As you can probably tell from his name, Emerson Winfield Begolly isn't your typical Islamic terrorist (see a recent picture here).
Begolly, a white convert who went by the pseudonym "Abu Nancy" in jihadi chat rooms, was convicted today in a Pittsburgh court for soliciting people to engage in acts of terrorism. In a former life, prior to joining the jihad, Begolly fancied dressing up in Nazi regalia.
It seems that he eventually made a seamless progression from Naziism to the similarly anti-Semitic, totalitarian creed of Islamism (a relationship which has a long historical precedent).
Here's more, from WJLA.com:
Emerson Winfield Begolly, of New Bethlehem, Pa., was an active administrator of an Islamic extremist internet forum that solicited jihadists to use firearms and explosives against police stations, post offices, Jewish schools and daycare centers, military facilities bridges and other targets.
"Jihadist propaganda on the Internet is a serious threat to our safety, and today's plea is the latest example of our Office's efforts to aggressively identify and prosecute homegrown terrorists," said Neil MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Using the pseudonym Abu Nancy, Begolly used the Ansar al-Mujahideen English Forum to encourage followers to "write their legacy in blood." He applauded the shootings at military facilities throughout Northern Virginia last October and even posted a manual on how to manufacture a bomb.
In early January of 2011, he assaulted FBI agents as they tried to stop him from pulling a gun, going as far as to biting agents on the fingers.
It seems that Begolly fits into a growing category of homegrown terrorist--usually converts--that I describe in Chapter 5 of my book, The Terrorist Next Door. I call them "Freaks, Geeks and Jihadis."