NEW YORK, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A U.S. Muslim convert whose extremist Web site was dismantled says he never meant to harm civilians.
Yousef al-Khattab, born Joseph Cohen, converted to Islam after living in Israel and began the Revolution Muslim Web site, preaching a message of radical Islam online and at rallies, CNN reported Thursday.
Many of al-Khattab's followers are under arrest, so it is unclear whether he is sincere or is simply afraid, CNN said.
Al-Khattab now says the Web site became a "bug light for Muslim misfits".
"It was an idiotic thing, looking back on things now," al-Khattab said, characterizing terrorists the world over who attack civilians as "disgusting".
In the last 18 months, eight of 27 reported U.S. terror suspects visited or blogged on Revolution Muslim and the Islamic Thinkers Society, another extremist New York organization in which al-Khattab was involved, CNN reported.
Al-Khattab said he is risking speaking on camera to denounce his past activities because he will now be an enemy of his former radical associates.
"If you think that this is the direction, to come to the United States and bomb and blow up civilians, you're terribly wrong and that was never ever the message that I wanted to give," al-Khattab said, adding it isn't his fault his action may have caused others to kill innocent people.
"That's like somebody reading 'Helter Skelter' and saying ... it influenced him to do the same thing. I can't help that," he said. UPI
