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Canada jihad plotter motivated by drug addiction, court hears

Jul 14, 2015 12:09 pm By Robert Spencer

Raed Jaser“In one of the recordings, Jaser was heard saying ‘everyone is a target’ and that he wanted ‘the whole country to burn.'”

“A psychologist has described a man convicted of terrorism in a plot to derail a passenger train as a desperate drug addict who conned people to get high but wouldn’t even kill a spider.”

Do you get the impression that maybe, just maybe, Dr. Jess Ghannam’s analysis may be just a tiny bit off?

There are lots of drug addicts. How many try to derail passenger trains?

“Man found guilty in Via Rail plot motivated by drug addiction, court hears,” by Cara McKenna, The Canadian Press, July 14, 2015:

TORONTO – A psychologist has described a man convicted of terrorism in a plot to derail a passenger train as a desperate drug addict who conned people to get high but wouldn’t even kill a spider.

Dr. Jess Ghannam told a Toronto court on Monday that Raed Jaser did not have consistent radical Islamic ideology, but adopted a persona as a pious Muslim to trick members of that community.

Why? To what end? Are we supposed to believe that pious Muslims, once tricked by Jaser, would help him keep getting high?

Ghannam concluded that Jaser had no intention to hurt anyone and he was motivated by his drug addiction and by wanting to take care of his family.

He told the sentencing hearing that Jaser had a “debilitating” addiction and “would do anything to stay high.”

Jaser and his co-accused, Chiheb Esseghaier, were found guilty in March of a terror-related conspiracy to commit murder, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison.

The 12-member jury also found the men guilty of six other terror-related charges between them.

Ghannam — a licensed psychologist and clinical professor of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco — said he conducted interviews with Jaser’s parents, brother, wife and sister-in-law as part of a psychiatric assessment.

Ghannam has testified in other terrorism cases in the U.S. and specializes in working with refugee, displaced, and immigrant populations from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.

He described Jaser — a permanent resident of Palestinian descent — as a man who was “broken psychologically” but had a caring family and “a special love of cats.”

“He would rather spend what limited money he had on cat food, and feeding local neighbourhood cats or even feral cats, rather than spend money on food for himself or his wife,” he said.

“Rather than kill an ant or a spider in his apartment, (he) would capture it and release it into the wild.”

He said that he believes Jaser had neither the intention nor intent to hurt anyone and that he is a good candidate for rehabilitation. He said he is not challenging the jury’s decision.

Court heard Jaser, 37, was doing drugs heavily while in high school, where he developed a $2,000-per-week habit by 1998.

Ghannam said Jaser had a taste for a wide variety of drugs including acid, opium, hash and marijuana, saying he was drunk and high almost all the time and undertaking cons and schemes to make money while also working as a taxi and limousine driver.

He said when Jaser started growing a beard and attending a mosque in 2009, Jaser’s parents never believed he was committed to Islam but was instead trying to garner favours and cash.

During cross-examination, Crown attorney Croft Michaelson challenged Ghannam’s objectivity in the case, accusing him of jumping to conclusions about Jaser’s drug addiction and of not taking thorough enough notes during his interviews with Jaser and his family.

He also questioned Ghannam’s credentials and criticized him for giving counsel diagnostic tests to be completed by Jaser ahead of time and for failing to monitor him while he was completing them.

During the trial for Jaser and Esseghaier, which began in February, court heard that an undercover FBI agent gained the men’s trust and surreptitiously recorded their conversations, which made up the bulk of the evidence in the case.

The two were recorded speaking about alleged terror plots they would conduct in retaliation for Canada’s military actions in Muslim countries.

In one of the recordings, Jaser was heard saying “everyone is a target” and that he wanted “the whole country to burn.”

Esseghaier, who is a Tunisian national, refused to participate in his trial because he wanted to be judged under the rules of the Qur’an….

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Filed Under: Canada, willful ignorance Tagged With: Chiheb Esseghaier, Jess Ghannam, Raed Jaser


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Comments

  1. zulu says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    OT

    Knifeman shouting ‘Allah is great’ forces tourist to her knees as he holds a blade to her neck at Rome’s Colosseum in terrifying random attack

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3160876/Knifeman-shouting-Allah-great-forces-tourist-knees-holds-blade-neck-Rome-s-Colosseum-terrifying-random-attack.html#ixzz3fspYspjn

  2. mortimer says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 12:28 pm

    I’m sure the judge has a migraine from this one.

    • particolor says

      Jul 15, 2015 at 8:14 am

      The Judge broke down and wept Uncontrollably after hear that Crap, and has been in an Institution ever since.

