Mamdani’s Shocking Claim: Blames America For al-Qaeda Terrorist’s Rise Liz Peek

https://lizpeek.com/news/mamdanis-shocking-claim-blames-america-for-al-qaeda-terrorists-rise/?utm_source=newsletter.lizpeek.com&utm_medium

Zohran Mamdani, the self-described socialist who is the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, has faced renewed scrutiny over past comments regarding Anwar al-Awlaki, the former head of Al Qaeda in Yemen. The New York Post reports, in previous social media posts, Mamdani appeared to suggest that U.S. law enforcement actions contributed to al-Awlaki’s radicalization and eventual embrace of jihadist ideology. These remarks were made in the context of a New York Times article that criticized the FBI’s surveillance of al-Awlaki, noting his ties to the 9/11 hijackers.

According to The Post, “Mamdani, in a series of tweets in 2015, bizarrely criticized the terrorism — after reading a New York Times account of the snooping, which revealed the cleric’s hooker fetish. ‘Why no proper interrogation of what it means for FBI to have conducted extensive surv. into Awlaki’s private life?’ the socialist candidate wrote.

In another post, Mamdani wrote, “How could #Awlaki have ever trusted@FBI to not release surveillance esp. if he continued to critique [the] state? Why no further discussion of how #Awlaki’s knowledge of surv. eventually led him to #alqaeda? Or what FBI’s surveillance of al-Awlaki — and claimed the G-Men actually pushed him into that says about [the] efficacy of surv?”

Anwar al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, was an American Islamic who became one of the most influential figures in Al Qaeda. He was linked to several terrorist plots. According to The Post, al-Awlaki directed the failed attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009. He directed the failed attempt to blow up US cargo planes in 2010,’ Obama said at the time. ‘And he repeatedly called on individuals in the United States and around the globe to kill innocent men, women and children to advance a murderous agenda.’”

Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011. Al-Awlaki’s journey from a mainstream Muslim preacher to a prominent jihadist leader was marked by his growing hostility toward the United States, especially after being imprisoned in Yemen—a development he blamed on U.S. pressure. The cleric was regarded as such a significant threat that President Barack Obama authorized the 2011 drone strike that killed him.

Mamdani’s comments have drawn criticism from opponents who argue that he was excusing or defending a notorious terrorist.

According to The Post, “retired FDNY Lt. Jim McCaffrey — whose brother-in-law, FDNY Battalion 7 Chief Orio Palmer, rushed into the World Trade Center’s south tower to try to help people before the building collapsed on him and hundreds of others during the hijacked-plane strike — called Mamdani’s comments ‘very offensive’ to 9/11 victims and their families,” adding that Mamdani’s candidacy in New York City is both “eye-opening” and “frightening.”

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