Jihad Watch
"Three blocks of Wisconsin Avenue Northwest were cleared of cars and pedestrians. Adjacent buildings and restaurants were evacuated..."
"DC Security Scare Becomes Federal Case," by Bob Barnard for MyFoxDC, October 8 (thanks to Heidi): WASHINGTON, D.C. - A man who was arrested in a security scare in Northwest D.C. on Tuesday night threatened to blow up the Friendship Heights Metro station, according to a criminal complaint in the case.
It was a chaotic scene Tuesday night in Friendship Heights when three blocks of Wisconsin Avenue Northwest were cleared of cars and pedestrians. Adjacent buildings and restaurants were evacuated, including both Mazza Gallerie and Chevy Chase Pavilion.
It all happened because of a young man who was caught on camera by FOX 5 sitting in on the sidewalk along Wisconsin Avenue wearing a blue sweater and handcuffs.
Police say the man's name is Ahamed Ali, based on a driver license from Bangladesh. Witnesses and police say Ali had been hanging around Chevy Chase Pavilion for a couple of days, taking notes, making threats, and acting strangely.
Now, according to a police report obtained by FOX 5, more is known about what had concerned passersby and police.
Investigators say Ali was overheard calling out: "I'm not scared to die! I will kill you! I will blow people up and the Metro!"
"He made some statements, threatening individuals," said Sgt. Guy Poirier of the Joint Terrorist Task Force. "At that point we had to take him at his word, what he meant."
Sgt. Poirier says this was not an overblown response.
"Metropolitan Police Department takes everything serious," he said. "We take it as a real event until we can prove otherwise."...
Detectives also searched Ali's backpack right on the sidewalk in front of the Cheesecake Factory. In the backpack, police say they found a notebook with "I will kill you" written inside. It contained diagrams of bridges, mosques and other buildings in Washington....
The fact that mosques were included will no doubt be used to "prove" that Ahamed Ali is just a garden-variety lunatic, and not an Islamic jihadist. And he may indeed be a lunatic and not a jihadist. But with the numerous incidents of violence against mosques in Iraq and elsewhere, perpetrated by Muslims of opposing sects, the fact that his notebook contained diagrams of mosques doesn't indicate anything conclusive.
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