On the story of bouncing Daveed

The story itself is a part of upcoming "God's Warriors" series, hosted by CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, it says in the CNN article. It is unclear whether the production as a whole is a comedy to vie the Flying Circus, but at least this part is full of comic content.

That is Daveed - although to me he looks like a plain David. What is not plain is his life story.

Born to Jewish parents who call themselves mystics, he grew up in what he calls the "liberal hippie Mecca" of Ashland, Oregon...

Uhu.

A college friend introduced him to Islam and he was intrigued by its peaceful message. "Islam was a very simple faith and as I learned more and more about it, it seemed more and more fascinating to me," he said.

Sure.

"We felt it was OK," his father Moshe Ross said. "We were glad that he was going to study something and hopefully seriously. And we were happy with Islam."

Betcha.

In 1999 he left his job at Al-Haramain for law school at New York University. Away from his co-workers, he was free to question the radical doctrines he'd learned in Oregon and meet with others about spirituality, including Christians. A year later, he converted to Christianity and was eventually baptized in the Baptist church.

So far so good.

It was a decision he took extremely seriously because he said his colleagues at Al-Haramain had preached that leaving Islam was punishable by death.

Nah... is that so?

Two years later, in 2004, federal agents raided the Ashland offices of Al-Haramain. When he learned of the bust, Gartenstein-Ross says he contacted the FBI.

Wow, man!

...he is now a counter-terrorism consultant who works with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think-tank formed after September 11, 2001, that lists former FBI director Louis Freeh, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Sen. Joseph Lieberman among its "distinguished advisers."

Dude - you are heavy now!

So, what is the lesson of the whole story (which is sorely missing in that CNN article* linked above)?

Try not to be born to parents who smoke the cheapest weed!

And a corollary:

There must be an easier way to get to Christiane Amanpour's attention, surely.


(*) The article also doesn't tell whether Daveed remains a Baptists or, perhaps, FBI is his sole religion at the moment.

***