Pamela Geller Under 24-Hour Guard After Alleged Beheading Plot By Boston Terror Suspect
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Pamela Geller, the New York woman behind a controversial contest to draw the prophet Muhammad, is now under 24-hour guard after news that she was the supposed target of a beheading in a foiled terror plot in Boston.
The conservative activist and blogger who runs the New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative said she's not surprised by the alleged plot.
"Drawing a cartoon, an innocuous cartoon, warrants chopping my head off?" she said. "I just don't understand this. They are coming for everybody and the media should be standing with me."
Pamela Geller Not Surprised By Alleged Beheading Plot By Boston Suspect
Geller's group is known for mounting a campaign against the building of an Islamic center blocks from the World Trade Center site and for buying advertising space in cities across the U.S. criticizing Islam.
More recently, she organized the controversial event displaying drawings of the prophet Muhammad in Garland, Texas.
Usaama Rahim was killed Tuesday after authorities said he lunged with a knife at investigators who approached him to question him.
David Wright, a relative of Rahim's, was ordered held Wednesday on a charge of conspiracy with intent to obstruct a federal investigation.
The FBI said Rahim bought three fighting knives and a sharpener on or before May 26. On Tuesday, he told Wright he planned to begin trying to randomly kill police officers, the FBI said.
An anti-terror task force of FBI agents and Boston police, faced with an imminent threat, confronted Rahim on a sidewalk and fatally shot him when he refused to drop his knife, authorities said.
Rahim and Wright were heard in a recorded conversation talking about "thinking with your head on your chest,'' a reference to Islamic State propaganda videos showing severed heads on the chests of beheading victims, the FBI said in an affidavit written by an agent assigned to Boston's Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Rahim initially told Wright about a plan to behead an unidentified victim outside Massachusetts, and on Sunday, Rahim, Wright and an unidentified man met on a beach in Rhode Island to "discuss their plans,'' the FBI affidavit said.
"Wright indicated that he agreed with Rahim's plan and supported it,'' the affidavit states.
Sources said the original target was supposed to be Geller. But early Tuesday morning, Rahim called Wright and told him he had changed his plans and no longer planned to kill someone in another state, the affidavit says. Instead, he said he was going to "go after'' the "boys in blue,'' it says, an apparent reference to police officers.
During the recorded conversation, Rahim told Wright, "Yeah, I'm going to be on vacation right here in Massachusetts. --- I'm just going to, ah, go after them, those boys in blue,'' the affidavit says.
The FBI said the phrase "going on vacation'' refers to committing violent jihad.
Authorities allege that during that conversation, Wright advised Rahim to destroy his smartphone, wipe his laptop computer and prepare his will.
Rahim was under investigation after spreading Islamic State propaganda online and communicating with other people about it, said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.
"These cases are a reminder of the dangers posed by individuals radicalized through social media,'' the Texas Republican said.
ISIS claims to have cells in the U.S. -- 71 trained soldiers in 15 states.
"Sadly I think they're here," said Edmund Hartnett with Brosnan Risk Consultants. "I don't want to get people too alarmed, but sadly they're here and either they're waiting to act or they're preparing to act."
Geller said she now has security guards 24/7.
"Anybody that speaks critically of Islam will find themselves in this position," she said.
But she said she doesn't plan to alter her provocative and controversial campaigns and is planning more events in the future.
(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
