"Marine reservist Lance Cpl. Yonathan Melaku, 22, told authorities during questioning Friday morning that he was carrying explosive materials..."
His defense, which is being laid as we speak, will be based on Melaku being mentally disturbed. How this speaks for the Marines, and what it says about the screening processes for new recruits will have to be answered.
These kinds of potential attacks are happening with increasing frequency and our luck in preventing an actual attack lessens every day. Somehow the idea of training and equipping jihadists with modern American weapons is a bad idea, but since we will not implement programs which would tell us who the good Muslims are and who the bad Muslims are,we will continue to bumble along in the dark.
From CBS June 17
Marine reservist Lance Cpl. Yonathan Melaku, 22, told authorities during questioning Friday morning that he was carrying explosive materials, the source told CBS News investigative producer Pat Milton. CBS News affiliate WUSA-TV in Washington reports that Melaku serves as a motor vehicle operator.
In a statement, the FBI said Melaku had been awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal. The bureau said he joined the Marine Reserve in 2007 and has not deployed overseas.
A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Melaku is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Ethiopia. Investigators and bomb-sniffing dogs were sifting through his family's home in Fairfax County, Va., and agents in white protective suits removed evidence from the property.
Previously, FBI Special Agent Brenda Heck, who heads the bureau's counterterrorism division in its Washington field office, told reporters that a non-explosive material was found in a backpack the suspect was carrying at the time of his arrest.
A law enforcement official speaking on the condition of anonymity said tests were being done to determine the substance and the exact concentration.
A law enforcement source told Milton that the suspect now identified as Melaku was carrying a notebook that contained the phrases "al Qaeda," "Taliban rules" and "Mujahid defeated croatian forces" when he was detained.
(At left, Yonathan Melaku is seen following his arrest May 26, 2011, in Loudoun County, Va. Source: WUSA-TV/Loudoun County (Virginia) Sheriff's Office)
Despite the references to the terror organization that organized the 9/11 attacks, the group fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan and the Arabic word for "holy warrior," the law enforcement source told Milton that the suspect is not thought to have been involved in a terrorist act or plot.
Of course not, Islam is a religion of peace and could never be influential in Melaku's decision to admit to carrying out jihad. To think otherwise would be Islamophobic.
Read it all
His defense, which is being laid as we speak, will be based on Melaku being mentally disturbed. How this speaks for the Marines, and what it says about the screening processes for new recruits will have to be answered.
These kinds of potential attacks are happening with increasing frequency and our luck in preventing an actual attack lessens every day. Somehow the idea of training and equipping jihadists with modern American weapons is a bad idea, but since we will not implement programs which would tell us who the good Muslims are and who the bad Muslims are,we will continue to bumble along in the dark.
From CBS June 17
Pentagon scare suspect ID'd as Marine reservist
A source told CBS News that the man detained in the discovery of a suspicious vehicle outside the Pentagon Friday morning has been identified as a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.Marine reservist Lance Cpl. Yonathan Melaku, 22, told authorities during questioning Friday morning that he was carrying explosive materials, the source told CBS News investigative producer Pat Milton. CBS News affiliate WUSA-TV in Washington reports that Melaku serves as a motor vehicle operator.
In a statement, the FBI said Melaku had been awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal. The bureau said he joined the Marine Reserve in 2007 and has not deployed overseas.
A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Melaku is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Ethiopia. Investigators and bomb-sniffing dogs were sifting through his family's home in Fairfax County, Va., and agents in white protective suits removed evidence from the property.
Previously, FBI Special Agent Brenda Heck, who heads the bureau's counterterrorism division in its Washington field office, told reporters that a non-explosive material was found in a backpack the suspect was carrying at the time of his arrest.
A law enforcement official speaking on the condition of anonymity said tests were being done to determine the substance and the exact concentration.
A law enforcement source told Milton that the suspect now identified as Melaku was carrying a notebook that contained the phrases "al Qaeda," "Taliban rules" and "Mujahid defeated croatian forces" when he was detained.(At left, Yonathan Melaku is seen following his arrest May 26, 2011, in Loudoun County, Va. Source: WUSA-TV/Loudoun County (Virginia) Sheriff's Office)
Despite the references to the terror organization that organized the 9/11 attacks, the group fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan and the Arabic word for "holy warrior," the law enforcement source told Milton that the suspect is not thought to have been involved in a terrorist act or plot.
Of course not, Islam is a religion of peace and could never be influential in Melaku's decision to admit to carrying out jihad. To think otherwise would be Islamophobic.
Read it all
1 comment:
Melaku was arrested in May of this year on charges of "vehicle tampering" and is currently facing charges in Loudoun County, Virginia, for a rash of vehicle break-ins. Melaku was also seen in the company of "1 or 2 other men who fled the scene". He had in his possession 4 bags of what was labeled "ammonium nitrate", a material commonly used for making bombs. One source reported that the material was inert, in spite of being labeled "ammonium nitrate".
What I find amazing about this case is the fact that this man is being held by the US PARK POLICE, not by by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force nor by any other Federal agency! Also the mainstream media is barely reporting on this story, preferring instead to concentrate quite heavily on the Anthony Weiner fiasco and on Arnold Schwarzenegger's infidelity. Bread and circuses.
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