A U.S. Army soldier was convicted of trying to aid al Qaeda by detailing ways to destroy U.S. weapons and kill soldiers to undercover agents, army officials said on Friday. Spc. Ryan Anderson, 27, was convicted on all five counts of attempted treason and related charges by a panel of nine officers in a court-martial that concluded on Thursday. Defense attorneys had argued at the start of the court martial on Monday in Fort Lewis, 50 miles south of Seattle, that Anderson was filled with grand visions of his own importance that led him to lie and seek out representatives of al Qaeda, blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America. | BAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - Sorry, wrong answer. But thank you for playing. |
The vote is kept secret, although only a two-thirds vote by the nine-member panel is needed for a conviction. Anderson, a convert to Islam, faces up to life in prison. Sentencing deliberations were ongoing, military officials said, and the base commander would also have to affirm the verdict. Anderson, a tank loader, was scheduled to ship out to Iraq when he began posting messages on extremist Muslim Web sites seeking to contact al Qaeda. He was caught in a sting operation in which he was videotaped blasting U.S. leaders over the war. Anderson, also known as Amir Abdul Rashid, sent instant text messages and e-mail to undercover agents to try to aid enemy forces, prosecuting attorneys said, providing information such as the caliber of a bullet needed to penetrate a tank's armor. | Kansas is beautiful this time of year, the sun glinting off the barbed wire.... |
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