Who Brainwashed American Terror Suspect and Supported His Training in Somalia? (updated)
By Andrew Cochran
On February 14, I posted on statements by terrorist suspect Daniel Maldonado, who was arrested in Houston and charged for assisting Al Qaeda. Richard Miniter has done more digging and found Maldonado's personal blog, on which Maldonado described himself as a "Die Hard Wahabbi." The Maldonado case raises additional questions about the conversion and radicalization tactics used to breed "homegrown" Islamic terrorists like Maldonado in the U.S, and raises the following issues with respect to him (equally applicable to any prospective "homegrown"):
Which Islamic mosque, school, or website did Maldonado walk into to start his search for what he calls "true Islam?" Who was his Imam or spiritual director, what is that person's background, and how is that facility funded and supported? What is the level of membership or readership for that facility's teachings and publications? How extreme is that Imam and that facility and its teachings and publications?
Did Maldonado pay for his trips to Egypt and Somalia or did he have help and by whom? Are those supporters American-based and, if so, are they associated with another group based overseas? Did Maldonado have access to an account during his trip, in which financial institution is that account maintained, and how did he access the account?
Did Maldonado have a plan to re-enter the country? What would have been his stops along the way, and where was he planning to live and work upon his return from Somalia? Did he work at or near Houston-area oil or port facilities? Did he have regular contact with anybody at those facilities prior to his departure?
His blog indicates that his wife had their third child in July 2006. Where is she now and what was her role in his conversion and radicalization? (UPDATE, Feb. 17: She is reported to have died of malaria contracted in Africa.)
UPDATE: "Internet Haganah" has been digging into Maldonado's connections and posted important information on his friends and supporters before I posted, and they had this observation: "Attitudes like Daniel's don't develop in a vacuum. They develop and are nurtured in community with other Muslims, and that community is found online. Islamist forums function like little terrorist factories. Muslims enter at one end, and terrorists and their plots issue forth from the other end."
We've discussed issues such as these with respect to prior American "homegrowns" in Lodi, California and in northern Virginia - a sample:
Lodi Imams Allegedly Planned to Open Radical School
Who Trained Kevin James, a Prison Inmate, to Be an Radical Islamist?
Lodi Imam Admits to Telling Pakistanis to Fight Americans
Lodi Terror Case Draws Attention to Alleged Al-Qaida Training Camps in Pakistan
Testimony: Intercepting Radicalization at the Indoctrination stage
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali Convicted in Northern Virginia
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross' Testimony on Prison Radicalization (updated)
Daniel Maldonado, American Homegrown Terror Suspect
