Such a great example of the complexities of humanity & empathy.

Powerful, gripping podcast.

Enjoyed this podcast. Surreal. My heart aches for the family.

RIP Omar you fought a good fight!!!

good listen!

This is the father’s fault and he should be held 100% responsible. He should have let the children continue going to church with their mother (which they really enjoyed) and introducing them to Islam so that they were able to make their own decisions if it was that important. U can’t just declare “the kids will be Muslim, period.” That’s not how it works here. Hope he’s happy for what he caused.

Christof does a great job telling a pretty difficult story.

Found this to be very interesting, as the “religious background” of the jihadi was similar to my own (Christian). I turned my back on my faith for about a year when I was 20-21 years old, but quickly returned after knowing where true happiness in life was located. I have wondered how others have wandered from the faith, never to return, especially when facing death in the face. Thank you for sharing thoughts, doubts and questions from the parents—parenting is the most difficult task on earth, hoping to be making the right decisions with my kids (now in their mid-30s) at least 1/2 of the time.

The father should be very ashamed of himself. He was the one to throw the wrench into the lives of his children. Also to cause his son to feel so insecure and inadequate.Life seemed pretty happy for the entire family before he stepped in to make them feel inadequate and push his son towards radicalization. I am also having to question the show host. It seems as though he is somewhat humanizing acts of terrorism, as if the terrorist is a star. Also seems to me like some of what the interviewer is doing would be considered illegal...... or at a minimum anti-American security

Way too many interviews and SOTs. Lazy journalism.

I didn’t hate this podcast but I agree with some of the other criticisms. I like investigative stories that tell stories about people behind events, and I think it’s important to think about the humans behind terrorism. When you really listen you begin to understand the reasons why people do what they do. That said, I seriously question the ethics behind this journalist and his story - there’s a brief clip in the intro where a woman seems to be asking Putzel why he kept this info away from the feds when Omar was a wanted criminal. Unfortunately you get no answer or even further explanation of that clip, but the ethical breaches here seem really obvious. I don’t know if Putzel could have prevented acts of violence, but didn’t he at least have a responsibility to try? There definitely seems to be a lot of narcissism here - I wouldn’t go out of my way to read or listen to any of Putzel’s “journalism.”

A narcissist interviews a narcissist. Both parties giving each other a platform.

See title.

I wanted to like it, had a good premise. Unfortunately terribly done. The journalist comes off as a schoolgirl who has a crush on the quarterback of the football team. How he anxiously waits for his emails and phone calls. Making excuses for him. The giddiness of his voice when Omar finally calls him again. All I could imagine when he was telling us the story of the Christmas party was a husband trying to keep his affair private. There’s always 2 sides of a story, unfortunately the journalist can’t cover his obsession without being impartial

This is how a podcast should be done! I love the respect towards the family, showing the humanity of such a tragic story.

A portrait of pure evil masquerading as a religious freedom fighter. Worth a listen if you want some practice in discerning the difference between someone’s words and their actions. We are what we do, not what we claim. Omar is a psychopath who values nothing but his own extreme stimulation. Omar found ways to continuously publicize his relentless, destructive and self-destructive risk-taking and sensation-seeking. Religion is just a justification. He always puts himself in opposition to the closest violent psychopaths like himself to attract more drama and risk, even from those supposedly of the same faith. I believe a core tenant of Islam is that a man provide for his wives and children. Omar cared nothing about them, or the other people in his life , only getting attention for the next desperate adventure. The engaging phone conversations in no way reflect the truth of Omar’s lethal, destructive behavior. Fortunately the journalist does recount Omar’s choices and actions as well as his words, so we can see the evil truth of Omar for ourselves.

Fascinating story. Deserves a lot more listeners.

I understand he was a person but there was more to the story. I feel like Omar used the reporter to spin a Camalot version of a violent life. But an interesting binge listen.

Very unconvincing that he’s anything but sympathetic for the terrorist. Felt embarrassed when he replayed interviews with the terrorist. Show started strong but lacked content and the majority of episodes were filler.

I was skeptical about this podcast. I served our country proudly, and lost many brothers that served beside me, trying to rescue those who had been injured. So a podcast about a terrorist is not high on my list. I listened to hear the thoughts/interaction/desire/motivation and maybe more importantly, the why. I have my own opinions that may not be that of Christop, but he did a great job in putting the info and this cast together. Thank you

This starts out quite interesting. By the end, your left feeling that this could have been 2 medium length episodes and not 7. There’s 3-4 in there that hardly advance the story. It’s well produced but lacking content. The reporter should have just been honest - he made friends with a terrorist, and yes that’s kind of gross but it turned out to be a complicated yet insightful journey.

