Arrested soldier had expressed strong opinions about U.S., bigotry and Isl [View All]

[Rose Siding]

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) -- A National Guardsman suspected of trying to share military information with al-Qaida is a Muslim convert who complained bitterly in a letter to a newspaper about "bigotry, hatred and mindless rage" in the United States.
Spc. Ryan G. Anderson, 26, was arrested Thursday and was being held at Fort Lewis. The tank crew member from the Guard's 81st Armor Brigade was taken into custody just days before he was to leave for duty in Iraq.

Long before his arrest, he had made some of his beliefs known in strongly worded letters to the editor.

"In my three years as an observant Muslim, I've encountered nothing but kindness, patience, courtesy and understanding from them," he wrote in a November 2002 letter to the Herald of Everett. "On the other hand, I have experienced bigotry, hatred and mindless rage from so-called 'educated thinkers' here in the U.S."

Anderson also suggested that his allegiance to the United States was conditional.

In a 1998 letter published by The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane, he warned: "Today I am a young soldier, sworn to protect and defend this country. But if tomorrow I find that this nation is no longer the one based upon the freedom I was taught to love, I'll have little choice but to go where I can live in freedom."

And in a 2001 letter to the Spokane newspaper, Anderson said he feared war in Afghanistan, because "elements in our own society who would rob us of our individual liberties and freedoms can use the auspices of national security to steal them."

Speaking on condition of anonymity, defense officials said Anderson signed on to extremist Internet chat rooms.....

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/terrorism/s_179553.html