Anyone who may still think that the United States is secure and invulnerable to infiltration by Islamic Jihadists should read and consider this. The Los Angeles Times reports that a self-proclaimed American “JihadJane” has been nabbed for recruiting Muslim terrorists through various online platforms:
Using e-mail, YouTube videos, phony travel documents and a burning desire to kill “or die trying,” an American woman from Pennsylvania helped recruit a network for suicide attacks and other terrorist strikes in Europe and Asia, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Colleen R. LaRose, who dubbed herself “JihadJane,” was so intent on waging jihad, authorities said, that she traveled to Sweden to kill an artist in a way that would frighten “the whole Kufar [nonbeliever] world”…
The 46-year-old woman bragged that she could go anywhere undetected…
Authorities said LaRose solicited funds for terrorist organizations, helped arrange phony passports and other travel records, and used the Internet to recruit women to kill in Europe and men in Asia. LaRose was arrested Oct. 15 in Philadelphia.
David Kris, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s National Security Division… emphasized, “[this] underscores the evolving nature of the threat we face.”
Michael L. Levy, the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, said the case shows “the use terrorists can and do make” of communicating through e-mails and videos around the world. He called LaRose “yet another very real danger lurking on the Internet.”
The other danger, authorities said, is that radical jihadists are turning to home-grown U.S. citizens to carry out their plots. “Terrorists are looking for Americans to join them in their cause,” Levy said, adding that LaRose “shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance.”
A Washington Post piece on the alleged American terrorist adds:
As an American citizen whose appearance and passport allowed her to blend into Western society, LaRose represents one of the worst fears of intelligence and FBI analysts focused on identifying terrorist threats.
She looked for recruits whose physical appearance would “blend in with many people” and go undetected in Europe and the United States.