Prosecutors: Ex-guard at base hid ties to imam

[unhappycamper]

Prosecutors: Ex-guard at base hid ties to imam
The Associated Press - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 27, 2007 18:25:09 EST

GREENBELT, Md. — A former security guard at Andrews Air Force Base who failed to put his Muslim name on a job application was trying to conceal his ties to a controversial Washington imam, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

U.S. District Court jurors began hearing the case against Darrick Michael Jackson, who is charged with making a false statement when he failed to put the alias “Abdul-Jalil Mohammed” on an application for a job at the suburban Washington base that is home to Air Force One. Jackson could face five years in prison if convicted.

Jackson already was a security guard at Andrews when he reapplied in 2005 after the contract for security at the base changed. He had to fill out a federal form, which asked if he had any aliases. Jackson did not include the Muslim name.

At the time, he was affiliated with the Masjid Al-Islam mosque in southeast Washington, which is led by a fiery imam named Abdul Alim Musa. While Musa is not on trial in the case, prosecutors said Jackson tried to hide his ties to Musa and the mosque to avoid an investigation that might have led to the denial of his application.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Salem told jurors that Musa “has made some inflammatory statements about the United States” without elaborating. He told jurors that the government was not pursuing the case because of Jackson’s religion.

Musa, who was not at the trial, did not immediately return a phone call left Tuesday at the Masjid Al-Islam mosque seeking comment. Some of his public comments have included praise for Palestinian suicide bombers and a paraphrasing of the former 1960s Black Panther H. Rap Brown, now known as Jamil Al-Amin, saying “we’re going to burn America down.”


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_airforceguard_071127/