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Long Island Terrorist Who Joined Al Qaeda in 2007 Will Be Released This Summer
[NBCNewYork] Federal officials say Bryant Neal Vinas cooperated extensively both before and after he was taken into custody nearly a decade ago, but they say his crimes were extremely serious.

A Long Island man who joined al-Qaeda and once plotted to bomb LIRR trains heading to and from Penn Station will be released from prison this summer.

Bryant Neal Vinas
...the American-born child of Catholic South American immigrants who after a brief stint in the army fell under the sway of Islam and ran off to join Al Qaeda in 2007, where apparently he met everybody and was told all their plans. A year later the Pakistanis arrested him, then turned him over to the Americans -- he's been singing like a bird ever since, and would like to make it his profession...
, who also plotted attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan while he was a commander of an al-Qaeda branch there, pleaded guilty to charges connected to the train bomb plot in January 2009.

On Thursday a judge in Brooklyn federal court sentenced Vinas to time served plus 90 days. On his release he will be required to continue cooperating with the government.

"I apologize for my actions. There is no excuse for them. I blame only myself," Vinas said in court. "I want to turn a bad thing into a good thing."

Government officials say Vinas has cooperated in more than 30 terror investigations; some of his interviews were prior to his arrest, and authorities say he was instrumental in exposing the LIRR plot he was involved in, which apparently was never set in motion.

U.S. authorities credit the Patchogue native with helping them identify al-Qaeda members, pinpoint their hideouts, understand their communication structure and disrupt terror plots.

The government took no position on whether to release him. Federal officials acknowledge Vinas's cooperation could not have been "more timely," but say his crimes were extremely serious.

Judge Nicholas Garaufis said he was "... cautiously optimistic he’s learned from the error of his ways."
Posted by: trailing wife 2017-05-12
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=487873