Now Abdulmutallab is in a federal prison outside Detroit, cooperating with authorities, and living a life not unlike the one he had been somewhat obsessed with: as a prisoner of the U.S. government, in an orange jumpsuit.
Excerpt: The Islamic societies attract a certain kind of Muslim - extremely devout. In fact, school officials say most Muslims at British universities don't join their "ISOCs," as they are known, because the young people who join them tend to be very political and don't particularly want to mix with other groups at school.
Abdulmutallab joined the University College London ISOC soon after he arrived on campus. His quick elevation to the presidency of the group just a year later meant that in addition to leading the opening prayer at the society meetings, he was in charge of organizing the annual Islamic Awareness conference, a task that people who knew him say he attacked with gusto.
I attended some of the sessions at this year's Islamic Awareness Week program at University College London. Walking into the auditorium, there were signs that directed "sisters" to the left and "brothers" to the right. (A flyer seeking feedback about the session asked, in addition to whether the speaker was interesting, whether the event was "separate" enough.)
About a dozen young women sat in the back of the lecture hall. They all wore headscarves. One of them was from Pakistan, another from Malaysia and a third from Indonesia. The young men wore sweatshirts and track pants. They were at the opposite corner of the hall in the front three rows. Some were bearded, and others were not.
'War on terror' week This year's program included a lecture on the Prophet Muhammad, and another on finding one's life purpose through Islam. The sessions were conducted in a combination of English and Arabic.
In 2007, the tenor of Abdulmutallab's conference was very different. He called his event "War on Terror" week, and it focused on the Bush administration's war on terrorism policy.
The conference opened with a startling video: American Airlines Flight 11 plowing into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. It then cut to various images of mujahedeen on the battlefield.
It is unclear whether Abdulmutallab knew that he was essentially using the very same images recruiters use in their videos to convince young Muslims to join violent jihad. But people who saw the video that day in the hall said they were a little taken aback.
If there was any question about where Abdulmutallab stood when it came to the war on terrorism, it was answered by how the ushers in the hall were dressed - young men in orange jumpsuits passed out flyers; they were supposed to look like Guantanamo prisoners.
The U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay had clearly captured Abdulmutallab's attention months before the conference took place.
'I can confirm that if we apply this standard, we would be putting at least half of the population of this country in the dock.'
From The Australian: A prominent Muslim cleric has protested the innocence of the five Sydney men sentenced yesterday on terrorism charges, saying the case had the "scent of hysteria" and the potential to damage Australia's international reputation.
Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, formerly Australia's most senior cleric -- and still the imam of Australia's largest mosque -- said the five convicted terror plotters had "no connection to acts of terror whatsoever".
"I can confirm 100 per cent and I have known these young men for a quarter of a century and I know their thinking and their families, they have no connection to acts of terror whatsoever, and that the system seems to have allowed itself to play the role of God, thinking that they can see through into a person's true intentions," he said.
"I can confirm that if we apply this standard, we would be putting at least half of the population of this country in the dock."
The five were accused of stockpiling explosive chemicals, but Sheik Hilali said many workers and handymen required chemicals for their work.
Sheik Hilali said that like many others, he had also downloaded or collected articles on terrorism,
but this did not turn people into terrorists. "This case is an import of a dangerous disease that hurts Australia's human rights record," Sheik Hilali said.
Asked whether the Muslim community would continue to support the men, he said: "This case will create sympathy for these young men as it provides an issue for people to become concerned about. This type of case does not serve the interests of Australia, this is a repeat of the same mistakes that have been committed by some regimes in some majority Muslim countries."
Sheik Hilali said he hated terrorism and extremism.
"However, this sentence, quite frankly, is very superficial."
The five men, aged between 25 to 44, were found guilty in October of conspiring to do acts in preparation for a terrorist act, or acts, between July 2004 and November 2005. They were ordered to serve sentences ranging from 23 to 28 years in prison.
Hamas own rapid rise to power is a reminder of the appeal of militant ideas in the absence of a peace process.
Associated Press: They preach global jihad, or holy war, adhere to an ultraconservative form of Islam and are becoming a headache even for Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza.
Jihadi Salafis, as they are known, have organized into small, shadowy armed groups that have clashed with Hamas forces and fired rockets at Israel in defiance of Hamas' informal truce.
Perhaps even more worrisome for Hamas, they claim a growing appeal among Gazans in the territory's pressure cooker of isolation and poverty, raising fears they could serve as a bridgehead for their ideological twin, al-Qaida, from which they take their call for global holy war.
