NYC pipe bomb suspect Pimentel posted on Revolution Muslim

Jose Pimentel, a devotee of American Al Qaeda propagandist Anwar Awlaki arrested in New York this weekend for building a pipe bomb described in Al Qaeda's Inspire magazine, posted entries at least twice on Islam Policy, the radical Web site previously known as Revolution Muslim.

Pimentel was a prolific blogger and highly connected social media user. He ran his own Web site, TrueIslam1, and at least twice cross-posted material to Islam Policy.

Revolution Muslim, a pro-Al Qaeda website founded by American radicals, was suspended briefly after one of its writers threatened the creators of South Park for depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

But the site soon returned, voluntarily changing its name to Islam Policy. The current leader of Islam Policy, Younus Abdullah Mohammed, was recently arrested and is now facing charges in relation to those threats. Another American, Zachary Chesser, was arrested in July 2010 and subsequently convicted for the same threats.

Pimentel posted on Revolution Muslim as "M. Yusuf" at least twice, one on "Rape in the U.S. Army," and once on the Arab Spring. Both posts were made in April 2011 and linked back to TrueIslam1.

"I say to the brothers and sisters in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and the rest of the Muslim world that establishing the Islamic laws is an obligation upon us that cannot be overlooked, the Day of Judgment is near, and Allah is quick in accountability and severe in punishment," Pimentel wrote.

Another post, also apparently by Pimentel, was titled "How Can I Train Myself For Jihad" and was later deleted from Islam Policy, but reposted to the Al Jahad extremist Web forum. The post was dated July 2011, but the content was dated 2008, suggesting Pimentel may not have written but simply reposted it.

The article encouraged firearms training and the use of U.S. military training materials available online to prepare for violent jihad.

"The majority of the time spent in Jihad is learning to cope with harsh, physically and mentally demanding living conditions. It is not about fighting glamorous battles for your pictures to appear on the Internet. Jihad is tough and difficult, which is why the rewards for it are so great," the post read.

In a section on firearms training, the post read: "Useful courses to learn are sniping, general shooting and other rifle courses. Handgun courses are useful but only after you have mastered rifles."

For more about American jihadists, check out J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, on sale everywhere.

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Labels: American-Terrorists, Anwar-Aulaqi, Anwar-Awlaki, Inspire-Magazine, Islam-Policy, Jose-Pimentel, Revolution-Muslim, South-Park

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Revolution Muslim's Younus Abdullah Muhammad Arrested In Morocco

Revolution Muslim's co-founder and primary spokesman Younus Abdullah Muhammad was arrested in Morocco early Friday, according to Islam Policy, the Web site successor to the original Revolution Muslim.

Muhammad, also known as Jesse Morton, was charged earlier this month with transmitting threats in relation to Revolution Muslim's 2010 threats against the creators of South Park for a two-part episode satirizing death threats over the depiction of the Prophet Mohammad.

Read the criminal complaint

According to the affidavit, Mohammed recruited Zachary Chesser to write for RevolutionMuslim.com in early 2010, after Chesser had littered the Internet with a variety of provocative postings in favor of terrorism and jihad against the West. Chesser was promoted to administrator on the site in April 2010.

After the initial posting, which was written by Chesser, both Mohammed and Chesser worked together to refine a written response in an effort to parse the language of the post and cast it as a "warning," rather than a "threat," which fooled no one.

Morocco does not have a standing extradition treaty with the U.S., so it will be interesting to see what went into this move, and the trial itself may shed significant light on how Revolution Muslim works and what links it may or may not have with overseas terrorist organizations.

Several members and associates of Revolution Muslim have already been arrested and convicted for various crimes relating to terrorism, but this is the first time a significant leader of the group has been prosecuted.

Revolution Muslim's other founder, Yousef Al Khattab, also known as Joseph Cohen, departed from the group in 2009 and has since criticized the group's endorsement of violence and expressed regret for his role in the group's activities. Al Khattab is currently living in New York City, according to postings on his personal blog.

The statement on Revolution Muslim read:

Early on Friday morning brother Younus was arrested by Moroccan authorities, his currently being held and is awaiting extradition to the United States. His arrest comes in the long line of Muslims who have been imprisoned for speaking out against the United States. It is part and parcel of the US war on Islam. It is a war, being waged on two interlink fronts.

