Somali-born teen arrested in alleged Oregon bomb plot

[cjjtulsa]

Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Corvallis, was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Maximum life sentence? Really - life is only the max? Life in the pokey should be the minimum, with a .308 to the head from one of several barrels the maximum - as well as - the preferred punishment.

 

[waltham41]

What gets me is why on earth do they come here if they hate us so much? Like that sesspool of a country the kid comes from is so much better?

 

[Dale00]

Don't be too harsh about all Somalis. Sounds like the bomber's family was trying to straighten him out. And I'll bet there are Somalis who are tipping off the FBI about the radicals.

Mohamud graduated from high school in Beaverton. He was enrolled at Oregon State University over the past year but withdrawing Oct. 6, the school said.

The law enforcement official who spoke to the AP said agents began investigating Mohamud after receiving a tip from someone concerned about him. The official declined providing further more detail about the relationship between the two.

The FBI monitored Mohamud's e-mail and found he was in contact with people overseas, asking how he could travel to Pakistan and join the fight for jihad, according to an FBI affidavit.

The law enforcement official said Mohamud e-mailed a friend living in Pakistan who had been a student in Oregon in 2007-2008 and been in Yemen as well.

The e-mail exchanges led the FBI to believe that Mohamud's friend in Pakistan "had joined others involved in terrorist activities" and was inviting Mohamud to join him, according to the affidavit.

For reasons unexplained, Mohamud tried to board a flight to Kodiak, Alaska, from Portland on June 14, wasn't allowed to board and was interviewed by the FBI, the affidavit states.

Mohamud told the FBI he wanted to earn money fishing and then travel to join "the brothers." He said he had previously hoped to travel to Yemen but had never obtained a ticket or a visa.

On June 23, an agent e-mailed Mohamud, pretending to be affiliated with the "unindicted associate."

The FBI's affidavit said the friend in Pakistan referred him to another associate, but gave him an address Mohamud repeatedly tried e-mailing unsuccessfully. The official said FBI agents saw that as an opportunity and e-mailed in response, claiming to be associates of Mohamud's friend, the former student....

On Nov. 4, the court documents say, Mohamud made a video in the presence of one of the undercover agents, putting on clothes he described as "Sheik Osama style:" a white robe, red and white headdress, and camouflage jacket.

He read a statement speaking of his dream of bringing "a dark day" on Americans and blaming his family for thwarting him, according to the court documents:

"To my parents who held me back from Jihad in the cause of Allah. I say to them ... if you — if you make allies with the enemy, then Allah's power ... will ask you about that on the day of judgment, and nothing that you do can hold me back ..."

Friday, an agent and Mohamud drove to Portland in a white van that carried six 55-gallon drums with detonation cords and plastic caps, but all of them were inert, the complaint states.

They left the van near the downtown ceremony site and went to a train station where Mohamud was given a cell phone that he thought would blow up the vehicle, according to the complaint. There was no detonation when he dialed, and when he tried again federal agents and police made their move.
...

Officials have been working with Muslim leaders across the United States, particularly with the Somali community in Minnesota, trying to combat the radicalization.

On Saturday, Omar Jamal, first secretary to the Somali mission to the United Nations and an advocate for Somalis in Minnesota, said Mohamud has a stepmother in Minneapolis. He condemned the plot and urged Somalis to cooperate with police and the FBI.

Jamal said he had spoken to two Somalis who knew Mohamud, and he was described as religious and quiet. Jamal said Mohamud is from southern Somalia.

"Everybody's afraid, really really afraid," Jamal said of members of Oregon's Somali communities and elsewhere. "They're afraid of, first of all, the label. The allegation is very serious ..."

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Feds-Somali-born-teen-plotted-car-bombing-in-Ore-835056.php

 

[RETOKSQUID]

Why no charge of treason?


US Constitution, Article III, Section 3: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court."

Last time I checked neither the DOJ, nor the DHS classify acts of terrorism/support as treason. IMO it is, and they should, but I guess that would not be PC for them.