Everett, Wash.
A National Guardsman from Washington was charged last week of offering military information to al Qaida. Spc. Ryan G. Anderson, a tank crewman preparing for duty in Iraq, allegedly tried to contact al Qaida through an extremist Islamic chat room. Army officials said Anderson, a Muslim convert, offered federal agents posing as terrorists “information about the capabilities and vulnerability” of U.S. weapons. A high school friend said Anderson, 26, was once fascinated by right-wing militia groups and joked about overthrowing the government. “Ryan’s kind of a weird type of guy,” said the friend, Nathan Knopp.
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