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Rather than facing possible embarrassment over an invited guest with admittedly loose ties to a terrorism case, the Justice Department cancelled a Muslim-outreach event featuring the attorney general. Aug. 8, 2007 - The Justice Department this summer abruptly cancelled a high-profile “Muslim outreach” event featuring Attorney General Alberto Gonzales after discovering that one of the invited guests was an officer of an organization just named as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in a major terrorism case. The scheduled event was slated to take place in the main department auditorium known as the Great Hall of Justice on June 27—with Gonzales billed as...

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia: In a precedent-setting case, a man was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for lying to authorities about his participation in a terror training camp in Pakistan after prosecutors successfully argued that his lies obstructed a wide-ranging terrorism investigation. Under normal sentencing guidelines, Sabri Benkahla, 32, would have received at most a three-year term for his convictions earlier this year on charges of lying to a grand jury, obstruction of justice and making a false statement. But for the first time, prosecutors were able to obtain a stiffer sentence by arguing that Benkahla's lies effectively promoted terrorism....

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A man once accused of aiding the Taliban with a U.S. group that trained with paintball guns was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for lying to authorities about training with militants in Pakistan.Under normal sentencing guidelines, Sabri Benkahla would have received at most a three-year term for his convictions this year on charges of lying to a grand jury, obstruction of justice and making a false statement.

He never made it to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban, but Kwon -- a Northern Virginia engineer who fled the United States nine days after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks said it wasn't for lack of effort. Kwon, 29, a South Korea-born graduate of Virginia Tech who is serving an 11-year prison sentence as a result of his guilty plea last year on federal conspiracy and weapons charges. He has emerged as the prosecution's star witness in the case against Ali Al-Timimi, an American Islamic scholar charged with recruiting soldiers for the Taliban just five days after Sept....

A former D.C. cab driver pleaded guilty today to conspiring to support a Pakistani group on the U.S. terrorism list by attending one of its training camps, officials said. Mahmud Faruq Brent, of Gwynn Oak, a Baltimore suburb, was arrested in 2005. He had been scheduled to go on trial on April 24 along with two New Yorkers and a Florida doctor. During a hearing in U.S. federal court in Manhattan, Brent acknowledged that he attended a Lashkar-e-Taiba training camp in 2002, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office in New York. The Islamic guerrilla group is fighting...

BRITISH AUTHORITIES have been slow to acknowledge openly the Pakistani-Muslim background of the suspects arrested in the mass terror conspiracy that brought chaos to British and American airports Thursday. At first, official sources in the United Kingdom would confirm only that they were working with "the South Asian community" on the case; then it was disclosed that the Pakistani government was involved in the investigation. This reticence in naming the focus of so significant a terrorism inquiry is a symptom of the larger problems of Islam in Britain, and of "Euro-Islam" more generally. Put plainly, Pakistani Sunnis in Britain--more than...

December 28, 2005 Defense Lawyers Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts By ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 - Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda.The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were singled out. The expected...

U.S. Judge Reduces 'Va. Jihad' Sentences New Terms Still Called 'Draconian' By Jerry Markon Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, July 30, 2005 A federal judge yesterday reduced the sentences of three members of a "Virginia jihad network," ordering the resentencings to comply with a recent Supreme Court ruling that allowed judges more discretion on such issues. U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema was pleased that she had the chance to lessen sentences she had criticized as excessive...

The suicide bombings in London raise questions of assimilation for the 3 million Muslims in the US. WASHINGTON - It's called the "Virginia Jihad" case: Iraqi-American medical researcher Ali al-Yimimi, who preached in northern Virginia mosques and disseminated his radical thinking on the Web, was sentenced to life imprisonment last week. His crime: inciting followers, many of them young American-born Muslims, to a violent defense of Islam and war against the United States and its intervention in Islamic countries. Mr. Timimi's sentencing in an Alexandria, Va., courtroom came against the backdrop of the London bombings, which British police now say...

Virginia Muslim leader gets life in prison "Islamic Scholar Sentenced to Va. Prison," from AP, with thanks to all who sent this in: ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A prominent Islamic scholar who exhorted his followers after the Sept. 11 attacks to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison. Ali al-Timimi of Fairfax was convicted in April of soliciting others to levy war against the United States, inducing others to aid the Taliban, and inducing others to use firearms in violation of federal law. The cleric addressed the court for 10 minutes before his sentencing....

