Amine El Khalifi as the Moroccan community in D.C. knows him. (Photo:  glittarazzi )

There is a concern the Moroccan community will be demonized and viewed as a source of “stealth Jihadist.” In coffee shops where Moroccans congregate, some expressed anger at El Khalifi; “he brought shame and embarrassment upon the Moroccan community not just in the D.C. area, but across the United States,” they vehemently retort. He deserves his fate some say.
Amine’s brother and cousin, also living in the U.S., are stellar individuals; his father is a hard working, law abiding and respected teacher in Casablanca. He, on the other hand, was rumored to have brought the rambunctiousness of the old m’dina with him. Since he landed here, at the age of seventeen, his life seemed to follow a script written by Antonio “Tony” Montana, the fictional character known as Scareface. His dream was to make beaucoup money and fast by any means necessary. I have seen him a couple of times lingering in a coffee shop in Arlington, VA, twirling the keys to his BMW, looking for action. He was known in the community as a player, a drug dealer and user, infamous for his vainness and dalliances with young women in Layla lounge and other such clubs where he peddled narcotics. Hardly the profile of a suicide bomber wanna-be. Prior to his arrest, he was never convicted of any crimes. His drug trafficking and use are unsubstantiated allegations.
Overnight, he replaced the twirling BMW keys with prayer beads, grew whiskers, and raised the banner of Islam. He seemingly found Allah and became a devout Moslem. Never mind he couldn’t recite more than a few short Coranic verses, nor could he speak smartly about moderate Islamic doctrines and interpretations, let alone radical Islamic fundamentalism. Those who know him attest he was never in the thrall of radical Islam. They considered his piousness with a bit of sarcasm.
Amine was more of a threat as an alleged drug dealer and junkie than as a Moslem terrorist. He practiced on how to use the gun the FBI gave him, a MAC-10, in a hotel room. He could have gotten more training value from Elevator Action: Death Parade video shooting game in a public arcade. He had never handled a gun until the FBI urged him on. He was so incompetent, he failed to notice the MAC-10 he was given was missing a firing pin. He couldn’t tell the difference between C-4 and glazing putty. Many believe he was incapable of blowing himself up, or shooting anybody. He should have been arrested on drug charges a long time ago; it would have been cheaper if he were detained for being in the U.S. illegally and deported back to Morocco.
The FBI’s development of Amine into an operational “paper terrorist” serves many objectives. It demonizes a Moslem community and enkindle the fear of terrorism; Amine El Khalifi and other similar cases, in which the FBI and local police authorities operate in a grey area, using dubious methods some consider akin to entrapment, constitute ammunition to conservative politicians with an anti-immigration agenda. It justifies the extra-judicial collection on U.S. persons – surveillance on the Moroccan community in New York for instance – because the latest amendment to E.O. 12333 considers terrorism an exception. It gives Lisa Monaco, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s national security division, the opportunity to comment: “Today’s case underscores the continuing threat we face from home-grown violent extremists. Thanks to a coordinated law enforcement effort, El Khalifi’s alleged plot was thwarted before anyone was harmed.”
What saddens me is that no one talks about the Moroccans, some citizens and others residents, who lost their lives in support of the War on Terrorism. No one thanks those who are today serving in Afghanistan and who served in Iraq in defense of the U.S. constitution and the ideals it stands for.
I know quite a few Moroccans who, to escape the accusatory looks of friends and neighbors, changed their names to Latin or Anglo-Saxon ones. I was asked once what I thought of it. I am totally opposed to it for the simple reason that I believe we need to grow more cohesive as a community, strive for coexistence instead of a mindless social camouflage. We need to embraces our Moroccan identity and, as American citizens and residents, treasure and defend the principles and institutions of our adoptive home.
My only advice to those who are still considering changing their names is to stir clear of “Timothy McVeigh.” It has an unflattering history.

A. T. B. © 2012

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mbt said:

... Yet another diatribe from Yet Another Moroccan. Islam segregates human beings? People have to overcome its backwardness? The ONLY backwardness is the like of you and those bashing Islam, like someone said take residency in Israel. If people are blown up be they Muslims or Kafirs, it has nothing to do with Islam, you have to blame the people who carry out the bombings. But then again how many Iraqis where killed by the Americans? And all in the name of what? Freedom or Religion? Come on guys you know when there is a problem in a country, the government always introduces element of fear and uncertainty to divert attention and distraction with problem of their making, be that King of Morocco or the President of USA.

