twice this year to travel to Somalia to join the Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab, but his online threats landed him on a no-fly list. FBI agents arrested him in July.

Now the Washington Post reports that Chesser will plead guilty this afternoon to providing material support to terrorists, making threats and other charges that could land him up to 15 years in jail. His wife was also charged with making false statements to investigators.

The youthful terrorist wannabe apparently had a healthy view of his importance to the struggle. He reportedly told FBI interviewers that he coined the term “open-source jihad” to describe DIY terror efforts that anyone who wanders over to radical sites like preacher Anwar al-Awlaqi’s YouTube channel can pull off. (Foreign Policy summarizes Chesser’s tips for amateur jihadis here.) Some open-source-jihad tips appeared in the recently-released second issue of Inspire, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s English-language magazine, like creating a Terrorist Monster Truck by welding knives to the grill of a vehicle and mowing down passers-by on a busy sidewalk. Inspire also printed a demand that the U.S. free Chesser.

One thing Chesser isn’t charged with: threatening Parker and Stone. After South Park aired an April episode featuring a (never-shown) Mohammed in a bear costume, Chesser posted to RevolutionMuslim, “We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid, and they will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh for airing this show,” a reference to the Dutch filmmaker murdered in 2004 for making a documentary critical of Islam. “This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.”

That and other statements earned Chesser frequent opprobrium and ridicule by the Jawa Report bloggers, who’ve trailblazed mockery of open-source jihadis. The Jawa post today about Chesser is comparatively understated, predicting that during the plea hearing today, “the ‘freakishly intelligent’ Mr. Chesser will continue to overestimate his ability to ‘handle’ the federal agents he is dealing with, and will suffer further negative consequences as a result.” Yesterday, they weren’t as gentle with Mrs. Chesser, and celebrated news of the forthcoming guilty plea with an animated .gif of a dancing MC Hammer.

See Also:

• Student, Online Terrorist Flunkie Arrested in Virginia
• Online Jihadists Plan for ‘Invading Facebook’
• Al-Qaida’s Propaganda Sites, Smacked Down
• Qaeda Pushes Snack Attacks, ‘Ultimate Mowing Machine’

Authors: Spencer Ackerman

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