An influential Muslim scholar, whom prosecutors called a "purveyor of hate and war," was ordered Wednesday to spend the rest of his life in prison for inciting his young followers in Northern Virginia to wage war against the United States in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks. The scholar, Ali al-Timimi, was defiant to the end, telling a federal judge as he was about to be sentenced that he considered himself a "prisoner of conscience" who was being persecuted for his strong Muslim beliefs. "I will not admit guilt nor seek the court's mercy," Mr. Timimi told a hushed...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A prominent U.S.-based Islamic scholar who exhorted his followers after the Sept. 11 attacks to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison. Ali al-Timimi of Fairfax was convicted in April of soliciting others to levy war against the United States, inducing others to aid the Taliban, and inducing others to use firearms in violation of federal law. The cleric addressed the court for 10 minutes before his sentencing. “I will not admit guilt nor seek the court’s mercy. I do this simply because I am innocent,” al-Timimi said. Prosecutors said...

Move follows two-year sting operation NEW YORK - The FBI arrested a Florida doctor and a New York martial arts expert on federal terrorism charges, saying they conspired to treat and train terrorists, federal prosecutors announced Sunday. Rafiq Abdus Sabir, a Boca Raton physician, and Tarik Shah, a self-described martial arts expert in New York, were both charged in Manhattan federal court with conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaida, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. Both men are American citizens. Prosecutors said Sabir agreed to treat jihadists, or holy warriors, in Saudi...

<p>A task force of federal agents has ratcheted up a two-year-old antiterrorism investigation aimed at several Virginia-based Islamic charities suspected of diverting millions of dollars to terror network al Qaeda and other militant radicals.</p> <p>Led by agents of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI, the task-force probe has targeted a number of people tied to several private companies and interrelated Islamic charities operating out of business fronts in Herndon and Falls Church.</p>

ASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — Federal law enforcement authorities said in court documents unsealed on Friday that they suspected a group of Islamic charities in Northern Virginia of laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars or more from Saudi Arabia to help finance terrorist attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.The authorities said in documents that they suspected that the network of charitable and educational institutions known as the Saar group in Herndon, Va., used an elaborate system of domestic and overseas financial transactions to "blur the trail" of its revenues and disguise the fact that it was sending money to aid...

The conviction last week of Ali al-Timimi, an American-born Islamic scholar, on terrorism charges thrust the so-called "Virginia Paintball Jihad" case to the forefront as the federal government's greatest court victory against terrorism. All told, federal prosecutors counted 10 convictions in the case. Al-Timimi's conviction marked the first post-Sept. 11 case in which the government won a terrorism conviction for actions tied to philosophy and words designed to help the enemy, rather than deeds, such as providing money, equipment or actual combat help to that enemy. "Until now these people have escaped. It is a very powerful position to be...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A prominent Washington-area Muslim cleric was convicted Tuesday of urging his followers, days after the attacks of September 11, 2001, to go to Afghanistan and help the Taliban fight U.S. military forces. Ali al-Timimi, 41, was convicted on all 10 counts of an indictment brought in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty called the verdict a victory in the war on terrorism. In a written statement, he called al-Timimi "a kingpin of hate against America." "He not only wanted Americans to die, he recruited others to his cause at a time when our...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - An Islamic scholar who prosecutors said enjoyed "rock star" status among a group of young Muslim men in Virginia was convicted Tuesday of exhorting his followers in the days after Sept. 11 to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops. The convictions against Ali al-Timimi, 41, carry a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison without parole. But the judge left open the possibility that she will toss out some of the counts. The jury reached its verdict after seven days of deliberations and convicted al-Timimi of all 10 counts. Prosecutors said the defendant - a...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A prominent Islamic scholar was convicted Tuesday of encouraging followers in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops. Jurors reached their verdict in their seventh day of deliberations in the trial of Ali al-Timimi. Al-Timini faces a mandatory maximum sentence of life in prison, federal prosecutors said. Prosecutors have said al-Timimi was a respected scholar who enjoyed "rock star" status among his followers and that he used that influence to guide them into holy war against the United States. Many of the followers often got together to play paintball...

Ottawa pulls Saudi group's charity status Tax violation: Muslim World League being sued by 9/11 families Stewart Bell National Post Monday, December 01, 2003 TORONTO - Federal regulators have revoked the charity status of the Canadian branch of a Saudi organization that has faced longstanding allegations of ties to terrorism. A notice in the government publication Canada Gazette said the Muslim World League (MWL) is one of several charities that "have not met the filing requirements of the Income Tax Act." The revocation came into effect on Nov. 15, but the organization, dedicated to promoting Islam, was still calling itself...

