It took a really convoluted story to give an opportunity for a Muslim FBI agent to accuse another Muslim agent of radicalizing young Muslim men to become terrorists, but somehow the Season Two premiere of CBS’s FBI managed to do it.
In the September 24 epsidoe “Little Egypt,” what began as a bombing at a Syrian restaurant in Queens and first assumed to be a hate crime by area white supremacists was quickly discovered by the FBI to be a false flag stunt by an angry Muslim man who had been attacked by three white punks and left in a coma.
For revenge, the Muslim man found and hired a willing patsy – a white 22-year-old man with ugly social media posts about Muslims – to bomb the restaurant. He wanted the bombing to bring attention to his case and get it re-opened. A woman was killed in the bombing so his actions landed him in jail, along with the white guy.
FBI agent Omar Zidan mets with the waiter from the restaurant, who alerted customers to evacuate the building. The waiter, Joseph Nassar (Jared Ward), turned out to be an undercover FBI agent. Joseph asked Omar to work with him on a case as he thinks he had two young Muslim men interested in being hired as bombers.
Omar agreed and, after meeting with them, he came away believing that the guys aren’t as gung-ho about being terrorists that Joseph thought they were. Omar then accused him of radicalizing young Muslim men with his techniques. That’s a plot twist, right:
Omar: What was that? I thought you said these kids were gung ho.
Joseph: I said they're open to participate, which means, from a legal perspective, they're predisposed.
Omar: Are you sure about that?
Joseph: The test is pretty straight-forward. Is it the defendant an unwary innocent or an unwary criminal who readily availed himself of the opportunity to perpetrate the crime? To me, they're terrorists.
Omar: Hey. If those kids are terrorists, it is because you radicalized them. You are pushing these kids too hard.
Joseph: You don't like the way I do business, you call the Director.
It turned out that Joseph was right as the two young men were willing participants in a bombing. They were hired by an Imam from a large mosque. Fortunately, the FBI was able to find the bomb in time before it went off in Central Park near a youth ballfield filled with players, parents, and other onlookers.
It was jarring to watch a show like this and hear the FBI being accused of radicalizing peaceful Muslims into terrorists, a conspiracy theory popular on the radical left. It’s bad enough that the Omar character often falls into victim mode about being a Muslim in America. Instead of celebrating the fact that he is a West Point graduate and an Army Ranger, Omar dwelled on poor treatment he received after 9/11. Let’s hope this isn’t a preview of what is to come for the rest of the season.
