Jihad Joe_ Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam - J. M. Berger [108]
Despite his stated dream of taking part in an Islamic state, Maldonado’s trip quickly turned dark. At one point, he took part in the interrogation of a supposed spy—a flight attendant who had the temerity to take a picture of jihadists arriving in Somalia by plane. The man was beaten. Maldonado pointed a gun at the man’s head and threatened to kill him if he didn’t talk. The flight attendant—almost certainly an innocent bystander—ended up dead.72
Maldonado’s accounts of his trip to Somalia were telling but divergent:
Internet Letter
Knowing that the Ethiopians were coming and the women were about to leave, [my wife] thought that there was a great possibility I would be killed. So we had a nice, long beautiful talk as she prepared. We expressed our love and admiration for each other. She thanked me by saying: “You are the greatest teacher I have ever had! You are the only man who has stuck around in my life! [ … ] You are a real man! I love you so much!”73
First Court Letter
[My wife and I] went to a house. We were told that we could rest in an empty room. We woke up the next day to be told we would not be able to go to the border together, [because] I am white and very obvious to anyone that may wish harm. They said that many things were getting out of hand. I told them that they could give me a gun, and I would go..[ … ] I wanted to be with my family. They explained it would be much harm and that no one would hurt a woman, especially seeing that my wife is black. [ … ] I finally agreed.74
His letter to his coreligionists online described a valiant battle, followed by a powerful survival ordeal in the jungle. His letter to the court described a man trying desperately to flee Somalia. Both stories ended the same way—with Maldonado getting arrested by the Kenyan military while trying to escape in early 2007.75 While he was going through this process, his wife died of malaria. Maldonado considered her a martyr.76
Meanwhile, Tarek Mehanna’s childhood friend—who had gone with him to Yemen—had started informing to the FBI about the circle of jihadists. At the end of 2006, the FBI showed up on Mehanna’s doorstep, asking about Maldonado. Mehanna said he had no idea where his friend was, although the two had stayed in contact over the phone.
Maldonado had urged Mehanna to join him in Somalia, but Mehanna continued to hedge.77 He had been slower than his peers to translate his ideology into fighting, but he had not been idle. On his blog, Mehanna translated a blizzard of jihadist propaganda, from the writings of Abdullah Azzam to poems and historical Islamic texts. Nearly all of this material pertained to extremely conservative interpretations of Islam, and much of it dealt with jihad.78
It was relatively unusual for Mehanna to contribute material he had written himself, although he posted regularly to the forums, poking here and there at examples that he felt showed the victimization of Muslims.79
He also indulged in the occasional outburst of poetry. One of his efforts, titled “Make Martyrdom What You Seek,” invoked the traditional jihadist’s reward of seventy-two virgins:
You turn and behold! The voices are singing
Coming from Maidens so fair and enchanting,
These are the [Houris] with round and firm chests
Pure untouched virgins, they’re better than the best,
Seventy-two in all, with large eyes of dark hue
Each one created especially for you.
Mehanna’s friends had surpassed him in their commitment to physically taking part in jihad, but Mehanna had an ugly, voyeuristic obsession with violence that often seemed to be a greater inspiration than his interest in Islam. He joked with a friend that New York was no longer the “Land of the Two Towers” (a play on a jihadist reference to Iraq, the “Land of the Two Rivers”). Instead, he suggested that it be called the “land of rape.” With friends in tow, Mehanna visited Ground Zero. A photo taken