March 14, 2010 - With the arrest (and subsequent release) of a 2nd American woman who converted to Islam and joined an online circle of radical Islamic jihadis, one thing is becoming painfully clear. The jihadists focus on "cultural jihad", or the befriending, romancing and often marrying of Western women in order to convert them to their cause, is making lonely women vulnerable to their ploys. Earlier Saturday, the Motts had described their daughter, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a convert to Islam, as a lonely woman looking for acceptance. They were trying to explain how she became linked to a number of suspects, including "Jihad Jane", arrested in an alleged plot to kill cartoonist Lars Vilks, whose 2007 drawing of the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog outraged many Muslims. What is clear, according to her parents, is that she long struggled to fit in. She had a hard time making friends, they said, but became even more isolated when she moved from Denver to this isolated, 10,000-foot-high town two years ago.
After several months, she found another, virtual community, one of Islamic extremists with whom she could trade messages via Facebook and MySpace. Always fascinated by foreign cultures, Paulin-Ramirez -- who had PREVIOUSLY BEEN MARRIED TO THREE MEXICAN MEN -- mounted an image of a turbaned Arab on her computer as a screen-saver. She donned a hijab. She became friends with Zazi, the would-be NYC subway bomber, and Jihad Jane. She agreed to marry a Muslim man of Arab origin (her 4th husband). She enrolled her 6-year-old son in a radical Islamic madrassa in Ireland, and she agreed to sponsor another Muslim man of Arab origin who wanted to go to Colorado and take flying lessons. Ding, ding, ding. Warnings signs o'plenty here. Click below for story.
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