As an American-born Muslim of privilege tried to protect himself yesterday with the Constitution he's accused of betraying, prosecutors began drawing for jurors a sinister portrait of a young man the feds said both al-Qaeda and the FBI recognized was becoming a mouthpiece for jihad. Tarek Mehanna even had all-American code phrase for jihad, prosecutors said: Peanut butter and jelly.By moderating online chats from the "cushy bedroom" of his parents' home about the terrorist he thought of as his "real father," Osama bin Laden, and translating bin Laden's recorded messages into English subtitles, assistant U.S. Attorney Aloke Chakravarty said Mehanna, 29, "viewed himself as part of the media department of the terror group.
"It meant killing, it meant bullets, it meant martyrdom," said Chakravarty, noting that in the summer of 2005, al-Qaeda "personally solicited" Mehanna to translate works by Ayman al-Zawahri.
And to a great extent, Mehanna's attorney J.W. Carney Jr. -- admitting his client was bitter about the war in Iraq -- didn't disagree.
"Yes, he expressed admiration for Osama bin Laden. He didn't hide his beliefs; he wore them on his sleeve," Carney said on the first day of an anticipated two-month trial. While perhaps treason to some, Mehanna's religious and political beliefs are "what make America so great, so strong, so free," said Carney.
| Not really, no. But apparently this is a common mistake among immigrants in certain circles. I blame the entertainment industry. |
Carney plans to counter with a Yemen scholar from Princeton University, who will vouch for the rich Islamic education opportunities that Mehanna claims were the real reason for his journey.