02/27/12

mbt said:

blame Israel Morcelli and Man en blanc you are both dead right, indeed you are beating a dead horse, namely yourselves. Muslims in general but I don't know about Moroccans in particular, hate Israel, and the reason is simple, by the way the Christians do not like Jews also. The Jews have got their fingers in every thing that can make them rich. Take the banking system of the world, control by the Jews, look at the big American high tech companies, the Jews are running it, and who is running America, the Jews. Need I say more?

02/27/12

Yet Another Moroccan said:

. To man en blanc, I wanted to add, in line with your experience, what I recall about the reaction in Morocco (and the whole Arab world) to the suicide bombings in Israel in the 90's. Nobody had a problem with innocent civilians being blown up at a Pizza shop and everybody 'understood' what pushed the terrorists to do what they were doing. Of course, it all changed when people in Morocco and the Arab world started seeing the same violent tactics used against their own. I hope people in the Arab/Muslim world will learn from this and start doing a better job condemning atrocities by Muslims even when the victims are the 'Kufars'. Islam, of course, doesn't help because of the way it segregates human beings, but people have to overcome its backwardness.

02/26/12

Morcelli said:

... Man en blanc, We are beating a dead horse. Just like you said you can't win. Here is the thing, Muslims in general and Moroccans in particular have gotten used to hate Israel because what happen to the Palestinians. I am with the Moroccans, Israel has been torturing Palestinians for decades now after kicking them out of their own land. But there is a problem there, The Arab dictators have been feeding their subjects that without Israel on the face of the earth, We Arab can live happy ever after. The subjects believed the dictators and blame every ill on Israel and that is the reason that anytime there is terrorist attack including 9/11, there is a big majority who think that Israel is behind the attacks to make the Muslims look bad. These pseudo Muslims will never blame the terrorist, the dictator, or themselves for believing the dicktators, It's always the US, the CIA, the Mosad, the FBI and sometimes the NYPD. We have a king who owns 40 multi million dollars palaces that the Moroccan tax payer is forced to fund and not one can talk about it. We have elites, Al Alami's cousins taking over the majority of good jobs and no one can say a thing about it , instead they blame Israel and the US.

02/25/12

man en blanc said:

The unbearable hypocrisy of the apologists. Part Two. Few years ago, I was at my cousin's house having dinner and some heavy-duty argument about Islamic terrorism while his two utterly adorable little girls were playing nearby. The conversation shifted to the Casablanca bombings of May 16, 2003, and my cousin was attempting to explain to me what drove these suicidal maniacs to reign terror and mayhem on innocent civilians. The sentence he kept using was "I understand them". Fed up, I pointed to his daughters and asked if he would still be in "an understanding" mood if they were among the victims. That brought everything to screeching halt. He was not amused at all, blurted something about my "Americanization" and cold-heartiness, and the evening like most of my Moroccan evenings went south. Yup. Islamic terrorism is fine and dandy as long as our families are not the recipients. Of course, thanks to le telephone Arab (faster than the internet btw), the next day my mother reduced me to something akin to what the cat might have dragged in. I can't win.

02/25/12

Casawi72 said:

I am out of here @Man en blance and Aziz Alami, Your justification for racial profiling (a form of discrimination) is appalling, bigoted and disgusting. But hey, feel free to have your own family subjected to it. In Airports, volunteer yourself and your family to be singled for more screening and tell them you are Muslim and therefore they should check you more closely. If you've got a teenager kid (13 above, recall they held a 13 years old child in Gitmo), then have his school pay closer attention to him among all his non-Muslim classmates. If you decided to part with this religion that brings you SHAME and which apparently is hurting your self-esteem, remember that you will still be subjected to racial profiling. THe French under Nazi Vichy went back be three generations to hunt down who was a Jew and who was not, For the rest of us, luckily we still have strong organizations like the ACLU who continues to fight the remains of bigotry, racism, institutional discrimination and abuse of minorities in this country. Most people, Muslim-Moroccans or Christian-Mexicans come to the US for ECONOMICAL reasons. They could care less about your so-called freedom that abuses minorities through racial profiling and other discriminatory practices. You are just so delusional and live in your own little bubble. Can you racial profile the white majority in the US? No you can not but it easy to prey on minorities, abuse their rights and hide behind the bigots's logic of "facts"! Shame on you. I am out of this right-wing supremacist board that openly justifies racial profiling in 2012 bla 7echma oula 3ar! It is no wonder you keep bringing up Apartheid Israel in which these things are normal as long as they are applied to the Arab minority. If the US is no longer racist enough for you, MOVE TO APARTHEID ISRAEL. Zionism will always accept new converts anytime now to populate the land.

