Adam Gadahn: American Al Qaeda May Not Be In U.S. Custody

nytimes.com:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- An American Qaeda operative was arrested in the sprawling southern city of Karachi in recent days by Pakistani security officials, Pakistani officials said Sunday.

...

Initial reports seemed to have confused the American with Adam Gadahn, a California native who has been a spokesman for Al Qaeda and often appears on videos calling for strikes against targets in the United States.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[ready4you]

10:34 PM on 03/07/2010

The responses from a lot of posters on this story reflect the reality that this individual who was caught is just another example of how people's world views shape their perceived reality, as expressed by the recent cliche "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." I certainly wont justify or condone wanton acts of murder or other forms of malevolence done for the sake of being cruel, but I think these allegations of treason are absurd and are simply emblematic of people seeing what they want to see in a situation. Ill be happy to explain how I've come to draw this conclusions using this 250 word limit for commenting..

I've seen varying definitions of treason and sedition, and such acts are specifically discussed in the u.s constitution as well. From my perspective as a u.s citizen, sedition and treason are acts you commit while you are an "official" u.s citizen. Notice that I specifically put the world Official in quotations because this is an important element to comprehend. The circumstances of treason are based on the individual being a current citizen of the nation in which the alleged acts are being committed. I question the notion that someone can be considered a citizen after they have publicly announced through presentations and/or through writing to the government of the country of their origin, that they have renounced their citizenship and any formal ties to that nation.

[patsydecline]

09:19 AM on 03/08/2010

good point well said fanned

it just takes the focus off the true tr ai tors to the country...like cheney

[Wide Stance]

11:41 AM on 03/08/2010

1) Renouncing one's citizenship doesn't absolve one of the crime, as Constitutionally defined.

2) If we assume for the sake of argument that it did, then the timing matters. Gadahn was charged with treason in 2006. Gadahn renounced his citizenship in 2008, publicly on video.

3) Your argument is a matter of semantics. There are many crimes he could be charged with aside from treason, such as conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder, etc.

4) Your philosophical argument is false. He isn't "not guilty" by virtue of having a different belief system. He publicly advocates murdering Americans. That isn't a philosophical question, it's a criminal one.

[patsydecline]

01:37 PM on 03/08/2010

take your bigoted anti american self and go find some despot country where you can
play out your unresolved de-mons

[patsydecline]

01:39 PM on 03/08/2010

@4

so i hope you pursue all those in the health insurance industry

[escobar]

09:29 PM on 03/07/2010

His real name is Perlman and he is connected to the ADL

[Cinnamonape]

09:40 PM on 03/07/2010

Don't know about that. His Grandfather was a founder of it in Orange County.

It seems that he spent a few months with his Grandfather Dr. Kenneth Perlman after he ran away from his goat-farming hippie ex-underground rockin' dad. He was home-schooled and got involved in Death Metal. Sounds like he was undergoing typical teen rejection. Just as his Dad did by converting to Christianity and changing his name from Perlman to Gadahn (which he claimed came from the Bible, but doesn't unless it's some phonetic version).

When he got to Grandpa's Adam rebelled against his Grandfather, too. Instead of becoming a classical music-loving convert to Judaism he opted to freak out this relative as well. Cutting the bridges he became a Muslim.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/pearlman-40891-county-orange.html

[escobar]

09:44 PM on 03/07/2010

Too bad he didn't just become a junkie if he wanted to break his families hearts.
That is what I've seen other confused, spoiled, hurt, sensitive, self-absorbed kids do.
I feel sorry for his family he chose to get back at them by destroying himself this way.

[Captai]

09:50 PM on 03/07/2010

Then of course there are the alleged connections the ADL has.

[Wide Stance]

12:06 PM on 03/08/2010

I wonder if his al Qaeda peeps know he's Jewish? One has to wonder how they are able to reconcile that, if they do. (Not said out of hatred, just to point out his overt hypocrisy--and theirs.)

It's a complicated question. Being a Jew is more than just a religious choice, it is closely related to ethnicity and nationality as well. He may be an "ethnic Jew" even if he adopted another religion.

[surlyatbest]

09:19 PM on 03/07/2010

The Pakistanis are showing this guy what REAL torture is about. He's probably begging the CIA to waterboard him right about now.

[patsydecline]

08:58 AM on 03/08/2010

too bad the real vill ians and te rr o rists don't get such treatment like the cheneys

[surlyatbest]

09:11 AM on 03/08/2010

One in three people Obama kills in Pakistan is an innocent civilian, but I suppose you feel he should be spared the treatment.

[Wide Stance]

12:17 PM on 03/08/2010

@patsydecline

When you use the term "real villians" you make it seem, though your apology, that he's not actually advocating murder, and that would be stu0pid, wouldn't it?