U.S. case against Muslim scholar is religious attack: defense 04/18/2005 By MATTHEW BARAKAT / Associated Press The government's prosecution of a prominent Islamic scholar accused of recruiting for the Taliban in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks is an assault on religious freedom, a defense lawyer said Monday during the trial's closing arguments. "The government wants you to think Islam is your enemy," said Edward MacMahon, who represents Ali al-Timimi, 41, of Fairfax. "They want you to dislike him so much because of what he said that you'll ignore the lack of evidence." Prosecutors, on the other hand, said...

(AP) - ALEXANDRIA, Va.-A key prosecution witness at the trial of an Islamic scholar accused of exhorting his followers to fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan admitted under cross-examination Monday that he had long urged his friends to engage in holy war independent of any encouragement from the defendant. Yong Ki Kwon has testified that he was inspired by the defendant - Ali al-Timimi, 41, of Fairfax - at a Sept. 16, 2001 meeting to aid the Taliban in Afghanistan as it faced a looming U.S. invasion after Sept. 11. Kwon is one of four men who traveled to Pakistan...

A man described as a high-ranking operative of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was arrested last week as he videotaped the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Virginia, and he then was held as a material witness in an unrelated case, authorities said. Ismael Selim Elbarasse of Annandale, Virginia, long suspected by authorities of having financial ties to the Palestinian extremist group, was taken into custody Friday, the U.S. attorney's office in Maryland said Monday. He was held as a material witness in a Chicago terrorism case. Elbarasse made an initial appearance in Baltimore's federal courthouse Monday before U.S. District Magistrate...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A federal judge Monday indicated First Amendment issues may play a significant role in the government's case against an Islamic scholar accused of exhorting followers to fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Ali al-Timimi, 41, denies he is guilty, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema told prospective panelists, while summarizing the prosecution's case against the defendant. "He says that he only counseled the young men at issue to leave the United States and (migrate) to an Islamic country where they could practice their religion freely," she told a pool of 110 people who filled out long questionnaires. Opening...

Portrait of a WahhabiBy Stephen Schwartz FrontPageMagazine.com | June 30, 2003 On Thursday, June 26, I testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, chaired by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz).  My topic was “Wahhabism and Islam in the U.S.”  I outlined the outrageous degree to which Saudi-funded Wahhabi extremists, who are supporters of terrorism, have come to dominate Islam in the U.S. My testimony was not greeted with enthusiasm by James Zogby, the phony civil rights leader who heads the “Arab American Institute." Zogby, a Lebanese Christian once known for his moderate camouflage on Israel, but...

Virginia man charged in alleged plot to assassinate Bush By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A former high school valedictorian in Virginia was charged Tuesday with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and conspiracy to support the al-Qaida terrorist network. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen, made an initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court. He claimed that he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia since June of 2003 and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars. The indictment said that in 2002 and 2003 Abu Ali and an unidentified coconspirator...

Ahmed Omar Abul Ali, the Virginia Muslim charged with conspiring to assassinate President Bush, met several times with Zubayr al-Rimi—Al Qaeda’s number two man in Saudi Arabia, killed in a shootout with Saudi forces in September 2003: Abu Ali linked to Saudi Arabia al Qaeda leader. (Hat tip: The Jawa Report.) A Falls Church man accused of conspiring to assassinate President Bush met several times with an al Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia who once was the target of a global manhunt and a key suspect in an attack that killed nine Americans in Riyadh, law-enforcement authorities said. Ahmed Omar...

Case Adds to Outrage for Muslims in Northern Virginia By JAMES DAO and ERIC LICHTBLAU ALLS CHURCH, Va., Feb. 25 - When the Saudi police burst into a classroom at the Islamic University of Medina during final exams two years ago and whisked away an American exchange student named Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, his imprisonment swiftly reverberated among Muslims in this Washington suburb. Mr. Abu Ali was never charged, and he spent 20 months in a Saudi prison where his family says he was whipped, tortured and starved. This week, he was finally returned to Virginia - only to face...

SAUDI 'SOLDIER' BY STEPHEN SCHWARTZ IN Alexandria, Va., on Tuesday, a 23-year-old Northern Virginia man of Saudi Arabian background named Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was charged with conspiring to assassinate President Bush. Abu Ali and his accomplices are accused of plotting to kill the president by gunfire or a car bomb. The indictment also spells out such criminal activities as assisting and receiving support from Osama bin Laden's band of murderers. Abu Ali was extradited to Virginia after many months in a Saudi jail. What's most remarkable about this case is the degree to which this would-be assassin is a...

Feds raid Saudi-based organization in N.Va. The Associated Press Jul 2, 2004 FAIRFAX - Federal agents raided the Fairfax offices of a Saudi-based institute yesterday. No arrests were made. A task force of federal agents, including the FBI, raided the offices of the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences. Earlier this year, 16 Saudi diplomats affiliated with the institute had their passports revoked. State Department officials said the diplomats were teaching at the institute rather than serving as diplomats. The institute, in the Merrifield section of Fairfax County, also served as a meeting point for a group of Islamic men...