Hamas insists it dismantled the groups after a mosque shootout last summer that left 26 dead.
But after months of lying low, Jihadi Salafis become active again. Besides resuming rocket fire on Israel in recent weeks, they blew up the car of a Hamas chief outside his southern Gaza home. The chief, who was not in the car, was unhurt, and the group that claimed responsibility said the blast was a warning.
"We will not stop targeting the figures of this perverted, crooked government (Hamas), breaking their bones and cleansing the pure land of the Gaza Strip of these abominations," said the group, the Soldiers of the Monotheism Brigades. "What will come next will be harder and more horrible."
Going by names like "Rolling Thunder" and "Army of God," they oppose Hamas for refraining from imposing Islamic law since seizing power in Gaza in 2007 and largely sticking to a tactical truce with Israel since the latter's devastating offensive last year.
Expert opinion holds that al-Qaida has shown little interest in inviting the Gaza groups it inspired into the fold. But even an al-Qaida foothold in Gaza could pose a significant challenge to Hamas' control as well as its attempts to get off Western governments' terrorist list and lift the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza.
Hamas own rapid rise to power is a reminder of the appeal of militant ideas in the absence of a peace process.
Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, acknowledges that some in Gaza have been swept up by the ideas of the Jihadi Salafi groups.
A new poll from the Pew Global Attitudes Project has some results that might seem surprising: In many majority-Muslim countries, there's lukewarm support for extremism and little confidence in leaders. Pew associate director Richard Wike tells host Guy Raz that these statistics are part of a pattern he's been seeing for the past few years.
PESHAWAR: The display of anti-Taliban banners by unknown persons in various areas of Kabal was the topic of discussion in Swat on Monday and majority of people hailed the move as a sign of an end to the Taliban era.
Kabal residents said on Sunday that they saw anti-Taliban banners calling leader of the Swat militants Maulana Fazlullah a "shameless" person. "Where is the shameless Fazlullah?" was the slogan inscribed on one of the banners. One can infer from the writing on the banner that those having displayed the banners were criticising the Taliban leader for going underground.
Other slogans included, "Taliban's friend is the nation's foe," and "The Taliban movement is virtually the movement of oppressors."
One of the men, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, is being described as more of an enabler for the other - David Coleman Headley - formerly Daood Gilani.
Both men are now being described as operatives of Lashkar-e-Toiba/Lashkar-e-Taiba who have made a number of trips to India and where investigators say they suspect Headley may have helped with scouting and planning last year's Mumbai massacre.
"We have established that Headley and Tahawwur were in touch with the same Pakistani-based 'handlers' who gave directions to the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai on 26/11. We are now investigating how he had corresponded with Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah (presently in Pakistan's custody) and other masterminds who carried out the audacious Mumbai attacks," said an investigating officer.
Indian investigators are not looking for a woman Headley met with frequently on his trips to India and who they say may have been involved in setting up safehouse for militants in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
A Washington Post report examined tax records from as early as 1998, which showed that Awlaki served as vice president of a charity (CSSW) founded by his then patron Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, a Yemeni politician who is named as an associate of Al-Qaeda. The CSSW has been described a "front organization to funnel money to terrorists". The FBI also know that he was paid a visit in 2000 by an associate of Omar Abdel Rahman, known as the blind sheikh, who was convicted in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The report also states that in 1999, Awlaki was investigdated by the FBI "when it learnt that he may have been visited by a "procurement agent" for bin Laden".
Gazi sets out to prove that claims that al-Awlaki only recently left the moderate path are dissembling falsehoods meant to hide either embarrassing naivete, crass pandering, or secret support for radicalism.
He is chasing some Muslim politicians and prominent Islamic activists and groups in the UK who embraced al-Awlaki until recently such as Osama Saeed of the Scottish National Party and Azad Ali, the president of the Civil Service Islamic Society, as well as the East London Mosque and the Islamic Forum Europe and of course, Moazzam Begg's Cage Prisoners.
"I have reached Afghanistan safely," Maulana Fazlullah told BBC Urdu.
"We are soon going to launch full-fledged punitive raids against the army in Swat."
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He issued a warning to the North West Frontier Province's information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.
"The authorities should beware, especially Mian Iftikhar Hussain, whose fate will be like that of Najibullah," he warned, referring to Dr Najibullah who was Afghan president before the Taliban hanged him in 1996 when they took Kabul.
