Free Press, October 4 (thanks to Block Ness):
Jury selection in the trial of bombing suspect Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab started this morning with more courtroom antics, and a wardrobe change.
The terror suspect entered the courtroom and shouted “Sheik Anwar’s alive.” He also said something about wiping out the “cancer of the U.S.” followed by a claim to “defend Mohammed.”
After his courtroom outbursts, U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds entered the courtroom and urged the suspect to change from a t-shirt into a shirt with a collar. He took her advice and left the courtroom, returning in a pin-striped black suit coat, his usual khakis, and black wingtips.
At one point, Edmunds told Abdulmutallab, a 24-year-old Nigerian student, he could not wear a Yemeni belt with a dagger — the outfit that he had proposed wearing to court. She said that would be inappropriate….
Oh, it sounds perfectly appropriate to me.