Man Arrested Outside Dearborn Mosque a Convert to Islam, Also Threatened to Kill George W. Bush

This story just keeps getting stranger. As we began unearthing details about Roger Stockham Sunday, it was clear the guy had a few screws loose. In the last update we had there were links to numerous news accounts from Stockham's past, including one reporting he was a convert to Islam. That's worth noting since some reaction was already becoming hysterical and he left was already making references to Glenn Beck and (for them) the usual suspects.

Now things become even murkier.

A decorated Army veteran accused of plotting to blow up a Metro Detroit mosque served time in federal prison for threatening to kill President George W. Bush and bomb a Vermont veterans' clinic in 2002.

Roger Stockham, 63, who flew 600 combat helicopter missions in Vietnam, is behind bars in Michigan after he drove from his home in California last week and parked a car with a trunk full of explosives outside the Islamic Center of America, authorities said.

Acting on a tip, Dearborn police thwarted the alleged plot by arresting Stockham outside the sprawling religious center, one of the largest mosques in North America. At the time, 500 members were attending a funeral at the mosque.

Stockham had high-end fireworks outside the 70,000-square-foot mosque, which has a 150-foot dome height and 10-story-tall minarets, said Dearborn Mayor John B. O'Reilly Jr.

"The kind that are illegal here and if used in a building would cause tremendous harm," O'Reilly said Sunday.

Stockham, who lives in Imperial Beach, Calif., is charged with one count of a false report or threat of terrorism and one count of explosives/possession of bombs with unlawful intent.

He is being held on a $500,000 cash bond. He will be in court Friday for a hearing on the charges before 19th District Judge Mark Somers.

Police said Stockham was in possession of class C fireworks, a 15-year felony. The terrorism charge carries a 20-year felony.

FBI special agent Sandra Berchtold confirmed Sunday the FBI is investigating the incident, which was referred to the federal agency by Dearborn police.

According to federal records, Stockham pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to federal charges stemming from the case in Vermont in 2004. That included threatening the president, mailing threatening communications, threatening by use of the telephone to use explosives, and threatening witnesses.

Curiously, Stockham used a Muslim name during some communications.

Before the arrest, Stockham called a local paper twice to say he was going to explode bombs in the neighborhood. In one call, he identified himself as "Hem Ahadin," saying he was "a local Muslim terrorist on a roll."

He ranted against the VA, the FBI and Bush, largely because of the things the president had said about Iraq in a speech earlier in the week.

According to affidavit filed in U.S. District Court, Stockham threatened to carry out "jihad," or holy war, against the VA office in White River, Vt.

Ranting about Bush and the FBI? Heck, that makes him part of the mainstream left back in 2004, so obviously the incendiary rhetoric directed toward Bush by the Democrats caused him to make these threats? Right? Isn't that more evidence than anything linking the right to Jared Loughner?

It sure doesn't appear Stockham has renounced Islam.

Just two weeks ago, Stockham was on Facebook, posting a rambling statement in which he again refers to himself as "Hem Ahadin," calling it his Muslim name.

The leftist blogosphere has their talking points, however, and are sticking to them.

"We always hear about Muslims being terrorists, we always hear about Muslims attacking innocent person," Al-Qazwini said. "When America only talks about Muslims being terrorists, they will turn a blind eye on their own terrorists."

Uhh, but isn't "Hem Ahadin", the man who threatened George W. Bush, calling himself a Muslim?

Walid said that he thinks that anti-Muslim rhetoric played a role in the incident.

"I believe it is a mixture of the two, between a person being mentally unstable within a society context of a lot of anti-Muslim rhetoric floating around. People can be on the edge and when they're exposed to enough negative information about a group of people... it may be enough to push them over the edge," Walid said.

"We can't look into the mind of Jared Loughner, he obviously had some mental problems, but there's a particular type of rhetoric that was existing that may have contributed to what he did in Tucson," Walid said.

At Think Progress they make casual mention of the threat against Bush, but still revert to the typical blather about Islamophobia. Even when clear evidence shows them we have an isolated incident by a lone wacko who can clearly be linked to causes promoted by the left they still have to point fingers elsewhere.