Salt Lake Jihad?

FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | February 15, 2007 | Robert Spencer

[flynmudd]

When Sulejmen Talovic entered the Trolley Square mall in Salt Lake City Monday night with a shotgun, a pistol, and a backpack full of ammunition, he intended to “kill a large number of people,” according to Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank. Talovic killed five people and wounded four before he himself was killed by an off-duty Ogden police officer who happened to be in the mall.

Why did Talovic do it? No one knows. Talovic’s aunt, Ajka Omerovic, told reporters: “We want to know what happened, just like you guys. We have no idea...We know him as a good boy. He liked everybody, so I don’t know what happened.” Talovic, who was eighteen at the time of the murders, was a Bosnian Muslim who came to the United States with his family in 1998. Could he have been motivated by jihadist sympathies?

FBI special agent Patrick Kiernan discounted that possibility. “We’re working closely with the Salt Lake P.D. and we’re obviously aware that that [terrorism] is a potential issue out there,” he explained. “But at this point there is nothing that is leading us down this road.” And with Talovic dead and apparently having acted alone, unless something he wrote explaining his actions is discovered, it is unlikely that his motive will ever be definitively known.

But was Kiernan really correct that “there is nothing that is leading us down this road”? Unfortunately, he didn’t explain how he came to this conclusion. Talovic joins an unfortunately growing list of Muslims who have committed random acts of violence, only for officials to assure us that their actions have nothing to do with terrorism. Maybe none of them do, but the list is full of troubling details:

On January 31, Ismail Yassin Mohamed, 22, stole a car in Minneapolis. He went on a rampage, ramming the stolen car into other cars and then stealing a van and continuing to ram other cars, injuring one person. His father told officials that Mohamed was suffering from mental problems; his mother added he had been depressed and hadn’t been taking his medication. During his rampage, Mohamed repeatedly yelled, “Die, die, die, kill, kill, kill,” and when asked why he did all this, he replied, “Allah made me do it.” Omeed Aziz Popal, a Muslim from Afghanistan, who killed one person and injured fourteen during a murderous drive through San Francisco city streets in August 2006, during which he targeted people on crosswalks and sidewalks, identified himself as a terrorist after his rampage, according to Rob Roth of San Francisco’s KTVU. Later the murders were ascribed to Popal’s mental problems, and to stress arising from his impending arranged marriage. On July 28, 2006, a Muslim named Naveed Afzal Haq forced his way into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. Once inside, Haq announced, “I’m a Muslim American; I’m angry at Israel,” and then began shooting, killing one woman and injuring five more. FBI assistant special agent David Gomez stated: “We believe...it’s a lone individual acting out his antagonism. There’s nothing to indicate that it’s terrorism-related. But we're monitoring the entire situation.” In March 2006, a twenty-two-year-old Iranian student named Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar drove an SUV onto the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, deliberately trying to kill people and succeeding in injuring nine. After the incident, he seemed singularly pleased with himself, smiling and waving to crowds after a court appearance on Monday, at which he explained that he was “thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah.” Officials here again dismissed the possibility of terrorism, even after Taheri-azar wrote a series of letters to the UNC campus newspaper detailing the Qur’anic justification for warfare against unbelievers, and explaining why he believed his attacks were justified from an Islamic perspective. None of these were terrorist attacks in the sense that they were planned and executed by al-Qaeda agents. And it is possible that all of them were products of nothing more ideologically significant than a disturbed mental state, although it is at least noteworthy that each attacker explained his actions in terms of Islamic terrorism. As such attacks grow in number, it would behoove authorities at very least to consider the possibility that these attacks were inspired by the jihadist ideology of Islamic supremacism, and to step up pressure on American Muslim advocacy groups to renounce that ideology definitively and begin extensive programs to teach against it in American Islamic schools and mosques.

In October 2006, a pro-jihad internet site published a “Guide for Individual Jihad,” explaining to jihadists “how to fight alone.” It recommended, among other things, assassination with guns and running people over. Is it possible that Sulejmen Talovic and some of these others were waging this jihad of one? It is indeed, but with law enforcement officials trained only to look for signs of membership in al-Qaeda or other jihad groups, and to discount terrorism as a factor if those signs aren’t there, it is a possibility that investigators will continue to overlook.

[nina0113]

Did you know the DC snipers were muslim? The press never let on.

It showed up in the very earliest reports after they were caught, but was quickly thrown down the memory hole.

[technochick99]

And with Talovic dead and apparently having acted alone, unless something he wrote explaining his actions is discovered, it is unlikely that his motive will ever be definitively known.

Sigh.... leaderless cells. This isn't a new concept.

[Big Red Clay]

The article writer neglected to include the student who blew himself up outside the OU football game a while back. To me, that incident reeked of the old "nothing to see here, no terrorism, move along" syndrome that you always hear ascribed to them almost from the moment that they happen.

