The really politically savvy might. The American general public though?
He has a bounty upon his head. Find him, bring him to justice - dead or alive as in the Old West - he is worth quite a bit of money, the reward is substantial.
He is wanted - for treason!
It doesn't happen very often that an American commits an act (or series of acts) that lead(s) to a charge of treason. You might imagine that his photo would be everywhere and that his name would be on everyone's lips.
Not that you will find him in the US any time soon. He took off for Pakistan years ago and is now allegedly somewhere in that country. He appears on Al-Qaeda videos once in a while spewing out the usual fundamentalist gibberish. In one of these he renounced his American nationality while ripping up his American passport. Islamic soap opera stuff.
The videos are often in English, occasionally in Arabic. English might have its uses in Pakistan. Arabic is indicative of the company he keeps (the exiled Arab fundamentalist leaders are his best mates). Whether he speaks Urdu, which will enable him to speak to most Pakistanis, I am uncertain, though I would imagine so. His wife comes from Afghanistan, so maybe he speaks Pashto as well.
An interesting polyglot that would make him, for all his ridiculous political and religious opinions.
He is though an interesting product of democratic culture, for all his attempts to deny it and decry it. His grandfather was Jewish (and he often comments upon this while spewing out the usual hatred of Jews on the videos). The real family name was Pearlman. His parents converted to Christianity and adopted the name Gadahn. Their interesting trade or profession has an "only in California" feel to it - they are goat herders!
As the next generation young Adam converted to Islam.
All well and not so good. Democratic principles - you have the choice, you can do it, it is not illegal. He could have chosen to become a Buddhist, a follower or Greek or Norse mythology. He could have chosen the traditional beliefs of native Americans.
And if he had any sense he might have become an atheist and write all beliefs off as occasionally interesting but generally silly, outmoded and downright illogical. Or an agnostic at the very least.
He chose Islam. All well and not so good.
So think for a couple of minutes while you have deigned to lower your intelligence quotient by at least 30 points and tried to listen to the gibberish on the videos from Azzam Al Amriki as he is also known (Azzam the American in Arabic). While he is going on about "Muslim lands" usw.
In the West we have certain barriers but immigration goes on within limits. You can bring your religion, or your lack of belief, with you and practise it (or alternatively promulgate scientific logic in the name of non-belief). Try this in "Muslim lands". The likelihood is that you will be doing summat illegal. Talk your newly found friends in the new country along to a congregation who share your belief system, or persuade them that the whole concept of religion is the load of idiotic garbage that it is.
The chances are that you are putting their lives at risk! This is apostasy. It is illegal. They could end up being beheaded or hanged.
For doing summat that is an essential part of democracy. Using your mind to decide what is right for you.
This is definitely not a two-way street. There is a dictatorial imposition of Islam in most "Muslim countries" which most of us would not be able to accept. The best you can hope for as a foreigner is that they will allow you to stay with your belief system - but you had better not try to convert the natives. Even buying a beer for one of them can get them into serious trouble!
It is interesting how this works. We are supposed to go on allowing people to convert to Islam and not complain. Quite why .... But go to their "part of the world" and try and bring them some sense?
Frankly I would dismiss the whole concept of "Muslim lands" as nonsense anyway. That makes religion a politically enforced imposition. Eventually belief should be a matter of individual choice, not a government-enforced dictated philosophy.
Imagine the outcry if the "West" imposed Christian rule. Back to the 16th century and burning heretics at the stake. Fancy seeing Anjem Choudary burned at the stake anyone? (OK - stop fantasising, even if the prospect is amusing).
There are times that you think that maybe Geert Wilders has a point. In this respect at least, it is not easy to challenge his views.
But it is also worth remembering that this is often used as a racist anti-immigration device and we should be careful not to take it too far. After the gruesome murder of the off-duty soldier in London this week a lot of the protests that started off by being strictly anti-Islam have taken on racial overtones in certain quarters.
Michael Adebolajo paraded the tools of his gruesome act and gruesome belief system before the cameras this week before the police shot and injured him. He is a fanatical Islamist, born in the UK of Nigerian parents. An element of the anti-immigration chorus this week have been asking why "we let these people in". His parents, for the record, are devout Christians. Their son rebelled against their beliefs and became a Muslim convert.
A bit like Adam Gadahn did in the US. A bit like John Walker Lindh did in the US. A bit like Eric Breininger did in Germany. There is an Irish guy, whose name escapes me, who went down the same road and has made a name for himself in Ireland with his statements on the subject. Another famous case can be found in Denmark.
All white males.
The question is not so much here about the immigration or the ethnic background. The question is rather whether we have to worry about democratic principle and the very one-sided situation which we have reached where we can go on allowing people in democratic countries to convert without question to a barbaric and pre-medieval belief system while elsewhere in the world the state advocates of that belief system will not reciprocate.
Democratic principle is important. Quite how we defend it in circumstances like this is another matter, and some extremely difficult decisions need to be taken. Though quite what?
Update (December 31st, 2021). Gadahn was killed in a drone attack launched against him and another American jihadist in 2015.
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