Sudbury, MA Ph.D Is Arrested for Terrorist Plots

Without sounding paranoid I have been saying that there are many terrorists among us. These are people who fit into the general culture. We try not to be prejudiced or profile people based on looks and work hard to thinking the best of people. My neighbor can't be a terrorist - or can she?

We do have a terrorist among us and in my case he's almost a neighbor. His name is Tarek Mehanna. Mehanna, 27, grew up in Sudbury (A town I happened to live in with my ex-husband!). Sudbury is an affluent Boston suburb about 20 miles west of the city.

Mehenna received a doctorate in pharmacology last year, taught religion and math at a Muslim middle school, and was considered a typical American kid by those who knew him. His father, Ahmed Mehanna, is a professor at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. Dr. Mehanna is absolutely convinced of his son's innocence.

Mehanna had Egyptian and U.S. citizenship. He seemed to feel out of place in America. His feeling of isolation (Though I'm not sure why he felt like this since the population of Muslims in Massachusetts is large. There is a huge mosque in Quincy, MA.) led to anger and a plot to kill our troops in Iraq, assassinate top politicians, and shoot shoppers in our malls.

Tarek was arrested and charged with conspiring with two others to support terrorism. The other two are Ahmad Abousamra, an American now in Syria, and an unidentified man who is cooperating with authorities.

Thank goodness these three never got the training they would have needed to pull this off. You know sometimes I do have faith in the system. Under President Obama's reign I feel more safe than ever. Our Homeland Security is doing their jobs big time and I not only applaud them I thank them for our sakes and the sakes of our children.

The fact they didn't receive training apparently was because of their ethnicity or the people who would have trained them were not available. In 2006 Mehanna was arrested because he lied to the FBI regarding Daniel Maldonado who is now in prison for training with AL-Qaida to overthrow the Somali government. Maldonado was one that the three terrorists contacted about getting automatic weapons but was told by Maldonado that he could not get them.

This isn't the first time Mehanna was involved in a conspiracy. Between 2001 and 2008 it was said that he "intended to "kill, kidnap, maim or injure" soldiers and two politicians who were members of the executive branch but are no longer in office. Authorities refused to identify the politicians, who they said were never in danger." source

His friends, like his dad, are shocked. They think the authorities' are joking. I don't understand this given his past behavior and arrests.

Please remember and know that looking innocent doesn't make you innocent and looking crazy doesn't make you crazy. Normal looking and acting people commit atrocious acts as we hear about in the news daily. When Mehanna went to court he refused to stand but did eventually after his father suggested he do so. From what I understand of our the security in our country a lot of terrorist attempts are thwarted by unscrambling messages or hidden messages and understanding code words. Peanut butter and jelly for Mehanna and his cohorts meant fighting in Somalia.

So take a look around. A terrorist could be lurking in your backyard! Be aware of people's comings and goings without getting terrified because then they win.

Sources

WHDH
New York Times