Jihadist -- American Style (Imported Article)
From Eric Dondero:
A team of Right bloggers are furiously looking into details of the Little Rock shooter Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad (formerly Carlos Bledsoe - photo below), and his background. One of our team members is based in Tennessee and has just uncovered some startling new information.
Muhammad is confirmed to have attended the Masjid As-Salam mosque in Memphis (photo above). The mosque is one of several in the Memphis area. It had been speculated that this is the one he would have attended given the radical nature of Mosque. Now it has been confirmed.
From our partners at Blue Collar Republican:
On Monday, June 1, 2009, two American soldiers were attacked in a drive-by shooting in the parking lot outside of an Army recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas. One of the soldiers died from his wounds and the other was seriously injured. The suspect apprehended in that shooting incident was identified as Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, aka Carlos Leon Bledsoe. Bledsoe was employed by a family owned business in Little Rock, Twin City Tours, a satellite company affiliated with Blues City Tours in Memphis, Tennessee. Bledsoe was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee which raises the issue of when and where he was introduced to radical Islam. On June 2, 2009, I attempted to follow-up on what little was known of Bledsoe and visited his family’s business, home and the mosque he was rumored to have visited locally. Unfortunately, his family had gone into hiding and after a meeting with his local Imam on June 3, 2009, I was able to learn very little in the way of background. This led me to doing additional research to see if I could learn more about the Masjid As-Salam mosque, its Imam, Maleck Sarr and any connections between the mosque’s members and Jihad. I believe I have found another example of an American Muslim connected with the Masjid As-Salam mosque and radical Islam in addition to the Little Rock terrorist suspect.
Imam Maleck is a native of Senegal, a small country on the west coast of Africa which is 95% Muslim.
In my meeting with Imam Maleck, he asserted that Bledsoe had attended prayer at the mosque one time. I found it odd that he would recall Bledsoe with any specificity if he was just a one time visitor for prayer. His assertion that the mosque is near the interstate and a natural stop for interlopers means that there are a lot of visitors and for him to be so certain of his identification based on such an encounter simply did not seem likely to me. I have linked the audio from that meeting below and readers can judge for themselves. Please note that I have left messages for the FBI contact he gave me but have yet to receive a response.
You can read the full report and listen to the audio of the interview at BCR.