  3. Papa Whiskey says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 12:30 pm

    Check out Jess Ghannam’s Wikipedia entry:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jess_Ghannam

    Excerpt:

    Jess Ghannam is an accomplished Palestinian-American psychologist and professor who is active in numerous non-governmental organizations and in carrying out humanitarian work, particularly in the Gaza Strip.

    • mortimer says

      Jul 14, 2015 at 12:53 pm

      Possible bias? As much credibility as a klansman at an NAACP convention.

    • Huck Folder says

      Jul 15, 2015 at 6:11 pm

      Beat me to it.

      “He also questioned Ghannam’s credentials…”

      http://imeu.org/article/jess-ghannam-professor-and-community-leader

      “Jess Ghannam is an accomplished [in what way. Citations?] Palestinian-American psychologist and professor who is ACTIVE in numerous non-governmental organizations and in carrying out ‘humanitarian work’, [arms courier?] particularly in the Gaza Strip.”

      “The son of Palestinians who were forced to flee their homes when Israel was established in 1948, Dr. Jess Ghannam was “born into politics.”” [Radicalized? By ma and pa?]

      “Since the early 1990s, he has traveled to Palestine several times a year.” [Deliveries? Messages?]

      “The brutality of the Israeli occupation has been increasing significantly, [hasn’t it always? Taqiyya?] both in breadth and depth” he explains. “Every single aspect of civil society is affected. There isn’t a single aspect of a person’s life that isn’t impacted – psychologically, physically and spiritually. At all levels the devastation is just tremendous.”

      Well, outside of Hamas’s sea-front villas, the malls and the Roots five star restaurant and hotel…

      “Ghannam is the former president of the San Francisco chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, as well as a member of the international executive committee of Al-Awda, the Right to Return Coalition.” [The Right to Ravish (Israeli) Civilization]

      “Currently, he is working on bringing together members of the Palestinian Diaspora in North America [creating cells?] so that they may play a larger role [?] in defining the future of Palestine and the Palestinians.”

      That last sentence doesn’t fill me with confidence. Is he organizing Hamas infrastructure in the US, particularly communications?

      BTW1 – who better to try to trick the jury, than a trained psychologist; doesn’t he know every trick in the book? Did the prosecution also do a psychological work up? They could refute any blatantly obvious taqiyya by Ghannam (who went to the most leftard, jihad loving, palestinian-brown-nosing universities.)

      BTW2 Ask him whether homosexuality is a choice. As a moslem he would have to answer YES, because The BoH™ says so; as a Western trained ‘psychologist’, he would have to answer NO.
      Interesting dilemma for him.

  4. mortimer says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 12:35 pm

    Jaser is the MOST STONED JIHADIST IN THE WORLD:

    “I don’t always do suicide bombing, but when I do, I prefer to use high grade cocaine.”

  5. Michael Copeland says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 1:26 pm

    Esseghaier … refused to participate in his trial because he wanted to be judged under the rules of the Qur’an….

    Will this do?
    “ We only have to prove their identity and then kill them all. There is absolutely no need for a trial. No compassion for them will be allowed. We believe that the guilty party does not need a trial and must be killed.”

    Ayatollah Khomeini (in a message to the Iranian people, June 30, 1980)
    http://www.iran-heritage.org/interestgroups/government-article2.htm

  6. Jaladhi says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 1:27 pm

    Yep, all these jihadis are motivated by any number of spurious reasons and not by the real reason that is jihad for Islam and Mo/allah!

  7. Angemon says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 1:45 pm

    He described Jaser … as a man who … had a caring family and “a special love of cats.”

    Like his role model, muhammad, and that didn’t prevent him from killing people.

    • gerard says

      Jul 15, 2015 at 2:39 am

      Hitler had a “special love” for dogs. .. and for killing people.

      • particolor says

        Jul 15, 2015 at 8:20 am

        Pol Pot loved eating them ! And killing People !

  8. Adrian says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 2:37 pm

    The world is going crazy

    How can drug multivate someone to commit jihad.
    Some defence are so desperate for money and fame that they will say anything to support an intended mass murder.

    • Huck Folder says

      Jul 15, 2015 at 6:16 pm

      Indeed. What about the hundreds of thousands of junkies who aren’t moslem psychopaths?

  9. Champ says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 3:15 pm

    test

  10. Champ says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 3:32 pm

    “A psychologist has described a man convicted of terrorism in a plot to derail a passenger train as a desperate drug addict who conned people to get high but wouldn’t even kill a spider.”

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Sure, his drug of choice: islam

    And someone needs to fire that psychologist! ..he’s old school.

    • gerard says

      Jul 15, 2015 at 2:42 am

      “wouldn’t even kill a spider.” Reminds me of “Mother” in “Psycho”: “She wouldn’t harm a fly”.