This podcast gave me S-Town vibes. Definitely binged it. You should too. Like, for reals.

He halfway tries to pretend that he doesn’t have sympathy for the worthless murdering terrorist, but it isn’t convincing at all. They are buddies. When he just sat there giggling as Omar unapologetically describes slitting a blindfolded man’s throat it was almost more than I could stand. I kept listening to see if the “journalist” would ever wake up but he never did. Bonus points to the dad who pushed his son into fundamentalist Islam and then was like “Gee I wonder how he became an Islamic terrorist.” A real mystery there. And don’t even get me started on the mom. Going through life blind to the consequences of your actions. Your son was a murderous piece of garbage worthy of no sympathy or empathy whatsoever. Full stop. “Journalist” was lucky to avoid being charged with providing material aid and comfort to a terrorist. And he continues to spread his garbage to this day. Disgusting.

It’s an amazing journey of a journalist and an american terrorist in Somalia. highly recommended.

Seems clear early on that Omar has a superiority complex. This blended in with the religious tension in the family... yes, I can see where he might end up in this predicament. This is a kid that “must” best everyone all the time, or this fragile ego goes hog wild. It will be interesting watching his journey. I like it so far. By Ep.7, I’m finding the narrative VOICED OVER the sketchy phone call recordings to be entirely bothersome. Why is it being produced this way? Who knows. It’s awful. So I’m rating 3 Stars vs. 4. Five million dollar bounty?! Omar, shame on you. Look what you did to your parents. They didn’t deserve this. (Seven kids. One in a refugee camp! Four wives. What?! He screwed his way through Somalia and achieved nothing but ruined lives.)

This podcast is terrible, I can’t believe they allow it on Apple podcasts. The journalist and the family condone everything this terrorist does and the whole thing is intended to give sympathy to a known Islamic terrorist! It’s mind boggling.

Wow this is a amazing podcast Must listen too Great job guys Keep up the great work

This is one of the most rivoting podcasts I've listened to. I didn't know what to expect at first, but it was refreshing to hear a journalist actually sound like a human being. You can hear in his voice how challenging it was to navigate Omar's humantiy too. I only wish episodes were longer with fewer ads. Highly recommend!

This should have been made into a 2 or 3 part series. There’s no reason to be dragging out short episodes for weeks...including one week off. Nothing was really exciting.

Loving this podcast so far! The story is surreal and feels like a Hollywood plot at times but is so real, gritty, human. Bravo to the journalist for having the courage to tell of his struggle through the messy situation, and illustrate how blurred the lines are between good and evil, friend and foe.

ThAnks

A riveting story deftly told by a master storyteller. I’d previously watched and admired some of Putzel’s documentaries on Vice and Amazon but he is at his journalist best in the podcast medium. Our family has listened to each episode as it’s come out, and the first thing our teens ask when we load up for a ride is whether the next American Jihadi episode is out. The overlapping stories of Omar’s descent down the Al-Shabaab wormhole and Putzel’s efforts to report the story, and their resulting connection, gives the story an immediacy and intimacy you would never get from the headlines at the time. Also a deep sympathy for Omar’s personal journey. Well worth the listen.

Interesting story, well put together and reported. It seems a lot are blaming the podcast for the actions of the man they are reporting on. Christoff has a voice that is easy to listen to, he kept me engaged and wanting more.

I lived everything about this podcast, it really shows how great of a journalist Christof is. The story, the narration style and sound effects are spot on. Christof dedicated his time to this project and made it his own. This podcast deserve an award this year.

I'm not a big podcast person - but this has kept me totally engaged! It's a great listen. Highly recommended!

There’s a lot of hate comments on here because the journalist doesn’t paint the image of the jihadist that the reviewers. That is however precisely why I love this podcast. The journalist is real in this podcast and I respect him and the work he put into this.

I must agree with “La Roja Vida”. Both the terrorist & the journalist are pathetic. You learn little from the terrorist, save his narcissism, and how this supposed religion of peace is a nightmare for humanity. The “journalist” crafts this story in a fashion that mirrors what’s happening in his life...uhhh, why? The podcast should be renamed “American Idiot & His Useless Friend”. Don’t waste your time.

