The Origins of Jihadist-Inspired
Attackers in the U.S.

By SERGIO PEÇANHA and K.K. REBECCA LAI UPDATED December 8, 2015

All of the Sept. 11 attackers entered the United States using tourist, business or student visas. Since then, among attackers claiming or appearing to be motivated by extremist Islam, only one would have needed a visa to enter the United States at the time of the attack.

After 9/11

Half of the attacks since 2001 were
committed by men born in the United States.

The paths to violence for the United States-born attackers varied. Some were recent converts to Islam. At least three who were born in the U.S. had previous criminal histories, and onehad a history of mental illness. One seemed to haveradicalized after spending time in Yemen. Another became radicalized after being convicted of lying to F.B.I. agents — denying he had made plans to travel to Somalia when in fact he had.

Security experts argue that the risks of routine travel — including the U.S. visa waiver program, which allows citizens of Britain, France, Belgium and 35 other countries to enter the United States without a visa for stays of up to 90 days — are greater than the threat of foreign terrorists coming through the refugee program.

“Further restricting the acceptance of refugees does not address the most likely vulnerability to attacks from abroad, which is the large number of people from visa-waiver countries involved in the conflict in Syria,” said David Sterman, a researcher for the International Security Program at the New America think tank who has been cataloging terrorist attacks carried out since Sept. 11.

Attacks With the Most Victims

Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the couple suspected of killing 14 people and wounding 21 others at a social services center in San Bernardino, Calif., met online and had a 6-month-old baby. On the day of the assault, Ms. Malik posted on Facebook that the couple was dedicating the massacre to the Islamic State.

Mr. Farook was born in Illinois and raised in Southern California; his parents were born in Pakistan. Ms. Malik was born in Pakistan, grew up in Saudi Arabia and went to college in Pakistan. She moved to the United States in 2014 with a Pakistani passport and a K-1 visa, which designated her Mr. Farook’s fiancée. She was granted a conditional green card in July. After the attack, President Obama said that he had ordered a revision of the program under which Ms. Malik entered the country.

Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people in a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Tex., in 2009, was born and raised in Virginia. Mr. Hasan had exchanged messages with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American radical cleric who was later killed by a drone strike in Yemen. Despite those exchanges, investigators have not linked Mr. Hasan’s attack to terrorism.

Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the brothers responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, settled in the United States after their parents were granted political asylum, which involves a less extensive vetting process than the program for Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

At the time of the Boston bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 260, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a naturalized American citizen, and Tamerlan had a green card.

Attacks by Foreign Residents

Since 2001, “hardly any foreign-born have committed (or tried to commit) terrorism in (or on the way to) the U.S.,” John Mueller, a political scientist at Ohio State and the Cato Institute who tracks terrorism in the United States, wrote in an email.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian man who tried to detonate explosives in his underwear during a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit in 2009, had a tourist visa. Richard C. Reid, who tried to detonate explosives in his shoes on a flight from Paris to Miami in 2001, is a British citizen, and would not have needed a visa to enter the United States.

In a speech after the attack in San Bernardino, Mr. Obama said he was working with Congress to strengthen screening of those who come to the United States without a visa, “so that we can take a hard look at whether they’ve traveled to war zones.”

Most Prominent Attacks Linked to Extremist Islam

2014	Ali Muhammad Brown U.S.-born citizen	Charged with murdering three men in Washington State and one in New Jersey.
2014	Alton Nolen U.S.-born citizen	Charged with first-degree murder in the beheading of a co-worker in Oklahoma.
2013	Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Naturalized citizen Tamerlan Tsarnaev Green card	The two brothers were responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured; an M.I.T. police officer was killed during the subsequent manhunt.
2009	Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad U.S.-born citizen	Killed one soldier and wounded another at a military recruiting center in Little Rock, Ark.
2009	Nidal Malik Hasan U.S.-born citizen	Killed 13 people and wounded dozens of others in a shooting at Fort Hood in Texas.
2006	Naveed Haq U.S.-born citizen	Shot and killed one person and wounded five others at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.
2002	Hesham Mohamed Hadayet Green card	Fatally shot two people at the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport.
2015	Elton Simpson U.S.-born citizen Nadir Hamid Soofi U.S.-born citizen Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem U.S.-born citizen	Mr. Simpson and Mr. Soofi opened fire outside a gathering in Garland, Tex., that showcased artwork and cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Both men were killed by the police. Mr. Kareem was later charged with helping plan the attack.
2014	Zale H. Thompson U.S.-born citizen	Attacked police officers with a hatchet in New York.
2010	Faisal Shahzad Naturalized citizen	Planted a car bomb in Times Square.
2010	Yonathan Melaku Naturalized citizen	Fired shots at five military buildings in the Washington area, including the Pentagon.
2009	Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Nigerian Tourist visa	Tried to detonate explosives sewn into his underwear on a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.
2006	Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar Naturalized citizen	Drove a sport utility vehicle through a crowded common area at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
2001	Richard C. Reid, British No visa needed	Tried to detonate explosives in his shoes during a flight from Paris to Miami.
2015	Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez Naturalized citizen	Killed four Marines and one sailor at a military recruiting office in Chattanooga, Tenn.
2015	Syed Rizwan Farook U.S.-born citizen Tashfeen Malik Green card	Killed 14 people and wounded 21 others at a social services center in San Bernardino, Calif.

مدونة الجزيرة العربية

الثلاثاء، 8 ديسمبر 2015