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Isn't Ahmed Just Too Dense To Be A Terrorist?

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Daniel Ruth

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 17, 2008

Perhaps, had not other events intervened, Ahmed Mohamed might well have emerged as a cunning, mysterious, evildoing international terrorist.

This is probably where the James Bond theme should morph into "The Three Blind Mice" ditty recalling the hapless Three Stooges.

When sentenced after agreeing to a plea deal in which he admitted to providing support to terrorists, Mohamed could have as much as 15 years in the federal pokey to ponder the price of being a complete, unmitigated dope.

At first it might have been curtains for Mohamed and his University of South Florida classmate Youssef Megahed, when the two men were stopped by South Carolina sheriff's deputies last August driving a car only miles from the Naval Weapons Station near Charleston.

First, in the post-9/11 world, the badges simply get real nervous whenever young Arabic men are even in the same area/zip/da Vinci code of a military installation bearing the word - "weapons."

Denial Du Jour

It also probably didn't help that when the deputies stopped the car the men were driving in, their explanation for why they were motoring around so near the "WEAPONS" station was about as convincing as a Roger Clemens denial du jour.

But what really led to "You have the right to remain silent ..." was when the gendarmes searched the car to discover what has been described as an "explosive device" in the trunk, thus concluding foul play was in the air.

Now you might think right about now that this case had the potential to be more open and shut than who bombed Pearl Harbor - two Arab guys inexplicably wafting around South Carolina, near a "WEAPONS" facility, with something like a bomb in the trunk.

Reserve the John Gotti Memorial cell.

Alas, the Barney Fifes up in South Carolina didn't help matters when they blew up the evidence against the men, which the students had insisted was merely some fireworks.

A Brief Digression
Hmmmmm, students, USF, terrorists-links - again?

Do you suspect, after all these repeated USF ties to terrorism, President Judy Genshaft would welcome an old-fashioned football recruiting scandal as a refreshing change of pace? But we digress.

With the key evidence now destroyed, one might deduce the men might have had a reasonable chance to skate on federal explosive charges.

But then the feds took a gander at Mohamed's computer, which contained a YouTube video he had produced and uplinked to the Web site on how to construct a remote-controlled toy car bomb.

As criminal masterminds go, no one would confuse Mohamed with Sherlock Holmes' arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarity. Geez, my Goldendoodle does a better job of covering up the evidence when she gets into the garbage.

Megahed is free on bail, pending his trial.

As for Mohamed, it is probably more accurate to regard this dolt as less of a terrorist and more of a silly young man who virtually cried "Fire!" in a crowded theater by posting his how-to-become-a-federal prisoner video on YouTube. That's not free speech. It is a free pass to the hoosegow.

Keyword: Book of Ruth, to read and comment on Daniel Ruth's blog.

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