To: Oral Roberts who wrote (7990 ) 6/9/2006 11:24:59 AM From: Proud_Infidel Respond to of 14758 Lawyers: Teacher Supported Terror Group [Maryland] AP/Forbes ^ | 06.06.2006 | MATTHEW BARAKAT A third-grade teacher at a Muslim school in Maryland traveled to Pakistan shortly after the 9/11 attacks, trained with a terrorist organization there and later served as chauffeur for one of that group's leaders during his U.S. travels, prosecutors said. Prosecutors and defense lawyers made their closing arguments Monday in the trial of Ali Asad Chandia, 29, who is charged with providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba, an organization that supports Muslim control of the disputed Kashmir territory on the India-Pakistan border. The U.S. government declared Lashkar a terrorist organization in December 2001. Prosecutors have said that Lashkar served as a potential gateway for Americans and others who wanted to join the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan in its fight against U.S. troops in late 2001. The charges against Chandia stem from a government investigation of what prosecutors called a "Virginia jihad network," a group of young Muslim men who used paintball games in 2000 and 2001 as paramilitary training for holy war around the globe. Ten people have been convicted in that investigation, including the group's spiritual leader, Ali al-Timimi, who was sentenced to life in prison for soliciting treason and urging group members to fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Prosecutors do not allege that Chandia intended to take up arms against U.S. troops, but they do say he received jihad training at a Lashkar camp in late 2001. Then, after returning to the U.S. in 2002, they say he helped Lashkar by assisting one of its officers, Mohammed Ajmal Khan, in his U.S. travels.