11 August, 2006

NEWS FLASH - Missing Egyptian Students NOT Terrorists.

By now every one of my 2 readers (Hey fellow recruiters!)(Hat tip: SFC B) have seen the news about the thwarted terror attack in London.

You both probably saw yesterday's post (if not just scroll down) about the missing Egyptian students. I found an interesting AP video that really got me thinking in relation to the recent attack in London. Watch the video then come back to me.

So Mrs. Shannon Mahoney says that the students are on "vacation" and would rather party in New York City then go to classes in Montana. Surely there is no need for concern.

Cathy Conover says she's "relieved that those students are safe" - Wait a minute Cathy, aren't 5 of them still at large??? But she still says there is "no indication that there is any security concern." After all, they're just out to have a good time while breaking many U.S. and international laws - no harm no fowel right?

One student even said he was glad the FBI is investigating this, but is concerned that they're doing it only because of their national origin.

Well Billy, lets think about this for a second.

Lets look at the names of those 11 students who went missing:

  • El Sayed Ahmed Elsayed Ibrahim, 20
  • Eslam Ibrahim Mohamed El Dessouki, 21
  • Alaa Abd El Fattah Ali El Bahnasawi, 20
  • Mohamed Ragab Mohamed Abd Alla, 22
  • Ahmed Refaat Saad El Moghazi El Laket, 19
  • Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Abou El Ela, 21
  • Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed El Moghazy, 20
  • Ebrahim Mabrouk Moustafa Abdou, 22
  • Moustafa Wagdy Moustafa El Gafary, 18
  • Mohamed Saleh Ahmed Maray, 20
  • Mohamed Ibrahim Fouaad El Shenawy, 17

Now, just for fun, lets look at the list of the 19 terrorists in london:

  • Umir Hussain, 24
  • Muhammed Usman Saddique, 24
  • Waheed Zaman, 22
  • Assan Abdullah Khan, 22
  • Waseem Kayani, 28
  • Waheed Arafat Khan, 24
  • Cossor Ali,24
  • Tayib Rauf, 21
  • Ibrahim Savant, 26
  • Osman Adam Khatib, 20
  • Shamin Mohammed Uddin, 36
  • Amin Asmin Tariq, 23
  • Shazad Khuram Ali, 27
  • Tanvir Hussain, 24
  • Umar Islam, 28, (born Brian Young)
  • Assad Sarwar, 25
  • Abdullah Ali, 26
  • Abdul Muneem Patel, 17
  • Nabeel Hussain, 21

Am I the only one who notices something strikingly similar?

Hmm.... could it be that they're all MUSLIM MEN?!

But hey, lets not jump to conclusions here. These students are just going out and having a good time in NYC just like they did back in the old days when they went to Jihadist University. Right?

And to that unnamed student in Montana, I HOPE the FBI is investigating this because of their "national origin" - they have every reason to.

But then again, maybe I'm just a right-wing-crack-pot.

-Guardsman

3 comments:

SFC B said...

Just because you're a right-winged crack pot doesn't mean you're not correct.

akldsalkj said...

You've obviously never encountered students from Middle Eastern countries abroad before. They tend to not be a threat because of where they come from, which is to say, wealthy, liberal families. If they didn't, they generally wouldn't go on such a program. If anything, they have a tendency (at least in my experience), to party really hard, which they can't do at home.

Out of curiosity, which laws are they breaking? They're violating the terms of their visa, sure, and should probably have it, and their slot, revoked and sent home. I'm just not clear on what felonies you think they've committed.

It's also not really useful to just assume they're a threat just because they happen to be Arab and Muslim. There are very significant differences within that population. Knowing some more about their backgrounds would do a great deal more good. Besides, one thing to note is that the people arrested for the bomb plot are all, with the exception of their apparent AQ contact, who is based out of Pakistan, native-born Brits. Not quite the same profile as that attempt, or really any others. These guys had visas for a short term program, they went in a group, and a lot of the group actually made it to the program.

Sure, it's a remote possibility that the missing students could pose a threat, and for that reason alone should be investigated by the FBI. But at the same time, there's no real need for concern based on what is known for sure now. Of course, one can spin one's wheels all one like.

As for Station Commando's point that the fact the incident has gotten coverage because the students pose a threat, that's not necessarily so. For one thing, the wire services could have picked up on it as context to the London plot. Beyond that, ICE and the FBI could have publicized this to tell the public that closer monitoring of foreign students is working, that they're having success in dealing with students that go missing. Of course, it just be an offbeat/human interest piece, nothing that really says anything significant.

SSG Guardsman said...

