August 9, 2018

"The five suspects accused of abusing 11 children at a New Mexico compound were training them to commit school shootings..."

CNN reports the prosecutors said.
Allegations against the suspects come in the wake of the discovery that 11 starving children had been living in a filthy compound in Amalia, New Mexico, that lacked electricity or plumbing.

Authorities raided the compound on Friday as part of their search for Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, a child with severe medical problems who was allegedly abducted from Georgia by his father, Siraj Wahhaj, about nine months ago. A boy's remains were found at the compound on Monday, police said, although it is not yet clear whether the remains are those of 4-year-old Abdul-Ghani.

The five defendants -- Wahhaj; his sisters, Hujrah Wahhaj and Subhannah Wahhaj, who are thought to be the children's mothers; Lucas Morten and Jany Leveille -- were each arraigned Wednesday in a Taos, New Mexico, courtroom on 11 counts of child abuse related to the neglect and abuse of the children....

Wahhaj's father, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a controversial New York imam, said he has "no knowledge" of the alleged training, said spokesman Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid.

The imam was the first Muslim to offer an opening prayer before the US House of Representatives, the Muslim Alliance in North America said. He was also a character witness for convicted 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Omar Abdel-Rahman.
I found that hard to understand!  Who is the Wahhaj  who is one of the 5 defendants? Not Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj. He's 4-years-old and probably deceased. But not Imam Siraj Wahhaj either, I don't think. I have to do my own research to make sense of the CNN article! Wikipedia tells me this about Imam Siraj Wahhaj (who is 68 years old):

Wahhaj was born as Jeffrey Kearse and raised in Brooklyn. His mother was a nurse and his father a hospital dietitian. His brother is writer and editor Gregory S. Kearse of Silver Spring, Maryland. He went to church religiously and went on to become a Sunday school teacher as a teenager in a Baptist church.

In 1969 he ended his schooling and joined the Nation of Islam, changing his name to Jeffrey12x. During this time he was vocal in his belief that “white people are devils." He said of this, “I preached it. I taught it.”

When Elijah Muhammed died in 1975, "His teachings began to unravel in my mind", and he became a Sunni Muslim with the encouragement of Muhammad's son Warith Deen Mohammed. Mohammed took over and reorganized the Nation of Islam, urging members to come to orthodox Islam. Kearse then changed his name again to Siraj Wahhaj, which means "bright light" in Arabic....

Wahhaj was one of 170 people identified by US Attorney Mary Jo White in 1995 as "unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, but was never charged, and denies any involvement with the bombing. Wahhaj was a defence witness at the trial of the Blind Sheikh, Omar Abdel-Rahman, the former leader of the Egyptian terrorist organization, Gama'a al-Islamiyya.

In November 2009, Wahhaj was one of many Muslim leaders who met with New York mayor Michael Bloomberg at City Hall. Wahhaj said that he hoped all Americans would eventually become Muslim and also referred to the FBI and CIA as the "real terrorists."
Ah. Here I find what I what I was looking for: "In August 2018, the Son of Siraj Wahhaj was arrested at a New Mexico compound with 11 children who he was allegedly training to become terrorists. He was named a non-indited [sic] co-conspirator." So there is a generation between the famous imam and the probably dead child. Wikipedia sends me to this New York Post article, which begins with paragraphs that make clear what CNN not only obfuscated but made impossible to understand!
The son of a controversial Brooklyn imam who was arrested for abusing kids at an armed compound in New Mexico last week was training the youngsters to commit school shootings, new court documents allege.

Siraj Ibn Wahhaj was running weapons training at the dilapidated desert camp near the Colorado border where 11 starving children were found living in filthy conditions, prosecutors wrote in documents filed Wednesday.

Wahhaj is the son of the Brooklyn imam of the same name, who heads the Masjid At-Taqwa in Bedford-Stuyvesant — and was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

80 comments:

HoodlumDoodlum said...

The alt-right, at it again. Someone ought to do something.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

He went to church religiously

There has to be a term for that kind of usage.

Ralph L said...

Siraj Wahhaj Junior lacks cachet. He could try Siraj Wahhaj II.

Ralph L said...

It's a Tom Swiftie, or were you being sarcastic?

Phil 314 said...

With the previous post and this one I see where you’re headed Professor.

I guess the bigger question is when do your kids stop being “yours”?

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Just a question, but where were the Feds on this? Was this guy & his compound on, you know, a list somewhere? It sure sounds like this thing was broken open by some local cops working on behalf of local GA cops, looking for a single kid. As far as I know the vast surveillance powers we ceded to the federal government after 9/11--given with the assurance that they were necessary to protect us from evil terrorist groups/cells who want to train others to harm the American people--didn't have anything to do with stopping whatever the hell was going on in this case.

