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Jeff Miller
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Joined: 22 Nov 2001
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Location: Mental Ward for the Mentaly Unstable 6th floor, Saint John's 1615 Delaware Longview Washington 98632
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 Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:51 pm Court martial begins for Ft. Lewis soldier |
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Court martial begins for Ft. Lewis soldier
06:09 PM PDT on Monday, August 30, 2004
By MELANTHIA MITCHELL
Associated Press Writer
FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- A National Guardsman jeopardized the safety of his country and fellow soldiers when he tried to share U.S. military information with people he believed were al-Qaida terrorists, prosecutors said Monday at the start of the soldier's court martial.
Spc. Ryan G. Anderson, pictured here from high school.
"This is a case about betrayal � betrayal of our country, betrayal of our Army, betrayal of his fellow soldiers," Maj. Melvin Jenks said in his opening statement.
Spc. Ryan Anderson's attorney, Maj. Joseph Morse, countered that the government has no proof the 27-year-old tank crewman had criminal intent when he contacted federal undercover agents he thought were members of al-Qaida.
Anderson, a Muslim convert, was a person who often embellished the truth or lied to impress people, Morse said.
He noted that Anderson even told people his mother was Jordanian, and on occasion said he was born in either Afghanistan or South Africa � all lies.
"Evidence will show someone who isn't a very good soldier ... isn't a very good Muslim," Morse said. "Spc. Anderson, like just about everybody else in this case, likes to pretend he's something he's not."
Anderson pleaded innocent Aug. 9 to five counts of trying to provide the al-Qaida terrorist network with information about U.S. troop strength and tactics, as well as methods for killing American soldiers.
Capt. Jay Stephenson, a spokesman for the Judge Advocate General's Office, said the charges against Anderson amount to attempted treason.
Anderson, a member of the Washington National Guard's 81st Armor Brigade, which is deployed in Iraq, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole if convicted.
A conviction requires agreement by two-thirds of a panel of nine commissioned officers, unlike a criminal trial in state or federal court, which requires a unanimous verdict.
The trial at Fort Lewis, an Army base south of Seattle, is expected to last five days. Wearing his dress greens, Anderson took notes during the proceedings on Monday. His wife, Erin, also was in the courtroom.
Pfc. Scott Specht, a witness for the prosecution, testified that Anderson once told him he had joined the Army so he could "go to the motherland and help liberate Muslim brothers."
"I was taken back by his statement. I was somewhat startled by it," said Specht, who trained with Anderson at basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky in January 2003. "I decided it was probably best that I kept my distance."
Shannen Rossmiller, a city judge in Conrad, Mont., reiterated testimony she gave at Anderson's Article 32 hearing in May, saying she contacted Anderson after coming across a posting in October on a Muslim-oriented Web site she was monitoring for signs of extremist or terrorist activity.
Internet searches linked the name on that posting, "Amir Abdul Rashid," to Anderson, Rossmiller said, and when she posted a phony call to jihad against the United States, Rashid wrote back, saying he was "curious if a brother fighting on the wrong side could join or defect."
Rossmiller contacted the federal Homeland Security Department, which put her in touch with the FBI.
Special Agent Burt Whitlow testified that investigators soon began text-messaging Anderson and the first of two face-to-face meetings was set up at a Barnes and Noble in Lakewood, a Tacoma suburb.
Anderson wasn't arrested then because agents wanted to see if he would initiate a second meeting, Whitlow said.
Anderson did, meeting the next day with two undercover investigators at a parking lot near the Space Needle in Seattle. The hour-long discussion was secretly videotaped on Feb. 9, just days before Anderson was to deploy to Iraq.
Special Agent Ricardo Romero testified Monday that he and another undercover agent, identified as "Muhammad," met with Anderson.
"Later in the meeting we asked him who he thought we were. He said, 'al-Qaida'," Romero said.
On the video, Anderson offers sketches and information about weaknesses in the M1A1 Abrams, the Army's primary battle tank.
"Specialist Anderson provided information on how to stop the vehicle" and how to force the crew out to kill them, Romero said Monday.
"While I love my country, I think the leaders have taken this horrible road," Anderson said on the video. "I have no belief in what the American Army has asked me to do. They have sent me to die."
He was arrested at Fort Lewis three days after the meeting.
Anderson was raised Lutheran but began studying Islam while attending Washington State University. He's been described by high school classmates in Everett as a paramilitary enthusiast who was passionate about guns. |
Just currious can we hang traitors of this country?
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