“His Facebook profile photo is a picture of a golden sword and the words ‘Islam is the Religion of the Sword Not Pacifism.'” Where did he learn this understanding of Islam? Was he “radicalized on the Internet,” or are authorities looking into the possibility that maybe, just maybe, this view of Islam is taught right there in Flint, Michigan? I know it’s inconceivable and “Islamophobic” even to suggest, but can it really be definitively ruled out?
And why would a doctor join the Islamic State? After all, John Kerry assures us that poverty and lack of opportunity cause terrorism. Surely this couldn’t have something to do with Islam, could it?
“FBI hunts doctor from Flint area tied to Islamic State,” by Robert Snell, The Detroit News, June 23, 2016:
Flushing — Federal agents are hunting for a suburban Flint medical school graduate who has fled to Syria and is believed to be working as a doctor for Islamic State extremists, The Detroit News has learned.
Sealed federal court records involving 24-year-old Flushing native Mohamed Maleeh Masha reveal an international search stretching from the battlefields of war-torn Syria to downtown Flint. The records, emerging while the city copes with fallout from a water crisis, offer a rare peek inside a federal terror investigation that could yield insight into Islamic State recruiting methods.
The manhunt was revealed in a sealed search warrant that was briefly posted on the federal court online case database. The records indicate the FBI is looking for evidence Masha is supporting Islamic State groups, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria — known as ISIS.
The terror investigation is likely focused on determining if Masha is recruiting people in the Flint area and elsewhere to join ISIS, counterterrorism experts said….
Until last year, Masha lived in an orange-brick, two-story colonial in a leafy subdivision in Flushing, eight miles northwest of downtown Flint. His driver’s license expires next month.
Masha’s mother and several siblings live there today. Weeds poked above the backyard deck during a recent visit and the swimming pool appeared damaged, the blue liner peeling and hanging like drapes….
Agents also were searching for evidence Masha helped al-Furqan, the Islamic State’s primary media operation.
The warrant indicates agents sought evidence Masha had traveled overseas to help jihadists or engage in terrorism.
The records reveal a shadowy FBI investigation that appears to have been triggered by Masha’s disappearance in early 2015.
Masha is believed to have been among the first of two waves of medical school students and graduates to travel to Turkey before entering Syria, according to news reports….
The pages of East High School’s yearbook show a pudgy-cheeked kid with spiky hair wearing a striped shirt. He belonged to the Future Business Leaders of America club.
He graduated in 2009. The yearbook index lists his senior photo as appearing on page 48.
But like Masha, the photo is missing.
He later attended the University of Medical Sciences and Technology in Khartoum, Sudan, and graduated in 2014, according to his Facebook page….
Masha’s social media accounts mention jihad.
His Facebook profile photo is a picture of a golden sword and the words “Islam is the Religion of the Sword Not Pacifism.” Another photo shows an outline of the U.S., dollar signs and the words “Interest & Tyranny.”
Masha’s most recent public Facebook post was in December and included a photo with the word “Jihad.”
His friend list includes at least two young Flint relatives.
In June 2015, Masha posted a quote from Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical U.S.-born cleric who federal prosecutors said met with Abdulmutallab before the failed underwear bomb attack….