Peace Loving Muslim Arrested in Portland Car Bomb Plot

[Forest Glen]

PORTLAND, Ore. – Federal agents in a sting operation arrested a Somali-born teenager just as he tried blowing up a van he believed was loaded with explosives at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, authorities said.

 

The bomb was an elaborate 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.

 

Yelling "Allahu Akbar!" — Arabic for "God is great!" — Mohamud tried to kick agents and police after he was taken into custody, according to prosecutors.

 

"The threat was very real," said Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. "Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale."

 

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said Saturday that President Barack Obama was aware of the FBI operation before Friday's arrest. Shapiro said Obama was assured that the FBI was in full control of the operation and that the public was not in danger.

 

"The events of the past 24 hours underscore the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism here and abroad," Shapiro said. "The president thanks the FBI, the Department of Justice and the rest of our law enforcement, intelligence and Homeland Security professionals who have once again served with extraordinary skill and resolve and with the commitment that their enormous responsibilities demand."

 

A law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that federal agents began investigating the suspect after receiving a tip from someone who was concerned about the teenager. The official declined to provide more detail about the relationship between Mohamud and that source.

 

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.

 

According to the official, Mohamud hatched the plan on his own and without any instruction from a foreign terrorist organization, and he planned the details, including where to park the van for the maximum number of casualties.

 

The affidavit 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.

 

Authorities allowed the plot to proceed in order to build up enough evidence to charge the suspect with attempt.

 

The alleged plot in Portland follows a string of terrorist attack planning by U.S. citizens or residents, including a Times Square plot in which Faisal Shahzad pleaded guilty to trying to set off a car bomb at a bustling street corner. U.S. authorities had no intelligence about Shahzad's plot until the smoking car turned up in Manhattan.

 

Late last month, Farooque Ahmed, 34, of Virginia was arrested and accused of casing Washington-area subway stations in what he thought was an al-Qaida plot to bomb and kill commuters. Similar to the Portland sting, the bombing plot was a ruse conducted over the past six months by federal officials.

 

U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton released federal court documents to The Associated Press and the Oregonian newspaper that show the sting operation began in June after an undercover agent learned that Mohamud had been in regular e-mail contact with an "unindicted associate" in Pakistan's northwest, a frontier region where al-Qaida and Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents are strong. The person Mohamud had been in e-mail contact with was a friend living in Pakistan who had been a student in Oregon in 2007-2008, the official told the AP.

 

The two used coded language in which the FBI believes Mohamud discussed traveling to Pakistan to prepare for "violent jihad," the documents said.

 

In June an FBI agent contacted Mohamud "under the guise of being affiliated with" the suspected terrorist.

 

An undercover agent met with him a month later in Portland, where they "discussed violent jihad," according to the court documents.

 

As a trial run, Mohamud and agents detonated a bomb in Oregon's backcounry earlier this month.

 

"This defendant's chilling determination is a stark reminder that there are people — even here in Oregon — who are determined to kill Americans," Holton said.

 

Friday, an agent and Mohamud drove to downtown 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.

 

Omar Jamal, first secretary to the Somali mission to the United Nations, condemned the plot and urged Somalis to cooperate with police and the FBI.

 

"Talk to them and tell them what you know so we can all be safe," Jamal said.

 

Somalia Foreign Minister Mohamed Abullahi Omaar said his government is "ready and willing" to offer the U.S. any assistance it may need to prevent similar attempts. He said the attempt in Portland was a tragedy for Mohamud's family and the "people he tried to harm."

 

"Mohamud's attempt is neither representative nor an example of Somalis. Somalis are peace loving people," said Omaar, whose government is holed up in a few blocks of the capital, Mogadishu, while much of the country's southern and central regions are ruled by Islamist insurgents.

 

Tens of thousands of Somalis have resettled in the United States since their country plunged into lawlessness in 1991, and the U.S. has boosted aid to the country.

 

In August, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed an indictment naming 14 people accused of being a deadly pipeline routing money and fighters from the U.S. to al-Shabab, an al-Qaida affiliated group in Mohamud's native Somalia,

 

At the time, Attorney General Eric Holder said the indictments reflect a disturbing trend of recruitment efforts targeting U.S. residents to become terrorists.

 

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

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101127/ap_on_re_us/us_portland_car_bomb_plot

 

An event that was supposed to be about happiness and camaraderie nearly turned tragic due to a member of the Religion of Peace.

[Shortline Bus]

:tdown:Beat me to the punch(no fun inteneded)

Not suprised these freaks (not calling Muslims that it's unfair)would try something on the most scared day/season for Christmas.

 

Here update from NY Daily News.