Najibullah* was tortured, castrated and executed without trial by the Afghan Taliban in 1996, after which his body was dragged through the streets and hung from a lamp post.
* Juan Cole today linked an article by a UN official who spent some time visiting with Najibullah just before the Taliban killed him. The official asked Najibullah if he regretted the blood on his hands from his time serving as head of the Afghan secret police under the communists.
"Dear Alan, do not be naïve about what you are facing. They will bring a destruction you cannot imagine."
His message to me, at our New Year meeting in 1995, was one of no regrets for whatever he had done to stand against the Islamists. He was absolutely clear about that; he would do it again.
''In Ghazaliya, it is forbidden to sell ice because the takfiris said, 'The Prophet Muhammad had no ice in his time,' '' said Khatan Kareem, a manager at the factory where the drivers worked, shaking his head at the absurdity.
But it seems unbalanced people of other religions have issues with it for similar reasons.
A Vancouver-area father has been found guilty of negligence causing bodily harm after botching a home-circumcision attempt on his four-year-old son as part of a spiritual quest to make things right with God.
The bizarre case centred on a battle over the religious freedoms of the former Jehovah's Witness, who was trying to follow a literal interpretation of the Bible after a series of misfortunes hit his family.
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Somalia's hardline Islamist group al-Shabaab has publicly whipped women for wearing bras they say violate Islam by constituting a deception, north Mogadishu residents said on Friday.
The insurgent group, which seeks to impose a strict form of sharia Islamic law throughout Somalia, amputated a foot and a hand each from two young men accused of robbery earlier this month. They have also banned movies, musical ringtones, dancing at wedding ceremonies and playing or watching soccer.
Residents said gunmen had been rounding up any woman seen with a firm bust and then had them publicly whipped by masked men. The women were then told to remove their bras and shake their breasts.
"Al-Shabaab forced us to wear their type of veil and now they order us to shake our breasts," a resident, Halima, told Reuters, adding that her daughters had been whipped on Thursday.
"They first banned the former veil and introduced a hard fabric which stands stiffly on women's chests. They are now saying that breasts should be firm naturally, or just flat."
The rector and the head of faculty of Darul Uloom (Waqf) Deoband said attacks by 'vigilantes' in which innocent people died was not jihad but 'individual zulm (oppression)'.
KARACHI: Senior clerics of India's top seminary whose version of Islam the Taliban claim to follow have denounced the actions of the hardline militia, saying the group does not qualify to enjoy affiliations with the historic madressah.
In an interview with a correspondent of the BBC Urdu Service, the rector and the head of faculty of Darul Uloom (Waqf) Deoband said attacks by 'vigilantes' in which innocent people died was not jihad but 'individual zulm (oppression)'.
Seen in this light, attacks on shrines, barber shops and educational institutions were all un-Islamic. Maulana Saalim Qasimi went to the extent of characterising the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which was ousted by the US forces in 2001, as 'un-Islamic'.
He said the Taliban did not comprehend fully the tenets of Islam even though much was made of their 'Islamic government'.
He said Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who supported the Afghan regime, was not a religious scholar. 'He is more of a politician than a scholar.' 'However, his father, Mufti Mehmood, was a scholar,' he said.
Maulana Aslam Qasimi, great grandson of Qasim Nanotvi, the founder of the madressah, said the recent statement by Sufi Mohammad that judiciary in Pakistan was un-Islamic was based on misconceptions and ignorance.
He said that Islam embraced concepts like democracy. 'The spirit of democracy is very much there in Islam, though concepts like democracy have been taking new shapes and forms.'
I interviewed a large number of refugees in Swabi, but I did not meet a single person who actually saw the army and the Taleban as members of opposing camps. Instead, I heard, they were "two sides of the same coin".
The tent cities are growing in the district of Swabi, in north-west Pakistan: swelled with the thousands fleeing the fighting in nearby Buner district.
Last month, Taleban from the troubled district of Swat moved south into Buner and overran it, occupying government offices and police stations, and closing down locally popular Sufi shrines which they oppose.
The army moved in a couple of weeks ago to counter them, and is now engaged in heavy fighting in the area.
According to Shahram Khan, the head of Swabi district government, around 150,000 people have fled Buner during the last few days. This is three times the figure of 40,000 previously provided by the federal government.
Most of these people have ended up in about a dozen refugee camps set up by the government in Swabi.
'Pouring in' Many of these camps are funded by private individuals. Others are supported by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme, others by foreign and local NGOs.