Maybe the smart people at the FBI were too busy skulking around having affairs with one another, swearing out warrants for surveillance against dangerous individuals like Carter page, and that kind of thing.

Should I search the SPCL's index of dangerous hate groups for some mention of these people?

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Sins of the father. Sins of the son. Sins of the males.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ralph L said...It's a Tom Swiftie, or were you being sarcastic?

Not sarcastic; thanks for the pointer. Swifties seem to be more pun-related and to modify an account of someone speaking, though, yeah? If I said "he swam fluidly" I don't think that's a Swiftie, but if the sentence was "make sure to breathe only on ever other stroke in order to go faster" the swim coach said fluidly that'd be a Swiftie.

The Tom Swiftie wiki page got me to the Wellerism wiki page, though, so we're definitely on the right path. Wellerisms appear to be in situations like this where the usage, if taken literally, undercuts or distorts the meaning of the original cliche. In the "religiously" example it's more like the adverb being too apt--the modifier that works via metaphor in other situations but doesn't work in that situation because it's meaning is literal and not metaphoric.
Anyway thanks for your help.

Ralph L said...

I've heard the FBI decided they lacked probable cause to execute a warrant.
sorry, no link.

Ralph L said...

Janet Reno could not be reached for comment.

Gojuplyr831@gmail.com said...

Linda Sarsour said that the senior Wahhaj is a mentor to her.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

HoodlumDoodlum said...

It sure sounds like this thing was broken open by some local cops working on behalf of local GA cops, looking for a single kid. As far as I know the vast surveillance powers we ceded to the federal government after 9/11...didn't have anything to do with stopping whatever the hell was going on in this case.

You may well be right, but keep in mind that if the vast surveillance powers were used, it wouldn't say so on the warrant. It would be filtered through an anonymous tip, or this crime would be discovered by someone investigating a different crime.

On the other hand, the surveillance is mainly of communications and financial networks. If someone drops off the grid and sets up a squalid camp in a remote area, with no electricity or plumbing, and does not coordinate their operation with anyone outside the camp, and only pays cash for what they buy, there is little chance of them getting caught.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Some "news" stories raise more questions than they answer.
Does the older Imam Wahhaj, aka Jeffrey Kearse, have siblings or other relatives? Talk about a wayward son (sorry, previous post). He apparently has or had 12 grandchildren--the 11 who were found, plus the missing one who was apparently the one the feds were looking for. https://nypost.com/2018/08/06/sickos-busted-for-abusing-kids-at-compound-linked-to-controversial-imam/
The "middle" Wahhaj, age 40, has at least one child--the missing one, by a woman in Georgia he no longer lives with. That women seems to have started the investigation by announcing that her son had been kidnapped by his father. The middle Wahhaj is apparently married to one of the women who was arrested; the two other women are his sisters, and the other adult male is married to one of the sisters. If one sister is unmarried, does that mean 11 children split between two couples? CNN suggests confusingly that all 11 children are children of the two Wahhaj sisters; but the Post leaves the impression that one sister is unmarried.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Not to worry - we have been assured that the significant amounts of time a significant number of significant FBI agents/executives have been spending on anti-Trump activities have had no impact on their anti-terrorist duties.

Anonymous said...

Daily mail article 2 days ago quoted the Taos sheriff as saying FBI had been surveilling for at least two months but done nothing. Then somehow the Sheriff got a message "we're starving" and got tired of the FBI screwing around for whatever else they were after and saved the children. Ryan Mauro has been doing good reporting in this.







DanTheMan said...

We can be certain that his motive will never be known.

CJinPA said...

Thee first Muslim to offer an opening prayer before the US House of Representatives was also a character witness for convicted 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Omar Abdel-Rahman.

What the hell is wrong with this country?

President-Mom-Jeans said...

Hurray for diversity and the religion of peace.

The important thing is that the muslim community be protected from the backlash from the next act of Islamic terrorism.

gilbar said...

it bothers me that the media seem to think that it was a squalid camp solely because it was in a remote area, with no electricity or plumbing

I spent MOST of my summers in (non)squalid camps in a remote area, with no electricity or plumbing; we called it CAMPING. We didn't spend our time being taught to be school shooters though. We spent our time singing songs praising The Lord (or, about eating worms).

Maybe this camp WAS 'squalid', but not having electricity or plumbing doesn't make it so.
But from the media reports, That was the horrible part.

Kids in filth and dirty needles AND ELECTRICITY AND PLUMBING: FINE
Kid outside in fresh air and pine needles, with starlight and pit toilets: SQUALID

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ignorance is Bliss said...You may well be right, but keep in mind that if the vast surveillance powers were used, it wouldn't say so on the warrant.

Fair enough. My days of assuming the best and extending the benefit of the doubt to the Feds are long over, though.

Allison said...Daily mail article 2 days ago quoted the Taos sheriff as saying FBI had been surveilling for at least two months but done nothing

Well that would be good, though, and I look forward to seeing some proof of that. If the Feds were at least looking into this mess/looking for a reason to take action then that's ok--it's the idea that this might all have been going on without Fed knowledge that'd be outrageous. I don't expect the FBI to storm in if they don't have specific reason to believe there's a crime, but I do expect people with their kind of power, and who constantly assure us they're using that power to keep us save, to be on top of this kind of thing.

joshbraid said...

Here is a link to PJ Media and the Sarsour quote.
https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/muslim-extremist-arrested-at-new-mexico-compound-is-the-son-of-terror-linked-nyc-imam/

Tommy Duncan said...

The barbarians are inside the gates and one of our political parties thinks it's a swell situation that should be expanded.

Michael K said...

the vast surveillance powers we ceded to the federal government after 9/11--given with the assurance that they were necessary to protect us from evil terrorist groups/cells who want to train others to harm the American people--didn't have anything to do with stopping whatever the hell was going on in this case.

We all know where those vast surveillance powers have been focused since the summer of 2016.

First things first, I always say.

Dave Begley said...

The FBI and US Attorney in New Mexico have some explaining to do.

Wince said...

Wahhaj was born as Jeffrey Kearse and raised in Brooklyn.

Wasn’t that the last name and home town of Charles Bronson’s character in ‘Death Wish’?

Ken B said...

Obscurantism is a tool. A short well written article, which NYT writers are quite able to write when they want to, would make plain that a known wolf radical Muslim, son of an infamous New York imam, was running a squalid madrassa and training the boys to become school killers.

gspencer said...

Job No. 1 of the MSM is to make sure that Islam and Muslims are NEVER shown in a bad light. NEVER. To so so would be Islamophobic. In doing this job the MSM ignores that Islam is the Mother Lode of bad ideas.

wildswan said...

New Mexico has a very harsh desert environment in the summer, particularly this year. Living in the desert isn't like squatting in an abandoned building in Brooklyn and eating from 7-11's and these Brooklyn-raised guys seem to have been overwhelmed. The kids were suffering and only rescued by American law enforcement. It's sort of disgusting that the grandfather let his grandchildren suffer like that.

Fernandinande said...

Wahhaj was born as Jeffrey Kearse and raised in Brooklyn. His mother was a nurse and his father a hospital dietitian.

His brother is writer and editor Gregory S. Kearse of Silver Spring, Maryland.

He went to church religiously and went on to become a Sunday school teacher as a teenager in a Baptist church.[4]

In 1969 he ended his schooling and joined the Nation of Islam, changing his name to Jeffrey12x.[4]

During this time he was vocal in his belief that “white people are devils." He said of this, “I preached it. I taught it.”[5]

Sebastian said...

"The imam was the first Muslim to offer an opening prayer before the US House of Representatives, the Muslim Alliance in North America said. He was also a character witness for convicted 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Omar Abdel-Rahman.
I found that hard to understand."

I found it easy to understand that we have gone completely batshit crazy.

I find it even easier to understand that, as with prior Muslim outrages (Orlando, anyone?), the MSM, and PC politicians, and progs in general, but I repeat myself, will remain silent on how and why this could possibly happen. Just think about the children, the poor children.

MayBee said...

I got so many news alerts about this and had no idea this was a Muslim religious extremist. I don't recall anyone being so shy about calling Jeffs a Mormon sect.

Ralph L said...

I thought they were Mexican illegals, Maybee.

Ralph L said...

MayBee.

Call me a geographist.

MayBee said...

Ralph L- isn't it weird? I thought that, but then I heard about the school shooting training and I thought we were surely talking about some hardcore right-wing NRA supporter. I'm certain that's what I was supposed to think.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Cynthia Nixon is PROUD of the work of the Islamic Supremacists. Down with ICE!

JAORE said...

The AP's first tweet (at least) failed to mention any connection with Islam. Responses re: NRA bloomed like (poisonous, fetid) flowers in the spring.

Drago said...

Ralph L: "I've heard the FBI decided they lacked probable cause to execute a warrant."

No one at the compound was a Trump supporter or campaign staff member, so it was never really that high of a priority.

Drago said...

JAORE: "The AP's first tweet (at least) failed to mention any connection with Islam."

The CBS news story yesterday about a lefty/dem in Florida who argued with a Trump supporter online and then went over and shot him was written in such a way that you would have no idea which person was arguing for Trump or against Trump and which person pulled the trigger.

Because of course it was.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The compound is close to where the shoe-bomber and other pre-9/11 terrorists are in prison.

Curious.

Not to the hack pro-D/ anti-ICE press.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

According to Cynthia Nixon, you're all xenophobic for asking if the captor and child abuser(s) are Islamic.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

No greater crime than xenophobia.


Islamic creepos can burn you alive in a cage - Cynthia Nixon will scream at you while you burn to death that you are xenophobic.

The Crack Emcee said...

Probably not a Republican.

http://thecrackemcee.tk

Howard said...

So we need extreme vetting for immigrants from Brooklyn

Hagar said...

Child abuse is not on the list of the FBI's crimes to investigate, but is on the local sheriff's list.

I do think "child abuse" is getting to be an excuse for arresting someone when other charges would be on shaky ground, but here seems to be legitimate. These guys had no idea what they were doing going "off the grid" in the high desert outside Taos, and their kids (and "wives") were suffering.

And camping out is not the only thing these guys are incompetent at.

Quaestor said...

During this time he was vocal in his belief that “white people are devils." He said of this, “I preached it. I taught it.”

However, Jeffrey Kearse was never a racist. Let's be clear about that...

narciso said...

although they would stone her, with a second thought, the local blurb, cut out when it came to the family affiliation, obviously the story is about the middle one,

Hagar said...

Insert "and ignorant about."

Stephen St. Onge said...

Ann, your quote: "In August 2018, the Son of Siraj Wahhaj was arrested at a New Mexico compound with 11 children who he was allegedly training to become terrorists. He was named a non-indited [sic] co-conspirator" does not appear in the Wikipedia article. At least, not any more. Someone removed it.

narciso said...

but fox news, take them away:

https://nypost.com/2009/11/12/1993-wtc-plotter-in-mike-meet/#ixzz24sinN8iZ

Quaestor said...

What exactly is a co-conspirator? An assistant conspirator? A conspirator who wins a participation trophy?

buwaya said...

Experience from dozens of countries over more a thousand years teaches that you should not tolerate a Muslim critical mass in your country. You can expect constant low level trouble at the very least.

narciso said...

anyways they are ocasio cortez and linda sarsour's no. 1 fan, btw one of kearses former associates, luqman ameen aka h rap brown, was in a fatal altercation with police in 2009.

Hagar said...

Amalia, NM lies at approximately 8150 ft. elevation at the bottom of the valley. It is going to get very cold there this winter.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

More iggners who hate the wypipo who freed them from slavery so much that they take on the names and religion of the Arabs who sold them as slaves, ROFLMAO. Nobody ever accused those people of intelligence.

robother said...

Addressing the gap between Black and White marksmanship (so painfully apparent in last week's Chicago shooting stats).

William said...

Muslims, by and large, are not psychotic assholes. It does seem, however, that on a per capita basis they do produce a great many more psychotic assholes than other religions.......Also, they don't seem to produce many introspective thinkers who question the precepts and applications of their religion. Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Syria. Where are the Muslim intellectuals who wonder what they're doing wrong instead of doubling down on the wrong doing,

Anthony said...

MayBee said...
I got so many news alerts about this and had no idea this was a Muslim religious extremist. I don't recall anyone being so shy about calling Jeffs a Mormon sect.


I have yet to see any mention of their religion in any news ticker or short blurb on my local TV news.

They were, however, not at all squeamish about referring to the 1-year anniversary of the "white supremacist" march in SC.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Obama's kids in cages = groovy.

Islamic nut job enslaves kids = groovy.

Trump is a racist!

gilbar said...

Quaestor said... What exactly is a co-conspirator?
It's like commingled; which Shorty the bartender at Cy's Roost said meant mingled together

gilbar said...

Hagar said... Child abuse is not on the list of the FBI's crimes to investigate
You're right! Child abuse is for the ATF; which will burn down your house if they think there are children inside that 'might have been' abused

Rosalyn C. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bad Lieutenant said...

Howard said...
So we need extreme vetting for immigrants from Brooklyn

8/9/18, 10:30 AM


Don't be silly Howard. We'll just send you and your Marine buddies in unarmored Humvees into downtown Crapistan till you get the crap blown out of you by an IED, and keep doing that until they get tired of blowing up Marines with IEDs. That'll learn 'em.

Howard said...