Keep the population shopping and watching American Idol. We wouldn't want them to recognize or acknowledge that there is a war going on......

[concerned about politics]

What mosque did this guy attend? Do they teach hate?

Is that a rhetorical question?

[taxesareforever]

Yep. Time to profile, like it or put our lives at risk.

[Issaquahking]

Take a look at this picture -




Looks pretty normal for everyday, agreed? Looks are decieving my FRiend.

This would probably pass for any Mexican, or Indian, or maybe even Mid-East person right? Now if I tell you who he is right away, you'll say, "I knew that!" Or maybe you would, but tens of thousands of others do not! It is important to wrap around this concept, because it may help us all to live a little longer.Let me add a couple of things in that help identify him for you-


He's married.

He graduated High School with honours.

Has a degree

Married

Has a daughter.

Sounds okay so far, right? Lets go a little further...

He's Muslim

He's from Asir Province, a poor region in southwestern Saudi Arabia that borders Yemen.

His name is Abdul Aziz al-Omari

He died 9/11/01.

One of the 9/11 hijackers.



sulejmen talovic, muslim errorist, conducted a terrorist raid in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was an ordinary Monday on Febuary 12th, 2007 at Trolley Square...

Our enemy are not totally stupid, I expect to see this as an increasing pattern to come.

In another article here in FR There was some pretty accurate verbage saying same thing I said...


Anyway, the bottom line is this: in light of the fact that there have been several attacks similar to Talovic's committed by Muslims in the last year, as I detail here, and that in each case authorities have discounted the possibility. All I am asking is that the possibility that such attacks are motivated by the jihad ideology, even in the absence of an institutional connection to a group like Al-Qaeda, be duly considered. Is that too much to ask? Link here

[BohDaThone]

I was in DC at the time, and his Muslim conversion was frequently mentioned. When the original arrest was made, there were FReepers claiming that the press would never mention that he had changed his name to John Muhammad, and would stick with his earlier name. They didn't -- he was always referred to as Muhammad.

They do plenty of bad stuff on their own --we don't need to gig them for some things they didn't do.

[jackibutterfly]

"The ROP doesn't seem (on the surface) to play much, if any, role in the family. However, that certainly does NOT preclude the shooter from seeking out and being influenced by Islamic sources (be it the web or other)."

WHY is islam so influencing - especially for someone who was not brought up in it???? I am really curious.

[snarks_when_bored]

The jihadi intentions of Muhammad and Malvo were almost never mentioned in the news reports that I watched. Perhaps your experience differed.

[9422WMR]

Yep,
we had one of these wonderful immigrant Bosnian jihadist kill a 15 year old high school student in Fort Worth a few years back. Shot him for no apparent reason then hid the body in a storm drain.
Clinton really chose the wrong group to side with in the Yugoslavian issue. Remember, the yugoslavia area has been the front line in the battle between Christians and Muslims for 1000+ years.......

[OldSmaj]

Could he have been motivated by jihadist sympathies?

FBI special agent Patrick Kiernan discounted that possibility.

And why does that not surprise me?

Fart, Barf and Itch would never admit that there was a possiblility of jihadism in this country that escaped their outstandingly professional domestic intelligence program that is on top of all potential jihadist nutballs.

Damned fools.

Damned incompetent, arrogant fools.

One and all.

[taxesareforever]

It is really too bad that most Americans are not aware that the Bosnia and Kosovo conflicts by the U.S. were in support of the muslims.

[flynmudd]

My local news WUSA 9 Gannett (left leaning local DC CBS) never once said they were muslims. I didn't know they were muslims until months after the event. I remember being afraid to go to the gas station and cops on every exit on Route 66.

[snarks_when_bored]

Right. Sounds as if you were in the line of fire...

[highlander_UW]

Perhaps it's the various police departments' opinion that Islam is a mental disease. Actually, it's a moral disease called unrepented and unforgiven sin.

[DownInFlames]

We cannot trust any mooslem. This is a very compelling reason for the right to carry concealed weapons on us 24x7. Any politician who is anti 2nd Amendment ought to be kicked out of office.

[Kozak]

What mosque did this guy attend? Do they teach hate?

Is the Pope Catholic?
Does a bear sh#t in the woods?

[brityank]

As such attacks grow in number, it would behoove authorities at very least to consider the possibility that these attacks were inspired by the jihadist ideology of Islamic supremacism, and to step up pressure on American Muslim advocacy groups to renounce that ideology definitively and begin extensive programs to teach against it in American Islamic schools and mosques.

I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you!

[IDontLikeToPayTaxes]

Coming to a mall/highschool football game/crowded shopping area near you!

I've thought for several years this will be one of the new Muslim methods of jihad. Just one gunman killing 4 or 5 infidels at a time.

How many Muslims are in the U.S.?

[flynmudd]

One too many?