02/25/12

S Hassi said:

... The Moroccan Americans are given us the real Moroccans a bad name , we just heard that notices of no Moroccan are starting to show up around the mid-west , Man en blanc & morcelli you better start to pack your bags

02/25/12

Morcelli said:

... When you have ZERO liberty in Morocco, you can't speak about the liberty in the US. You sound ridiculous. The less Government, the better things go sounds to me more like a Republican motto. The bottom line here is the i***t is a Moroccan Muslim terrorist; what so hard to understand? why are people dancing around this fact? When are the pseudo muslims going to stop the excuses and start taking responsibility for their own actions?

02/24/12

Aziz El Alami said:

... @ MP -- I am not surrendering my liberty for my freedom... I am simply justifying the FBI's surveillance - legal or otherwise! Do you want to call that racial profiling? go ahead... The fact remains the most recent terrorist attacks/attempts were committed by none other than Young Male Muslims. When was the last time you heard of a Mormon, Christian, Buddhist, Jew or a Sheik strapping on a vest to blow up things??? The FBI is doing the right thing by spying the likely suspects - or would you rather they spy on 80 year old grandmas from Denmark?

02/24/12

man en blanc said:

Morcelli, I wish they were thousands and thousands of people like us. You know, Muslims who call it as it is. Not the ones who live in alternate reality, well, the eighth century. I guess that is some kind of reality. Fourteen hundred years ago! How do we shake loose this ever-growing tree of ignorance? Why should I be reminded every freaking day of how much we Muslims suck? Just give me a day, any day, where Muslims are NOT blowing up each other into smithereens! How sick are we? We are sicker than sick because we allow cretins to proclaim that Islam is a true religion! Been to Homs lately Ahmed? Spent a weekend in Kabul a Si Mohammed? Visited a mosque in Karachi ya Abdel-whatever? The locals would call the mayhem : Tuesday. Oh yeah! Islam is a very peaceful religion. That's why millions of Muslims are risking and loosing their lives to escape their Muslim paradise homelands. Seeking shelter and refuge in such paragon lands of Islam like Europe, Australia,the USA, Canada.... You know, your basic Imam-ruled nations. Of course. We always have Israel. Ironically, lately Muslims have been seeking refuge in Israel. Tell that to your local Imam...but then he'd say. Who cares what he'd say?

02/23/12

Moroccan Patriot said:

Keep yourself Safe When you surrender Liberty for Security, you deserve Neither. For those of you who seem to think it is OK to give up freedom to get Safety and those of you who believe that the Government somehow cares about your welfare, they have a word to describe your condition: Delusion. Only those who are deaf, blind and Dumb believe that the Government cares for the people. The less Government, the better things go. Can anyone name the president of Switzerland? How about the President of Luxembourg? How about the President of Sweeden or Norway? Finland? You know why you can't name the leaders of these countries? Because leaders who do a good job remain unknown. Countries where things run smoothly, countries that do a good job for their citizenry invariably have small, highly effective, technocrats working in government. Now, compare that with the bloated Governments of North Africa and other debt laden disasters waiting to happen and you will see that people in these countries look to government for all of the solutions to all of their problems. Boys & Girls, Government, or rather over dependence on government is the Problem. I am NOT an anarchist. I believe some sort of government is needed, but only the bare minimum. Government should ONLY do for the people what they cannot do for themselves. No Governments - No lie of Terrorism.

02/23/12

Casawi72 said:

Defending the constitution With all due respect to the author of the article, nobody is defending the constitution by taking part of the ILLEGAL war in Iraq that destroyed its social fabric and killed hundreds of thousands of its civilians. In Afghanistan, it's not so much different. It is just that the lives of Afghans are much cheaper than the Iraqis. So fewer people complain about the abuses and wanton destruction that is still going on in Afghanistan despite the fact over 80% of Afghans never heard of 9-11. Perhaps that's why nobody is eager to "recognize" this "so-called "sacrifice" from these violent individuals who happen to wear a uniform and who are willing to die for this supposedly "noble cause" of imperialism. Let's be clear on this and let's stop with US's Makhzen propaganda.

02/23/12

Casawi72 said:

Stop making stuff up This claim that the Muslim community has not been vocal enough against these violent acts is patently false and can not backed by any study or report. I challenge every single one here to post some evidence besides anecdotal bs and outright conspiracy theories that rooted in prejudice and Islamophobia.

