UPDATED, MAY 3, 12:21 P.M.: The Orange County Register is speculating Adam “Goat Boy” Gadahn may replace Osama bin Laden as America's top fugitive, noting the FBI has marked former most wanted man bin Laden as “deceased” and that Gadahn is currently ranked as No. 2 on that list. The article quotes an FBI spokeswoman as virtually denying Gadahn was one of the unidentified males slain with bin Laden, nor was he believed to be hiding anywhere near bin Laden, and that the U.S. government doesn't believe he has any “operational” involvement with al-Qaeda beyond making his inane videos.
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ORIGINAL POST, May 2, 8:56 A.M.: It's still pretty early, but with yesterday's killing of Osama bin Laden, it's not too soon to wonder wherever in the world is OC's very own al-Qaeda spokeshole Adam Gadahn, and why haven't we found the lovable little psychopath yet?
That's
assuming Gadahn, who grew up on a Riverside goat farm before
moving to Orange County and converting from a Satan-worshiping
metalhead into a radical Muslim, isn't already dead. There have been rumors of this before–and before that and even before that–making him one of the luckiest dead men walking on the planet.
Who knows, maybe he was one of the as-of-yet-unnamed men killed
alongside bin Laden? More likely, though, Gadahn is hiding out in some
other compound in Pakistan, but that's really anyone's guess.
For those who don't remember, after disappearing in Pakistan in the months leading up to 9/11, Gadahn surfaced during the summer of 2004 in videotapes released by al-Qaeda, wearing a kaffiya wrapped around his face. Identifying himself as “Azzam the American,” Gadahn predicted new terrorist attacks on U.S. soil that would rival the terrorist attacks in New York. He showed up on additional videotapes without the mask, delivering pseudo-sermons on the evils of Western democracy and the inevitability of U.S. defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan, thus paving the way for a puritanical paradise.
Gadahn hasn't been heard from since March 2010, when the AP erroneously reported he'd been captured in an anti-terrorism raid in Karachi.
Bin Laden's death really brings back memories, as do the above links, all of which involve the cat-and-mouse game to find him. But to know where the whole story starts for Goat Boy, here's a link to my my feature story on Gadahn and his crazy pals in Anaheim, including Khalil Deek, who also disappeared in Pakistan before 9/11 and is also rumored to be dead.
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).