Category: American ISIS

ISIS American Recruit Michael Todd Wolfe Sentenced – Update

On June 17, 2014, ISIS terrorist group recruit Michael Todd Wolfe aka “Faruqu”of Austin, Texas  was arrested by the FBI at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. He planned to fly his family to Europe where he would meet an ISIS fixer who would take them all on to Syria. In Syria, he planned to join the ISIS terrorist organization to join in violence and killings. Unknown to the ISIS terrorist group recruit, his contact was an undercover FBI agent.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 20, 2014.

On June 27, 2014, CNN reported that Michael Todd Wolfe plead guilty to “attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization.”

On June 5, 2014, Michael Todd Wolfe was sentenced to 82 years in prison.  The FBI press release stated: “Michael Todd Wolfe aka Faruq, 24, of Austin, Texas, was sentenced this afternoon by U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks of the Western District of Texas to serve 82 months in federal prison for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, announced Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin, Acting U.S. Attorney Richard L. Durbin Jr. for the Western District of Texas and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs of the FBI’s San Antonio Division.”

The American-Statesman provides further background on the case, reporting:

“In a plea last year, he admitted that he obtained a passport, went through physical training and practiced military maneuvers to prepare to engage in violent jihad, investigators said. Federal court records show Wolfe had been communicating with an undercover investigator who told Wolfe he had helped people wanting to travel for jihad in Somalia and Syria. From August 2013 until this month, Wolfe had worked on preparing for the trip. He obtained birth certificates for himself, his wife and two children. He asked an undercover agent for a pair of durable glasses with a head strap that would hold up on the battlefield, and he was running, doing Cross-Fit exercises and practicing martial arts, investigators said.  In early August, his wife told an undercover agent that her husband had said his heart yearned to join his Muslim brothers, that he was ready to die for his religion, that ‘he was ready to die for someone; for something,’ according to a criminal complaint. His plan was for him and his family to travel under the false pretext of going to a concert in Europe, and he bought airline tickets so that he could meet an FBI employee, whom he thought would facilitate his trip to Syria through Turkey, the complaint states. He was arrested June 17 at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, where he had been attempting to board a plane to Toronto, according to the complaint. His itinerary indicated that he intended to travel through Iceland, arriving in Copenhagen, Denmark, the next day. From there, investigators said, he planned to make his way to Syria.”

ISIS terrorist group recruit Michael Todd Wolfe aka "Faruqu"of Austin, Texas (Source: American-Statesman)
ISIS terrorist group recruit Michael Todd Wolfe aka “Faruqu”of Austin, Texas (Source: American-Statesman)

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all.

Who is ISIS?

The ISIS terrorist group stands for what it calls itself as “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).” The terrorist group also goes by the name “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL),” the “Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham,”or simply “Islamic State,” and is also referred to as the pejorative name “Daesh,” which generally means “a group of bigots who impose their will on others.” The ISIS group originated as Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999, and had previously pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda in 2004. It was part of the Iraq war after the March 2003 fighting with Western forces. In January 2006, it was part of other extremist groups rationalizing their violence on a twisted interpretation of Sunni religion that formed the Mujahideen Shura Council, which proclaimed the formation of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in October 2006. Once the Syrian Civil War started in March 2011, this “ISI” was under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at that time. The ISI sent terrorist troops into the Syrian Civil War, which called themselves the Al-Nusra Front (Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahli ash-Shām) and developed beachheads in Sunni majority areas of Syria. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sought a merger of the ISIS with Al-Nusra Fron which was then called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Al-Nusra and Al-Qaead rejected the merger, which began the power struggle amongst the terrorist groups. On June 29, 2014, the ISIL declared itself a caliphate, and as of November 13, 2015, ISIS declared its version of an “Islamic” state in Iraq on October 13, 2006, claimed territory in the “Levant” including Syria on February 3, 2014, claimed territory in Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen on November 13, 2014, claimed territory in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India on January 29, 2015, claimed territory in Nigeria on March 12, 2015, and claimed territory in the North Caucasus on June 23, 2015.

ISIS was formally added to the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) on December 17, 2004, as “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (formerly al-Qa’ida in Iraq).”

Flag of ISIS

Flag of the Terrorist Group which calls itself "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)"
Flag of the Terrorist Group which calls itself “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)”

 

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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all.