The Most Virtuous of Deeds

"The United States should be warned that if they continue and persist in promoting the blasphemy of Mohammed and the U.S. continues to kill and support those who kill innocent Muslims then the U.S. should await a great calamity through the hands of the mujahedeen ... or God." Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

He is fairly clear in his own mind that his faith compels him to act as he did. The compulsion to honour his commitment to Islam was and continues to be paramount in his mind. His unshakable faith in his god and the teachings of the Koran did not confuse him with troubling considerations about being responsible for the deaths of many innocent people.

By definition they were not innocent. They were not Muslim, they were mostly Americans, and it was they and their government whom he held responsible for the deaths of innocent Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the deaths of non-believers are as nothing whatever in comparison to the deaths of Muslims. This is tribal vigilantism in the name of the Almighty.

This is impeccable reasoning for an Islamist for whom nothing surmounts the obligation to jihad. And Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is a virtuous believer in personal martyrdom as befits the faithful in Islam. "If you laugh at us now", he said in court, "we will laugh at you later". Mass murder is no laughing matter. And an American court will sentence this man to life imprisonment.

He pleaded guilty, admitting to eight felonies, inclusive of conspiracy to commit terrorism, attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Although that weapon of mass destruction faultily fizzled, causing no little consternation to the passengers of the flight he attempted to blow up, witnessing a man's genitals burning, he was still praised by Osama bin Laden.

For in fact, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab did succeed in his mission to a good degree. Thanks to his aborted attempt at mass-murder-in-the-sky, the U.S. administration had little choice but to arm airline security even further with the use of full-body scanners, causing much discomfiture to travelers through this costly but cosmetic 'improvement' in safety procedures.

It does not reflect well on American intelligence that this incident occurred despite the fact that there was ample pre-warning. His very own father, after all, a prominent Nigerian banker, had contacted the CIA to warn them of his son's burgeoning radicalism, thanks in good measure no doubt, to the encouragement given him by al-Qaeda's Yemeni Anwar al-Awlaki.

"In late 2009, in fulfilment of a religious duty, I decided to participate in a jihad against the United States", Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab stated proudly. One man striking a blow for the glory of Islam against the most powerfully unprepared nation on Earth. And as he exited the court, he proclaimed, "Allahu akbar".

Yet the final laugh will not be Islam's. And he who laughs last laughs best.