There was an interesting press release put out by the United States Department of Justice (h/t ROP) recently concerning a man who had been arrested for supplying material support to the Islamic terror group ISIS. The report gave a distinctly non-Islamic name for the accused which brings up the possibility that this man is yet another convert to Islam who has bypassed any peaceful interpretation of Islamic theology and gone straight to jihad.
The US Department of Justice said:
A Chicago, Illinois, man has been arrested on a federal complaint charging him with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). The complaint and arrest were announced by John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the U.S. Department of Justice John R. Lausch Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the FBI.
Thomas Osadzinski, 20, was arrested Monday, November 18, in Chicago. A criminal complaint charges him with one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization. Osadzinski appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole in Chicago and was ordered held without bond. A detention hearing was scheduled for Friday, Nov. 22, 2019, at 9:30 a.m.
Osadzinski is a U.S. citizen who resides in Chicago. The complaint alleges that Osadzinski designed a process that uses a computer script to make ISIS propaganda more conveniently accessed and disseminated by users on a social media platform. Osadzinski earlier this year shared his script – and instructions for how to use it – with individuals whom he believed to be ISIS supporters and members of pro-ISIS media organizations, the complaint states. Unbeknownst to Osadzinski, the individuals were actually covert FBI employees and a person confidentially working with law enforcement, according to the complaint.
ISIS and its supporters disseminate the terror group’s propaganda materials online to as wide an audience as possible in order to recruit fighters and inspire violence against the United States and other countries. Social media platforms routinely remove ISIS media content due to the violent nature of the materials. According to the complaint, Osadzinski’s computer process would automatically copy and preserve ISIS media postings in an organized format, allowing social media users to continue to conveniently access and disseminate the content.
There are two ways with which to view this particular case going on the details that the DOJ has supplied. The first, more charitable possibility, is that Osadzinski is some form of information anarchist who believes that all information should be available, even ISIS propaganda, so that it can be examined by the public. The second less charitable position is that this person is sympathetic to the cause of ISIS or has even converted to Islam. The fact that he allegedly contacted those whom he believed were ISIS operatives gives some credence to the idea that he is an ISIS sympathiser of some sort.
If he is indeed a convert to Islam and has committed the crime for which he is charged, then it is yet another example of a person who converts to Islam and heads straight down the path of jihad and support for jihad. This is a path that has been walked by so many of those who have chosen Islam as their spiritual and ideological guide.
This phenomenon of going straight to the most violent interpretation of Islam is not something that I’ve seen in those who have chosen other more peaceful faith paths. I’ve yet to encounter a new Christian who goes from baptism straight to membership of the Westboro Baptist Church nor have I come across new Jews who have suddenly and unflinchingly cleaved to the words of the murdered right wing Rabbi Meir Kahane. It is nearly always with Islam do we see new adherents turning quickly to violence and it is why I believe that for security reasons those who choose Islam should be watched carefully by both the state and by the general public.
