An American jihadi mentioned in a MEMRI report in late 2010, Kosovo-born Muslim Sami Osmakac, was charged yesterday, according to federal authorities, with allegedly plotting to attack crowded locations around Tampa, Florida, including nightclubs and a sheriff's office, with a car bomb, assault rifle and other explosives. Prior to his arrest, Osmakac had made a video of himself explaining his motives for carrying out the planned violent attack. According to court documents, Osmakac had also expressed a desire to attack military bases. He was arrested January 7 following a meeting with an FBI undercover agent.
Osmakac was highlighted by MEMRI in a December 10, 2010 report, "Part V: YouTube – The Internet's Primary and Rapidly Expanding Jihadi Base: One Year Later on YouTube – Anwar Al-Awlaki's Presence Expands, Al-Qaeda Goes Viral, Jihadists Post Thousands of Videos of Killing of U.S. Troops; European Jihadists Also Embrace YouTube," for his November 15, 2010 post on the YouTube page of Tampa-based Anwar Al-Awlaki follower and fellow Florida jihadi Abdullah Abdul Malik (who has himself been highlighted in multiple MEMRI reports).
In the post, Osmakac, under the online alias "Abdul Samia," promised that Muslims will work to "fight the Christians, to close down the churches, to divide, to destroy, [and] take down the cross, to kill all the swine."
Malik's YouTube page, which as of 11 AM EST today was still active, contains multiple Al-Awlaki video clips, and his user avatar is a picture of Al-Awlaki with an Al-Qaeda flag behind him. The videos on the page express love for Al-Awlaki, as well as for Osama bin Laden. Another comment on the page was: "May Allah destroy all you evil dirty mouth immoral cross-worshippers, prepare for the hellfire! The end is near…"
Through our monitoring of jihadi use of YouTube over the past two years, MEMRI research has determined that YouTube has emerged as one of the leading websites for online jihad. It has replaced – and surpassed – websites administered by the jihadis themselves, which were previously the leaders in online jihadi efforts.
MEMRI has briefed members of the U.S. government and Congress on this issue, and has also met with representatives from Google Inc. to share our findings in identifying videos that incite violence and terrorist acts and to explain the role they play in homegrown terrorism.
As MEMRI noted in its most recent report on jihadis on YouTube, "despite YouTube's efforts... monitoring of online jihad shows that there has been no visible impact on YouTube against jihadi clips."
The following are links to Abdul Samia's videos posted to YouTube, and, below that, an appendix of major MEMRI reports on jihad on YouTube:
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