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U.S. Army Private Converts to Islam — Guess What Happened Next
PJ Media ^ | 06/17/2023 | Robert Spencer

Posted on 06/17/2023 7:03:17 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

There wasn’t any reason to think Cole James Bridges was anything more than an average young American. After he graduated from high school, he worked at a Papa John’s pizza shop in Stow, Ohio, for a while, and then, in Sept. 2019, joined the U.S. Army. He got sent to Fort Stewart in Georgia, where he became a cavalry scout. Thousands of young Americans have followed paths similar to the one Bridges embarked upon, but then he took a sharp turn no one expected: on Wednesday, Cole James Bridges pleaded guilty to trying to aid ISIS’ efforts to kill American soldiers.

It’s not clear exactly when Bridges, who also sometimes went by his mother’s maiden name and called himself Cole Gonzales, converted to Islam. He may have done so before he entered the army, or by Christmas Day 2019, when he searched the Internet for “us soldier shooting,” “ak 47 downsight,” and “badass jihadi.” Less than a year after that, in Oct. 2020, Bridges began communicating with an FBI agent whom he thought was an Islamic State (ISIS) operative.

The Justice Department reported Wednesday that Bridges is now looking at spending the next forty years in prison for “attempting to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organization and attempting to murder U.S. military service members.”

There is abundant reason to give him maximum sentence: in his conversations with the deceptive fed, Bridges “expressed his frustration with the U.S. military and his desire to aid ISIS.” He also “provided training and guidance to purported ISIS fighters who were planning attacks, including advice about potential targets in New York City.” He even gave the person he thought was his ISIS contact “portions of U.S. Army training manual and guidance about military combat tactics, for use by ISIS.”

(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: army; colebridges; colegonzales; colejamesbridges; conversion; donatedonaldtrump; donatefreerepublic; donatetrump; isis; islam; military; treason
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1 posted on 06/17/2023 7:03:17 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Traitor.


2 posted on 06/17/2023 7:03:32 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: SeekAndFind

Shocked. Totally taken by surprise.

/sarc


3 posted on 06/17/2023 7:04:27 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Impossible! George W Bush says Islam is a religion of peace!


4 posted on 06/17/2023 7:05:32 PM PDT by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
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To: Jan_Sobieski

…and Barack Hussein Obama says we’re a Muslim country.


5 posted on 06/17/2023 7:06:35 PM PDT by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
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To: SeekAndFind

I’m going to guess he went on a crazed jihad


6 posted on 06/17/2023 7:06:49 PM PDT by NWFree (Sigma male 🤪)
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To: Jan_Sobieski

just one of 57!!


7 posted on 06/17/2023 7:08:33 PM PDT by ealgeone
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To: SeekAndFind

“...Bridges began communicating with an FBI agent whom he thought was an Islamic State (ISIS) operative.”

This sounds like another Whitmere Kidnapping setup.


8 posted on 06/17/2023 7:09:37 PM PDT by euram (allALL)
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To: euram

I would automatically assume the FBI is the bigger threat to America.


9 posted on 06/17/2023 7:11:29 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I've just pissed in my pants and nobody can do anything about it." -- Major Fambrough)
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To: SeekAndFind

10 posted on 06/17/2023 7:19:08 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (LORD, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

Looks like a tire ran over his forehead.


11 posted on 06/17/2023 7:39:07 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I think a bigger story is when and why he converted. The armed forces screen new recruits for any neuroses and weed out the ones they think won’t make a good fit. (At least they try to.)

What made him think that converting to Islam would be a good idea? Is there anything about life in today’s armed forces that would encourage him to think that? We may never learn that.


12 posted on 06/17/2023 7:41:50 PM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: BradyLS

Let him spend his next 40 years in a muslim country. Taxpayers shouldn’t have to feed him.


13 posted on 06/17/2023 8:00:28 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (e allowed )
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To: SeekAndFind

Hang him high! Sooner the better.


14 posted on 06/17/2023 8:26:26 PM PDT by Delta 21 (MAGA Republican is my pronoun.)
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To: ConservativeMind
It looks like that picture was "touched up". It appears that he might have had his shirt unbuttoned, and the studio blacked out the area. It's obvious the picture was altered. Maybe his shirt had an islamic logo which the studio covered up.

15 posted on 06/17/2023 9:33:40 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (LORD, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

You are correct about the shirt. The forehead is a mess.


16 posted on 06/17/2023 9:40:56 PM PDT by healy61 (.)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

It’s a tee shirt.


17 posted on 06/17/2023 10:13:07 PM PDT by Nifster ( I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: SeekAndFind

The soldier got mixed up. The stupid FBI guy should have told him straight up that he was a law officer, that jihad is a straight trip to hell, and then meet with his parents. Sadly, the stupid FBI trapped him and made things worse. Sure he is a traitor but a young one who could easily be shown the errors of his ways.


18 posted on 06/17/2023 10:17:14 PM PDT by Falconspeed ("Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." Robert Louis Stevenson.)
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To: SeekAndFind

“He got sent to Fort Stewart in Georgia, where he became a cavalry scout.”

These journalists are freaking morons.

Ft Stewart isn’t a TRADOC base, and you don’t become a cavalry scout there.

From the Army Times:

“Bridges, 20, of Stowe, Ohio, joined the Army in September 2019 as a cavalry scout and was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. By December,he had begun searching the internet for terms including “us soldier shooting,” “badass jihadi,” and “ak 47 downsight,” according to court documents.”

If he joined in September, he’d still be in training by December because OSUT (One Station Unit Training) for 19D is 16 weeks.

So say he enlisted on 1 Sept, it would be almost a week if not more before he got to his training unit IF he shipped out on his day of enlistment.


19 posted on 06/17/2023 10:19:32 PM PDT by 2CAVTrooper (Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.)
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To: Jan_Sobieski

Impossible! George W Bush says Islam is a religion of peace!

I bet you a Dollar, if you would ask that closet Marxist (m)uslim who recently pretended to be our fearless leader he would tell you the same thing.


20 posted on 06/17/2023 10:39:55 PM PDT by Saintgermain
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