| American soldier gave alqaeda information { February 12 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,111284,00.htmlhttp://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,111284,00.html
Feds: Soldier Tried to Give Info to Al Qaeda Thursday, February 12, 2004
SEATTLE - A National Guardsman stationed at Fort Lewis (search) was arrested Thursday and charged by the Army with trying to provide information to the Al Qaeda (search) terrorist network, a federal law enforcement official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that Spc. Ryan G. Anderson was charged with "aiding the enemy by wrongfully attempting to communicate and give intelligence to the Al Qaeda terrorist network."
It was not immediately known what information Anderson allegedly provided.
Anderson was being held at Fort Lewis, an Army base near Tacoma.
A message left with the Lt. Col. Stephen Barger at Fort Lewis was not immediately returned Thursday. Base spokesman Joe Hitt said he was not aware of the report, and messages left with Army officials at the Pentagon were not immediately returned.
Anderson, 26, is a tank crew member from the National Guard's 81st Armor Brigade, a 4,000-member unit set to depart for Iraq for a one-year deployment.
Washington State University spokeswoman Charleen Taylor said Anderson was a 2002 graduate with a degree in history with an emphasis on the Middle East.
Anderson converted to Islam five years ago, the Everett Herald reported last week. He graduated from Everett's Cascade High School in 1995.
The brigade has been training at Fort Lewis since November. Eighty percent of the soldiers -- 3,200 -- are from Washington state, and 1,000 are from guard units in California and Minnesota.
It includes two tank battalions, a mechanized infantry battalion, engineers, support troops, artillery and an intelligence company.
The brigade's Iraqi mission is the biggest deployment for the Washington Army National Guard since World War II.
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