New Mexico child abuse case: Men charged with training children for school shootings.

A picture of the compound where the children were kept. Reuters. 

Court filings in a New Mexico child abuse case have shown that the suspects that held 11 children in horrible conditions were training them to commit school shootings. Reuters. Huraj Wahhaj and Lucas Mortan, along with the presumed mothers of the children were charged with 11 counts of child abuse. Wahhaj was also wanted for the abduction of his 3 year old son. Remains found at the compound have not been positively identified but are likely to be that son, who had major medical issues. Wahhaj was heavily armed and had trained several of the children in firearms at a gun range he had set up at the site. Wahhaj is a Muslim and the son of a prominent cleric in New York City, though no motive has been released for the planned assaults. 

My Comment:

Absolutely disgusting case out of New Mexico and one that we are extremely lucky to have been resolved. It is very clear that Wahhaj and Mortan were extremely dangerous people planning some horrible things. Had their plans come to fruition, dozens or even hundreds could have died. It probably would have been on the scale of the Paris attacks and would probably be the worst terror attack in the United States since 9/11.

We don't have too many details on what they were actually planning and how many children were to be involved but even if it was only a couple it would have been a disaster. If each child attacked a different school in the same city/town and the adults attacked as well it would completely overwhelm the authorities ability to respond in a meaningful way. Even if it was four separate attacks (The two male adults and two of the children which is the least number possible given what was said in the article) it would have been a disaster. There are only so many cops and they would have had a very hard time responding to multiple attacks like this. Though some of the attackers would face resistance from cops, many of them would be free to shoot and kill until they ran out of ammo. And they would have a decent chance of escaping so they could continue attacks afterwards. 

I don't think I am being overdramatic when I think that this could have killed and wounded more people than the Las Vegas shooting which killed 59 people and wounded hundreds of more. It would depend on the choice of targets, how quick police response was and how many of the children were able and willing to attack and if the adults joined them. Either way, relatively unskilled school shooters have killed 10+ people by themselves. Multiply that by the number of attackers and factor in the training these kids had and you have a very serious attack. 

That's the worst case scenario but I don't think it's the only one. It might not have been a Paris style complex attack, but instead a string of school shootings. Had they gone that path the casualties would have been much less but it would cause a total panic for parents across the country. None of them would feel safe even after the plot was discovered and the attackers arrested and/or killed. I guess it is also possible that all the attackers could attack the same school and the result could be like the Belsan School Massacre. No matter what the scenario, it would have been an absolute nightmare. 

I think this plot is a pretty good argument for having teachers carry guns. Much has been made of the fact that cops can screw up like they did during the Parkland shooting but this plot goes to show that it could be that the cops are totally overwhelmed. Responding to one shooting at a time is difficult enough but doing so when there are multiple attacks at separate schools? The only chance anyone would have is if a teacher was armed. It might not save everyone, or even do anything but buy time for kids to escape, but it's better than nothing. 

Fortunately, the suspects in this case made a very stupid mistake. Wahhaj abducting his own son led authorities right to him and destroyed his plans. Doing so also likely cost the child his life as he was handicapped but it is also possible that he was murdered. It was a pretty stupid thing for him to do and blew up his plot. If he had just left his child alone he likely would have succeeded in his plan. As always I thank God for stupid terrorists... 

It is likely that this plot was motivated by Wahhaj's Muslim faith, but I don't know if there are any links to wider terrorist groups. From what I have heard, Wahhaj abducted his son to "exorcise" him as he claimed to think that he was possessed. That seems odd even for a Muslim extremist so I am not sure what is going on with him. It's possible he's just crazy, though that doesn't excuse him at all or count as a defense for his beliefs. If he was mentally ill that just means he was more vulnerable to stupid ideologies like this and the other four adults involved in this case had no excuse for going along with him. 

I do have to say that using children as killers of other children is about as disgusting and horrible a thing that a person can do. Unfortunately it's not that uncommon among Islamic extremists. I remember quite a few cases where ISIS did the same thing. I'm no stranger to seeing horrible things but even I was deeply affected by seeing ISIS propaganda videos where children, some as young as toddlers, killed people. It's a level of evil that just boggles my mind. 

Whatever you think of Islam or religion in general, you have to admit that some of these people that follow the Muslim faith are just pure evil. That does not mean that all Muslims are evil or that Islam itself is, but it's horrible how some of these people think that their faith excuses the worst acts imaginable. 

As for these children, they have undergone something terrible and I hope that they can be helped. Not only where they horribly abused they were also likely brainwashed into whatever ideology the adults in this case held. It's going to take years of therapy and the help of foster families for these kids to even begin to have a chance...