  11. Cartimandua says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 8:36 pm

    No Palestinian American psychologist should DARE to defend one of his own in a Canadian courtroom. Both of these Non Canadian muslim would-be murderers of innocent passengers on a Canadian VIA rail train need to be shown NO MERCY by a Canadian court. None.

  12. Arthur says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 9:52 pm

    There comes a point in reading this story where one realizes the psychologist is only an agent of the defense, full of deceit, and the real curiosity is how gullible the court will become in order to project an appearance of impartiality.

  13. mortimer says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 10:46 pm

    In the movie ‘Psycho’, Norman Bates was also a man who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Nevertheless, he was a man who collected ‘trophies’. Muslims think of their conquests as trophies that bring ‘honor’… their trophy-conquests all involve killing.

    Dr. Jess Ghannam and his fake patient are both mendacious taqiyya artists lying to promote Islam.

    • gerard says

      Jul 15, 2015 at 2:44 am

      I posted my comment before I saw yours!

  14. Godless says

    Jul 14, 2015 at 11:16 pm

    The psychologist and the court did not know that his profit had a special love of cats. How is derailing a train going to get you drugs?

  15. tilda says

    Jul 15, 2015 at 1:28 am

    Am not sure that I’ve understood the logic of this:

    “A psychologist has described a man convicted of terrorism in a plot to derail a passenger train as a desperate drug addict who conned people to get high but wouldn’t even kill a spider.

    Dr. Jess Ghannam told a Toronto court on Monday that Raed Jaser did not have consistent radical Islamic ideology, but adopted a persona as a pious Muslim to trick members of that community.”

    Logical conclusions:
    1. the persona of a ‘pious Muslim’ is that of a desperate drug addict and conn artist.

    2. A desperate drug addict and conn artist can easily pass in the Muslim community as a member of that community.

    I am not sure what to make of the suggestion that “a desperate drug addict who conned people wouldn’t even kill a spider,” because there is evidence in the real world to suggest otherwise when it comes to drug addicts.

    Oh well… whatever floats the psychologist’s boat.

  16. Sarah says

    Jul 15, 2015 at 4:08 am

    “He wouldn’t kill a spider” but Jews and Christians, no problem.

  17. sidney penny says

    Jul 15, 2015 at 4:18 am

    “There are lots of drug addicts. How many try to derail passenger trains?”

    There are lots of poor people.How many turn out to be terrorists?

    There are lots of jobless people.How many become head choppers?

  18. Guy Macher says

    Jul 15, 2015 at 9:25 am

    I believe he would not kill a spider. But, I am sure, as a devout and informed Muslim barrow, he would kill kafirs.

  19. Lioness says

    Jul 15, 2015 at 10:46 am

    Always the same narrative: mental illness, poverty, drug abuse – anything but the plain truth: Islamic jihad.

  20. b.c.terry says

    Jul 15, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    This guy will be back on the streets in less than 10 years, …. IF, he’s even found guilty.

    The radical P.C. and the ignorant bleeding hearts up here really test your gag reflex.

  21. gravenimage says

    Jul 15, 2015 at 10:38 pm

    Canada jihad plotter motivated by drug addiction, court hears
    ………………………………..

    Uh…right. Drug addicts will plot to steal your wallet or your flat-screen TV. To derail a train? Not so much…

    In fact, as dangerous as drug addicts can be, they absolutely pale compared to violent Jihadists.

    More:

    Jaser and his co-accused, Chiheb Esseghaier, were found guilty in March of a terror-related conspiracy to commit murder, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison.
    ………………………………..

    Hmmmm…is his co-conspirator just a misguided drug addict with no real commitment to Islam, as well? Given the fact that he wants to be judged under the rules of the Qur’an—that is, by Shari’ah law—not so much…

    More:

    Dr. Jess Ghannam told a Toronto court on Monday that Raed Jaser did not have consistent radical Islamic ideology, but adopted a persona as a pious Muslim to trick members of that community.
    ………………………………..

    Why would this “Palestinian” psychiatrist suppose that the members of the Toronto Muslim community would be impressed if they thought Jaser was plotting JIhad terror? Doesn’t that say something rather disturbing about that “community”? Will anyone notice this troubling admission?

    And here’s Ghannum’s Twitter feed, where he slanders Israel, slams any surveillance of suspected Jihadists, excoriates Pamela Geller for telling the truth about the threat of Islam, and claims that Obama’s lukewarm opposition to ISIS has “made our future world a more dangerous place”. Apparently the sanguinary horror of the Islamic State itself presents no such danger.

    Lots more ugliness here:

    https://twitter.com/jessghannam

  22. Celtic says

    Jul 16, 2015 at 5:50 am

    Baffling. A Muslim claims how he wants to see a kuffar-society burn – yeah… probably it is just the drugs – I mean, we’re all about peace and love aren’t we?

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