One front is the military front, where the US uses its ‘hard power’ it dominate, and coerce the Muslim world into conforming to its interest. We see this taking place in many of our lands, from Iraq to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and many other places.

The other front is the ideological front where the US tries to change the beliefs and perceptions of Muslims, indeed to change Islam itself. To this end the US attempts to snuffle out voices of dissent, voices of truth. Whilst at the same time promoting those voices of compromise, who for whatever reason are willing to cooperate in the distortion of the truth of Islam. All this amounts to nothing more than a programme of intimidation, a systematic attempt to silence Muslim dissent, but we will not be silenced.

For much more about Revolution Muslim and its links to terrorism, buy J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, out now!

Labels: Revolution-Muslim, South-Park, Younus-Abdullah-Mohammed, Yousef-Al-Khattab, Zach-Chesser

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Revolution Muslim's Co-Founder Charged For South Park Threats

The Justice Department has issued an arrest warrant for Younus Abdullah Mohammed, aka Jesse Morton, the "emir" of the group formerly known as Revolution Muslim.

As of this morning, there were no indications the warrant had been executed. An item with a posting date of today appeared on IslamPolicy.com, RM's successor site, using a username that has in the past been associated with Mohammed.

An online resume ascribed to Mohammed listed his residence as Morocco. Morocco has no extradition treaty with the United States.

According to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint filed May 13, the move to arrest Mohammed has been in the works for a long time. The complaint was first reported by the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

Mohammed is charged with communicating threats in the form of publishing Zach Chesser's diatribes against the creators of South Park, which promised death to anyone who depicted or mocked the Prophet Mohammed (the subject of a meta-commentary on the show in April 2010).

According to the affidavit, Mohammed recruited Chesser to write for RevolutionMuslim.com in early 2010, after Chesser had littered the Internet with a variety of provocative postings in favor of terrorism and jihad against the West. Chesser was promoted to administrator on the site in April 2010.

After the initial posting, which was written by Chesser, both Mohammed and Chesser worked together to refine a written response in an effort to parse the language of the post and cast it as a "warning," rather than a "threat," which fooled no one.

Chesser wrote the first draft of the response, and Mohammed added a quote from bin Laden and a passage that read ""[t]hus our position remains that it is likely the creators of South Park will indeed end up [dead], and we pray Allah makes this a reality," according to the affidavit.

The "prayer" was deleted from the final version at Chesser's request. Chesser and Mohammed discussed the changes in a phone call -- which was being tapped by the FBI, the affidavit reveals. Mohammed told Chesser, the South Park controversy "was very, very, very strategic so far, but we have to be careful, I don't want to go to prison, to be honest with you."

For much more about Revolution Muslim and other American jihadists, buy J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, out now!.

Labels: Islam-Policy, Revolution-Muslim, South-Park, Younus-Abdullah-Mohammed, Zach-Chesser

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

What Zach Did...

Zach Chesser pleaded guilty this week to a variety of charges and also signed a cooperation deal, which bodes poorly for his friends at Revolution Muslim, who can likely expect to see Zach's smiling face in court one day soon.

The specific charges that Zach pleaded to are detailed in the document below. Anyone studying the online jihad will find this to be a fascinating document with a fairly detailed description of his online activities.

The charges which will form the basis for Zach's likely 20-year prison sentence include the threats against South Park and, notably, his posting to the Al-Ansar forum the names and contact information of several people who signed up for the "Everybody Draw Mohammed" Facebook page. The personally identifying information posted to the Al Qaeda-linked Web forum were "just a suggestion," Zach wrote.

Read the full criminal complaint which is incorporated into Chesser's guilty plea

Labels: Abu-Talha-Al-Amreeki, Al-Shabab, Anwar-Awlaki, INTELFILES, Somalia, South-Park, Zach-Chesser

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

The Genius of Radicalism

Revolution Muslim managed to illustrate the reason its bloggers hate South Park so much. They are seriously humor-impaired. It's an occupational hazard when you spend all your days and nights trying to maximize your rage.

Anyway, RM posted an item discussing the watchlisting of Faisal Shahzad. The post by Taliba Al Quran was pulled back pretty quickly this morning but I happened to catch it before it vanished.

This "law enforcement system" uses methods like this, from Andy Borowitz's article:

The surveillance team's revelations come on the heels of the Dept. of Homeland Security's shocker that it had friended Mr. Shahzad on Facebook weeks ago and had even played the popular online game Farmville with him.

