http://www.wbir.com/News/news.asp?ID=11794
MOTHER DOESN'T BELIEVE SOLDIER WOULD TURN ON HIS PEERS The mother of a soldier being held for an attack on his own commanders in Kuwait told The Tennessean newspaper she doesn't believe he'd kill anyone.
Sergeant Asa Akbar hasn't been charged yet, but Army authorities have identified him as the suspect in grenade attacks on the 101st Airborne Division.
Captain Christopher Seifert of Easton, Pennsylvania was killed and at least 15 injured after grenades were thrown into three tents.
Quran Bilal of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told the newspaper in a story published today on its Web site that Akbar had expressed concern about being a Muslim in the Army. And she fears that he is being accused now because of his faith.
Akbar was born Mark Kools, but his mother changed his name when he was a boy after she remarried. He apparently has used both names in the Army.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/iraq/cst-nws-101st24.html (EXCERPT ONLY!!!)
Mom defends GI son suspected in Kuwait attack
March 24, 2003BY IAN DEMSKY AND LEON ALLIGOOD
Quran Bilal (yep, that's his mama's name) said Sunday that no one in the military had informed her of the accusations against her son. In a phone interview from her home in Baton Rouge, La., she said she thinks her son has been accused simply because he is a Muslim.
Akbar was born Mark Fidel Kools. His mother changed his name to Hasan Akbar after she remarried, when he was a boy. Akbar began using his original name when he entered the Army. His mother said Akbar was not accepted into the Army with his Muslim name because he could not produce a birth certificate.
Public records showed listings for Akbar under the name Kools as well.
Bilal said she was very proud of her son and couldn't understand how the reports could possibly pertain to him. ''He wouldn't try to take nobody's life," she said.
He expressed his concerns about being a Muslim in the Army to his mother in the past.
''He said, 'Mama, when I get over there, I have the feeling they are going to arrest me just because of the name that I have carried.'"
Akbar did not participate in the first Persian Gulf War because his religion created a ''conflict of interest,'' she said.
Abdul Karim Hasan, the imam at the Bilal Islamic Center in Los Angeles that Akbar and his family used to attend, described Akbar as a ''quiet, mild-type person."
The imam said he had known Akbar from his youth through his college days.
''I would have to see him do that in order to believe it,'' Abdul Karim Hasan said of the man he hadn't seen in about a decade. ''I don't see it in his character. A guy's character follows him throughout his life. I don't see how he could change that drastically.
"''I would have to see him do that in order to believe it,'' Abdul Karim Hasan said of the man he hadn't seen in about a decade. ''I don't see it in his character. A guy's character follows him throughout his life. I don't see how he could change that drastically."
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I thought character didn't matter....I'll bet somebody a day's pay...that Abdul Karim Hasan...voted for SickSlick.
FRegards,