In the wake of the horrific gun rampage in Orlando, Florida, U.S. President Barack Obama declared that Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people in the Pulse nightclub, was radicalized online, saying he had been "inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the internet."
While that may be partly true, the Orlando shooter's jihadi indoctrination can actually be traced to his father, Seddique Mateen, a local guerrilla commander in the U.S.-backed jihad against Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
The elder Mateen, an asset to the CIA, was rewarded with permanent residency in the United States, where his son was born. With the father presenting himself as an Afghan emigre leader and building close ties with some U.S. government officials and lawmakers, the FBI failed to stop Omar from carrying out the shootings despite interviewing him three times in recent years on suspicion of terrorist links.