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Alleged would-be terrorist thwarted; USA
Topic Started: Oct 27 2010, 10:14 AM (33 Views)
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WASHINGTON -- Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, according to the FBI, traveled the world in search of jihad. But Pakistan turned him away, and Jordan did, too. He tried to get into Somalia, but U.S. authorities placed him on the no-fly list. An American citizen, he visited an army recruiting station in New York's Times Square hoping to be sent to Iraq; they did not want him either.

So, the FBI said, the 21-year-old born and raised in New York created websites and posted threats of radical Islamic violence, including one from another American expatriate, Anwar al-Awlaki, whom the Treasury has labeled a specially designated global terrorist. Once an imam at U.S. mosques with a reputation as a moderate, Mr. Awlaki, 39, moved in 2004 to Yemen and produced a series of sermons and writings calling upon Muslims to wage violent war against the United States.

Mr. Shehadeh more recently flew to Hawaii and allegedly started taking target practice. FBI agents said he wanted to join a jihadist group to learn "guerrilla warfare and bomb-making." Had he been welcomed into the U.S. Army, they said, his plan was to defect in Iraq and turn against his comrades.

Mr. Shehadeh's journeys ended last Friday. He was arrested in Honolulu and accused in a federal criminal complaint, unsealed Monday, of making false statements in an international terrorism case.

For 2 1/2 years federal officials followed his travels, tracked his websites and enlisted help from his grade-school friends. On Tuesday, they singled him out as someone much like Mr. Awlaki -- eager to forfeit his U.S. citizenship for a life of jihad.

Florence T. Nakakuni, the U.S. attorney in Hawaii, said the investigation covered "a six-hour time difference and 5,000 miles." In New York, FBI Assistant Director Janice K. Fedarcyk said "stopping one prospective terrorist can prevent untold numbers of casualties."

Mr. Shehadeh faces as much as eight years in prison. His Hawaiian attorney, Matthew Winter, said he "wants to return as soon as possible to New York and face the charges there."

He is slightly built, thin and clean-shaven. He does not evoke the image of an angry Islamic radical. But his arrest comes amid a heightened alert over threats of homegrown terrorists.

"My brothers of revolutionary Islam, I am with you as long as you keep struggling," Mr. Shehadeh allegedly posted on his website. "Trust me, there are many brothers and sisters in America that are ready to speak up. They just need a push."

He first drew the eye of FBI agents in June 2008 for signing into the online Expedia travel agency and purchasing a one-way ticket to Pakistan. A New York detective interviewed him at the airport; Mr. Shehadeh said he was going to Pakistan to attend an Islamic school there.

Customs and Border Patrol searched his checked baggage. They found a sleeping bag, toiletries, three books and two clothes changes. When the plane landed at Islamabad, he wasn't allowed into the country.

According to the FBI, he created his own websites. One highlighted the "Benefits of Jihad in Our Times." Another ran speeches from Mr. Awlaki. A third, titled "civiljihad," included warnings dripping in blood.

He visited the recruiting station at Times Square in October 2008, according to the complaint. The army turned him away because he failed to disclose his trip to Pakistan. Two weeks later, he flew to Jordan, but authorities there would not let him in.

The FBI developed two confidential informants who were boyhood classmates of Mr. Shehadeh. The agents said they learned that Mr. Shehadeh wanted U.S. Muslims to travel to Muslim countries and fight against the United States. He allegedly told them that he wanted to die a martyr, that there were "no more excuses" for avoiding jihad. He spoke of an afterlife with 72 virgins.

Last April, he again spoke to the FBI. The conversation turned to why U.S. Muslims become radicalized.

The agents said Mr. Shehadeh told them, "Take my story, for example."

link

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10300/1098250-84.stm#ixzz13Y5fJ8vF
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