US citizen charged in jihadist plot “wanted to go after the Army people”

Bad DiceBAD DICE: Another person born in a foreign country who took an oath to become a US citizen is now charged with wanting to attack his fellow Americans in the Tampa, FL area. His first choice was Army bases, but found them too secure, so he decided to go after softer targets. It is clear he was motivated by radical Islamic ideology.  From the Associated Press:

A U.S. citizen born in Kosovo has been charged with plotting to attack crowded locations around Tampa, including nightclubs and a sheriff’s office, with a car bomb, assault rifle and other explosives, federal authorities said Monday.

According to a federal complaint, 25-year-old Sami Osmakac, a Muslim, recorded an eight-minute video shortly before his arrest explaining why he wanted to bring terror to his “victims’ hearts” in the Tampa Bay area. Osmakac is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Kosovo, then part of the former Yugoslavia.

In the video, Osmakac is seen cross-legged on the floor with a pistol in his hand and an AK-47 behind him. Osmakac said in the video that Muslim blood was more valuable than that of people who do not believe in Islam, according to the complaint. He said he wanted “payback” for wrong that was done to Muslims, the complaint said. . . .

. . . On Dec. 21, Osmakac met with the undercover agent and allegedly told the agent that he wanted to buy an AK-47-style machine gun, Uzi submachine guns, high capacity magazines, grenades and an explosive belt. During a later meeting, Osmakac gave the agent a $500 down payment for the items.

Osmakac also asked the undercover employee to build bombs that could be placed in three different vehicles and detonated remotely, the U.S. Justice Department said in a press release. Osmakac then planned to follow up with an attack using the other weapons he asked for, authorities said.

On Jan. 1, Osmakac told the agent he wanted to bomb nightclubs, the operations center of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and a business in Tampa.

Osmakac told the undercover FBI agent that he wanted to detonate a car bomb and use the explosive belt to “get in somewhere where there’s a lot of people” and take hostages. Osmakac told the agent that after he took hostages he wanted to demand something from the “kuffar” — an Arabic word that means infidels or disbelievers of Islam, federal authorities said.

According to the affidavit, he also said, “Honestly, I would love to go for the Army people, but their bases are so locked up, I have to do something else.”

Osmakac said he wanted to take down the bridges that link Tampa to neighboring Pinellas County. “This will crush the whole economy,” he allegedly said to the agent. “This would crush everything man, they would have no more food coming in. They would, nobody would have work.”

During that meeting, the agent told Osmakac he could always change his mind about his plot. “According to the complaint, Osmakac immediately shook his head in the negative and stated, ‘We all have to die, so why not die the Islamic way?'” according to the press release.

More Information:

Florida Man Charged With Plotting Strikes in Name of Islam (New York Times)

Florida Resident Charged with Plotting to Bomb Locations in Tampa (FBI press release)

US v Sami Osmaka (Criminal Complaint)

What are kuffar or kafir? From PoliticalIslam.com:

“Islamic doctrine says a great deal about the kafir. Most of the Koran is about kafirs, 61%, only 39% is about Muslims. About 20% of the Hadith is about kafirs and 98% of the Sira is about kafirs. Mohammed was fixated on kafirs and annihilated every kafir by violence, exile or conversion. . .  Mohammed’s actions are pure Islam; therefore, annihilating kafirs and kafir culture is pure Islam. A Muslim has to be, in some way, in some form of action, eliminating kafirs and their world. The action against kafirs is jihad. . . .Every Muslim believes that all nonbelievers are kafirs. The Koran says that kafirs may be hated, plotted against, deceived, murdered, raped, enslaved, mocked and tortured. All of those actions are Islam and perfect doctrine.”

Testimonials
CI/SECURITY ARTICLES
Threats are Out There