02/23/12

Aziz El Alami said:

... @ ATB -- I would be remiss if I didn't commend you on the excellent insight and analysis you just put forward. While it is absolutely crucial that we consider all the different angles you highlighted, it is also vital to understand that the FBI and our Government's first and foremost job -- is to keep all of us safe!!! If this means infiltration and baiting certain "suspects" -- so be it. These so called suspects are not being "forced" to commit any crimes. They could simply say NO! @ Christine -- George Michael? are you kidding me??? Perhaps you missed Amine's giant forehead and receding hairline -- I am sticking with Kevin :-))

02/23/12

Morcelli said:

... Man en blan, adding to your list, Israel wrote the Moroccan constitution, rumor had it that Azoulay had it proof-read in Tel Aviv and approved by Shimon Perez. I think they were saying this during the riots in Taza. Just one more thing is I may, Islam comes in all shades and colors just like any other religion, there is the islam that I practive and I am VERY happy embracing it. The one that I mid my own business and I do not impose anything on anyone and I don't ask people over the phone if they start praying. The way I look at it, praying does not make you go to Paradise anyway. You could be praying and an ass at the same time. There is the other Islam that really scares me and the people practicing it scare me even more. When they start imposing on you the way they think Islam should be. They start using the scare tactic, that you will burn eternelly when they will be watching you from the rivers of heaven. They will savor all sort of delicatessens while I am getting immolated. They di say that they may make an exception and ask god to have mercy on me. There are those that say that 9/11 is the furor of god toward the infidels but they never mention the furor of god when sending typhoons and flooding to Bangladesh whose majority is Mulims, they never say a thing about poverty stricken in India ( 100 million muslims) or Nigeria ( 80 % muslims). I also want to add that ALL religions are source of all evil, Just watch Santorum who might be your next president and judge for yourself. or that fat ass of Gingrich who thinks that the Palestinians are invented people. I am not excusing the other religions, they are much more violent than Islam itself but you do not see that on CNN, Fox, or msnbc. They love to show you how Christians helping the poors during thanksgiving and at the same time they'll show pictures from Afghanistan and Pakistan depicting those people burning the American flag. Islam is what you feel in your heart not what some beardo is telling you to do.

02/23/12

man en blanc said:

@ Rioux The Muslim-American community has been very poor communicator on where it stands regarding islamo-fascist terrorism. We should take a page from the Israeli P.R. machine playbook. No. Wait. Israelis are our sworn enemies. Aren't they behind 9/11, the daily bombings in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the massacres in Syria? Not to mention the freecreditscore.com band?

02/23/12

Christine said:

... @ Aziz El Alami: I think he looks more like George Michael.

02/23/12

HKR said:

Pride or prejudice? Joe Rioux, Upon reading you post, my immediate impression was one of general agreement. Still, something about it left a bad taste in my mouth! Could it be its shoddily veiled patronizing tone? Or is it its holier than thou, sanctimonious undercurrent? Its whiff of the right leaning rhetoric may be? Or is it a combination of all the above? Perhaps I am just getting cynical with age. Or this is just a case of of my overly sensitive ancestral pride kicking in. Trust is a two-way street, an oft-repeated cliche, but, in this context, just the ticket; but more to the point, mistrust works along the same guidelines.

02/23/12

ATB said:

Consider the other angles Si Aziz, nobody is disputing the fact that Amine is a criminal. But it would be intellectual invertebracy not to consider other angles to the story and examine the bigger picture. A study by the University of California at Berkeley shows that only three of the hundreds of terror plots investigated by the United States may have had an existence independent of the FBI. Karen Greenberg, a law professor at Fordham University in New York, analyzes FBI tactics in these alleged terror plots; she states that "The target, the motive, the ideology and the plot were all led by the FBI." The FBI currently has $8.1 billion in discretionary funding. The federal government has a vested interest in maintaining, if not improving on the laws and policies enacted since 9/11 and empowering it to execute preemptive operations without oversight and outside the constitutional framework. Mr. Rioux, the same speech (minus the radical Islam part) was addressed to black communities in the 50's and 60's - prove to us that we can trust you. We still have racism today. It is clear that there is a vilifying campaign by conservative politicians and pundits against the Muslim communities in the United States. You are right... the Muslim communities need to be as cooperative as possible. And they are. The federal government needs to approach them with a posture of trust and honesty instead of sending scores of infiltrators to bait them into radical discussions.

