ARLINGTON, Va. - The man police detained in connection with the alleged attempted attack on the Pentagon Friday morning is a member of the military and was arrested last month for a rash of vehicle tamperings in Leesburg, WTOP has learned.
The man claimed he had ammonium nitrate with him in his backpack, and that he had left material at the Pentagon, sources tell WTOP. Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound that is widely used in fertilizers and can be used in explosives with the correct concentration.
This is in the military, the Marines. Of course, the kneejerk response by law enforcement is that this is not terrorism. Despite the references to the terror organization that organized the 9/11 attacks, the group fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan and the Arabic word for "holy warrior," the law enforcement source told Milton that the suspect is not thought to have been involved in a terrorist act or plot. The suspect was carrying a notebook that contained the phrases "al Qaeda," "Taliban rules" and "Mujahid defeated croatian forces" when he was detained.
What is scarier? That this guy is in the military or that those who are entrusted with the task of protecting us are so cowed by jihad and Muslim Brotherhood groups in this country?
[The suspect] "not very co-operative with the answers to what his activities were", an official said on Friday.
[...]
Police blocked off roads around the Pentagon on Friday and were searching a suspicious vehicle and the surrounding area after arresting the man in nearby Arlington National Cemetery. (more here)
Ammonium nitrate is used as an oxidizing agent in explosives, including improvised explosive devices. It is the main component of ANFO, a very popular explosive.
Pentagon scare suspect ID'd as Marine reservist CBS
A source told CBS News that the man detained in the discovery of a suspicious vehicle outside the Pentagon Friday morning has been identified as a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.
Lance Cpl. Yonathan Melaku told authorities during questioning Friday morning that he was carrying explosive materials, the source told CBS News investigative producer Pat Milton.
Previously, FBI Special Agent Brenda Heck, who heads the bureau's counterterrorism division in its Washington field office, told reporters that a non-explosive material was found in a backpack the suspect was carrying at the time of his arrest.
A law enforcement official speaking on the condition of anonymity said officials found what appeared to be an unknown quantity of ammonium nitrate. The official, who was not authorized to release the information, said nothing else was found that would have enabled an explosion. The official said tests were being done to determine the substance and the exact concentration.
Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound that is widely used in fertilizers and can be used in explosives with the correct concentration.
A law enforcement source told Milton that the suspect now identified as Melaku was carrying a notebook that contained the phrases "al Qaeda," "Taliban rules" and "Mujahid defeated croatian forces" when he was detained.
Despite the references to the terror organization that organized the 9/11 attacks, the group fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan and the Arabic word for "holy warrior," the law enforcement source told Milton that the suspect is not thought to have been involved in a terrorist act or plot.
Pentagon attack suspect in military reserve
ARLINGTON, Va. - The man police detained in connection with the alleged attempted attack on the Pentagon Friday morning is a member of the military and was arrested last month for a rash of vehicle tamperings in Leesburg, WTOP has learned.
Police first found the 22-year-old man, who CBS News says is a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps reserve, in Arlington Cemetery sometime Thursday night or Friday morning when the facility was closed. His 2011 Nissan was located in the bushes near the Pentagon's north parking lot off Route 27/Washington Boulevard.
The man claimed he had ammonium nitrate with him in his backpack, and that he had left material at the Pentagon, sources tell WTOP. Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound that is widely used in fertilizers and can be used in explosives with the correct concentration.
Police also found spent shell casings and a notebook containing the words "al Qaeda" and "Taliban rules," CBS reports.
Officials say the material in the backpack was not ammonium nitrate but there were "inert" suspicious items and products in the bag. Brenda Heck, special agent in charge of counterterrorism for the FBI's Washington field office, says there also has been no suspicious activity associated with the man's vehicle.
The man has not been charged with any crimes and officials say he acted alone. WTOP is not identifying him, but Leesburg police confirm he was arrested last month in connection with a rash of auto tampering and charged with four counts of grand larceny.
Bomb squad investigators also searched the man's Fairfax County home in the Franconia area. Bomb techs reportedly went into the home without a search warrant due to a possible public safety threat. They determined there was no threat and now are waiting for a warrant to continue searching. No neighbors had to be evacuated.
The security scare sent the morning commute into a tailspin, prompting most major roads around the Pentagon to close. The closures started around 5 a.m. Police reopened the last of the closed roads around 11 a.m.
The closures near the Pentagon included heavily traveled Washington Boulevard between Interstate 395 and Route 110, Route 110, and the ramp from eastbound Interstate 66 to Route 110.
The investigation also forced Metro and ART buses to be rerouted. Metro diverted buses to Pentagon City.
The closures started around 5 a.m. Police reopened the last of the closed roads around 11 a.m.
UPDATE: Even James Taranto on the Wall Street Journal picked up on the self enforced sharia in the media and Taranto is hardly one to tackle or speak to jihad or Islamic supremacism.
We learn from the CBS story that Melaku is a lance corporal in the Marine Reserves. The Associated Press adds that he is a naturalized American citizen, originally from Ethiopia. CBS also reports that "Melaku was carrying a notebook that contained the phrases 'al Qaeda,' 'Taliban rules' and 'Mujahid defeated croatian forces' when he was detained," but "that the suspect is not thought to have been involved in a terrorist act or plot."
All of which raises an obvious question--but one that goes unanswered in the reports from CBS and AP, as well as others from ABC News and the Washington Post. We could only find one news organization that had the answer: Fox News Channel, which reports that Maliku is Muslim.
Now, it's possible that Fox simply got a scoop here, but our guess is that this fact was omitted from the other reports because of the politically correct taboo against making a connection between Islam and terrorism. It's analogous to the case we cited Monday in which the Chicago Tribune refused to mention the race of the members of "groups of youths" who had been attacking people in a downtown neighborhood, but it's worse. Whereas race is not necessarily relevant to the motive of the Chicago attacks, religion almost always is when a Muslim commits an act of terrorism or a related crime.
These politically correct strictures are not applied in a consistent or reciprocal fashion. If Maliku were a Christian and had been arrested outside an abortion clinic, you can bet his religion would have been widely reported. And the press sensationalizes "hate crimes" by whites against blacks or non-Muslims against Muslims.
One possible explanation is the man-bites-dog theory of news: that those types of crimes get more attention because they're unusual. But that doesn't hold up. Remember last August when a Muslim taxi driver was stabbed in New York? It was a sensational story that the New York Times used to further its narrative that anti-Muslim bigotry was behind opposition the Ground Zero mosque. But the Times deeply buried the real man-bites-dog element: The suspect turned out to be a volunteer for a nonprofit that supported the mosque.