The government of North West Frontier Province has already earmarked money to take care of the refugees, and it is now reaching most camps.
One such camp is located in Chhota Lahore town of Swabi district. There are rows of tents supplied by the UNHCR. Most are family shelters, but some also house one school each for boys and girls, as well as a medical dispensary.
"Tents are in short supply, and we also expect food shortages in coming days as refugees from Buner continue to pour in," says Kabir Khan, the administrator of the camp.
The refugees are, in the main, happy with the supply of food and other necessities, but nonetheless they say they cannot live in a refugee camp forever.
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'Same coin' I interviewed a large number of refugees in Swabi, but I did not meet a single person who actually saw the army and the Taleban as members of opposing camps.
Instead, I heard, they were "two sides of the same coin".
"The Pakistani army has hurt us badly - but while they have killed civilians, I swear I haven't seen a single shell directed at the Taleban," says Shahdad Khan, a refugee sheltering at a camp in Swabi's Shave Ada area.
Others question the Pakistani military's stated commitment to "eliminating" the Taleban.
"No way," Siraj tells me. "The army brought the Taleban to our area! It's politics. The Taleban and the army are brothers."
Farrukh Rehan writes: Now that the Pakistani army is finally engaging the Taliban, there is one question on everyone's mind: Is Pakistan serious about this fight this time, or will it cut a deal with the militants, as it has done in the past with disastrous consequences?
The answer to this question depends on the outcome of a larger battle for Pakistan's soul which is raging across Pakistan's cities, homes, television channels, newspapers and in heated conversations in people's living rooms. The fight for the hearts and minds of the ordinary Pakistani is the most important fight going on in Pakistan, as its outcome will determine whether the cancer of Talibanization can be localised and ultimately rooted out, or whether it will continue to metastasize and further destabilize a country which is already reeling from economic, political, and leadership woes. As in most battles there are two adversaries - in this case two competing views of Pakistan, and the nature of the challenge facing it.
The conservative view held by many Islamist parties, populist politicians, retired army brass and hyper-nationalistic television anchors is that the Taliban are a reflection of the people's desire for an Islamic system of governance, with quick justice, order and compliance with God's will as the hallmarks of public life. Proponents of this view maintain that the excesses of the Taliban are greatly exaggerated, and that the real threat to Pakistan is from the US, which has destabilized the whole region with its Afghan war and its drone attacks on Pakistan. According to this view, the real aim of the US is to undermine Pakistan's sovereignty and deprive it of its cherished nuclear weapons. To date, the conservatives have been more vocal, and gained more traction with the Pakistani public - drowning out the concerns about the Taliban by pointing fingers at George Bush, the US and India.
On the other side are people derided as "Liberals" and "Western apologists" by the conservatives. These liberals, many of them western educated, secular and belonging to the professional urban classes, have been reminding whoever will listen that while Pakistan is a Muslim majority country, it was created as a constitutional republic with the ideals of an independent judiciary, a parliamentary system of government, and representative democracy. Liberals argue that letting parts of the country become theocratic enclaves run by armed gangs of religious extremists undermines the ideals on which Pakistan was built, threatens its territorial integrity and is a recipe for disaster. Liberals insist that the Taliban, and their policy of "Islamicization at gun point" is the real threat to Pakistan, not India or the United States.
Which narrative ultimately prevails is crucial to Pakistan's future because it determines whether the people of Pakistan see the fight against the Taliban and extremism as their own fight, or whether they will continue to see it as a US manufactured Global War on Terror into which Pakistan has been sucked. If Pakistanis see the fight in Swat as their own, then there will be public support for a continuing military offensive, there will be more latitude given to the bumbling civilian government of Asif Zardari, and there may even be some tolerance for the drone attacks which normally cause deep resentment among Pakistanis. But if the dominant narrative in Pakistan continues to be that Pakistanis are victims of global conspiracies, that the Taliban threat is exaggerated, and that Pakistan should have no part in fighting "America's war", then the military will most likely be forced to sign a truce with the Taleban, the civilian government will probably collapse under the weight of its unpopularity, and Talibanization will continue unchecked, one district at a time.
Apparently what is happening is that the Pakistani army is ordering the civilian population out of Swat and Buner, in hopes of having a clear shot at the Taliban, who thereby would be deprived of civilian cover. In turn the latter are trying to close the roads out, to keep the civilians inside so as to use them as human shields or as anonymous throngs into which they can melt where they are defeated by the army.
