American says he volunteered for Taliban suicide mission

[BlueJessamine]

Source: Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON -- Weeks after arriving in Pakistan on a flight from New York, Bryant Neal Vinas plunged into holy war: He volunteered to train for a suicide attack and fought in the wilds of Afghanistan.

By the time of his capture last November, 14 months later, the Muslim convert from Long Island had journeyed into the innermost circles of Al Qaeda, according to a statement he gave investigators.

Vinas befriended fellow trainees who wanted to bomb stadiums in Europe. He learned to assemble explosives vests. And he had "detailed conversations" with top terrorists about attacks on U.S. and other Western targets, according to a French-language summary of his statement to Belgian investigators obtained by the Tribune's Washington Bureau on Thursday.

At a time when Al Qaeda is wary of spies who might assist a campaign of missile strikes, the speed with which a rare American trainee won the trust of fugitive bosses remains mysterious to investigators. Some investigators suggest that well-connected extremists paved his way. But the case also offers a look at the contradictory nature of the network: simultaneously secretive and freewheeling, bureaucratic and casual. The six-page summary of Vinas' statement is part of a court case in Brussels.


Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-american-jihad-24jul24,0,6048862.story

[Javaman]

1. I'm assuming he wasn't successful. nt

[western mass]

2. How long did they waterboard him to get the "confession"

I'll believe this is anything other than a clueless wannabe set up on exaggerated charges...when the trial is over.