Per Fox News...

Sentences Lengthy for 'Virginia Jihad' Wednesday June 16, 2004 3:01 AM By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A Maryland man convicted of traveling to Pakistan and seeking to fight with the Taliban against the United States just days after Sept. 11 was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison. Masoud Khan was one of three people sentenced Tuesday on charges they trained for holy war against the United States by playing paintball games in the Virginia woods as part of a ``jihad'' network. Prosecutors said Khan's actions were worse than the other suspects because he also traveled...

As a columnist for FrontPage Magazine who gravitates toward controversial subjects, I get my share of responses, sometimes from unexpected quarters. In April of 2003, I received an e-mail from someone calling himself “Ismail Royer.” At the time, I didn’t realize the importance of this correspondence: I had just been contacted by a terrorist. Background Randall Todd “Ismail” Royer, a native of St. Louis, converted to Islam at the age of 19, at the impetus of an acquaintance and a “singing bird.” He began attending mosque and, in 1994, took a position with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a self-proclaimed Islamic civil rights group. CAIR, at the...

Tyler, TX – A virtually unnoticed federal arrest here this Spring of a well-educated Pakistani man caught trying to buy illegal silencers, firearms and C-4 explosives has set off a nationwide FBI counterterrorism investigation, CBS-11 has learned. The investigation centers on whether Osama Haroon Satti, 35, came to Tyler on behalf of a terrorist cell hoping to arm for a plot to rob and murder wealthy Jews and other non-Muslims on the West Coast, sources familiar with the FBI investigation tell CBS-11. Satti is currently in federal custody on charges of buying an illegal silencer and handgun. Federal prosecutors connected...

RANDALL TODD ROYER AND IBRAHIM AHMED AL-HAMDI SENTENCED FOR PARTICIPATION IN VIRGINIA JIHAD NETWORK WASHINGTON, D.C. - Attorney General John Ashcroft, Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty of the Eastern District of Virginia announced that Randall Todd Royer and Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Hamdi were sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema for their convictions on charges stemming from their participation in a network of militant jihadists centered in Northern Virginia. Royer, 31, pled guilty in January 2004 to a two-count criminal information charging him with aiding and abetting...

Alexandria, Va. – Two American Muslims were sentenced Friday to 20 and 15 years in prison, respectively, for their roles in support of a Virginia-based conspiracy to engage in holy war against nations deemed hostile to Islam, including the United States. The two men, Randall Todd Royer, 31, and Ibrahim al-Hamdi, 26, were among nine men who either pleaded guilty or were convicted of charges related to their participation in what prosecutors called a "Virginia jihad network." Two others who faced charges were acquitted on all counts. The group used paintball games played in the woods near Fredericksburg in 2000...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP)--Two American Muslims accused of training for holy war against the United States by waging paintball battles in the Virginia woods were sentenced Friday to 15 years or more in prison. Randall Todd Royer, 31, and Ibrahim al-Hamdi, 26, were among nine men who either pleaded guilty or were convicted of charges related to their participation in what prosecutors called a ``Virginia jihad network.'' Two others were acquitted on all counts. The group used paintball games in 2000 and 2001 as military training in preparation for holy war against nations deemed hostile to Islam, prosecutors say. After the...

As the world reels from the bombings in Madrid, it is important to remember that the jihad continues in America as well.* The FBI and Coast Gaurd announced March 11 that nine members of the Merchant Marine may have links to terrorist groups. This is the fruit of Operation Drydock, an anti-terror investigation that has lasted more than a year. These efforts, while laudable, only underscore the fact that terrorists have already begun to try to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of U.S.seaports.* The same day, three members of the "Virginia jihad network" were found guilty of conspiracy. Masoud Khan,...

<p>A founding member of a U.S. Muslim group that endorsed an Army chaplain now accused of espionage has himself been arrested on criminal charges.</p> <p>Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi, 51, who helped organize the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Council and is a board member of the Washington, D.C.-based American Muslim Council, was taken into custody Sunday by agents from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the FBI.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI made a series of arrests in three states Friday of men suspected of ties to an anti-U.S. terrorist organization whose main goal is driving India out of the disputed Kashmir territory in South Asia. The arrests of at least seven suspects were made in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, said federal law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity. Federal charges against the men, and several others who are overseas, were to be announced later in the day. The men are alleged to be part of an extremist Muslim organization called Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is on the...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Federal prosecutors who accuse nine U.S. citizens and two other men of conspiring to join a Muslim terror group presented an address list and other evidence Friday to try to link the suspects to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida group. But the evidence wasn't enough to persuade U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema to keep one defendant, Sabri Benkhala, in jail. Brinkema ordered Benkhala released to home detention at his father's house in Falls Church, upholding a previous release order issued by a magistrate. "There's no question the government has raised some significant issues here," the judge said....

