Father of terror suspect says FBI brainwashed son
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The father of an Oregon terrorism suspect testified Monday that his then-teenage son was suffering from an identity crisis and enduring a troubled home life when the FBI brainwashed him.
Osman Barre, the father of Somali-American terrorism suspect Mohamed Mohamud, said he was concerned for his son's safety when he contacted the FBI in 2009.
Barre said Mohamud told him he was planning to fly to Yemen to learn Arabic at a time when Barre was frightened by news accounts of Somali-American teenagers joining the mujahedeen in Somalia.
The stories led him to contact the FBI and say he feared his son was being brainwashed by al-Qaida recruiters.
But Barre testified Monday that he now thinks it was an elaborate FBI sting that brainwashed his son.
Prosecutors rested their case Monday. Barre was the first defense witness.
Mohamud is accused of attempting to detonate a bomb at a Portland Christmas-tree lighting ceremony in November 2010. The bomb was a fake supplied by undercover FBI agents whom Mohamud thought were al-Qaida recruiters.
During cross-examination by prosecutors, Barre was asked why he used the word "brainwashed" when speaking about his son to FBI agents. Barre interrupted Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight to say, "Can I tell you, the FBI brainwashed my son."
"That's not the question I asked," Knight responded.
Authorities say the FBI was tracking Mohamud's online contacts with Islamic radicals in early 2009. By the time Barre contacted the bureau, agents had been watching Mohamud for months, from the time he was 17.
Defense attorneys have argued that the bureau could have informed Barre and Mohamud's mother about the contacts with radicals. FBI agents have testified that providing such information could have compromised ongoing investigations into the jihadi contacts with whom Mohamud was involved.
Barre said he did not hear anything further from FBI agents until his son was arrested.
Barre described Mohamud's life in the strict Muslim home as troubled by the time he came to the FBI's attention. Barre and his wife, Miriam Hassan, had split up, and the couple's daughter - Mohamud's younger sister - kept running away.
Mohamud was a sweet-natured kid, Barre testified, but impressionable and immature. The family believed Barre's contact with the FBI led to Mohamud being placed on the no-fly list.
Mohamud turned from an engaged, sociable freshman at Oregon State University into a withdrawn sophomore who slept during the day, Mohamud's friend Mohammad Mohamed testified.
Barre, under cross-examination, told Knight he drilled into his children that they should be grateful to live in America. He said he told them not to make waves, to make their parents proud.
"Did you do everything you could to help your son?" Knight asked. "Did you give him every chance to succeed?"
With his wife sitting 20 feet away in the gallery, her chin cradled in her right hand, Barre paused.
"I wish I did more."
Osman Barre, the father of Somali-American terrorism suspect Mohamed Mohamud, said he was concerned for his son's safety when he contacted the FBI in 2009.
Barre said Mohamud told him he was planning to fly to Yemen to learn Arabic at a time when Barre was frightened by news accounts of Somali-American teenagers joining the mujahedeen in Somalia.
The stories led him to contact the FBI and say he feared his son was being brainwashed by al-Qaida recruiters.
But Barre testified Monday that he now thinks it was an elaborate FBI sting that brainwashed his son.
Prosecutors rested their case Monday. Barre was the first defense witness.
Mohamud is accused of attempting to detonate a bomb at a Portland Christmas-tree lighting ceremony in November 2010. The bomb was a fake supplied by undercover FBI agents whom Mohamud thought were al-Qaida recruiters.
During cross-examination by prosecutors, Barre was asked why he used the word "brainwashed" when speaking about his son to FBI agents. Barre interrupted Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight to say, "Can I tell you, the FBI brainwashed my son."
"That's not the question I asked," Knight responded.
Authorities say the FBI was tracking Mohamud's online contacts with Islamic radicals in early 2009. By the time Barre contacted the bureau, agents had been watching Mohamud for months, from the time he was 17.
Defense attorneys have argued that the bureau could have informed Barre and Mohamud's mother about the contacts with radicals. FBI agents have testified that providing such information could have compromised ongoing investigations into the jihadi contacts with whom Mohamud was involved.
Barre said he did not hear anything further from FBI agents until his son was arrested.
Barre described Mohamud's life in the strict Muslim home as troubled by the time he came to the FBI's attention. Barre and his wife, Miriam Hassan, had split up, and the couple's daughter - Mohamud's younger sister - kept running away.
Mohamud was a sweet-natured kid, Barre testified, but impressionable and immature. The family believed Barre's contact with the FBI led to Mohamud being placed on the no-fly list.
Mohamud turned from an engaged, sociable freshman at Oregon State University into a withdrawn sophomore who slept during the day, Mohamud's friend Mohammad Mohamed testified.
Barre, under cross-examination, told Knight he drilled into his children that they should be grateful to live in America. He said he told them not to make waves, to make their parents proud.
"Did you do everything you could to help your son?" Knight asked. "Did you give him every chance to succeed?"
With his wife sitting 20 feet away in the gallery, her chin cradled in her right hand, Barre paused.
"I wish I did more."
Brainwashed by the Muslims.
