Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Shocked! Startled! Astonished!

The news that someone close to them (in this case, a Canadian, ahem, businessman) has been accused of jihadism elicits the usual responses from gobsmacked loved ones:
Foreign Affairs told Mohamoud's family that the 52-year-old hasn't been formally charged but that local [Senegal] police are investigating his alleged association with a criminal group.
"I am 100 per cent sure he is not involved in that kind of stuff," [his wife] Muluka said.
The Somali-born Mohamoud came to Canada in 1987, got married and had five children. He also obtained a university degree, but when he couldn't find a job in Toronto, began working overseas in Dubai and, more recently, in Dakar.
Mohamoud's business card says he is an executive manager with Afifco SA, an Islamic financing company.
He last travelled to Senegal in March, and he regularly called his family and sent money from there. But in May, everything stopped. Family members discovered Mohamoud was in jail and haven't heard from him since.
Mohamoud's younger brother, Osman, has difficulty fathoming the allegation of a connection to al-Qaeda.
"It was a very big shock to me," Osman said, "because he's not the type of person that can [be involved] in organizations like that."...
Since no one who's charged with such offenses ever seems to be "the type of person that can [be involved]" in jihad, it should be obvious by now that that's the exact profile of those who do become involved in it.

No comments: