Tag: terrorism

Portland citizens escape unknowningly

PORTLAND, Ore. –  Undercover agents in a sting operation arrested a Somali-born teenager just as he tried blowing up a van full of what he believed were explosives at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, federal authorities said.

The bomb was a fake supplied by the agents and the public was never in danger, authorities said.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested at 5:40 p.m. Friday just after he dialed a cell phone that he thought would set off the blast but instead brought federal agents and police swooping down on him.

The FBI affidavit that outlined the investigation alleges that Mohamud planned the attack for months, at one point mailing bomb components to FBI operatives, whom he believed were assembling the device.

It said Mohamud was warned several times about the seriousness of his plan, that women and children could be killed, and that he could back out, but he told agents: “Since I was 15 I thought about all this;” and “It’s gonna be a fireworks show … a spectacular show.”

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. A court appearance was set for Monday.
rest of story here

2 cents: I am sure if this would have occurred in a real small city/town it would have succeeded. Targeting a city with a FBI presence whose agents were apparently adequately trained is what saved those people. Central to a successful terrorist attack is the planning by someone who actually understands and knows our culture, government, and systems which is what makes Anwar al-Awlaki the most dangerous of terrorism planners currently. His publication which I did review is quite alarming because he does explain simple, easy ways based on US culture to achieve successful terrorism attacks. In essence what he is providing for terrorist wannabees is a publication for free sharing his knowledge and wisdom. The publication was so troubling that I quit reading it and deleted it.

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Learning from history is wise

The conversations, debates and stories focusing around terrorism and Muslims usually goes the path about breaking of civil liberties in so called targeting or profiling based on appearance or knowledge of one’s association to Islam. Which is ridiculous as I have posted before and will continue to point out the ignorance to remove or disregard this first obvious level of discernment and decision making. I’ve been meaning to share the following illustration/example and just never got around to it until today…

Many years ago people feared another institution which murdered and brutalized people because of the recipient’s religious beliefs. In a town or village when they saw these people who often dressed different from the town/village citizens. These people also spoke in a different language when discussing their faith and reading their sacred texts. Villagers learned that these people who had travelled to the village/town had one focus – conversion to their faith due to the town’s wickedness for embracing the devil/satan/evil. Citizens also learned over time that these different people usually dressed in black would befriended people in the town to learn more about the other citizens and how their town was run. Who was the leader/mayor, government, and so on? You can read about their brutality which was far more evil than the current terrorists of extremism in Islam in such books as the Foxe’s book of martyrs. These terrorists were the Roman Catholic Church and the period has become known as the Roman Inquisition of the 12th through 17th centuries.

Why bring this up? Because the parallels are serious and the method of protection for oneself should be also. If you saw these killers you should identify them quickly and then remove their the threat to your society — you don’t protect the people by ignoring the obvious signs.

This is a pattern repeated down through out history in many if not most countries by different religions or forms of humanism. People too often and quite easily kill other people for the unwillingness to join the power holder of the moment. Whether it is genocide in Africa, Korea, Cambodia, Thailand, USA, France, Russia, China, and so on. Human beings kill other human beings and if you want to survive and have the norms and way of living in your culture and society the least unaffected by the murderers you HAVE to immediately identify the threat and neutralize it either by locking them away or killing them. Peace through strength not ignorance.

icubudLeave a comment