One was a drywall contractor and father, another a petite woman who cared for the elderly, another a U.S. military officer. The most alarming thing about a string of recently arrested terror suspects is that they are all Americans.
Over the past week, a Pennsylvania woman, accused in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist, and a radicalized New Jersey man held by authorities in Yemen have become the latest cases among more than a dozen Americans captured or identified by the U.S. government and its allies over the past two years for actively supporting jihad, or holy war.
Some, according to prosecutors, were inspired by the U.S. involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Others, like the accused Pennsylvania woman, wanted to avenge what they considered an insult to the Prophet Mohammed. Many traveled overseas to get terrorist training. Some used home computers to foment plots.
There is no evidence that these cases are connected in any way. But they underscore the new reality that there is a threat from violent Islamic extremism from within the U.S. It is difficult to say whether the uptick in cases is because law enforcement has gotten better at catching suspects or if there are simply more to catch.
Most of the cases ended with suspects captured before they could act on their plans. But some were nearly ready to spring to action, like Queens resident Najibullah Zazi, 24, who pleaded guilty in February as the leader of a plot to bomb the New York subway system.
By: Brant
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