In the tradition of the 19th Century Salons des Refusés (sic). RWNJ Pam Geller and AFDI paid as much for police protection as she awarded to the winner of an art competition that mostly featured a
mediocre collection of derivative entries barely rising to the level of interesting art therapy data. Apparently there's a reparative therapy for Islam as well, since the winner "...left the religion and now describes himself as a 'radical critic of Islam,'”
(Reuters) - Federal agents for years monitored one of the two gunmen who were shot dead after opening fire with assault rifles at a heavily guarded Texas exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.
Two government sources who asked not to be named said the shooters were roommates Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, of Phoenix. Court documents show that Simpson had been under surveillance since 2006 and was convicted in 2011 of lying to FBI agents over his desire to join violent jihad in Somalia...
Police and federal agents had planned security for months ahead of the event, organized by American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), a free-speech organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has described as a hate group, and which paid $10,000 for extra protection.
The event, the "Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest," offered a $10,000 prize for the best artwork or cartoon depicting the Prophet. Artist Bosch Fawstin won for a depiction of a sword-wielding Prophet in a turban shouting, "You can't draw me."
The Winner
The AFDI has, among other activities, sponsored anti-Islamic advertising campaigns in transit systems across the country.
The 200 submissions to the contest
Has the FBI, while battling wild home-grown extremism, developed a species of farm-raised sleeper cells to ensure that counter-terror budgets remain high; hardly "stochastic terror" when you've given someone a criminal record and lifetime surveillance for making contradictory statements.
Simpson was well known to the FBI. Five years ago he was convicted for lying to federal agents about his plans to travel to Africa where investigators alleged he planned to join a terror group.
The investigation into Simpson reached back to July 2007, when he was recorded saying of fighting with Islamists, "I know we can do it, man. But you got to find the right people that… Gotta have connects."
Despite that and other recordings, a judge ruled the government did not adequately prove Simpson was going to join a terror group and Simpson was sentenced to three years' probation for lying to investigators.
"We'd been tracking his online activities. He's been on our radar for a long time -- but there was no indication of any attack coming," a senior law enforcement official told ABC News.
Kristina Sitton, who represented Simpson in the 2010 trial, said her former client had been on a no-fly list and that the FBI had attempted to get Simpson to cooperate with them, even after his conviction. She saw him, she said, as "harmless."
"He grew up the most normal guy. Just a normal high school guy... Converting to Islam seemed like a good thing for him. He had been going down a bad path and then he found Islam," Sitton told ABC News. "He never struck me as someone who would do this sort of thing. I'm not a bleeding heart, I'm a Republican. I've seen some pretty bad guys and he seemed pretty normal."