Connecticut: Man converts to Islam, tries to join the Islamic State to “fight for Allah”

“About a week later, another individual ‘who attends an Islamic Center in another state’ told authorities McCormick ‘expressed a desire to travel to Syria to “fight for Allah,”‘ the affidavit states. The 26-year-old attempted to justify his extremist ideologies, the individual told authorities, by quoting and citing various religious doctrines, although ‘he did so incorrectly.’”

It’s good that people from the Islamic Center turned in Kevin McCormick, but how did he cite Islamic doctrines “incorrectly”? We are constantly told that jihadis have an incorrect understanding of Islam, but explanations of how it is incorrect are rare and vague. This also leads to other questions that never get answered: if Kevin McCormick’s understanding of Islam, as well as that of other jihadis, was incorrect, where did he get it? Why was the Islamic Center not able to disabuse him of his misunderstanding of Islam? And why do all jihadis misunderstand Islamic doctrine in exactly the same way?

“‘Jihad Is the Way to Go’: Connecticut Man Charged With Trying to Fight for ISIS,” by Seamus Hughes and Pilar Melendez, Daily Beast, December 19, 2019 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

After tips from Islamic Centers in two different states, authorities arrested a Connecticut man they allege attempted to travel overseas to join the Islamic State.

Kevin Imam McCormick, 26, was charged on Oct. 21 with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization after a months-long FBI investigation and allegedly pledging his allegiance to ISIS and its leader in a video.

“I do like, I do like ISIS because Abu Musa was like my hero, I cry when I watch that video,” he said during one conversation with an FBI informant, according to court documents unsealed Thursday….

According to the federal affidavit, the FBI was first alerted to McCormick, a former truck driver, on Aug. 24, when members from another state reported that McCormick had stated “we should support ISIS” and “Jihad is the way to go.” The community members also told authorities McCormick had asked about “circumcision and wanted a doctor that could help him with the procedure.”

About a week later, another individual “who attends an Islamic Center in another state” told authorities McCormick “expressed a desire to travel to Syria to ‘fight for Allah,’” the affidavit states. The 26-year-old attempted to justify his extremist ideologies, the individual told authorities, by quoting and citing various religious doctrines, although “he did so incorrectly.”…

Authorities also state that after McCormick was fired as a truck driver in September, he attempted to purchase a firearm and a knife—but was declined after he admitted to a sales clerk the weapons were “not for an animal.”…

On Oct. 12, the former truck driver allegedly attempted to fly to Jamaica, but was denied boarding by the Department of Homeland Security. Shortly after that encounter, he met with an FBI informant and expressed his desire to travel to Syria “in order to join ISIS,” according to the court documents….

“I’ve been ready for quite a long time now. I just need help to get out of here. I just, if I could get to the Muslim country,” McCormick allegedly told the second FBI informant through a secure encrypted app, before stating, “We’re living in this horrible place, like I can’t do it. I have to go fight…I can like feel it in my arm, my heart, like because I know how well I can fight..Because I got brothers dying..I know that they need my help bro.”…

In the presence of an FBI informant, McCormick recorded two videos on Oct. 19 pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State leader, one in English and the other in his native language of Jamaican Patois, authorities said. Al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. military operation one week later….

McCormick’s Facebook profile, which is still active, has signs of his support of jihadist ideology. A week before his arrest, he posted a video of an alleged Islamic State prison break in Syria with the comment, “ALLAHU AKBAR!!!!”

He posted a picture of U.S soldiers three days prior, calling them “kuffars,” or nonbelievers. McCormick used the same description to comment on a news story about the Taliban and U.S. peace talk negotiations.

Last summer, he complained about American Muslims, posting on Facebook: “The Muslims in this country are Americanized not real Muslims.”

McCormick also posted anti-Semitic conspiracy memes about the Rothchilds controlling all the world’s banks and a news story about an Israeli strike against Syria with the comment, “damn jews.”…

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

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