Jihad Jane

In a prison, somewhere in the States, is a woman who calls herself Jihad Jane. Like you, we wondered who is this Jihad Jane and why should we care? It turns out that Jihad Jane is a 50-year-old, green-eyed white American named Colleen R. LaRose who apparently converted to Islam online. Converting to Islam isn't considered a crime, however, threatening to kill a Swedish artist who depicted the head of the Prophet Mohammad on the body of the dog is. Deeply offended, like most of the Muslim world, she decided to take matters in her own hand, joining an online group, allegedly affiliated with Al-Qaeda. She travelled to Europe to participate in a militant plot to shoot the artist, Lars Vilks, six times in the chest, but became impatient with the men who lured her into the plan and gave up after six weeks.

Upon her return she was arrested and immediately apologised for blindly following the instructions of her handlers. "I was in a trance and I couldn't see anything else," she said. "I don't want to be in jihad no more."

This story was super sensationalised because Americans were afraid that one of them could be so easily converted into an extremism online. Trying to explain how this happened Americans became obsessed with finding out all of the skeletons she kept in her closet, unearthing the fact that she was repeatedly raped by her father as a child and was psychologically scared.

For four years, she awaited her sentence, which finally arrived month. For her crime, Jihad Jane was sentenced to 10 years, with 4 years already served. What is sad about all this is that any other Muslim would have been sent to Guantanamo indefinitely for less than that. According to her attorney, Mark Wilson, "She's pleased. Ten years is about what we were hoping for all along."

The only reason she got off with 10 years is because she didn't fit America's idea of what a terrorist should look like. Perhaps her childhood trauma could be blamed, but if she so psychologically messed up then what is preventing her from committing an equally terrible crime in the name of anything else? If she is that troubled then she should be committed to a mental institution.

As for the rest of the supposed terrorists with little to no evidence against them, being tortured and rotting away in Guantanamo bay, there is still no word on what their sentences will be and if they will ever be set free. All we know is that if they were white skinned Americans sitting in Guantanamo they would have likely been out by now and the facility shut down.