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/11/27/2010-11-27_portland_bomb_scare_mohamed_osman_mohamud_somaliborn_us_teen_arrested_for_allege.html

[MHV9218]

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters

[Messino]

why are we letting these dirty bastards in this country and giving them citizenship? Im sure he comes from a dirty family also if this is the garbage they brought into the world. And what are they doing in Oregon? Jeez, these vermon spread like rats. I swear the majority of these people in this country are trash...They live here and take advantage of everything we have and they tell everyone how " AMERICA SHIT!" If they dont like it why dont they go back to their country? Oh thats right, because they have to live in fear and without basic luxuries that we have like hot running water and peace and quiet, sewage treatment plants etc... but yet "AMERICA SHIT" in their words.. nice

[MHV9218]

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters

[QM1to6Ave]

why are we letting these dirty bastards in this country and giving them citizenship? Im sure he comes from a dirty family also if this is the garbage they brought into the world. And what are they doing in Oregon? Jeez, these vermon spread like rats. I swear the majority of these people in this country are trash...They live here and take advantage of everything we have and they tell everyone how " AMERICA SHIT!" If they dont like it why dont they go back to their country? Oh thats right, because they have to live in fear and without basic luxuries that we have like hot running water and peace and quiet, sewage treatment plants etc... but yet "AMERICA SHIT" in their words.. nice

 

Dude, I've seen you write anti-muslim, anti-semitic, anti-black comments on here a number of times before. Can't you please keep it to yourself?

[Messino]

Dude, I've seen you write anti-muslim, anti-semitic, anti-black comments on here a number of times before. Can't you please keep it to yourself?

 

Go Ef yourself. keep your cryin to yourself how about that?

[Messino]

There is a terrorist in the world who happened to be Muslim.

 

Darn.

 

Moving on.

 

you are so deluded its not even funny. Its 99% muslims trying to blow up something up in this country these days. He didnt just HAPPEN to be a muslim..Its his beliefs and the other muslims around him that put that crap into his head...Why was he screaming god is great if he was just a nutjob bomber not having anything to do with religion? Gimmie a break dude, get real.. Why dont you hear of any other race or religion doing it? Because for the most part they arn't.. This kid should be put in the electric chair or something that will make sure he doesnt waste space and taxpayer money rotting in prision.

 

And is this a joke? Peace Loving Muslim??? I never heard of someone whos loving, and peacful who desires to kill innocent people at random.. This guy is grade A garbage. The same type of scum like Colin Ferguson who kills innocent people at random who are just trying to get through the daily ups and downs of life...If your family was at that tree lighting youd be thinking different than just Oh he just HAPPENED to be muslim....This is why people have this view of muslims in this country. I havnt seen any Jews and Christians blowing up innocent people in this country in a really long time... The only wacko christians who blow anyone up were those nutjobs in the 1980s and early 90s who did that to abortion clinics and you barely hear of those nutjobs any more.. What about Buddists or Hindus? Sikhs? Rastas? Scientologists? You cant even bring up them because they arent that type of religion/people/way of life..

 

The muslim religion is whacked out dude...Anyone who follows that Quran to every last word is a nutjob.

[NYtransit]

why are we letting these dirty bastards in this country and giving them citizenship? Im sure he comes from a dirty family also if this is the garbage they brought into the world. And what are they doing in Oregon? Jeez, these vermon spread like rats. I swear the majority of these people in this country are trash...They live here and take advantage of everything we have and they tell everyone how " AMERICA SHIT!" If they dont like it why dont they go back to their country? Oh thats right, because they have to live in fear and without basic luxuries that we have like hot running water and peace and quiet, sewage treatment plants etc... but yet "AMERICA SHIT" in their words.. nice

 

im a railfanner.ive been railfanning for about 3 years.do you see me making bomb threats or something like that? do you see me calling America a shitty country? do you see me living in trash.all because some one terrorized a country and there part of a religion,doesnt mean there all the same.but of course you wont noticed cause all you care about is just degrading a religion.theres plenty of other terriorst attacks before,like the bombing of pearl harbor.they were japanese,so do you see me calling the Japanese terrorist?

[Messino]

im a railfanner.ive been railfanning for about 3 years.do you see me making bomb threats or something like that? do you see me calling America a shitty country? do you see me living in trash.all because some one terrorized a country and there part of a religion,doesnt mean there all the same.but of course you wont noticed cause all you care about is just degrading a religion.theres plenty of other terriorst attacks before,like the bombing of pearl harbor.they were japanese,so do you see me calling the Japanese terrorist?

 

 

Then why is it that a majority of the people who are caught bombing or plotting to in America are Muslims? Maybe you belong to a family that arnt fanatics, maybe your family is a bit more liberal. But from the families I have known and friends of mine who are in relationships with muslims who follow the Quran to every last word are fanatics. Fanatics like the ones who are bombing or plotting. I know of a few girls who chose to marry outside of their religion to cathlics and their family will never talk to them or help them again. So are you saying thats right? to cast out your own flesh and blood because she didnt want an arranged marriage or didnt want to marry anouther muslim? How about that muslim guy on the news who murdered his wife because she broke some sharia law? American authorities are looking for him but they suspect fellow muslims smuggled him outside of the country.

 

Sorry dude but your religion is in a negative light these days and your fellow muslims arent helping when they are so strict and takes the Qurans words as the only supreme law to follow. Everyone knows religion divides people and causes unnecessary war and death.. The Muslim religion is at the forefront because of the worlds current climate and how they are carrying themselves in public.

[East New York]

Y'all interrupted my Thanksgiving Vacation for this?:mad: