Guilty Plea In Taheriazar UNC Attack

Mohammed Taheriazar entered a guilty plea on nine counts of attempted murder. He was charged with nine counts each of attempted murder and nine counts of felonious assault following the attack on March 6, 2006 in which he drove his SUV through the crowds on the University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill campus. It's nice to see the headline convey all the needed details. The prosecutors dropped the assault charges as part of the plea deal.

Sadly, some media outlets still prefer obfuscating those details (including the aforementioned News and Observer piece). Taheriazar admitted that the reason he attacked was to avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world. Too bad he failed to note that the culprits in most of those attacks on Muslims were their fellow Muslims who considered the victims to be inferior or not sufficiently Islamist enough for their liking.

The judge separated the guilty pleas from the sentencing because of the repeated bizarre antics Taheriazar exhibited in court. Sentencing will be August 26.

SUV Rampager Taheriazar Sounds Off In Court

Hot Air has the video, but Mohammed Taheriazar had an outburst in court that kept the court personnel on their toes:

Monday he was in court to discuss letters he wrote to Eyewitness News and other news organizations from prison shortly after the attack. In those letters he admitted to driving his vehicle into "The Pit" at UNC to avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world.

During today's hearing, Taheri-azar yelled "death to America" as he entered the Orange County courtroom. "I hate all Americans," he said. "All Jews. May they all burn in hell. Death to Israel," yelled Taheri-azar.

The judge warned Taheri-azar to be quiet during the proceedings. That's when Taheri-azar turned to his own lawyer and said, "I don't know this moron."

That's when the judge order the already restrained Taheri-azar removed from the courtroom.

James Williams, Taheri-azar's lawyer reacted to his outburst. "He does have a severe mental illness and that mentall illness affects his actions and I believe affected his actions on the day in question and still affects his behavior and was affecting his behavior in court today," Williams said.

Taheri-azar pleaded not guilty in January to 19 counts attempted murder and assault charges. He is currently being held at Central Prison in Raleigh on a $5.5 million bond.

His lawyers are going to claim that it was a mental illness that drove Taheriazar to take his rented SUV and rampage through the UNC Chapel Hill campus hitting nine people outside the campus center.

Today's outburst reflects earlier statements that suggest he was engaging in his form of jihad - not the personal struggle variety.

In the meantime, he's been confined to a Dorothea Dix Hospital for a mental health evaluation. Hmmm, jihad as a mental illness? That would certainly be a curious prognosis.

Taheri-Azar Incident Update

Last year (March 3, 2006), Mohammed Taheri-Azar, a 23-year-old native of Iran and former UNC Chapel Hill student, drove a rented SUV through the heart of the UNC Chapel Hill campus, hitting nine people. While none were seriously injured, Taheriazar called 911 and admitted to the attacks. Reports claim that he made statements to the effect that he drove onto the campus with the intent to injure people to avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world. He was supposed to enter a plea of guilty today, but instead chose to enter a not guilty plea:

Taheri-Azar allegedly told the dispatcher he wanted to "punish the government of the United States for their actions around the world." Taheri-azar later told investigators he intentionally ran down people to "avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world," authorities have said.

In letters to the media, he said he intended to avenge the United States' treatment of Muslims in the Middle East.

Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall said Tuesday he may ask reporters who received letters from Taheri-Azar to testify in the case.

"The issue is not confidentiality," Woodall said. "The media is still just a witness if you do something publicly."

Taheri-Azar, who graduated from the university in December 2005, had earlier said he intended to plead guilty to the charges.

Asked why his client had not entered that plea, Taheri-Azar's attorney, James Williams said only, "That's a very good question." He declined additional comment.

He is facing nine counts each of attempted murder and assault. It is a real good question why he didn't enter the guilty plea considering that earlier reports noted that he wanted the trial to be over.

Popal and the SF Rampage

SFist has more on the situation including a recap of what investigators have gleaned thus far.

Ohmeed Popal's parents had apparently been very overprotective of him throughout his life, to protect him from America's "evil society." Popal got in a big argument with his parents starting over the weekend about wanting to go back to Afghanistan by himself to see his wife. He stormed out of the house and ran away to LA, but ended up having to call home a few days later and ask them to pick him up because he had no money.

The arguments started up again after he got home, and escalated to the point that on Tuesday, he spent the entire morning arguing with them about it as he drove into San Jose from Fremont to drop his brother off at SJSU, and continuing as he went into Fremont around noon to apply for a temp job. At that point, Popal dropped off his mother and sister at the temp agency, and took off. You know how the rest goes.

Popal had a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia -- last spring, he was checked into Kaiser Fremont after repeated dreams of a devil dragging him into a graveyard and killing him. He was prescribed medications and shortly afterwards, agreed to his arranged marriage. In July, he told his family he'd stabbed a man to death in SF. The confession was false, but they checked him into Washington Hospital, where he was subsequently released as not posing a threat to society.

If you recall my comment from the other day, I noted the importance of those strange dreams. Is it possible that he went off his medications at some point, and contributed to this horrible series of hit and run attacks?

Other reports indicate that he had a fight with his mother and that even relatives didn't know of Popal's mental health problems. As the evidence keeps coming forward on Popal's mental illness and unstable grasp on reality, it will undermine the claims that this was a drive by jihadi in the mold of Mohammad Taheriazar and the focus will be placed on his diagnosis and ongoing treatment and medication.

Technorati: terrorism, terrorist, popal, san francisco, suv.

Updating SF Hit and Run Rampage

Was the driver apparently distraught over the fact that his new wife via an arranged marriage in Afghanistan was unable to obtain a visa to enter the US? That's apparently the spin being offered by some of those who know the suspect.

Relatives of a Fremont man connected to Tuesday's deadly driving rampage said he may have been distraught after returning recently from Afghanistan without his newlywed wife who iswaiting for a visa.

Omeed Aziz Popal, 29, who sources said was being held by the San Francisco police, was normally a kind and gentle person, said Hamid Nekrawesh, 43, a first cousin in Fremont.

But a recent trip to Afghanistan to participate in an arranged marriage could have caused him a lot of stress, Nekrawesh said.

``He was a very respectful, quiet, nice guy,'' Nekrawesh said. ``I've never seen him do anything violent.''

Zarghona Ramish of San Jose, who also identified herself as Popal's cousin, said he had been having strange dreams since returning a month ago from Afghanistan.

Strange dreams? I'd like to hear more about this.

Vinnie at The Jawa Report can't help but wonder about the trip to Afghanistan and what would make this guy snap.

Don Surber and Glenn Reynolds are having at it over a snarky comment made by Glenn.

Meanwhile, unnamed sources are saying that Popal was unrepentant and wanted to hit those folks. That doesn't exactly sound promising for those who want to clear this guy of driving while jihadi, although this is based on leaks from unnamed sources in the SFPD. The SF Mayor says that the incident is unrelated to international tensions. And he knows this how? Gateway Pundit has a great roundup. So does Pajamas Media.

Popal has apparently lawyered up, and the lawyer is claiming mental illness may have been behind the rampage, which leads me back to questioning those strange dreams - that might take on more significance as the criminal case winds its way through the system.

UPDATE:
Witnesses claim to have heard Popal say that he was a terrorist. LGF has the video and details.

UPDATE:
This incident hasn't been getting heavy play from big media outlets, but the bloggers have been wondering about Popal's motives, and what caused him to decide to mow down pedestrians throughout San Francisco. Others blogging: Wizbang, Say Anything, Rick Moran, and Hot Air.

The Anchoress has a brilliant comment on the situation:

This is becoming an appalling habit in the press and by politicians. An Islamic fundamentalist shoots Jews in a Synagogue, and it’s some sort of random incident. An Islamic fundamentalist uses his SUVto kill people partly in front of a Synagogue, and in what would appear to be a somewhat “Jewish neighborhood” and the press takes a hours to cover the story (probably looking for the appropriate “frame,”) and until someone in authority can be found to sing out, “ROAD RAGE”! Yeah, that’s the ticket! Road rage! Mayor Newsom sees no problem, here…a “relatively young” person, obviously confused! Yes, that’s the ticket!

Omeed Aziz Popal, the poor confused youngster, is 29 years old.

UPDATE:
Wizbang notes that the lawyer retained by Popal's family has declined to take the case, citing the expenses that would come with trying to put no a complicated case including expert witnesses on Popal's mental state. Popal will likely be represented by a public defender unless a high profile defense attorney comes forward to take the case.

Popal apparently had a history of mental illness according to family members.

Technorati: terrorism, terrorist, popal, san francisco, taheriazar, suv.

Taheriazar: To Plead Guilty

Via Confederate Yankee comes word that the jeep jihadi, Mohammed Taheriazar, will plead guilty to charges stemming from driving his rented SUV into and through a crowd on the UNC Chapel Hill campus in March:

The man accused of driving a rented SUV onto the UNC campus in March and striking nine people told a judge he plans to plead guilty to the charges against him.

Mohammed Taheri-Azar entered the courtroom this morning to ask that he be allowed to represent himself. A judge had ordered the public defender's office to work with him while it was determined whether he was competent.

But after being told he would have to submit to a psychiatric evaluation in order to do that, the 23-year-old said he would rather keep his court-appointed lawyer.

Taheri-Azar told Superior Court Judge Carl Fox he had met a few times with the psychiatrist and psychologist and "they don't appear to be very good psychologists and psychiatrists in my opinion."

Taheri-Azar has said in letters and in a 911 call that he wanted to kill people to avenge Muslim deaths around the world when he drove a rented SUV through The Pit, the main gathering spot on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, March 3.

Nine people were hit; all survived.

Taheri-Azar is charged with nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of felonious assault. He has been in Raleigh's Central Prison in lieu of $5.5 million bail.

The next court date is apparently in September.

Taheriazar's Justification

The man who hit nine people with a sport utility vehicle on the University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill campus wrote a letter to a television reporter saying he read the Quran's 114 chapters 15 times and found that the Muslim holy book justified the attack.

''I did not act out of hatred for Americans, but out of love for Allah instead,'' Mohammed Taheri-azar, 22, wrote in a letter to Amber Rupinta dated March 10 posted on WTVD's Web site.

Funny, but it doesn't matter how many times you read a book, if your interpretation is wrong, rereading the same passages aren't going to give you any different result. Of course, the thornier response is that Taheriazar wasn't misinterpreting the Koran and that it indeed calls for jihad and justifies attacks on infidels. Front Page considers the problems dealing with Taheriazar's actions as a terrorist incident, including the legal hurdles.

Even if his statements trumpeting jihadist motivations are true, authorities can neither charge him with a terrorist offense, nor seek a sentencing enhancement based on his terrorist motives. This points to a significant blind spot in dealing with terrorism in the United States.

Taheri-azar is being prosecuted in state court, and North Carolina doesn't have an applicable terrorism offense that can be brought to bear against him. The state only has two statutory provisions dealing with terrorist incidents. One bans weapons of mass destruction, while the other amends the murder offense. The amendment to the murder offense doesn't apply here--not only because Taheri-azar didn't murder anybody, but also because it only applies when the murder was performed with a nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon.

The federal sentencing guidelines do contain a sentencing enhancement in §3A1.4 for offenses intended to promote a federal crime of terrorism. In turn, 18 U.S.C. § 2232b(g)(5) sensibly defines the predicate intention for a federal crime of terrorism as actions "calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct." While this provision may seem at first glance to apply to Taheri-azar, it doesn't provide federal courts with independent jurisdiction. Rather, the terrorist intentions must be coupled with an independent federal crime.

And this situation isn't going to change anytime soon as more lone wolf jihadis come out of the woodwork and wreak havoc on American streets.

Taheriazar: It's In The Koran

The suspect in this month's attack on the UNC-CH campus has written a letter to ABC11 Eyewitness News. Eyewitness News received the letter Monday, in response to our request for an interview. It was sent from Central Prison in Raleigh and dated Friday, March 10. Addressed to ABC11 Eyewitness News anchor Amber Rupinta, the two-page letter includes Taheri-azar's explanation of what he was trying to accomplish in the attack.
"Allah gives permission in the Koran for the followers of Allah to attack those who have raged war against them, with the expectation of eternal paradise in case of martyrdom and/or living one's life in obedience of all of Allah's commandments found throughout the Koran's 114 chapters..."

"The U.S. government is responsible for the deaths of and the torture of countless followers of Allah, my brothers and sisters. My attack on Americans at UNC-CH on March 3rd was in retaliation for similar attacks orchestrated by the U.S. government on my fellow followers of Allah in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and other Islamic territories. I did not act out of hatred for Americans, but out of love for Allah instead."

Again, we need to heed the words of this jihadist, who makes it abundantly clear that he justifies his actions because of his religious beliefs.

Taheriazar also must be rather myopic considering that the overwhelming number of deaths in the Middle East and South Asia are not caused by infidels killing Muslims, but by Muslims killing other Muslims who do not adhere to the same version of Islam as they do. Sunni killing Shi'ite. Shi'ite killing Sunni. Militant Islamists (Salafists and Wahabists) killing Sunni and Shi'a - to try and forment a civil war in Iraq. Ba'athists (who are Sunni Muslims) trying to kill their opponents (Kurds and Shi'a - both of whom are Muslims).

Also, there's the curious wording - "similar attacks orchestrated by the US"? We don't hear much about soldiers running down terrorists or civilian populations in Iraq or anywhere else for that matter, but we do hear plenty about Islamic terrorists using car bombs to blow up people waiting to get jobs or go to school or voting in elections.

Greyhawk has a roundup of views from Iraq on who's doing the killing - and by and large it's not the US doing the killing but Islamic terrorists killing other Muslims.

Others commenting on Taheriazar's statements: Charles at LGF, Ed Driscoll, and Small Town Veteran.

The Motives Behind a SUV Rampage

Mohammed Taheriazar has repeatedly stated that he intended to cause harm because of all the Muslim blood shed around the world. Amir Taheri's op-ed in the New York Post should disabuse Taheriazar of the notion that the US is behind much of the bloodshed.

In fact, it is often the jihadists themselves who have shed more Muslim blood than any other group, including the US. Witness the death tolls in Kashmir, Algeria, Thailand, and Chechnya for starters. In Algeria alone, more than 150,000 Muslims were killed to "shed blood to irrigate the tree of martyrdom."

Algeria: In 1991, Algeria was divided over whether an election that an Islamist coalition was slated to win should go ahead. This, too, was a political conflict that could have been resolved through political means. In fact, some leaders of the Islamist group, including the late Abdel-Qader Hachani, were engaged in secret talks with the Algerian army leaders to find a compromise.

But then the professional jihadists intervened, starting with series of brutal killings of civilians that had nothing to do with the immediate conflict. In the words of one leader, Jamal Zeituni, they wanted to "shed blood to irrigate the tree of martyrdom."

The jihadists have been defeated in Algeria as they have been, and will be, everywhere else. But over a decade of terrorism they provoked the death of more than 150,000 people, halted Algeria's economic development and slowed down its democratization - and drove more than 3 million Algerians into exile.

Jihadists have exploited secular disputes and turned them into killing fields for their own agendas. This isn't the only time that jihadists have sought to exploit nominally secular incidents for their own purposes; simply recall the French riots from November 2005. More than 10,000 cars were torched in the span of a couple of weeks, hundreds of businesses damaged, thousands of arrests, and several fatalities. Militant Islamists took advantage of the situation to press for more autonomy in their communities and the French authorities largely conceded.

So what does this have to do with Mohammed Taheriazar? Was it the will of Allah?

Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, the 22-year-old UNC Chapel Hill graduate charged with injuring nine people when he drove a Jeep Cherokee down a crowded campus walkway, politely told a judge Monday he's "thankful you're here to give me this trial and to learn more about the will of Allah."

There's a debate now about whether this was an act of terrorism. It certainly was an act of vengeance based on a religious grievance and directed at innocent bystanders. But he apparently acted alone, had no known ties to terrorists and was denounced by the local Muslim Students Association, of which he had not been a member. Call it what you will, he certainly had murder in mind. That's enough.

Perhaps there is a lesson about the will of Allah to be learned from this situation. But contrary to Mr. Taheri-azar's assumption, the lesson seems to be for him. Consider the facts.

Mr. Taheri-azar, formerly of Charlotte, distorted the teachings of Islam, invited scorn for his religion by suggesting it sanctions the slaughter of innocents and gave credence to critics who equate Islam with terrorism.

Then, there's the fact that he's been planning this kind of act for more than two years. I'd call that premediation. He's been stewing in his hatred for at least two years before taking action that could have resulted in multiple murders.

Life on campus is slowly returning to normal, but some are still jittery when they hear loud noises around the Pit. Students are also taking comfort from the fact that Taheriazar apparently acted alone.

I guess you have to take your comfort from whatever sources you can find.

Meanwhile, a Washington Post/ABC News Poll shows that Americans are taking an increasingly negative view of Islam. Can't imagine why. Rampant terrorism perpetrated in the name of Islam all while Muslim leaders talk out of both sides of their mouths.

As the war in Iraq grinds into its fourth year, a growing proportion of Americans are expressing unfavorable views of Islam, and a majority now say that Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The poll found that nearly half of Americans -- 46 percent -- have a negative view of Islam, seven percentage points higher than in the tense months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, when Muslims were often targeted for violence.

Is this a win for bin Laden as Juan Cole and Think Progress thinks? It's taken four years for people to realize that Muslims are killing in the name of religion and will use absolutely any affront (real or perceived) to go on killing ramages (see the cartoon jihad). How many thousands of Muslims have killed each other because of the jihad that Osama and his minions have engaged in? They're the ones trying to start a civil war in Iraq, but that's the US fault? The militant Islamists are trying to use secular conflicts to engage in jihad and the US poll reflect the fact that Americans are recognizing the true nature of our enemy.

The problem is that people are conflating the true enemy - the militant Islamists with the moderate and secular Muslims who want to peacefully coexist with their neighbors. That's one of the struggles the Administration has had since 9/11 - trying to separate the war on terror from a war on Islam. Does this poll suggest that his efforts are failing? Possibly. But considering that Muslims themselves have done little to defend personal freedom and have attacked our constitutional right of free speech and expression overseas (riots, arson, and murders because of the cartoons), along with calls for blasphemy laws, which are antithetical to US free speech interests, those polled may be picking up on the silence of the moderate Muslim.

It isn't enough for Bush to state that there are moderate Muslims. The Muslim community has to do a far better job. And hearing stories like this surely does little to aid the cause of moderate Islam.

UPDATE:
Confederate Yankee looks at the polling and reaches a similar conclusion:

Could it possibly be that the perception of Muslim violence comes from the fact that Muslims act violently, again and again and again?

He also notes that the US invasion of Iraq took place in 2003, which means that we're coming upon the third anniversary of the invasion, not the fourth. It has been just over four years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks when Islamic terrorists killed nearly 3,000 Americans, caused billions in damages, and damaged or destroyed major landmarks.

Others blogging the study: Ace of Spades, Outside the Beltway wonders how 43% of Americans can still hold a positive view of Islam considering the evidence and yet this article is meant to find Americans bigoted. AJ Strata looks at the poll and the DPW deal.

UPDATE:
Reading through the Counterterrorism Blog, one learns that North Carolina does not have an applicable terrorism-related statute that Taheriazar can be charged under. Thus far, Taheriazar is being charged under state law, and no federal charges are pending.

Taheri-azar is being prosecuted in state court. But North Carolina does not have an applicable terrorism offense that can be brought to bear against him. There is a terrorism offense for weapons of mass destruction (not applicable here) and a terrorism sentencing enhancement for murder -- but Taheri-azar did not succeed in murdering anybody.

The federal sentencing guidelines do contain a sentencing enhancement in Guideline 3A1.4 for offenses designed to promote terrorism. (In turn, 18 U.S.C. 2232b(g)(5) sensibly defines a federal crime of terrorism as occurring when the act "is calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct.") The problem is that there appears to be no federal crime in this case to provide the federal courts with jurisdiction. The prosecution could argue that there is a federal civil rights violation because this was carried out on the basis of religion. The problem with that argument, though, is that Taheri-azar didn't target his victims on the basis of their religion. Taheri-azar may have been motivated by religion, but the civil rights laws only really come into play when the victim is targeted because of his religion.

Random Act of Terror?

Yesterday, there was news reports of an SUV crashing into a bunch of people on the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill campus. What could have been an unfortunate accident turned out to be something quite different.

The driver, Mohammed Reza Taheriazar, purposefully and willfully drove his rental SUV into the crowd as per his interrogation by police indicates.

The reason he did so?

Sources say Taheriazar told police he was seeking retribution for the treatment of Muslims around the world, according to ABC News justice correspondent Pierre Thomas. Taheriazar apparently told police he tried to rent the biggest SUV he could find to use in the attack.

By Friday afternoon, a police SWAT team had surrounded a Carrboro apartment complex where Taheriazar reportedly lived.

Michelle Malkin, as usual, has more.

Taheriazar is going to be charged with multiple counts of attempted murder, and it is lucky that no one was seriously hurt.

Five students and a visiting scholar were treated at UNC Hospitals for minor injuries. Five were discharged and the sixth person was not expected to be admitted to the hospital, the university said in a statement.

Three other people declined treatment at the scene, police said.

The incident happened just before noon near the center of campus in an area known as The Pit, a sunken, brick-paved area surrounded by two libraries, a dining hall and the student union.

The FBI is now involved in the case because of statements he made to the local police and the FBI is working to determine the motive.

Investigators are also searching his apartment for evidence, but have declined to say what they've found thus far. The State Bureau of Investigation bomb squad had spent more than four hours searching his apartment in Carrboro before declaring the property clear.

According to this story, the car had an Enterprise Rent-A-Car sticker on the bumper. Confederate Yankee wonders how Taheriazar rented the vehicle. He is 22. However, as this Washington Post article notes from 2005, many of the rental companies have amended their rental policy to permit rental to persons aged 21-25, albeit some impose a surcharge. Hertz apparently still has a 25 year old age restriction (as of the 2005 writing).

So, one has to wonder - did he have assistance in renting the vehicle or provide false information to obtain the rental SUV? Or, is this aspect a nonstarter?

Others covering the story from the outset: The Jawa Report, Opinion Bug (who wonders why the media is not being more forthright about the religious angle of this story), Sister Toldjah.

UPDATE:
Survival Theory is blogging from the Triangle in North Carolina. She's got some additional background on Taheriazar.