From Jihad Watch:
Staten Island Muslim who tried to join Army to desert and join Taliban may plead guilty to lying to the Feds
War Is Deceit, after all. "Staten Islander accused of trying to join Taliban may cop plea, report says," from SILive.com, November 22:
BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- A former Staten Islander accused of trying to join the Taliban may plead guilty to charges he lied to federal authorities about his alleged plan, according to a published report.
The attorney for Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, 21, formerly of Annadale and Prince's Bay, revealed the plea negotiations today during an appearance in Brooklyn federal court, the New York Daily News is reporting....
A criminal complaint unsealed last month said the FBI and the New York Police Department had been investigating Shehadeh "and several other individuals in connection with a plot to travel overseas and wage violent jihad against the United States and other coalition military forces."...
In October 2006, the complaint said, Shehadeh went to Times Square to try to join the Army. It said when a recruiter asked him if he'd traveled overseas, he lied and said he'd only been to Israel....
The complaint said that under questioning, he admitted that one of his websites was "designed to mirror and reformat the teachings of radical U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki" and "that in the past, he agreed with and sympathized with al-Qaida's violent jihad against the West."
The complaint said Shehadeh insisted he tried to go to Pakistan for religious, not military, training.
But witnesses who knew him told investigators that he instructed them that it was the duty of Muslims to fight jihad - and that signing up in Times Square was the best way to achieve his goal.
Shehadeh "informed (one witness) that he hoped to be deployed to Iraq," the complaint said. "At the time he was applying to join the military, Shehadeh told (the witness), when he arrived in Iraq, he intended to commit 'treason' and fight United States soldiers."
The complaint said Shehadeh traveled to Hawaii in April 2009. There, he bought an airline ticket to Dubai in June, but was intercepted by FBI agents who told him he was on a "no fly" list. In subsequent interviews, he allegedly admitted he had hoped to join the Taliban and receive "guerrilla warfare" and "bomb-making" training, the complaint said.
Posted by Robert on November 22, 2010 4:12 PM
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