Seriously? Playing his “rap” tunes? Have you lost your mind or do you share his radicalized views? Podcast was marginal at best before posting propaganda “raps” but now you’ve devolved to a new level. I’m out

...and we’re not even at the end yet! With two episodes to go as of this writing, the American Jihadi podcast starts in a very deliberate manner to educate its listeners and set the groundwork for what’s to come. As the series progresses, there is very much a human element implemented in the main person of interest here. It excels at displaying how things aren’t not necessarily just black and white, especially amidst the conflicted heart and mind of an American turned religious extremist.

A cowardly, narcissistic, and spiritually corrupted boy meets a narcissistic disgrace of a journalist, who is willing to call himself a “friend” of this self aggrandizing murderous boy. What a disappointment. Hard to listen to. Pathetic terrorist. Pathetic journalist.

It’s a good podcast. It helped me see that an American jihadist can be completely empty of anything interesting to say. I imagined I was going to learn why someone born in the US would end up as an Islamic terrorist. I did not learn anything. He idealized and romanticized terrorism, but there wasn’t anything truly interesting, or an aha moment when something made sense. And that’s because this American jihadist was an uninteresting person. I can understand why even the journalist gets tired of his relationship with him. He never gave him any interesting news/stories. I felt sorry for his mother and his sister. I hope his father realized he had some responsibility over his son’s radicalization. His father prohibited the mother from bringing their children to church, setting a fundamentalist and exclusionary approach to religion, instead of being tolerant and letting the children experience both religions and deciding by themselves. That kind of religious authoritarianism ended up radicalizing this guy. Although of course the main responsible for his destiny was only himself. There is absolutely nothing in the podcast to sparkle any empathy for him. But it’s a story worth telling and listening to.

Christof does an excellent job narrating the story of Omar and leaving me hanging and wanting more at the end of each episode! Christof has a voice you will want to listen to (not annoying like some, and he’s someone I will go back to for more future content). Being that Omar and I went to school together since middle school, and I have vivid memories of us sitting next to each other, cutting up,singing and dancing on the bus to away soccer games (boys and girls teams got to ride together), surreal doesn’t even describe accurately the feeling of hearing the details of everything he was involved in and how it all came about. I remember the year he converted and started praying in the library. So crazy to look back at that time and think that’s when it all started. 🤯

I winced every time you used ‘jihad’ as a synonym for ‘extremism’ or ‘terrorist ideology,’ but I put up with it because the podcast was still interesting. You lost me when you posted a ‘bonus’ of Omar’s full-length rap songs that you CLEARLY state are a RECRUITING tool. These songs are out there, and anyone who was interested could, of course, look them up to hear it themselves. But WHY on this godforsaken planet would you give a platform to TERRORIST RECRUITMENT MATERIAL? Are clicks so important to you that you’re willing to risk some impressionable kid gaining inspiration from terrorist propaganda REPUBLISHED BY YOU? You already give a very sympathetic view of Omar, which to a certain degree is warranted because he obviously was a human being, but you rarely give any decidedly negative opinions about him. You add to this the flagrant use of ‘jihad,’ a term meaning ‘internal struggle,’ that is a basic concept of Islam, and conflate this with terrorism WHICH BENEFITS TERRORISTS. By using these terms interchangeably, you confirm to non-Muslim Westerners the inherent violence of Islam, and tell Muslims living in the West that their neighbors will only ever see them as terrorists. The greater the divide between Muslims living in the West and non-Muslim Westerners, the easier it is for terrorist groups to recruit Western Muslims. Which is why, when you put it all together with terrorist recruitment material, you’re really carrying on Omar’s job for him. Now, I can only hope that the release of this bonus episode coincided with the new wave of Al-Shabaab attacks by sheer accident. But I have to say, if you had been planning on dropping this episode on January 6th, and only a few days before that there’s a new string of Al-Shabaab attacks, a reasonable person might AT THE VERY LEAST postpone the release of the terrorist propaganda ‘bonus content’ out of respect for the victims and to not go the extra mile to inspire more attacks. But you didn’t even do that.

There’s a lot of sympathy for him coming from you guys. i’d hope you explore the moral questions a bit more. You just seem to be publishing a story without exploring what you’re actually doing giving him a voice and platform.. could easily be a 5-star instead.

And awful, evil, and murderous person regardless of whatever “caused” him to do what he did. But I like the podcast, wish the narrator would make more on other topics.

I think if we could do this kind of exploratory reporting with every criminal on earth, we’d be able to stop most violent crimes before they ever happened.

What are we supposed to feel sorry for this guy? Podcast is boring

I thought this would be gripping like caliphate was. Instead this is just repeat information every episode. Disappointing.

Seriously, how self-aggrandizing can you get? The subject of this story is difficult to listen to, but thanks for the interesting podcast.

does this talk to me