SubscribeDetails On Afghan-American Who Ran Down 14
From the Bay area Mercury News:
A wedding photo believed to be about two weeks old shows Omeed Aziz Popal with his new bride Nahid in Afghanistan.
Relatives: Rampage suspect may have been stressed over wedding
By James Hohmann and Katherine Corcoran
Relatives of a Fremont man connected to Tuesday's deadly driving rampage said he may have been distraught after returning recently from Afghanistan without his newlywed wife who is waiting for a visa.
Omeed Aziz Popal, 29, who sources said was being held by the San Francisco police, was normally a kind and gentle person, said Hamid Nekrawesh, 43, a first cousin in Fremont.
But a recent trip to Afghanistan to participate in an arranged marriage could have caused him a lot of stress, Nekrawesh said.
"He was a very respectful, quiet, nice guy,'' Nekrawesh said. "I've never seen him do anything violent.''
Zarghona Ramish of San Jose, who also identified herself as Popal's cousin, said he had been having strange dreams since returning a month ago from Afghanistan…
He was born in Afghanistan, but came to the United States at a young age. Three months ago, he returned to his home country to marry, relatives said, and his wife's family was very traditional and strict.
"He grew up as a Western boy in the United States and went to Afghanistan to get married culturally over there,'' Nekrawesh said…
An earlier video report from San Francisco's KTVU does not describe the perpetrator in any way. It offers no physical description of the driver or even any mention of his name.
All that is allowed to be said about him is to have some witnesses remark upon his placid demeanor.
However the KTVU piece does deign to mention that the apparently indescribable driver ended up near a Jewish community center. And that "one witness said he referred to himself as a terrorist."
Of course the reporter quickly goes on to assure us, "but police say this case might have been many things, but it wasn't an act of terrorism."
But why is this so certain?
Note that the Mercury News article mentioned Popal's cousin, Hamid Nekrawesh.
Mr. Nekrawesh appears to be a devout follower of Islam, or at least greatly interested in it. He is also interested in the progress of the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Nekrawesh is also a contributor (of $50) to the anti-war Bush-hating crackpot Lyndon Larouche.
Another cousin of Popal’s mentioned, Zarghona Ramish, has been issued an order from the state of California ( view pdf file ) to desist and refrain from selling fraudulent securities as part of her "charity" work:
7. During 2001, 2002, and 2003, Ramish, Ghias, Farzana, Tamiz, Abawi, and Aziz were active participants in an organization operating under the name of Women Helping Women (WHW), Women Empowering Women (WEW), Women Helping Women Dinner Party (DP), or The Women’s Garden Party or Garden Circle (WGP).
8. WHW, WEW, DP, and WGP operated as a pyramid scheme.
9. Women in these groups operated by inviting women to a "potluck" gathering at individual’s homes and/or community centers or conference rooms. The gathering was described as a "support group." During the gatherings, women would be recruited to contribute money to the group.
Ms. Ramish is the head of Women Helping Women (whw.org) in Alameda County.
Women Helping Women raised money for women suffering in Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake. And we now know the plotters who wanted to blow up all those planes from the UK to the US last week were also raising for Pakistan quake relief, and funded their plans with some of it.
But perhaps I am needlessly suspicious.
Still, it was just six months ago we were talking about another mixed up and murderous SUV driver of Middle Eastern heritage.
Nobody wanted to call the clean-cut UNC student Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar a terrorist, either.
Of course Mr. Popal might just be crazy.
But so are a lot of terrorists.