After he was admitted to the United States on a diversity visa, Sayfullo Saipov demonstrated his gratitude to the land that had welcomed him by murdering eight people in New York City on Halloween night in 2017 by driving a truck along a bike path. Now, all these years later, he is finally on trial. On Monday, he showed that he was not in the least repentant. As far as he is concerned, he has no reason to be. He sees himself as a soldier in a war that only one side admits is being waged. The lessons here are right on the surface for anyone who wants to learn them, but whether or not anyone in this administration has any interest in doing so remains doubtful.
Saipov’s attorney David Patton said, “And as we sit here today, he still believes that, he still believes the ISIS messaging and he still believes it was God’s will that he do what he did.” This was in line with what Saipov said at a pre-trial hearing back in 2018: “The judgments that are made here are not important for me. They are not Allah’s judgments. The Islamic State, in order to impose sharia (Islamic law) on Earth, is leading a war.” He explained that this war was not being waged to gain territory or economic power, but in order to “impose Sharia on earth.”
Patton admitted that Saipov carried out the attack and said his act was “senseless.” He added, “There is no excuse for what he did and we will not offer one to you.” Nevertheless, CNN reports that Saipov “has pleaded not guilty in federal court to 28 counts, including eight counts of murder, 18 counts of attempted murder and other terrorism charges in connection with the deadliest terror attack in New York since 9/11.”
It’s hard to see how a not guilty plea can be sustained, as according to prosecutor Alexander Li, Saipov “told the FBI agents how he planned and practiced his attack. He told them that his goal was to kill as many people as possible. He told them that the leader of ISIS had called for attacks and the defendant responded.” Even worse, Saipov “smiled at the memory of his attack during an interview with federal agents in the hospital, Li said. He also asked to display an ISIS flag in his hospital room at the time, according to the prosecutor.”
Patton, running interference for Islam as all authorities in the West seem to think they have the duty to do, claimed that Saipov adhered to a “twisted and awful version of Islam,” although if anything is certain in this world, it is that David Patton has not read or studied the Qur’an, and Sayfullo Saipov has. But whatever the highest authorities in Islam would think of Saipov’s understanding of the religion (and they’re much more likely to agree with the jihadi than with his non-Muslim attorney), the immediate question here is how someone who wanted to kill non-Muslims for Allah got into the United States in the first place.
Related: NYC Truck Jihadi Says ISIS Is ‘Leading a War’ to ‘Impose Sharia’
That’s because the worst revelation from this gleeful and unrepentant jihad murderer’s trial is the fact that Saipov, who drove for Uber in Paterson, N.J., before embarking upon his jihad, “came to the US on a diversity immigrant visa, which allows people from countries with low recent immigration to apply for a visa and green card, according to the Department of Homeland Security. He later became a legal permanent resident, an NYPD official said.”
When Sayfullo Saipov applied for his diversity visa, his name was likely checked (if the system was working properly, which it may not have been) against some databases of criminals and terrorists, and when he was found not to be listed, he was admitted into the country. No one would have dared question him about what he thought about Islam’s teachings of warfare against unbelievers; to have done so would have been “Islamophobic.” In fact, it’s unlikely that anyone who dealt with Saipov’s diversity visa application had any idea that such teachings exist, or that some modern-day Muslims take them quite seriously.
We are constantly told that diversity is our strength. Sayfullo Saipov has given us yet another reminder that this isn’t necessarily so. Bring in enough people who think that they have a responsibility before the creator of the universe to do violence to those who believe in other deities, and you’ll have a diverse society, all right, but one that is scarred by ever-increasing violence. And here we are. Celebrate diversity!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member