Guardsman faces court martial over 'al-Qaida' video

A video showing an American soldier sharing military information with undercover agents he believed to be al-Qaida members is expected to be among key evidence in his court martial, beginning today.

Spc Ryan Anderson of the Washington National Guard is charged with five counts of trying to provide the terrorist network with information about US troop strength and tactics, as well as methods for killing American soldiers.

On the video, Anderson offers sketches and information about weaknesses in the M1A1 Abrams, the US Army’s primary battle tank.

“While I love my country, I think the leaders have taken this horrible road,” he is recorded as saying. “I have no belief in what the American Army has asked me to do. They have sent me to die.”

Anderson, a 27-year-old Muslim convert, has denied the charges and requested his general court martial at Fort Lewis be heard by commissioned officers rather than a judge or a mixed panel of officers and enlisted soldiers. The hearing is expected to last five days.

The tank crewman with the Guard’s 81st Armour Brigade, whose unit is in Iraq, faces life in prison without parole. A conviction requires agreement by two-thirds of a panel of commissioned officers, unlike a federal trial that requires a unanimous decision.

Anderson was raised Lutheran but began studying Islam while attending Washington State University. He has been described by high school classmates in Everett as a paramilitary enthusiast who was passionate about guns.

Anderson caught the attention of federal agents last year with help from a Montana judge.

Shannen Rossmiller of Conrad, Montana, testified at a hearing in May that she monitored the web for signs of extremist or terrorist activity. She said she came across a posting in October on a Muslim-oriented site by an “Amir Abdul Rashid”.

Several internet searches linked the name and e-mail address to Anderson, and Rossmiller said when she posted a phoney call for jihad against the United States, “Rashid” wrote back.

“He was curious if a brother fighting on the wrong side could join or defect,” she testified.

Rossmiller was put in touch with the FBI, and soon Anderson was text-messaging a federal agent he believed was a member of al-Qaida. The conversations culminated in a meeting with two undercover investigators in a car park lot near the Space Needle in Seattle.

The hour-long discussion was secretly recorded on February 9, just days before Anderson was to deploy to Iraq.

Three days after the meeting, Anderson was arrested at Fort Lewis, south of Seattle.