The Sins Of The Sons
"He has changed his ideology", Mansour Jabarah, a Kuwait city businessman, former vice-president of the Masjid-an-Noor mosque in St.Catharines, Ontario, claimed in an interview after the sentencing to life in prison of his son. Mohammed Jabarah, 26, admitted his role in violet jihad during his imprisonment in a U.S. jail. Where he has been incarcerated since 2002, until his trial last week.Accused, arrested, interrogated and tried for his part in the plotting of suicide attacks against U.S. embassies in Southeast Asia, he was handed down a life sentence. His father pronounced the sentencing unfair since the truck bombings which his son confessed to organizing did not in fact take place. "The situation of our son needs to be reconsidered", said the elder Jabarah.
The actual bombings were averted by chance, thanks to Singaporean security services discovery of the plot. Mohammed Jabarah escaped detention in Singapore, fleeing to Oman, and that's where he was arrested, then handed over to Canadian Security Intelligence Services who brought him back to Ontario.
After questioning the would-be terrorist and persuading him to agree to be taken into custody in the U.S., SCIS agents assisted him in surrendering to the FBI. Where he decided to co-operate with the joint terrorism task force, giving them the sought-for al-Qaeda information which led to his admission he had trained at terrorist camps in Afghanistan.
Two other al-Qaeda terror-operatives dear to Mr. Jabarah, his brother and his best friend, were less fortunate than he. Both were killed while engaged in their terrorist pursuits. And that is when Mr. Jabarah decided he would no longer co-operate, but rather withdraw and immerse himself in delusions of revenge.
He re-dedicated himself to al-Qaeda and the Islamist terror cause, and determined, should he be released, to embark yet again, but successfully, on a track to fulfill his destiny: "And if Allah aids us we will kill their women as they killed your women and will orphan their children as they orphaned your children... And if they release me then I will kill them until I am killed," he wrote bitterly.
He planned to kill the FBI agents and attorneys who were at work on his case. Opportunity eluded him, but the thought obviously buoyed his spirits and gave him great satisfaction. He traded in his failure to perform to the promise to himself that his future performance would be successful.
Clearly, the young man - who said he had been attracted to violent jihad at the age of 14, and then post-graduation from a St.Catharines high school, traveled to Afghanistan where al-Qaeda recruited him as a lead agent for a plan to bomb a U.S. embassy - pledged at an early age. During his trial, however, he insisted he had reformed himself, and wished only to be released, to be returned to his family.
"He started a new discipline in his life by studying biology and medicine in prison. He made it clear to the judge in the court that he condemns terrorism and hates violence. And as a father and mother we seek the help of God to release our son from the prison." His parents are disconsolate, bereft with grief at the loss of two sons.
Fact is, anyone's heart would bleed in sympathy for these parents suffering the sins of a wayward child. Had the plan to bomb the targets succeeded, many lives might have been taken. Were they completely unaware of the trajectory their two sons' lives had taken? Had they been remiss in imparting the universal values of tolerance? Did they ever plead with their sons to eschew violence?
As it is, only the life of their son has now been taken from them.
Labels: Social-Cultural Deviations, Terrorism, That's Life
posted by Pieface @ Friday, January 25, 2008
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