“They said he travelled to Turkey to find work, not to become a jihadist.” Yes, because everyone knows that Turkey is the place with the thriving job market these days. Anyway, here we have another convert to Islam who becomes a traitor. One might almost get the idea that “Islam hates us,” but that would be “Islamophobic.”

“US Air Force veteran convicted of attempting to join Islamic State,” Reuters, March 9, 2016:

A US Air Force veteran was found guilty on Wednesday of attempting to join Islamic State, according to his lawyer.

Tairod Pugh, 48, was convicted after a week-long trial in Brooklyn federal court. The case is the first in more than 75 Islamic State-related prosecutions brought since 2014 by the US Department of Justice to reach a jury verdict.

Prosecutors said Pugh immersed himself in violent Islamic State propaganda for months before buying a one-way flight from his home in Egypt to Turkey, where he hoped to cross the Syrian border into territory controlled by the extremist group.

He was detained by Turkish authorities at an Istanbul airport and eventually flown to the United States to face terrorism charges.

Pugh’s defence lawyers argued that his only offence was to express “repugnant” views about Islamic State in Facebook posts and to watch dozens of the group’s slickly produced recruitment videos. They said he travelled to Turkey to find work, not to become a jihadist.