In Online Posts Apparently by Detroit Suspect, Religious Ideals Collide [Calling Dr. Phil, Oprah!]

Washington Post ^ | December 28th 2009 | Philip Rucker & Julie Tate

[Steelfish]

In Online Posts Apparently by Detroit Suspect, Religious Ideals Collide

By Philip Rucker and Julie Tate

December 29, 2009

The 23-year-old Nigerian man accused of the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an American airliner apparently turned to the Internet for counseling and companionship, writing in an online forum that he was "lonely" and had "never found a true Muslim friend." "I have no one to speak too [sic]," read a posting from January 2005, when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was attending boarding school. "No one to consult, no one to support me and I feel depressed and lonely. I do not know what to do. And then I think this loneliness leads me to other problems."

The Washington Post reviewed 300 online postings under the name "farouk1986" (a combination of Abdulmutallab's middle name and birth year). The postings mused openly about love and marriage, his college ambitions and angst over standardized testing, as well as his inner struggle as a devout Muslim between liberalism and extremism.

In often-intimate writings, posted between 2005 and 2007, he sought friends online, through Facebook and in Islamic chat rooms: "My name is Umar but you can call me Farouk." He often invited readers to "have your say" and once wrote, "may Allah reward you for reading and reward you more for helping."

[stayathomemom]

He did not enjoy “the peace that passes all understanding”.

[skully]

“I have no one to speak too [sic],” read a posting from January 2005, when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was attending boarding school. “No one to consult, no one to support me and I feel depressed and lonely. I do not know what to do....

So I decided to set my Mohammedroos on fire, and blow up plane.

[Hegemony Cricket]

I don’t care who you are - that’s FUNNY right there! :-)

[mathurine]

He’ll find prison a lot like boarding school, then. His plight fails to touch my heart. He’s a rich kid, reputedly intellegent, who transformed himself from Islamic Dork to Islamic Terrorist Dork. Ain’t he special!

[bergmeid]

Schiphol must fire their current security contractor and quit allowing poor “refugees” in who arrive without passports that get thrown into airport lavatories. The Netherlands suffer from political correctness on a level equal or higher than us here.

You arrive without a passport, we’re going to put your derriere back on the same plane you came in on.

[Post Toasties]

He often invited readers to "have your say" and once wrote, "may Allah reward you for reading and reward you more for helping."

Guess none of that worked out right for the poor guy, so he decided to go for the 72 virgins.