"A few days before the Times Square incident, Mr. Shahzad attempted to blow up one of our sheep," a Department spokesman said. "In retrospect, that should have been a red flag."

Yes, you may want to read that again. Blowing up a sheep in an online game should "raise red flags." Ya Allah protect us all from these "Security" people! Well, it should serve as a lesson. If you are playing an online game, and are Muslim - don't blow stuff up in "Farmville."

Yes, you may want to read that again. RM bloggers are so eager to wind up their engines of outrage over imagined slights to Muslims that they actually believed DHS was playing Farmville on Facebook with Faisal Shahzad last week.

Labels: Faisal-Shahzad, Revolution-Muslim, South-Park, Times-Square, Weblog

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

CAIR Says Revolution Muslim A 'Setup' To Smear Muslims

I couldn't help but notice that the Council on American-Islamic Relations had been strangely silent on the South Park-Revolution Muslim dustup (link, link). Of course, CAIR was pretty busy this week emailing alerts about right-wing extremism and Franklin Graham (who hasn't threatened to kill anyone recently), so perhaps they missed the saturation coverage of RevMuslim's threats on most of the major news networks.

Well, they caught up today, and the response is an instant classic:

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, characterized Revolution Muslim as a loosely-organized group with such outrageous beliefs he believes it may be a "setup" to smear Islam.

"They say wild and irresponsible things periodically," Hooper told FoxNews.com. "There's a strong suspicion that they're merely a setup to make Muslims and Islam look bad. They say such wild and crazy things that you have to wonder."

Labels: American-Jihadists, CAIR, Revolution-Muslim, South-Park

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

More Threats Against South Park, This Time With The Authority of Anwar Awlaki

The folks at RevolutionMuslim are at it again. Anwar Awlaki is the star of the latest assault on South Park, the Comedy Central satire which last week spotlighted the controversy over depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

RM uploaded a video again condemning the the broadcast (earlier story), before it switches into a lecture by Yemeni-American cleric and U.S. target Anwar Awlaki, explaining a general religious justification for killing those who insult Mohammed, citing a hadith that states Mohammed ordered the murder of a Jew who wrote a poem mocking him.

"[H]arming Allah and his messenger is a reason to encourage Muslims to kill whoever does that," according to Awlaki.

During the lecture, photos of the South Park creators were shown, as well as images of Salman Rushdie and anti-Islam commentators Geert Wilders, Aayan Hirsi Ali and others. The video also repeats the image posted last week of the murdered corpse of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh.

The video is currently hosted on YouTube, despite that site's policy disallowing threats and intimidation.

The speech is not specific to South Park, nor is there any indication that it was recorded for this purpose. I didn't immediately recognize this story from among Awlaki's previous lectures. The story is cited in the Constants of Jihad, but the audio quality here is different and Awlaki is considerably more exercised in the RM post than he is during the Constants lecture series. If I find it later, I will update this post.

UPDATE: The Awlaki audio is from a 2008 recording titled "The Dust Will Never Settle Down."

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Labels: Abu-Talha-Al-Amreeki, American-Jihadists, Revolution-Muslim, South-Park, Zach-Chesser

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

American Jihadists 'Warn' South Park Creators Of Death For Offending Muslims

A Web site run by Americans who support Al Qaeda and other jihadist movements has "warned" South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone that by airing a cartoon image of the Prophet Mohammed "they will probably end up like Theo Van Gogh," the Dutch filmmaker assassinated for offending Islam with a film critical of some Muslims' practices regarding women.

The site featured a photograph of Van Gogh with his throat cut and a dagger in his chest. It also linked to information published elsewhere about where the television creators live.

South Park's 200th episode dealt with the Mohammed image taboo directly. It wasn't clear whether a caricature of Mohammed will appear in the next episode.

"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show," wrote the site's blogger under the nom de guerre Abu Talha Al Amreekee. "This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."

The site, RevolutionMuslim.com, frequently posts material supporting and celebrating terrorists and jihadists around the world including Yemeni-American cleric Anwar Awlaki and Al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden.

Labels: Abu-Talha-Al-Amreeki, American-Jihadists, Cartoon-Controversy, Revolution-Muslim, South-Park, Theo-Van-Gogh, Zach-Chesser

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink