Jihad Jane' joins growing list of American terror suspects‎

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This undated image shows a photo from a website that authorities say was maintained by terror suspect Colleen R. LaRose, also known as Jihad Jane.

AFP/Fox News/Newscom

They were born and raised all over the United States. Indiana, Oregon, and New Mexico. Alabama, Virginia, Michigan, and Washington, D.C.Some have foreign-sounding names. Others were as familiar as Daniel and John, David and Colleen. But they were all US citizens, and all had become sworn enemies of the United States, radical Islamist jihadis who plotted to carry out – and sometimes succeeded in – attacks that killed fellow Americans.
Most recently, it was Colleen LaRose, the blond, middle-aged woman from a Philadelphia suburb who dubbed herself “Jihad Jane.”
IN PICTURES: American Jihadis
“This case ... demonstrates that terrorists are looking for Americans to join them in their cause, and it shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance,” Michael Levy, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said in a statement regarding the charges against Ms. LaRose, which include conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder overseas.
Over the past year, more than 30 American citizens have been charged with terrorist-related acts, says Oren Segal, director of Islamic affairs at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.
Among the notable cases from the past year, Mr. Segal notes, are:
•Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, an American Muslim convert, shot two uniformed American soldiers – one of whom was killed – at a military recruiting center in Little Rock, Ark., on June 1, 2009.
•Five American students were 
detained in Pakistan in December for apparently attempting to join terrorist groups fighting against US-led forces in Afghanistan.
•Four Muslim converts – three American and one Haitian – were 
arrested in May for an alleged plot to 
attack two synagogues in the Bronx and to shoot down planes at a military base in Newburgh, N.Y.
•David Headley, an American citizen from Illinois, was arrested in October for plotting a terrorist attack in Denmark. He has also been charged with helping plan the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai (Bombay) that killed more than 170 people.
“American Muslim extremists are not just a serious domestic terror threat,” says Segal. “The US is exporting militants, armed with radical interpretations of Islam and US passports, overseas at an alarming rate. In addition to David Headley, the Virginia students, and others, there has been a wave of Americans traveling to Somalia to fight with Al Shabab, an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group.”
Internet facilitates recruitment
The experiences of “Jihad Jane” and others show how advances in online communication have made it easier to 
recruit Americans to radical Islam.
“They have really improved their ability to radicalize people and bring them into the fight, which of course severely hampers our ability to disrupt and get ourselves involved in the process,” said Garry Reid, deputy assistant secretary of Defense, in testimony before a Senate panel recently.
A prime example, experts point out, is Omar Hammami, a 25-year-old US citizen from Alabama, who has become a primary recruiter for Al Shabab.
“Hammami is one of several American Muslim ideologues living abroad using their online pulpits to reach and influence extremists in the US with ideologies of extreme intolerance and violence,” says Segal. But he also notes that the two most deadly recent attacks were done by “lone wolves,” apparently operating on their own and therefore more difficult for intelligence and law enforcement authorities to detect and stop.
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