To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (89701 ) 8/22/2010 3:21:21 PM From: lorne 1 Recommendation Respond to of 224720 ken..."We have a Mosque right here in our community of Lynnwood, Washington. ".... This a buddy of yours? this bird likely prays 5 times a day so how could he be a pos? Witnesses testify against alleged alleged Al-Qaeda military informant SEATTLE, Washington (AFP) Sep 01, 2004spacewar.com Witnesses took the stand in a closed-door court martial Tuesday to testify against a US National Guard soldier charged with seeking to pass information to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network. Specialist Ryan Anderson, 26, a convert to Islam, was arrested at his apartment in Lynnwood, in the northwestern US state of Washington, in February and charged with attempting to pass US intelligence to bin Laden's network. Judge Debra Boudreau on Tuesday ordered the closed-door hearing at the Fort Lewis army base, in southern Washington, because classified information would be discussed. On August 9, Anderson declared his innocence to five charges of seeking to collaborate with Al-Qaeda by sending the group information on US army tactics and strategies. The court martial, presided over by nine commissioned officers, is expected to continue throughout the week. Two-thirds of the hearing officers must agree to find Anderson guilty on any one of the five charges. The military has decided not to seek the death penalty, so if found guilty, Anderson faces life in prison. Anderson, a member of the Washington state National Guard's 81st Armored Brigade, was in court Tuesday and will be present throughout the week, said Fort Lewis spokesman Lieutenant Bill Costello. Local news media had reported earlier that he had deployed with his unit to Iraq. Three army intelligence officials testified on Tuesday: Rene Gonzalez, John Roee and Christopher Wallace. Gonzalez and Roee spoke about surveillance, and Wallace spoke about the Al-Qaeda network, Costello said. Anderson was taken into custody by army and federal law enforcement authorities after an undercover sting operation intercepted communications on January 23 and February 10. Anderson, who joined the National Guard in May 2002, was reported to have attempted to make contact with Al-Qaeda through Internet chat rooms. He was nabbed by Judge Shannen Rossmiller, a municipal judge from Montana, who in her spare time sought to catch terrorists on the Internet. Rossmiller told prosecutors that while she was monitoring a website devoted to radical Muslims she happened upon a email posting from one "Amid Abdul Rashid" -- which turned out to be Anderson. Rossmiller, masquarading as an extremist Muslim, began to correspond with Anderson. When she found out that he was a soldier, she contacted the FBI. Army officers Burt Whitlow and Ricardo Romero testified Monday that they presented themselves as Al-Qaeda members to confirm Anderson's leanings, and set up a meeting at a book store in February. At the meeting Anderson handed them his passport photograph, a computer diskette and other material. Anderson was arrested after a second meeting, just weeks before his unit was scheduled to deploy to Iraq.