We shared with you two American Jihadis in a previous post, proof that Jihad Jane is most definitely not alone. Here are other American Jihadis.

We move on to Abdul Rahman Yasin (status: At large). Yasin is wanted for that other attack on the World Trade Center, staged in 1993. Yasin was born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1960, and is one of two Americans who are on the FBI’s list of most-wanted terrorists. The United States is offering up to $5M for information that will lead to his arrest.

Anwar Al-Awlaki (status: At large) is reportedly tagged as the “bin Laden of the Internet”. He has been linked to Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan and “underwear bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Al-Awlaki was born in 1971 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He is said to be an Al Qaeda cleric and senior recruiter, and is “a leading light among militant Sunni preachers seeking to reach out to English-speaking Muslims and encourage them to engage in jihad in the West.”

Omar Hammami (status: At large) was profiled in a feature on the New York Times entitled “The Jihadist Next Door”. Hammami was born in Alabama to a Syrian father and American mother, and raised as a Christian in what was described as a “Bible-Belt town”. According to the account he was “gradually drawn into fundamentalist Islam and in 2007 joined Somalia’s Al Qaeda-backed insurgent group Al Shabaab”.

US Army doctor Nidal Malik Hasan made headlines about four months ago after he opened fire at a US Army outpost in Fort Hood, Texas, resulting in the deaths of 13 people. He was born in Arlington, Virginia.

News circles are abuzz with the recent indictment of American Colleen LaRose for her role in a mission to recruit fighters and an attempt to attack a Swedish artist. A blog entry on The Christian Science Monitor shares that LaRose is not the only American to take up an extremist stand and support violent Jihad. Through a slideshow, they share ten of these American jihadis – while at the same time stating that this list is by no means representative of all Americans who have chosen to take a different cause.

The list starts off with Daniel Patrick Boyd (status: Arrested, July 27, 2009). Boyd is thought to be the ringleader of a group composed of seven men in South Carolina. He was charged with providing support to “violent jihad” movements in such countries as Israel, Pakistan, Jordan and Kosovo. He was allegedly trained by Islamic radicals in Pakistan and Afghanistan, although there has been no link established between him militant groups in those countries.

Boyd is followed by someone who is thought to be ensconced in the higher echelons of Al Qaeda: Adam Gadahn (status: at large). He is described as “the most wanted American member of Al Qaeda and the first US citizen since the 1940s to be charged with treason.” Gadahn was born in Oregon and raised in California; at present, he is said to be a senior commander to Osama bin Laden himself and serves as “translator, video producer, and cultural interpreter.”

Unlike the Navy’s WAVES, who were allowed to hold the same ranks and ratings as their male counterparts, the women of WASP were considered as civilians. The Miami Herald article recounts how the WASPs were not treated as equals and were at the receiving end of pranks.

They had to pay for their own way, both when coming to training and going home after they were dismissed in 1944, towards the end of the War. Nothing much was said about their existence and their accomplishments, as their records were classified and sealed. But when, in 1976, the Air Force announced that their Academy’s first women graduates were to become “the first American women to fly military aircraft”, the women of WASP stood up to remind “a forgetful nation that they had been there first.”

These courageous women are now in their 80s and 90s; out of their original number of 1,102, 38 lost their lives while in the service, and some undoubtedly passed on through the years. Those who still could graced the event held in their honor, sporting grey hair and wheelchair, resplendent in their WASP uniforms. They have, indeed, come a long way.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D – California) addressed the WASPs: “We acknowledge that for too long the proud service of the WASPs was not recognized in word or in deed. Today, we honor you as the heroes that you are.” Pelosi borrowed a couple of lines from a WASP song: “f you have a daughter, teach her to fly,” adding further that “we are all your daughters.”

The Smithsonian Institution will have the gold medal on exhibit, while the WASPs and their survivors received bronze replicas.

March is International Women’s History Month, so it is but fitting that the contributions that women have made to our nation’s history are recognized. According to a feature on the Miami Herald, female aviators from World War II were honored in a ceremony held at the Capitol Visitor Center Emancipation Hall.

This is certainly a significant step up the ladder for these courageous women who have initially been denied the recognition they so truly deserved. These pioneering female aviators were part of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) who took to the skies during World War II in the service of America. While their male counterparts were regarded as heroes, these women had a different story to tell, and their contributions were almost buried in the sands of time.

The WASP program, according to the feature, was “born out of necessity because all the male pilots were needed for combat and transport duty”. At that time, there were young female aviators, but their flying opportunities were limited to “barnstorming and noncommercial service”. With the WASP, these women flew every kind of military aircraft imaginable – 78 Army Air Corps aircraft all told.

Their responsibilities included the delivering of military planes to bases in the U.S. and Canada, flying planes “with targets trailing behind to give soldiers experience with anti-aircraft guns”, ferrying of supplies and domestic flying for the military so that the men are free to serve in combat. WASPs also conducted test flights on new bombers and checked planes that had been to combat to ensure their airworthiness.

The Navy continues its commitment to the enhancement of family readiness by releasing the first monthly Family Gram, according to a post on the Navy website. This first Family Gram contains information on medical benefits and what range of medical support services is available to both Sailors and their respective families.

Rear Adm. Dan Holloway, the director of personnel, plans and policies division of the US Navy gave the following statement: “Family readiness describes a Navy family who is prepared for mobilizations, deployments and prolonged separations through a network of support systems and communication channels that link the command, family and Navy… Together we are forming a resilient well-informed family, adaptable to the Navy operating environment and capable of navigating through and utilizing the many support services available.”

Holloway talks about family readiness in the accompanying podcast, and said that “it is important that as our men and women go forward in their duties realizing that their families back at home supporting them will be taken care of while they are deployed.”

Family Gram contains information on the Defense Department’s “worldwide health care program for active duty and Reserve Sailors and their families”, called Tricare. Included are Tricare coverage choices as well as an explanation of the differences and eligibility requirements of the prime, standard, extra and overseas program-prime options.

The importance of enrolling as well as keeping information in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) current is also emphasized. This is to ensure one’s eligibility for various Navy benefits.

Call it prejudice if you will, but most people do have a stereotypical image of what a terrorist looks like, and it will most probably not be a petite, blond and blue-eyed American woman. We have been inundated for quite some time with images of bearded men in white robes and turbans that it can be easy to associate the image with the act – when there are a lot of bearded and turban-ed entrepreneurs and professionals in such progressive cities as Dubai.

A feature on The Washington Post gives us a glimpse into the “evolving nature of the threat” faced by the United States, to borrow a phrase from the assistant attorney general for the national security division, David Kris.

According to the feature, JihadJane is the nickname adopted by 46-year-old American Colleen Renee LaRose. She has been incarcerated since October, although her being in US Custody has been kept under wraps; the federal officials who provided the Post with information reportedly spoke on condition of anonymity. Her incarceration is said to be due to “suspicions that she provided material support to terrorists and traveled to Sweden to launch a violent attack.”

There is apparently evidence that would show that LaRose repeatedly referred to a certain “target”, who may be Swedish artist Lars Vilks. Vilks drew the prophet Muhammad with a body of a dog in 2007, triggering the anger of Muslims; officials decline to confirm, however, that Vilks was, indeed, the intended victim.

LaRose is said to have gone to Europe and even recruited others to her “cause”. There is no schedule yet for her arraignment.