Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab Was Secular When He Arrived In Yemen

SANAA (Reuters) - A young Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a U.S. plane on Christmas Day was not deeply religious when he arrived in Yemen in 2004 but evolved into a devoted follower of Islam, a former teacher said.

Read the whole story: Reuters

Comments

[foxfury]

12:06 PM on 01/05/2010

Religion sucks...again

[blogisti]

09:18 AM on 01/05/2010

Now that the "American Dream" has been shattered what will replace it in the minds of American youth? They too will be on the lookout for some new "belief system" or "dream". My guess is that many will grow bitter and depressed, and what will be the consequences for America?

[Durango]

04:51 PM on 01/05/2010

Are you referring to the "Nigerian Dream"?

Because I fail to see what the American dream has to do with this story.

[overcat]

09:55 AM on 01/13/2010

Doesn't the "Nigerian Dream" involve a letter, a deposed political leader, and a need for several thousand dollars in order to access millions of dollars?

[Rock Brasiliano]

04:31 AM on 01/05/2010

Stupid article. Son of London-based multimillionaire decides to study language in Yemen? This guy went to Yemen for one reason: terror training.

[JShankel]

02:54 AM on 01/05/2010

Religion of peace, ladies and gentlemen.

[Oleg1]

02:46 AM on 01/05/2010

Here's a concise and precise exploration of Mr. Abdulmutallab's Weltanschauung.

Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples
by V.S. Naipaul, N.Y.:Random House, 1998

"Islam is in its origins an Arab religion. Everyone not an Arab who is a Muslim is a convert.
Islam is not simply a matter of conscience or private belief. It makes imperial demands.
A convert's worldview alters. His holy places are in Arab lands; his sacred language is Arabic. His idea of history alters. He rejects his own; he becomes, whether he likes it or not, a part of the Arab story...
The disturbance for societies is immense, and even after a thousand years can remain unresolved; the turning away has to be done again and again. People develop fantasies about who and what they are; and in the Islam of the converted countries there is an element of neurosis and nihilism. These countries can be easily set on the boil."

Sir V.S Naipaul, Nobel Prize winner.
Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples V.S. Naipaul

[hippie4ever]

01:56 AM on 01/05/2010

Interesting to watch the MIC turn a backwater into "Yemen - threat to America" and an inept banker's son into an AQ terrorist. Clearly it's business as usual at Halliburton Inc.

[JerryLevy]

12:58 AM on 01/05/2010

This would be mass murderer seeking to kill hundreds on an airliner was just read his miranda rights and given an attorney. I feel safer already.

[overcat]

09:57 AM on 01/13/2010

Kind of like Richard Reid, huh?

[FHTB]

12:43 AM on 01/05/2010

That would explain one student of Arabic school in Yemen he attended (a woman of Asian descent from San Francisco, no less) who pointed out that whereas other young men would shun women and not talk to them, this young man didn't do that.

[Oleg1]

11:51 PM on 01/04/2010

This news item is utter nonsesne.
Fact: Addul Mutalab was president of Islamic Student Society in London, an organization well known to distribute fundamentalist and Jihadist literature and propaganda.
Fact: 4 (FOUR!!) previous leaders of of this organization have been accused and/or convicted of Jhadist violence.

[Kanzi]

10:33 PM on 01/04/2010

How did they actually reach to the conclusion that he was secular ? An engineering student (who was an active member of an Islamic students group) taking a trip around the Arab world to learn Arabic actually points to his radical religiosity. I bet that the teacher is doing his best to keep the Yemeni forces at bay.

[JerryLevy]

01:02 AM on 01/05/2010

They reached this conclusion because they will say anything to obfuscate the obvious.....that is that this would be mass murderer was committing this unspeakable crime in the name of his religion. And doing it for no other reason.

[tina hogan]

01:10 AM on 01/06/2010

Political correctness will be the downfall of America. We need to start profi.ling immediately. All Muslims flying on airlines need to be strip searched and questioned intensely. If they don't like it, stop blow.ing up things. That's the way it has to be.

Liberals love to ban things and gu.ns especially. One nut job goes on a shooting rampage and they want to ban assault rifles and hand guns. Well, let's use their logic, muslims continue to commit terrorist acts, so let's ban them....

[joyce628]

09:34 PM on 01/04/2010

More and more this incident is looking like a deliberate attempt to destroy the Obama administration at the cost of 300 people on the plane by powerful right wing forces out there who would like Obama to fail at all cost.Umar Farouk Abdulmtallab was the fall guy.

Obama has embeded himself with too many of the bush left overs in key military and intelligent positions and they will be his undoing. Something is very fishy about this incident especially with the intelligence and security breach. Is the mdeia going to investigate the story by the Michigan lawyer with regards to the well dress South Asian man who told the agent that Umar was from Sudon. We all know that there are a lot of powerful right wing crazies out there who would like to see a terrorist attact happen under Obama's watch so that they can get back into power and use fear mongering to take away our rights and invade other countries.

[tina hogan]

11:47 AM on 01/06/2010

Sure, the Bush administration is behind the Islamo-Facism....

[overcat]

10:28 AM on 01/13/2010

The Bush Administration produced more terrorists than it eliminated.

[MyTake]

09:30 PM on 01/04/2010

The allied corporate controlled media are spinning this story beyond belief.

The guy gets on a plane knowing that it is his last 7 hours of life and yup, he was brainwashed by A-Q or as someone nicely puts it by renaming A-Q to A-CIADA.

Let's put this guy on trial, let's see the statement he made and let's see what type of drug(s) was in his blood stream. The FBI do take blood tests from terr*orists, don't they? Probably can't release blood test results because of NATIONAL SECURITY no doubt.

As the Global Research site noted, the Corporation marketing those body scanners just made a p*ss pot full of money.

[Oleg1]

02:37 AM on 01/05/2010

Not surprisingly paranoia and ignorance seem to go hand-in hand in the minds of people like MyTake. Could be lack of affection and too much TV watching.

[MyTake]

06:55 PM on 01/05/2010

Well, since your logic is incapable of debating statements, I have just two words for you: fah-cue!

[NeoconGal]

08:52 PM on 01/04/2010

Oh no. it's the Manchurian candidate.

[archeDeWashington]

08:31 PM on 01/04/2010

This is a situation I don't want happen in my country where people are suffering because of some greed and become radical.

Please save my people:

www.okongo.org
www.okonda.com/please_save_my_people.html

Thanks

[eddiesengola]

10:26 PM on 01/04/2010

Bonjour,

You should create a shopping cart in your website and it will be easier to contribute. Most of the people don't use paypal.

[mqtech]

08:29 PM on 01/04/2010

We will never understand the Al-Qaeda types and their reasoning and thinking. Looking for answers in religion or their religious beliefs is not the right approach. Religion is simply a tool that is used to recruit. Poverty, illiteracy, political views or whatever are just x-factors. They will recruit anyone willing to listen the reason could be anything. Religion makes it easier. There is no better employer than God.