Recent cases highlight US terrorists

WASHINGTON (AP) - One was a drywall contractor and father, another a petite woman who cared for the elderly, another a U.S. military officer. The most alarming thing about a string of recently arrested terror suspects is that they are all Americans.

Over the past week, a Pennsylvania woman was accused in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist; a New Jersey man was held by authorities in Yemen; and five young Pakistani-American men from Northern Virginia were charged by Pakistani officials with planning terrorist attacks in the South Asian country. These seven are among more than a dozen Americans captured or identified by the U.S. government and its allies as actively supporting jihad, or holy war, in the past two years.

Some, according to prosecutors, were inspired by the U.S. involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Others, like the accused Pennsylvania woman, allegedly wanted to avenge what they considered an insult to the Prophet Mohammed. Many traveled overseas to get terrorist training. Some used home computers to foment plots.

There is no evidence that these cases are connected in any way. But they underscore the new reality that there is a threat from violent Islamic extremism from within the U.S. It is difficult to say whether the uptick in cases is because law enforcement has gotten better at catching suspects or if there are simply more to catch.

Most of the cases ended with suspects captured before they could act on their plans. But some were nearly ready to spring to action, like Colorado resident Najibullah Zazi, 24, who pleaded guilty in February as the leader of a plot to bomb the New York subway system.

And law enforcement was too late to prevent a shooting rampage in December on the military post at Fort Hood, Texas. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, 39, a U.S.-born Army psychiatrist of Palestinian descent, is charged with killing 13 people.

Determining how quickly a suspected homegrown terrorist goes from adopting extremist rhetoric to becoming a suicide bomber is a challenge to law enforcement. Some people never make that leap. Others do it in a matter of months or years.

"Individuals can be radicalized in a number of ways - by direct contact with terrorists abroad or in the United States, over the Internet or on their own through a process of self-radicalization," said Assistant Attorney General David Kris, the top counterterrorism official at the Justice Department.

These cases, Kris said, "underscore the constantly evolving nature of the threat we face."

For years U.S. officials have predicted there would be a rise in homegrown terrorism. "Now we're beginning to see the predictions coming true," said Michael Chertoff, the former Homeland Security secretary.

Because of this, Chertoff said, it is critical for communities to be on the lookout for unusual behavior. Law enforcement, he added, needs to continue to educate people on the differing signs of terrorism.

There is no single reason people drift toward terrorism.

"It's a combination of psychology, sociology and people who, just for cultural reasons, gravitate" to Islamic extremism, Chertoff said. "We can't assume we've got months and years."

Colleen LaRose, the Pennsylvania woman who allegedly met violent jihadists online under the name "JihadJane," took only months, prosecutors say. LaRose, according to her boyfriend, never showed religious leanings during the five years they dated. Then, her boyfriend came home last summer and she was gone.

In a June 2008 YouTube video, the blond-haired, green-eyed Muslim convert said she was "desperate to do something somehow to help" ease the suffering of Muslims, federal prosecutors allege.

Some homegrown terrorists take much longer to show their militant leanings. In the case of North Carolina drywall contractor Daniel Boyd, federal prosecutors say he nursed his ambitions for jihad over decades.

Boyd is accused of leading a group of men - including two of his sons - who planned to kidnap, kill and maim people in other countries in the name of jihad. One of Boyd's neighbors said he didn't think Boyd was a terrorist. "If he's a terrorist, he's the nicest terrorist I ever met in my life," Charles Casale said.

Boyd decried the U.S. military, praised the honor in martyrdom, bemoaned the struggle of Muslims and said "I love jihad" on audiotapes obtained by federal authorities.

Even when law enforcement officials know about an American's interaction with suspected terrorists, they may not have enough information to act on it.

Months before Hasan allegedly went on his shooting spree at Fort Hood, he was in contact with a radical Islamic cleric in Yemen, federal prosecutors allege. The FBI was aware of Hasan's contact with the cleric, but he did not emerge as a homegrown threat before the shootings.

It is not a new concept for Americans to join the jihadi cause. In 2001, John Walker Lindh was arrested in Afghanistan for fighting with the Taliban. Raised Catholic, the California native was 12 when he