[hippie4ever]

09:13 PM on 03/07/2010

So it turned out to be another guy, who may be in custody or somewhere dark. Looks very suspicious, may be a Pentagon propaganda campaign or a distraction. Who knows? Nobody has any credibility -- AQ, the governments of the USA, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Taliban -- who can believe anything they claim? They're terrible liars, even Washington where one would expect some expertise.

[Cinnamonape]

09:46 PM on 03/07/2010

I think it will take a few days to shake out who they got.

Was it Abu Yahya Azam or Abu Yahiye "Gadahm" Azzan? The names are very close and both have American roots and apparently speak English as a native.

[escobar]

08:55 PM on 03/07/2010

What difference does it make if some flake born in California gets free air time or is tortured to death by Pakistan and the CIA? Who would know or care? He isn't rich and for that, he doesn't matter.
Would you blow yourself up if some evangelical preacher said you should?
This man is of not important except that he is sustaining himself as a spokesman for hateful nuts..sort of like Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter,and the other talking heads.
Too bad Pakistan doesn't capture Rush.

[Captai]

08:57 PM on 03/07/2010

His familial connections are of particular interest.

[escobar]

09:20 PM on 03/07/2010

Please expound

[solopico]

09:01 PM on 03/07/2010

What the F do Limbaugh, Hannity, and Coulter have to do with this?

Ijiot.

[escobar]

09:35 PM on 03/07/2010

HE spews a similar vomit

[escobar]

09:38 PM on 03/07/2010

Rush et all continue to advocte war yet like this man never did any killing themselves.

[leftheaded]

08:52 PM on 03/07/2010

None of this is real. Terrorism is such a small thing... you are NOT in danger. You are simply being fed a line of control (see 1984).

[Paula Ann]

08:59 PM on 03/07/2010

authorities can more easily control people who are in a constant state of fear/anxiety, i.e. terrrrerized.

[yappnmutt]

08:50 PM on 03/07/2010

don't all of you so called denizens of the home of the brave feel a bit ridiculous being cowered into the fetal position wearing depends by a group of cave dwellers?

it all makes me long for the days of scrambling under my desk because kruschev was pounding some podium with his shoe. at least he had the means to back up his boasts.

[solopico]

08:56 PM on 03/07/2010

boo!

[BobRobertsFeltRedundant]

09:02 PM on 03/07/2010

Actually at the time, Kruchev didn't.

[foxisms]

08:49 PM on 03/07/2010

Whoa!
Who was it I was having a short conversation with today about speculation and how everybody was speculating?
...and I wasn't even considering that the "officials" too were speculating.

[Paula Ann]

08:45 PM on 03/07/2010

imo, they are now denying its gadhan because he's already died in custody.......

[pfc1369]

08:34 PM on 03/07/2010

So which is it?

The guy almost no one has heard of, or the guy absolutely no one has heard of?

Either way, we'll all sleep better tonight knowing the Authorities are on the case for us.

[foxisms]

08:45 PM on 03/07/2010

Yep.Nothing I like better than having "the Authorities" on the case for us.
Authority...I just can't get enough of that stuff.

[Wahchintonka]

08:34 PM on 03/07/2010

"Ring-a-ring-a-roses,
A pocket full of posies;
Hush! hush! hush! hush!
We’re all tumbled down."

[Betrayed]

08:28 PM on 03/07/2010

His early-days photo makes him look like a D&D guy.

[brit prof]

08:26 PM on 03/07/2010

Great! We got a spokesman! Not a planner, an engineer, a scientist, a strategist but... a spokesman. The guy who reads the tele-prompter.

[Wide Stance]

08:29 PM on 03/07/2010

All the skilled jobs are being shipped overseas.

[brit prof]

08:31 PM on 03/07/2010

And tele-prompter readers can be replaced at the drop of a hat.

[brit prof]

08:32 PM on 03/07/2010

Maybe they raided a Call Centre or something?

[Cinnamonape]

09:02 PM on 03/07/2010

I think that the Egyptian-American might be more important than Al Qaida's version of "Baghdad Bob". The only benefit of the latter is that he might know something about the network that supplies OBL's video.

[bogtrotters]

08:24 PM on 03/07/2010

Busted at an Islamabad Burger King...developing...

[Captai]

08:23 PM on 03/07/2010

Apparently they don't have Adam Gadahn AKA Adam Pearlman grandson of a board member of the ADL.

[brit prof]

10:16 PM on 03/07/2010

My (Indian) grandfather lost a fortune in jute during the twilight years of British occupation. Does that mean I must be a mule for some drug ring?

[Captai]

11:23 PM on 03/07/2010

ADL is a drug ring? Really? When that happen?