Portland, Ore.
The FBI last week charged four American Muslims from Oregon with plotting to join forces with al Qaida. Federal officials said the four—Jeffrey Leon Battle, 32; his former wife, October Martinique Lewis, 25; Patrice Lumumba Ford, 31; and Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, 22—resolved after Sept. 11 to help Osama bin Laden fight his holy war against America. The men, and two others who remained at large, reportedly tried unsuccessfully to reach Afghanistan to join up with bin Laden’s al Qaida organization. Investigators said they also practiced firing assault rifles near Portland. Defense lawyers said the evidence was wafer thin, but Attorney General John Ashcroft said the arrests “neutralized a suspected terrorist cell within our borders.”
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