On 3 July, 2003, ABC News announced that the government has presented information leading to the federal indictment of eleven men who had trained in the woods of Fairfax County, Virginia with “AK-47” style assault weapons. According to the government, the men had also participated in warlike paintball games to practice military tactics in Spotsylvania County and had practiced shooting at various shooting ranges. Of the eleven indicted, one name stands out: Mr. Randall Todd Royer, who has served as a communications specialist and as a civil rights coordinator for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). The government alleges...

Those oh-so-compassionate liberals could hardly contain their glee upon hearing the news that Attorney General John Ashcroft is suffering from a severe case of gallstone pancreatitis. "He has it coming. He is utterly sub-human and evil. Suffer, bastard," gloated an Internet user on the DemocraticUnderground.com Web site. "(T)he world would be better off without him," responded another writer on the forum. "I hope he is in the most severe pain a human being can suffer, and after that, I hope he remains in constant pain with no hope of relief," chimed in yet another bleeding-heart Democrat. Out in Hollywood, comedian...

<p>June 27 (Bloomberg) -- Eight men were arrested on charges they formed a ``Virginia jihad network'' with ties to the Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-E-Taiba and planned terrorist attacks overseas, the U.S. government said.</p> <p>The men, along with three others believed to be in Saudi Arabia, are accused of plotting to engage in a ``jihad,'' or holy war, in Kashmir, Chechnya, the Philippines and other countries. U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty, who announced the indictment today in Alexandria, Virginia, declined to say whether any attacks were planned in the U.S.</p>

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Three American Muslims accused of undergoing paramilitary training in hopes of joining up with the Taliban were convicted Thursday of conspiring to support terrorism. Prosecutors said the three were part of a "Virginia jihad network" that used paintball games in 2000 and 2001 to train for holy war around the globe. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the group allegedly focused efforts on defending the Taliban. Masoud Khan, 34, of Gaithersburg, Md., was convicted of the most serious charges, including conspiracy to levy war against the United States and conspiracy to contribute services to the...

Terrorists ready for holy war in 40 American states IAN BRUCE, Defence Correspondent February 11 2004 ISLAMIC terror commandos are being infiltrated into the US in preparation for "an American jihad" from within, according to intelligence sources. Dozens of radicals trained in camps in western Pakistan and Kashmir are already believed to have slipped into the country and been absorbed in sleeper cells in unsuspecting Muslim communities as the vanguard of a holy army estimated to be several hundred strong. An FBI spokesman said al Qaeda and allied organisations were thought to be operating in 40 American states, awaiting orders...

<p>Islamic radicals are being trained at terrorist camps in Pakistan and Kashmir as part of a conspiracy to send hundreds of operatives to "sleeper cells" in the United States, according to U.S. and foreign officials.</p> <p>The intelligence and law-enforcement officials say dozens of Islamic extremists have already been routed through Europe to Muslim communities in the United States, based on secret intelligence data and information from terrorists and others detained by U.S. authorities.</p>

<p>ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Four U.S. citizens who allegedly used paintball games outside Washington for military-style training went on trial Monday on charges of conspiracy to aid the Taliban against the United States.</p> <p>The government has alleged the four, who waived their right to a jury trial, are members of a "Virginia jihad network."</p>

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Four men who are to go on trial Monday were members of a dangerous Muslim terror cell that schemed to support the Taliban and fight the United States, the government charges. Defense lawyers paint a different picture, saying overzealous prosecutors have turned legal activities, like playing paintball and buying weapons, into a sinister plot, and are inferring anti-American sentiments where none exist. It will be up to U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema to decide the men's guilt or innocence: all four defendants and the prosecution have waived their right to a jury trial. The four men were...

A key member of an alleged Virginia jihad network pleaded guilty to federal weapons and explosives charges today, denying that he intended to harm Americans but acknowledging that he and his co-defendants had sought to fight on behalf of Muslim causes abroad. Randall Todd Royer, 30, of Falls Church, entered his surprise plea in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He faces at least 20 years in prison when he is sentenced April 9. Another of the 11 men originally charged in the case, Ibrahim Ahmed al-Hamdi, 26, of Alexandria, pleaded guilty to similar charges and faces at least 15 years...