The Basketball obsessed American who became a suicide bomber

[KevinNYC]

When Moner Mohammad Abusalha drove a truck packed with explosives into a restaurant in northern Syria in May, American authorities conceded that they knew little about how a young man who grew up a basketball-obsessed teenager in a Florida gated community had become a suicide bomber.
And they have never publicly acknowledged the startling discovery they made weeks into their investigation: that after receiving training by an extremist group in Syria, Mr. Abusalha had returned to the United States for several months before leaving the country for the last time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/31/us...re-attack.html

[KevinNYC]

[QUOTE]An American suicide bomber who a militant group said detonated 16 tons of explosives at a mountaintop restaurant in Syria last week was remembered in the suburban Florida subdivision where he grew up for a single thing: his love of basketball.

The bomber, Moner Mohammad Abusalha, grew up in Lakes at Sandridge, a gated community in Vero Beach, a city about 140 miles north of Miami. He attended local schools and played for a traveling youth basketball team, neighbors said Saturday.

[BRabbiT]

suicide bombing is fukcing weak

what a douche bag.

[sweggeh]

I hate it whenever I hear about a seemingly nice kid being brainwashed into committing atrocities. When will these guys using gullible kids to kill themselves and others to aid their political aims be stopped? We put a lot of spotlight on the bombers, but they arent the real issue.What about the men at the top who hide behind religion, politics and brainwash young guys into giving up their lives for them? If you stop those then the production line of suicide bombers stops for good. We need to put more spotlight on those guys, the leaders of the terrorist organisations.

[nathanjizzle]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/31/us...re-attack.html

look at the top of his head, notice how small it is.

[Patrick Chewing]

The bigger story is here is how once again "American authorities conceded that they knew little" about this guy and who this guy became.

Now you have open borders to the South of us and once again America is clueless as to who's coming into our country.


The United States has been weakened by weak administrations. Just the other day Clinton admits that he had a chance to kill Bin Laden before 9/11 happened and didn't do it. Another weak Democrat.

[KevinNYC]

Now you have open borders to the South of us and once again America is clueless as to who's coming into our country.

The story on our southern border has nothing to do with open borders. We have a refugee crisis of people fleeing violence in Central America. These kids are crossing the border and are caught/surrender to Border Patrol immediately.

[CavaliersFTW]

All that aggressive hand gesturing, posturing, emotion and hatred... despite growing up a (relatively-speaking) privileged white American from Florida. Pretty clear the dude needed psychological help, and guidance. Chose the wrong group to get it from.

[JellyBean]

What the heck does being obsessed with basketball have to do with being a suicide bomber? Is this code or something?

[flipogb]

What the heck does being obsessed with basketball have to do with being a suicide bomber? Is this code or something?

maybe he was a Cleveland fan

[JellyBean]

maybe he was a Cleveland fan

Awwww. Now I see the connection

[CavaliersFTW]

What the heck does being obsessed with basketball have to do with being a suicide bomber? Is this code or something?

Pointing out identifiable/relatable traits it's journalism tactic to try and make it feel like we have criminals and terrorists mingling among us all the time just waiting to snap. If it wasn't basketball or Florida it'd be something else. Like "father of two" or "brother of local businessman"... something that tries to bring the story closer to home.

[CavaliersFTW]

maybe he was a Cleveland fan

He's from Florida. Clearly a Heat fan. Probably went nuts after he heard Lebron was leaving.

[kNIOKAS]

I hate it whenever I hear about a seemingly nice kid being brainwashed into committing atrocities. When will these guys using gullible kids to kill themselves and others to aid their political aims be stopped? We put a lot of spotlight on the bombers, but they arent the real issue.What about the men at the top who hide behind religion, politics and brainwash young guys into giving up their lives for them? If you stop those then the production line of suicide bombers stops for good. We need to put more spotlight on those guys, the leaders of the terrorist organisations.

You are either a bit quick to jump to "brainwash" or not at all. US has the world's biggest military recruiting people to commit atrocities and die for Dick Cheney's of the world.

[Patrick Chewing]

The story on our southern border has nothing to do with open borders. We have a refugee crisis of people fleeing violence in Central America. These kids are crossing the border and are caught/surrender to Border Patrol immediately.

But you ignored what I just said. With open borders, you cannot account for who goes in and goes out. If America thinks the only people coming across are desperate children, they are sadly mistaken. My point is if the United States didn't even know about this guy who is American-born, then we are in some serious trouble.

We've been in serious trouble since 9/11. We just keep making the same mistakes as before.