Posted on 04/17/2007 6:27:20 PM PDT by SBD1
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. 11.
Kwon, one of nine men convicted last year in the so-called "paintball jihad" network, told a chilling tale of the birth of an American jihad.
The holy war was conceived in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., in the dawn of the 21st century and was born at a meeting in his Fairfax, Va. apartment Sept. 16, 2001, when Kwon said he and several companions decided to heed the call of spiritual adviser Al-Timimi and to be trained to join the Taliban.
The call to holy war took Kwon, who became a U.S. citizen in August 2001, to the mountain training camps of Lashkar-e-Taiba -- known as the LET -- a group that the U.S. placed on its terrorist list in December 2001.
Kwon honed his skills with semi-automatic weapons and learned to fire a grenade launcher.
Kwon, though, said he never was able to join the Taliban. He was simply too late. The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan closed as U.S. forces took control of Afghanistan shortly before Kwon completed his training at the LET camp.
He said his mentors offered him another option: Go back to the United States and gather information for the mujahadeen, or holy warriors.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
It has been reported that the Virginia Tech killer, Cho had the words "ismail ax" written in red across his arm.
Cho is also from South Korea like Kwon. Kwon graduated from Virginia Tech. Kwon was convicted on weapons charges. Cho had plenty of weapons and ammo. Cho lived with 7 other South Koreans. Cho shared a bedroom with another South Korean. No one living with Cho ever found the weapons or ammo or Everyone living with Cho knew about the weapons and ammo.
All just a coincidence??
SBD
I was wondering what chat and forums this guy belonged to. They say he spent lots of time online.
Maybe I’m missing something .. but I’m not seeing a connection
*shrug* Everyone needs a hobby...
Following that line of thought I came up with these:
Portrait of a Wahhabi: My encounters with Randall Royer…and the “usual suspects.”
This Royer was operating in N. Virginia. Could it be that our VT shooter was affiliated with local jihadists and idolized "Ismail" Royer?
"Ismail" Royer was affiliated with Kwon.
Looks like coincidence to me.
But still, it’s an interesting little tidbit. Might want to pull on the string a bit and see where it leads.
Interesting. I said early on it was SJS.
Random workplace/school massacres are an American custom, not a Muslim one.
Because it would give them another thing to bitch about.
It's possible that Cho ran in the same circles as Kwon in Annandale (which has numerous Korean eating/meeting places).
Because doing otherwise would require a thought process that didn’t involve ‘Bush’s fault’ or ‘This is series’.
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I am not the one who wrote “ismail ax” on the killer’s arm, he did!!
Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old while Ismail[Koran spelling], was born to Abraham when Abraham was 86 years old. Ismail was therefore 14 years older than Isaac. During his first 14 years Ismail was the only son of Abraham; at no time was Isaac the only son of Abraham.
Maybe he was.
Maybe he wasn’t.
Time will tell.
Some folks need a devil they can blame, one that confirms their own prejudices and fears.
Anyhing is possible .. but that doesn’t mean there is a connection
Because the majority of killers making the news ARE Muslim.
oh
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