Posted on 07/04/2003 6:11:41 PM PDT by Clive
(CP) - The father of a Canadian terrorist suspect who was killed in a shootout with Saudi police said Friday his son was a "perfect teenager" but fell prey to extremist groups that valued his western passport, fluent English and North American education.
"They tricked him," Mansour Jabarah said in a phone interview with The Canadian Press from Kuwait City.
Only two hours earlier, he had received word from the Canadian Ambassador in Kuwait that his son, Abdul-Rahman Jabarah, was among the dead after Saudi police stormed a house in the town of Suweir, 900 kilometres northwest of the capital Thursday.
Abdul-Rahman Jabarah, 23, was a former resident of St. Catharines, Ont., who immigrated to Canada from Kuwait in 1994.
A Saudi Interior Ministry official said five suspected members of a terrorist cell were hiding in the house, but they ran out of ammunition after a five-hour standoff.
Four suspects, including Jabarah, were killed in the shootout, and the fifth man gave himself up.
Jabarah and the four suspects were wanted for their alleged involvement in the suicide bombings of westerners' housing compounds in Riyadh on May 12, which killed 25 people as well as nine attackers.
Mansour Jabarah said he moved to St. Catharines to build a better life for his four sons.
Abdul-Rahman Jabarah loved sports, especially soccer and swimming, his father said Friday.
"He was a normal teenager, he was a normal Muslim," said Jabarah, who splits his time between Canada and Kuwait, where his business is more established.
After graduating from public school in St. Catharines, Abdul-Rahman Jabarah had dreams of becoming an electrical engineer, and his younger brother, Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, wanted to be a doctor.
But before going to university, the brothers went to Kuwait to seek a religious education.
They ended up in Pakistan, where their father believes they were likely recruited and "brainwashed" by extremist groups who were attracted to their Canadian passports and North American upbringing.
"They wanted to use them . . . It's easy to trick people at this age," said Mansour Jabarah, adding that he had not spoken to Abdul-Rahman Jabarah for 2½ years, because he was running from Canadian and U.S. authorities and feared he would be traced.
Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, 21, was arrested last year in Oman on suspicion of being recruited by Al-Qaida leaders to blow up American targets in southeast Asia, and is now in a U.S. prison.
The elder Jabarah says his son is being held in a tiny cell where he is unable to walk, write letters, or contact his family by phone.
Mansour Jabarah said he and his wife, who lives in St. Catharines with their other two sons, have made repeated appeals to the U.S. and Canadian governments to bring his son back to Canada.
"I would like to send a message to our prime minister, a clear message that comes from my heart. I would like to see our Mohammed as soon as possible," he said.
"We lost one, we don't want to lose another one."
A spokesman at Foreign Affairs would say little about the incident, stating only that a formal identification process for the four dead was to be conducted Saturday.
Among the four other terrorist suspects wanted for the bombings in Riyadh was Turki Nasser al-Dandani.
Al-Dandani, a Saudi, became the most wanted man in Saudi Arabia after last week's arrest of the suspected mastermind of the attacks, Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi.
Al-Dandani was the No. 1 figure on the wanted list of 19 suspected militants that Saudi police published after the discovery of an arms cache in Riyadh on May 6.
Saudi authorities have detained at least 125 people since the May 12 attacks in a major sweep that has seen armed police manning checkpoints in major cities, checking identity papers and searching cars.
Yeah, the normal carbombing sort of Muslim, not to be confused with the peaceful Muslims.
A "perfect teenager" raised in Canada to hate the United States of America and succor her enemies. His death has not diminished the human race.
The town of sewer. How appropriate.
Hey "dad" Mansour Jabarah, the world is a better place since your sub-human monster-son sleeps with the sand flies and his soul burns in hell. May the remainder of his sub-human monster brethren share the same fate until the world is rid of them once and for all. Do the world a favor and breed no more. We have only so many bullets.
He should have raised them in a different religion.
So how does that contrast with the reactions of Muslim parents when their child gets killed supporting a terrorist cause? Do you see them campaigning against the terror groups that influenced their children?
Do you think it likely that Mansour Jabarah will say anything against the terrorists that took his son away? Does Mr. Jabarah see the terrorists as criminals who should be stopped? Or is his lack of criticism of the terrorists due to his belief that they are fundamentally correct? And because of this agreement with the terrorists, Mr. Jabarah and other Muslim parents like him, will never work to end terrorism, even if it costs them their children?
Hey, Mad Tom, that's a good forearm shiver right in the face of the Godless degenerate sand goblin - stand him up and I'll come in from the starboard side and cut him off at the knees. What is truly stark about these islamofascist vermin is their arrogant expectation that we should treat them as creatures of God. They are nonesuch - to the contrary, they are the evil spawn of the Fallen One and must be extirpated, like roaches or barn rats.
I got a better idea, Mr. Jabarah. How about you teach your other two sons not to be terrorists?
The parents of Johnny Doodoo-Lennon-Lindh-Walker are not muslim but have not formed an interventionist group either.
Some muslim parents even receive a "reward" for their kids dying in attacks on Jews or Westerners.
I am still waiting for the outrage of muslims to make the front page of the news. Not outrage for some movie that dares to portray Mohammed, not outrage for some movie that dares to have muslim terrorists threaten America, not for some opposition to revealing faces for driver's license photos, but outrage for the "extremists" who have "hijacked" the "peaceful" religion that is islam.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.