Anatomy of a Jihadist

There has been a good deal of news lately about Daniel Boyd and the members of his family that were arrested in N.C. last week.

Let me say first that I have no idea whether Boyd & company are guilty or innocent; I don’t have all the details, and they may very well be just as dangerous as the news outlets are portraying. But this case pushes the thought police game a little farther than it has gone before, because not only have they not committed any crime, there isn’t even any evidence – by the FBI’s own admission – that a specific crime was being planned.

The story originally perked up my ears when an acquaintance posted it on Facebook, along with the assertion that this – a white American man arrested for planning jihad – was proof that profiling does not work. That may be true, but of course, that would also mean that every man, woman, & child in the U.S. is now automatically a potential suspect, and if we are all suspects, I suppose we should all willingly submit to any & all intrusions into our privacy to prove that we are not.

Then yesterday I saw something disturbing. The AP reported that “A case against seven North Carolina terrorism suspects accused of plotting "violent jihad" may involve classified material that will raise national security issues if given to their defense attorneys, federal prosecutors said Monday.” Terror case in NC may involve classified material

Wait a second; so they’re saying that the defense doesn’t get disclosure? The defendants have been arrested without bail, will no doubt be tried in court (in a year or two or five), and the prosecution doesn’t have to give the defense attorneys the information they need to defend their clients because, like everything else today, it is a matter of national security?

How convenient. If you’re the prosecution, that is.

And then there is the other incriminating evidence found in the family’s home as reported by CNN: N.C. terror suspects had arms, ammo, FBI 'playbook,' agent says

According to the article, the Boyd’s had in their possession:

- Several weapons.

How many families in America do not have “several weapons” in their homes? Obviously there was nothing really odd or nasty like a .50 cal or you can bet we’d have been told (unless doing so might compromise national security).

- 27,000 rounds of ammunition, including some armor-piercing types.

Okay, that’s a lot of ammo, but I can list 3 reasons right off the top of my head as to why they might have that much.

1) Everybody has been stocking up on guns & ammo since Obama took office on legitimate fears of new regulation. Though none have been passed into law (yet), there have been bills proposed ranging from the required registration of all firearms (including rifles & shotguns) to the serialization of ammunition for identification purposes. How much ammo is "okay" to have, anyway?

2) Unlike cash, ammunition is worth something and will always be in demand. It would be usable for barter should hyperinflation render the dollar bill useless.

3) Constant government induced fear-mongering has prompted people to prepare for the worst. We are all in danger, remember?

- $13,000 in cash. In addition, Dylan Boyd had a deposit slip for $16,000.

So having cash in hand rather than sitting in the bank as an electronic number is incriminating? As in the case of ammunition, how much cash does it take to suggest that you are a felon? If he only had $8,000 in cash would that be okay?

I think the real issue here is that he “had cash”. I’m sure he also had a lot more than that available for use on his credit cards (I sure do), but credit card transactions leave a paper trail that can easily be monitored. With cash, well, who knows what people might buy. Apparently we are guilty if we even have the option.

- Four gas masks.

Guilty. Oh wait, gas masks are used for defense; they assume “the other guy” might gas you. In fairness though, I bet they also had some chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction laying around – most rednecks from N.C. do – but the FBI can’t tell us that because it might compromise national security.

- A book called "Emergency Response to Terrorism," a document described as a fatwa (Muslim religious edict) of jihad (holy war) against America, and an old identification card with suspicous wording.

I have a copy of the Quran and a few other books on the Muslim faith that I use for reference. I also have about a dozen Bibles in various translations, The Books of the Apocrypha, several copies of Animal Farm & 1984, and a couple hundred copies of my own little dystopian book What So Proudly We Hailed. Am I an extremist because I have those things? Are we going to start banning & burning books now just because we don’t like what they say? Weren't the Nazis bad guys for doing that?

- They also found a trench under the deck of the house, which a witness told the FBI was a bunker to store and conceal weapons, and a plywood plank placed in a tree so that someone sitting there could see anyone approaching the house, according to Sutton.

A trench under the house and a piece of plywood in a tree? Well, why didn't you say so in the first place? Call in Judge Dredd. Then line them up and shoot ‘em.

Dangerous precedents are being set here my friends. Precedents that will affect all of us whether the Boyd's are guilty or not.