Latest Jihadi Legal Defense: We Take It All Back

Look at the smiles on the faces of three of the young men in shackles who were picked up in Pakistan after being reported for asking around for the nearest terrorist camp. When this photo was taken, in December of 2009 or early January of 2010, it was good times heading for Madrassa U for these five wanna-be terrorists from the DC area: Pakistani Americans Umer Farooq and Waqar Hussain; Ethiopian Americans Aman Yamar and Ahmed Abdullah Mimi; and Egyptian American Ramy Zamzam, all under the age of 26.

During Thanksgiving break, the group had jetted away to Pakistan, leaving behind a "goodbye" video "showing scenes of war and casualties and saying Muslims must be defended." Their worried parents soon enlisted the aid of the FBI in getting their sons back. Too late. When the men asked to be directed to the nearest terrorist camp but didn't have the correct "references" and didn't even speak the preferred language (Urdu), locals turned them in to the Pakistani police, whom Ramy Zamzam (smiling prisoner second from the right) assured there was nothing to worry about: "We are jihadists, and jihad is not terrorism."

Unimpressed, Pakistani authorities wanted to know why guys from a suburb of Alexandria were traipsing around Pakistan with a map of the Chashma Barrage [shown],  a reservoir complex located near nuclear power facilities.

After a few weeks of eating a culturally correct diet and experiencing local customs in a high security Pakistani prison, the youths were throwing Help-Us-We're-Being-Tortured notes out the window of the bus transporting them to their hearings. Pakistani authorities charged Umer, Waqar, Aman, Ahmed, and Ramy with attempting to (a) target important installations in Pakistan, (b) fight in Afghanistan, and (c) embrace martyrdom.

The five now can't figure out why anyone would confuse them with jihadists. In fact, they claim, their "noble" intentions "in traveling secretly to Pakistan" were motivated by a desire to help Muslim orphans in Afghanistan, mixed in with a desire for some just plain "fun." A little too late, Aman Yamar (the doubtful looking prisoner second from the left) has come to the conclusion that "It doesn't make any sense that I would leave my family, friends, education and comfortable, happy life to live in a small cave."

It seems that embracing martyrdom isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Hat tip: Jihad Watch.

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• "We are jihadists, and jihad is not terrorism"