02/22/12

Morcelli said:

... Joe Rioux, They won't step forward, they prefer to lecture us about hell and how we all going to hell and they will enjoy the rewards of heaven. We will get bbq-ed for eternity but there is a chance that one them watching us asking god that he should have mercy on us. They'll find an excuse and reason for terror, they'll blame the FBI the CIA the mossad the Morocco secret agents, sometimes they even blame their mothers. Can't you see that when they commit such crimes they have absolutely no heart to thing about the suffering that they put their own families in. Man en blanc, I used to go back and enjoy Morocco just like you, right now when I make those rare phone calls I get asked if I pray. I am talking about people who used to drink until they collapse on their own vomit. They suddenly find god and some of them quit drinking but kept smoking hash because they say Hash is not mentioned in the koran. One thing that these Moroccan terrorists have in common is: lack of education. Those who blew up the WTC were educated, the Moroccan ones are the lowest of the low garbage, gardien de voitures, drug dealers,....etc. That speaks volume. No wonder they are very willing to harm others.

02/22/12

man en blanc said:

Shukran a Si Taibi for shedding some light on who this individual is. I am sure that quite few of us who don't live in the D.C. were quite curious about this low-rent terrorist guy. What's remarkable is that he seemed to have followed a well-established pattern : small-time dealer, or a petty thief, flashy car and cheap women, and an overnight transformation complete with the beard, the beads and snippets of hadiths. I've read about hundred similar cases. In fact some members of my own family back home traveled the same route, but without the dark conclusion. Let me explain before the F.B.I. knock down my door: some members, after years of booze, hashish and floozies, would stumble on the "right" lunatic imam, and they instantly become insufferable in their self-righteousness. In fact, my once yearly trip home became biyearly as more and more of them joined the ranks of the misinformed. And that's my beef with the Islamists. They let the impressionable ones loose on the society. They don't correct or advise them about the subtleties of the Koran. No. They paint a complex world in black and white. Easy to digest, and useful to manipulate. Please God: No more the word "Moroccan" followed by the word "terrorist". It just seem abnormal, and the two words should never be put together. Sadly, the apologists keep feeding us the usual crock of nonsense.

02/22/12

Joe Rioux said:

Step forward, speak out, and maybe we'll trust you more Maybe if the Muslim community in the U.S. stepped forward with a public statement denouncing terrorism, and with a clear, unified program to work with the government to help root out and eliminate radicalism, then maybe Muslim-Americans would be more trusted in the U.S. But non-Muslims have a lingering distrust that many of the Muslim-Americans sympathize with the terrorists, even if Muslim-Americans don't actively do anything. Fair? Maybe not. But that's the reality. You can live in the real world, and do something, or live in a PC fantasy and continue to be distrusted.

02/22/12

Morcelli said:

... There is something called law that we all should all abide by or else. This rubbish broke the law and he will suffer the consequence regardless of his past as a drug dealer or bmw driver. We would lie to ourselves if we say that we did not feel embarrassed and raged for what he was about to do. Some here are telling us that " well that's his problem, not me, I didn't do anything". True, but that is now how it works in real life. As a Moroccan you do not want your nationality or where you came from to be associated with terrorism. I live 5000 miles away from DC but i still feel that I was affected. How can I tell my colleagues that Morocco is peaceful when Moroccan terrorists bombed Jmaa lafna not far back and now we have this idio*t wanting to be the Islamic rombo? We also need to be honest with ourselves, there are people who get inspired by the Koran and wanting to die as , Martyrs or jihadiying, however you want to call it. We all know the rewards the martyrs get. Those people are selfish and do not give a damn about you and me, they want the paradise for themselves only and they do not care how they will get there, they want to take a shortcut to paradise, they figure if they kill bunch of "infidels", they won't have to suffer in life by getting a decent 8-5 job and living like everyone else. You got that right the idio*t wants to get things fast. Now he's going to rot in jail faster than he will ever imagine. Can you imagine living la vida loca to a jail cell with the brodas!?

02/22/12

Aziz El Alami said:

... @ ATB -- your attempt to shift the blame from what this looser did or tried to do, and land it squarely on the FBI is meritless. The FBI did NOT "create" this knucklehead. he was already predisposed to carry out his heinous act and the FBI did a great job thwarting it. If your logic was true, then how come we never hear of the FBI entrapping Filipinos, Koreans or Guatemalans? On a side note, I find the resemblance of Amine and Kevin Costner quite astonishing :-))

02/22/12

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