Blogger Bad Lieutenant said...
Don't be silly Howard. We'll just send you and your Marine buddies in unarmored Humvees into downtown Crapistan till you get the crap blown out of you by an IED, and keep doing that until they get tired of blowing up Marines with IEDs. That'll learn 'em.


tou·ché

Rosalyn C. said...

So in this family the son and two sisters all "went off." (In this case went jihadi.) What does that say about the father, the imam? I don't have the foggiest. Were the children rebelling or just following through on what they learned at home?

What bothers me the most about the Nation of Islam is that it is a purely racist hate group and non apologetic about espousing hate filled doctrines, but gets a "justification" pass from the Southern Poverty Law Center. It's designated as a hate group officially but no one says much about it. From the SPLC website : The racism of a group like the Nation of Islam may be the predictable reaction to white supremacy. But if a white group espoused similar beliefs regarding African Americans and Jews and, few would have trouble describing it as racist and anti-Semitic. If we seek to expose white hate groups, we cannot be in the business of explaining away the black ones."

They are not in the business of examining Muslim hate groups however, only "anti-Muslim hate groups."

Rosalyn C. said...

"They" i.e., SPLC.

Ann Althouse said...

“Ann, your quote: "In August 2018, the Son of Siraj Wahhaj was arrested at a New Mexico compound with 11 children who he was allegedly training to become terrorists. He was named a non-indited [sic] co-conspirator" does not appear in the Wikipedia article. At least, not any more. Someone removed it.”

Thanks.

All my quotes from Wikipedia should be ubdeas what was there at the time and subject to change. I cut and pa, so you can be sure it was there.

Etienne said...

They should have done a Waco on them. None of them need to survive.

Quaestor said...

All my quotes from Wikipedia should be ubdeas what was there at the time and subject to change. I cut and pa, so you can be sure it was there.

Made my day.

Ralph L said...

She's white and clean, give her a break.

The Crack Emcee said...

The remains were found months after he had disappeared with his father, who wanted to perform an exorcism on the child.

Ladies and Gentlemen, any society with a culture that still has people thinking exorcisms are real is BACKWARD. America encourages this evil because it won't institute critical thinking in schools. People believe anything.

And children die.

The Crack Emcee said...

Char Char Binks said...

"More iggners who hate the wypipo who freed them from slavery so much that they take on the names and religion of the Arabs who sold them as slaves, ROFLMAO. Nobody ever accused those people of intelligence."

Why'd the wypipo free them from slavery? What was the motivating factor? Did they just become angels and read the Bible?

You lack the intelligence to understand A) what happened or B) how ugly you make the very idea of siding with you even as only Americans. You're a disgusting human being, no charge of racism involved.

About as attractive as Jar Jar

The Crack Emcee said...

White guys should look at Drew Carrey and wonder how he's pulling it off.

Blacks do.

buwaya said...

"any society with a culture that still has people thinking exorcisms are real is BACKWARD. "

My culture thinks exorcisms are real. My aunt, the nun (who speaks a dozen languages), has assisted in exorcisms. She has seen what few of us have, and is entirely convinced.

And such things are part of that traditional, communal culture that buffers against the insanity of individualism and anomie, the Los Angeles of the soul.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
walter said...

You mean her https://goo.gl/images/NePsgp ?
Lotsa money and diet.
Oh..and very white.
Lucky bastard, eh?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

There are millions of slaves being exploited throughout the world at this very moment. I hope they don't get freed for the wrong reasons. That would be bad.

I wonder what Drew Carey and other game show hosts think of this.

walter said...

Ya know..the feminists should be all over this Wahat's his name dude.
That there be some o' that "Toxic Masculinity"
Should be some loud topless protests.
Get 'em good.

Drago said...

The Crack Emcee: "White guys should look at Drew Carrey and wonder how he's pulling it off.
Blacks do."

That sounds like a very productive use of ones time.

I wish you luck.

Bruce Hayden said...

"right! Child abuse is for the ATF; which will burn down your house if they think there are children inside that 'might have been' abused"

To be fair to the ATF, it was actually the FBI that burned down the compound to save the kids by, apparently, murdering them. The ATF started the armed attack on the compound apparently for funding reasons, but after their initial armed attack was repulsed, the FBI took over in order to use their much greater training in killing children, or at least their better access to tanks. Or maybe just more experience in hostage situations.

The Crack Emcee said...

Colin Jost believes in ghosts. Maybe, if we didn't fill our airwaves with such people, it might be a little more difficult for believers to take such things seriously, and bad shit like DADDY'S GOING TO DO AN EXORCISM wouldn't happen.

Just sayin'.

The media encourages what I call mystic mayhem.