www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiqYxk0B-Og
In something of a warning to all wannabe online mujahedeen, a 20-year-old student from northern Virginia was arrested today on charges of providing material support to al-Shabaab, the al-Qaida-aligned Somali extremist group.
Zachary Adam Chesser is the guy's given name. But he went by several others: Abu Talhah, Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee. But Chesser's highest profile appears to be online, where his sobriquets included TeachLearnFightDie and AlQuranWaAlaHadith. He posted on an apparently defunct blog called Themujahidblog.com and Revolutionmuslim.com, according to the affidavit of FBI Special Agent Mary Brandt Kinder, and he threatened the lives of the South Park creators for their portrayal of the prophet Mohammed. Searches for his uploaded videos led to the discovery of him getting pwned by one of the Jawa Report guys. (More on that below.)
In her affidavit, Kinder says Chesser told another FBI agent, Paula G. Menges, that he "watched online videos, discussions and debates, and over the counter-the-counter CDs almost obsessively" when his interest in Islam took root in 2008. He gravitated to the Yemen-based, al-Qaeda-affiliated and YouTube-enhanced extremist preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, whom the United Nations designated as a terrorist on Tuesday. Chesser apparently traded e-mails with Awlaki, who is also believed to have corresponded with accused Fort Hood gunman Nidal Malik Hasan and would-be underpants bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
If the affidavit is true, the internet was the American youth's gateway into religious extremism. But he's accused of trying to act on his newfound beliefs overseas, rather than in the United States. Chesser bought an airline ticket from New York to fly with his wife and infant son to Uganda on July 10, but he quickly learned that he was on the No-Fly List. As it happens, the very next day, al-Shebaab pulled off a terrorist bombing in Uganda, murdering 74 people.
He later told Menges that he intended to travel to Somalia to link up with al-Shabaab, but it does not appear that he made any actual contact, apart from e-mails he claims to have received.
Apparently Chesser intended to put his internet skills to use for the extremist militia. According to the affidavit, Chesser told Menges that al-Shebaab members told him to bring laptops to Somalia, so he could join their media unit, the apparent posting of choice for foreign fighters – much like the rapping Alabaman Omar Hammammi. He wrote a post in June on an unspecified online forum, according to the affidavit, expressing his intent to leave for Somalia and announcing he was "actually leaving for jihad."
The guy wrote a fair amount online. A different post from January encouraged fellow takfiris to stay fit: "We have to go for jogs, do push-ups, learn firearms, and all kinds of things.... And, perhaps above all, we have to actually go and fight against the disbelievers." This kind of stuff is increasingly prevalent in the English-language internet. Just last week, a Pennsylvania-based internet hosting service shut down its blogetery.com platform after federal law enforcement officials showed that more than 70,000 bloggers used it to push al-Qaeda propaganda into the cyber-ether.
He also included invective against South Park creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone – since removed – that attracted the ire of the guys at The Jawa Report, who revel in making fun of online would-be extremists. One April post reveled in WordPress taking down Chesser's blog for terms-of-service violations: "You are my bitch! Bitch!" wrote blogger Howie.
A week later, the Jawa crew apparently repurposed one of Chesser's videos of Somali fighters and Abdulmutallab with the Benny Hill yakety-sax and the durka-durka voice that the South Park guys use. "Oh, Zack, stop me before I mock again!" warned Comrade Vinnieovich.
The next people who pwned Chesser belonged to the FBI, the Transportation Security Agency and the U.S. Attorney's office for the eastern district of Virginia. Whether they have enough to convict him on – the affidavit doesn't claim he ever did anything on behalf of al-Shebaab, except for citing his statements to have sought them out – is an open question.
But he might be part of a recent trend in low-wattage/high-bandwidth self-radicalization. "This case exposes the disturbing reality that extreme radicalization can happen anywhere, including Northern Virginia," U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement. Especially with the aid of Wi-Fi.
See Also:
