A man accused of providing support to Al Qaeda trained in martial arts and with weapons, taught English to Al Qaeda members and joined the Taliban front lines, according to an FBI affidavit. Terror suspect Mohammed Warsame, 30, twice saw combat with front line units of the Taliban while in Afghanistan and once sat next to Usama bin Laden at a meal, said the affidavit, which investigators said was based on interviews with Warsame. "The defendant stated that bin Laden was very inspirational," according to the affidavit.
| Inspired him right into jug, didn't he? |
Prosecutors argued Monday that Warsame, a Somali with Canadian citizenship, is a flight risk and should remain in jail while his court case proceeds. U.S. Magistrate Judge Franklin Noel ordered him held without bail pending trial. Warsame pleaded innocent Monday to a single charge of providing support to a terrorist organization, but otherwise did not speak. Investigators say he has acknowledged traveling to Terror Central Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001. In early 2001, they say, Warsame asked Al Qaeda for money to move his family to Afghanistan. According to the affidavit, an Al Qaeda leader instead paid for Warsame’s airplane ticket back to North America, and gave him $1,700 in travel money.
| That would imply his skills were of more use in North America — they had enough cannon fodder in Afghanistan... |
Warsame admitted he later wired money to people he had met in the training camps. Dan Scott, Warsame’s public defender, argued that his client should be freed because he has strong ties to Minnesota through his wife and 5-year-old daughter and was not a risk to leave the country. Scott also rejected the idea that Warsame is an active Al Qaeda member.
| "Of course he's not an active al-Qaeda member! He's a sleeper!" |
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