June 14, 2008
3 Convicted in Toledo Terror Ring
The threat of home grown terrorism? It's real. These three, like most jihad supporters in the U.S., were much more interested in going oversees to fight the U.S. or our allies. In this way they justify their support for jihad as "defensive" action.
Trust me, there are a lot of people like these three right here. Most of them never move from vocal supporters of jihad and of America's enemies abroad because they are cowards. For that I suppose we should be thankful.
You'll also notice that the trio had hours and hours of jihadi videos, an analysis of which NEFA has made available. For those who want a crash course in the Sunni jihad in Iraq, there's also tons of information about such groups as al Qaeda, Ansar al-Sunnah, Jaish al-Mujahdeen, and the Islamic Army in Iraq and the kind of propaganda they produce.
Of special note is the message posted by Marwan El-Hindi at the al-Ekhlaas forum in which he proclaims himself a terrorist, a screenshot of which can be found here.
The Toledo Blade has a very good story about the case, worth reading the whole thing, but here are some highlights:
Mohammad Amawi, Marwan El-Hindi, and Wassim Mazloum were found guilty by a jury in U.S. District Court in Toledo of conspiring to plan attacks to kill or injure U.S. troops in Iraq and other countries - a crime that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison - and providing materials and support to terrorists....In addition, two others are facing indictment for being part of the same ring.El-Hindi, 45, is a U.S. citizen who was born in Jordan; Mazloum, 27, came to the United States from Lebanon in 2000, and Amawi, 28, who was born in the United States, holds Jordanian citizenship...
Jurors were shown videos that the men had of gruesome beheadings, U.S. Marines killing Iraqis, tanks being blown up, and a Marine being killed at a checkpoint in Iraq.
Just to get the story straight: these three were plotting to go overseas to fight the U.S. in Iraq? Why wasn't the charge treason or conspiracy to commit treason?
The inevitable follow up story in the Blade about stereotyping of Muslims in the wake of the verdict produces this incredibly stupid quote:
"Unfortunately, right away, if it happened to be a Muslim person, they say 'Islamic terrorist,'" Mr. Shousher said...True, but when was the last time someone robbed a bank "in the name of Jesus" or justified the theft based upon some New Testament verse? Truly stupid."If they rob a bank, they don't say he's a Christian robber ... If you have an Islamic name, an Arabic heritage, they think we approve. But that's not the truth."
