National Guard Spc. Ryan Anderson wanted to defect

From The Seattle Times

In a covered parking garage near Seattle Center, National Guard Spc. Ryan Anderson sat in an SUV with two men who spoke with Arabic accents.

"What organization do you think we are?" said one of the men, an undercover agent calling himself Mohammed.

"I believe you are what Americans call al-Qaida," Anderson replied.

Before the hourlong conversation was over, all of it captured by a hidden camera in early February, Anderson spoke of the possibility of defecting to join the terrorist group. He also offered to help train al-Qaida fighters to take out U.S. convoys in Iraq and shared ways of destroying U.S. tanks and killing their crews, according to the video.

When the other agent asked about Humvees equipped with added armor, Anderson replied that the vehicles were still vulnerable, particularly the windshield.

"It would be very easy to kill a driver, or the crew inside," he said.

Chilling stuff.

How he was discovered is amazing.

According to testimony, Anderson first came to the attention of investigators through a Montana judge who spent her off-hours hunting for terrorists on the Internet.

Shannen Rossmiller from Conrad, Mont., testified that she was monitoring a Web site that catered to Muslim extremists when she came across a posting by an "Amid Abdul Rashid."

After a series of searches, she traced the name to Anderson and, posing as a Muslim extremist, exchanged e-mails with him. Learning that he was a member of the military, and believing that he might be a threat, she contacted authorities.


Good work judge!