Thursday, October 4, 2012

Why We've Been Safe

By Bill Maher

In Illinois last Thursday, an 18 year-old jihadist named Adel Daoud was indicted by a federal grand jury over his plan to detonate a car bomb in downtown Chicago.

We were never in danger. It was a sting operation, of course. Adel has been monitored by the FBI for at least a year because he was posting stuff on the web about jihad. In May, agents began corresponding with him, posing as fellow jihadists. Daoud and an undercover agent met, drove downtown in a car that was "rigged" with "explosives," engaged in a quick prayer, and walked into a nearby alley. When Adel pulled the trigger, his buddy arrested him.

Adel isn't a dumb kid. In fact, one of his heartbroken neighbors described him as "intelligent, kind and a whiz with computers." But computers are exactly the problem for any new crop of American jihadists: Anyone who would make a good terrorist is essentially a kid, and kids communicate by cell phone and Facebook and websites... which are the easiest stuff to monitor. If an American Islamist movement were to succeed, they'd need to get the kids back into caves. Where they'll never go, because the cell service is terrible down there.

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