...and the father doesn't have a brain.
another Al-Queida wanna be caught before he could kill innocent victims. Keep up the good work. The punk ought to thank his lucky stars if he would have made it to Yemen one of our Predator drones would have made him a Grease spot in the desert !
Brainwashed... did he pay the bill for it too? ... sorry but you don't contact the fbi to deal with your parenting mistakes!
I agree that this kid was brainwashed but I'm not sure it was the FBI that did it. If the FBI's claims are accurate then he was already contacting the wrong people long before his parents started to become concerned.
Religion is brainwashing. The end.Â
 @lakeview Telling children being gay is normal is brainwashing. The end.
 @Controlled-Insanity Gay or straight has not one single thing to do with this situation & THAT'S the end!!!
 @Controlled-Insanity Indirectly I could see religion relating, since the kid is a Muslim & "we all know that all terrorists are Muslims & all Muslims are terrorists".
 @katiemcc you're correct.....the poster went off topic, I rebutted in kind.Â
@Controlled-Insanity @lakeview this the end, my only my friend the end...
Bottom line, if the parents actually raised their son with decent morals and integrity, he never would have gotten himself into that situation. The parents need to quit blaming everyone else for what they did.
What a load of verbal diarrhea. Regardless of how this young man was or wasn't raised, he is/was MORE than old enough to make his own decisions, independent of the decisions of his parents. You keep living in your fantasy land where kids apparently always turn out exactly as their parents raise them.
Hey Osman.....you're lucky the FBI didn't take him out to the woods and "bullet" brain him?
He planned to murder citizens, and if he had been talking to real terrorist recruiters, there would have been dead women & children.
Osman, what I'm trying to say here is I do not care if the FBI did what you claim, and other than the ACLU and their card carrying members, no one else does either.
Say what you will, but I don't consider this completely out of the realm of possibility. This isn't exactly an area that this country is known for behaving honorably in.
 @jowsuf Are you also suggesting that the FBI coerced him into writing for a Jihadist magazine?  That was what brought him to the FBI's attention in the first place.  He was writing supporting terrorism and had already been looking for ways to attack the US.
 @NWFreeman "He was writing supporting terrorism and had already been looking for ways to attack the US."
Â
...according to mainstream media news outlets.Â
Â
If they don't want you to know the whole story, you won't know the whole story. I wouldn't be so quick to blindly trust everything you read and always assume your government is honorable and just. I'm not suggesting anything other than to maintain a healthy level of skepticism instead of just blind  "good guy vs bad guy" nonsense.Â
The only people that brainwashed this kid into thinking Americans are the Infidels were his own kind. So are you saying that we put the idea into the kids head and made him go through with what he thought was going to be a "mass killing"?? These People need to go back to their own country where no one brainwashes people into doing things they shouldn't do.......................... because  Koran and it's beliefs have nothing to do with his motive right???
Â
Â
 @Seahawker You totally missed the point of the article. The young man apparently was in contact with recruiters. However, the FBI stepped in, pretended to be al-Qaida recruiters, gave him a fake bomb, sent him on his way, then arrested him for attempting to blow it up. If true, that's a totally unacceptable and despicable situation. The father contacted the FBI in the first place because he had concerns. Instead of stepping in and helping to push the young man onto a better track, the FBI drug him deeper on that road. That's what the father is arguing.
@mhungry @Seahawker The FBI does not have the job of helping to push young terrorists onto a better track. They are not there to save people from bad decisions. It is their job to investigate criminals and get them off the street. They found a young man who was reaching out to terrorists to join their cause. The FBI intercepted the communication and set up a scenerio to see if the kid was all talk or was in fact willing to take action. He clearly was willing to take action and murder people. Thankfully the real terrorists didn't give him a real bomb. Personal responsiblity people! It was no one's fault but the young terrorist.
 @mhungry Except that it seems the story is saying the FBI had already been investigating him for months at the time the father contacted them.
 @mhungry  @Seahawker You'd be happier if the REAL Al-Queda recruiters had gotten to him and he'd blown up the tree ceremony?  Seriously? Â
Â
He had already been writing in support of Jihad and Terrorism which is WHY the FBI knew of him. Â He was actively seeking a way to attack the US. Â The FBI interceded to prevent a REAL attack. Â That he CHOSE to continue with the attack is HIS fault not his parents, not the FBI.
 @NWFreeman  @Seahawker The FBI had the opportunity to pull him aside and attempt to steer him away from his course of action. Instead, they (apparently) chose to trick him and push him further. In essence, they trapped him into doing it. Normally this is called entrapment (at a minimum), and is illegal. While he may have been on a bad path, he had yet to commit any crime until he was talked into it.
Â
Generally I do believe people are responsible for their own actions. In a case like this though you have to step back and realize just how messed up and manipulative this situation is.
 @Seahawker That comment wasn't meant for you.  Just mhungry.  I'm agreeing with you.
@mhungry @Seahawker If the father actually raised his son with decent morals and integrity in the first place, he never would have been in that situation.
 @The WA Mama  @mhungry  @Seahawker Oh yes, because you know, parents always have complete control over the choices their children make.
 @The WA Mama  @mhungry  @Seahawker Yes WA Mama because good parents havent had children that turned out bad before.