Gorby,
Having been to college (no degree yet - apparently you can't get one when you keep changing majors) I have, a time or several thousand, encountered students from Middle Eastern Countries. Some are pretty good guys/gals who just want to get an education. Others (pre-9/11 by the way - after 9/11 I did mostly online courses or courses in my small town in northern Minnesota at the local community college) hated America and I didn't really understand why they were here getting their education if they hated us so much. I guess I never really cared about their background because that doesn't really matter much to me. A person's deeds and actions speak a lot more to me than their background in all honesty.

As to which laws they're breaking - I'm not a legal scholar and will never pretend to be. But I would imagine with the FBI, INS, ICE, and Homeland Security departments after all of these students, it means they're in some trouble. If it isn't against the law, it should be.

In regards to the thwarted terror attack in London - you're right they were all born in England. That doesn't really make them British in my opinion. They're all of Pakistani origin. Imagine for a minute that my Dad was in the Army and was stationed in... lets say Iran. Now imagine that I was born there. Does that make me Iranian? Nope, just red-blooded American (and damn proud of it!). They are Pakistani and obviously hate America and the British - I would imagine they wouldn't have planned the attack if they actually liked them.

It is not a "remote possibility" that they are a threat - it's a PROBABILITY. Lets look at terrorists for a second shall we?

The 9/11 hijackers were from EGYPT, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon. The ring leader of the 9/11 attack, Mohammed Atta, EGYPTIAN. 1 of the 9/11 hijackers was admitted into the great U. S. of A. with a STUDENT VISA. 2 others were allowed to stay in the country because they obtained STUDENT VISAS.

The World Trade Center bombing in 1993 was carried out by Ramzi Yousef, a Kuwaiti, with the help of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who is Pakistani

Abu Nidal, creator of the Abu Nidal Organization and cause of Isreal's invasion of Lebanon, was born in Jaffa, then called the British Mandate of Palestine - born to a rich family by the way. After the U.N. gave his home to Israel he spent much of his life in EGYPTIAN controlled and Jordanian controlled territories.

Abu Abbas, former leader of the PLF and hijacker of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro killing an American Passenger, is basically Palestinian - nobody really knows much about his life really.

Jamal al-Bedawi, one of the masterminds in the USS Cole bombing was born in Yemen

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, former leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, was born in Jordan.

Abu Ayyub al-Masri, current leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, is an EGYPTIAN.

Lets not forget about terrorist organizations like Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, etc, etc.

So, I guess what you're trying to say is "Lets not paint all these people with a broad brush here".

What I'm trying to say is that we have EVERY REASON to use a broad brush. It doesn't matter where these kids are from - we are under attack by an organization (Al-Qaeda, which pretty much all terrorist organizations are members of now) which is made up by MUSLIM/ARAB MEN from pretty much EVERY MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRY or has ties to said region. It doesn't matter to me if a dude was born in Antarctica, if his name is Mohammad and he wants to get into our country, or disappears in our country using a student visa, we'd better look into his ass using my metaphorical broad brush. To do so otherwise is complete stupidity in my humble opinion.

Now some people reading this are going to say "Why Guardsman, you're sounding pretty racist here." And my comments may appear to be so. I have no problem with Muslim, Arab, Middle Eastern, or whatever you want to call them, men, women, children, dogs, cats, whatever. I know many people that are from the middle east or have roots from there. I know Muslim people. They are all great people, believers in TRUE Islam - not the form of Islam that has been hijacked by Bin Laden and his ilk. What I do have a problem with is the people who are attacking America and trying to destroy our freedoms, the ones I've dedicated my life to protect. Is it tough to see the scrutiny these people, some I consider friends, go through? Yes. Is it understandable? Yes. If a person from the middle east applies for a student visa and can be proven to have no ties to terrorism - by all means let them in. But if they appear to have a terrorism connection - arrest them or at least not let them into our country. That's what I'm saying.

"and a lot of the group actually made it to the program."

I don't know what your definition of "a lot" is - but considering the fact that the group that left contained 17 Egyptian students, and the group that actually arrived only contained 6 Egyptian students - I would say A LOT of them went missing. A FEW actually made it to the program.

And I can guarantee you that this made the news because they're MUSLIM MEN - you can easily see that I originally posted about this BEFORE the thwarted London attack - this didn't get "picked-up" because of said thwarted attack. I only picked up on it because I saw it on (gasp!) Fox News a couple days prior.

By the way, I don't buy your "wouldn't do a terrorist attack because they come from rich families" argument because, well, Osama Bin Laden comes from an extremely rich family and look where he's at....

-Guardsman