Mycroft
15th February 2004, 12:50 AM
FORT LEWIS, Wash. - A National Guardsman accused of attempting to aid al-Qaida is described by law enforcement sources as a bumbling “wannabe” spy who was attempting to pass information to the enemy that was the sort of thing “you could learn on the History Channel,” it was reported Friday.
Weird
Defense officials who spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity shortly after Anderson’s arrest was announced, said the suspect had signed onto extremist Internet chat rooms and tried to get in touch with al-Qaida operatives, offering the organization information on U.S. military capabilities and weaponry.
After converting to Islam — either in 1995 or 1996 — Anderson joined a Seattle-area e-mail group used by local Muslims to exchange ideas and discuss the faith's tenets.
“He immediately e-mailed the group telling people he was an expert marksman, and he wanted to teach people how to shoot,” Aziz Junejo, a community member and host of a local cable television show devoted to Islam, told the Post Intelligencer. “That was completely out of the norm. Right away that was a red flag.”
And apparently he linked Islam with violence?
Junejo and the administrator of the e-mail group “did battles, telling him this was not appropriate, not part of our religion, not part of our community,” Junejo was quoted as saying.
And persisted even after others tried to straighten him out.
Anderson, who grew up in Everett, about 20 miles north of Seattle, was taken into custody on Thursday without incident as part of a joint investigation by the Army, Justice Department and FBI, according to Barger, the Fort Lewis spokesman.
Everett Washington. Isn’t that the same part of the country that Rachel Corrie came from?
Anderson is the second Muslim soldier with Fort Lewis connections to be accused of wrongdoing related to the war on terrorism.
I wonder how many non-Muslims were engaged in similar wrong-doing?
Weird
Defense officials who spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity shortly after Anderson’s arrest was announced, said the suspect had signed onto extremist Internet chat rooms and tried to get in touch with al-Qaida operatives, offering the organization information on U.S. military capabilities and weaponry.
After converting to Islam — either in 1995 or 1996 — Anderson joined a Seattle-area e-mail group used by local Muslims to exchange ideas and discuss the faith's tenets.
“He immediately e-mailed the group telling people he was an expert marksman, and he wanted to teach people how to shoot,” Aziz Junejo, a community member and host of a local cable television show devoted to Islam, told the Post Intelligencer. “That was completely out of the norm. Right away that was a red flag.”
And apparently he linked Islam with violence?
Junejo and the administrator of the e-mail group “did battles, telling him this was not appropriate, not part of our religion, not part of our community,” Junejo was quoted as saying.
And persisted even after others tried to straighten him out.
Anderson, who grew up in Everett, about 20 miles north of Seattle, was taken into custody on Thursday without incident as part of a joint investigation by the Army, Justice Department and FBI, according to Barger, the Fort Lewis spokesman.
Everett Washington. Isn’t that the same part of the country that Rachel Corrie came from?
Anderson is the second Muslim soldier with Fort Lewis connections to be accused of wrongdoing related to the war on terrorism.
I wonder how many non-Muslims were engaged in similar wrong-doing?