Two Army Recruiters Shot, One Dead In Little Rock Shooting

Source: KTHV tv

Little Rock police are investigating a double shooting at a west Little Rock shopping center. Two Army recruiters were hit by gunfire. One of the victims has died from his wounds.

The two men were wounded outside an Army recruiting office in the Ashley Square Shopping Center off Rodney Parham Road near Reservoir Road around 10:20 a.m.

According to Little Rock police, someone inside a black SUV opened fire on two recruiters standing outside the office. One victim died late Monday morning. The other victim is reportedly in serious condition.

Recruiting commander Lt. Col Thomas F. Artis says the victims had just completed basic training and were spending two weeks in Little Rock to recruit in their home area, showing the difference that less than two months of training made in their lives.



Read more: http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=85963&catid=238

What a horrible thing to happen.

Who was lied to by recruiters and got back from his 3rd tour in Iraq with post tramatic stress.

This isn't Berkley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-w-_g4eBPU

I doubt it was Code Pink
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNEraLEvj-M&feature=related

CodePINK walks the walk. I have a lot of respect for them, even if I do think they go over-the-top sometimes - at least they're trying harder than most Americans do.

I just have a really bad feeling about this shooting. I hope I'm proven wrong, though.

... the shooter was a close relative of a soldier who got killed in Iraq, who had been aggressively recruited by one of the victims at that office.

about that gut.

And they just left a couple of months ago.

My first reaction is that the cause of the shooting predates their enlistment. Drugs are a bad problem in Little Rock, and I would place money on drugs/drug money as the motive.

we'd have to rename you earglass.

:rofl:

These were young kids home on leave who were part of the hometown recruiter program.

Army recruiter killed in LR shooting, another recruiter wounded
Associated Press - June 1, 2009 1:54 PM ET
http://www.wxvt.com/Global/story.asp?S=10457280&nav=menu1344_2

Artis says the victims had just completed basic training and were spending two weeks in Little Rock to recruit in their home area, showing the difference that less than two months of training made in their lives.


Home Town Area Recruiting Program--it's a free extra bit of leave that masquerades as TAD. Boot camp graduates go to their home town, and work with their recruiter to put a personal face on the whole boot camp experience.

It's usually given to guys who have done well in boot camp and have a couple of spare weeks of slack between their graduation and the start of their advanced training. It's a two week to one month gig, usually.

That puts a different spin on the whole issue....

"free" leave disguised as TAD before heading out to advanced training.

...these were soldiers who had just finished BCT and were awaiting the start of their Advanced Individual Training courses. The service encourages young soldiers to return to their hometowns and shows their friends the result of completing their initial training.

Very sad that someone would single them out.

snip
A Muslim convert who said he was opposed to the U.S. military shot two soldiers outside an Arkansas recruiting station...

snip

He has converted to Muslim here in the past few years," Hastings said. "To be honest we're not completely clear on what he was upset about. He had never been in the military."


snip

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-06-01-army-recruiter-killed_N.htm

maybe his local holy man cleric will now have to dance :bounce:

Maybe he was a confused gang banga for alla :shrug:

The guy just got arrested for shooting two people and you automatically accept this story at face value?

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A man with "political and religious motives" killed a soldier just out of basic training and wounded another Monday in a targeted attack on a military recruiting center, police said. The shootings were not believed to be part of a broader scheme.

snip
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D98I6F4G0&show_article=1



He suffered from "Sudden Jihad Syndrome"
and your just being racist.

The first one is life in prison, the second one is the chair (or the needle).

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

acting on his own but

I'd like to find out what defense his lawyer puts up due to what he will be told by his client.

The lawyers always start with the insanity defense in cases like this.

23 yr old victim of society ect.

Imagine if this was Iran.

he would be swinging from a pistachio tree in
what?
another 22 hours?

ENORMOUS. I've never seen such bigass pistachios!

using water stolen from other states aquafirs LOL

Since you don't know why he did it, it is absurd to speculate the way you are. Statistically the chances of any given shooting involving males of this age group is vastly more likely to be a personal grudge or drug related than it is related to terrorism. If the victims were two service members who had just arrived there from other areas of the country there MIGHT, repeat MIGHT be a basis for looking to anger at the military or terrorism.
Given that BOTH VICTIMS WERE LOCALS the probability of this being a random event plummets.

in the police 'interrogation' room.

Thats a vid I hope gets leaked to the public

This guy is giving the police the death penalty excuse. So no, I don't "know" why he did it, but I know what he said to the police.

But whatever. You're fixated on your own little shoestring theory (rumors) and plainly uninterested in what every newspaper and television outlet has to say.

This was religious extremism!

decided to convert, he accepted certain truths and consequences.

Because, it is written;


Once you accept muhammad and his frame of mind thinking,

it is a crime to renounce him and to go back to ( brand-X ).






so
we should cut him some slack in such confusing times as these. He should have waited until after Obama came back from Egypt bc his story will be just that much more scrutinized in the land of the prophet.

Perhaps the Saudi king will understand his motives? naw, he is only concerned with profits.

I'm sure a few clerics will praise him behind closed mosque doors at any rate this friday if they mention the Obama speech from Cairo.


:sarcasm:

But realistically, I doubt this 'Mohammad of Arkansas' story will grow legs internationally as much as it is being covered here locally

:(



The Associated Press

Originally published 10:22 a.m., June 1, 2009
Updated 12:02 p.m., June 1, 2009

Two U.S. Army recruiters were shot Monday morning in an apparent drive-by shooting at an Army-Navy recruiting station on North Rodney Parham Road in Little Rock, said Little Rock Police. One of the recruiters died just before noon.

He is William Long of Little Rock. Quenton Ozeaghula, also of Little Rock, was injured.

Police took a suspect into custody a short time later at the Interstate 30-630 interchange.

Witnesses said the two recruiters, whose names and conditions have not been released, were standing outside the recruiting office at 9112 N. Rodney Parham Road at about 10:19 a.m. when a small, dark-colored open-bed sport utility vehicle drove up and someone fired six or seven shots.

The two victims were taken to Baptist Medical Center.

Police have not identified the person taken into custody. Police initially called at the department’s bomb squad after finding an assault rifle and a shotgun in the suspect’s vehicle, but no explosives were found.

Thank you for coming to the Web site of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. We're working to keep you informed with the latest breaking news.


http://www2.arkansasonline.com/news/2009/jun/01/witnesses-report-driveby-shooting-recruiting-cente/?subscriber/national

:cry:

I wonder if it was a parent of a kid who got killed in Iraq and took revenge on the recruiting office.

per KTHV-TV

blame.

?h=4010275a12cf34b452ebc0ea62d90af0&e=1244489694&rs=150

try to seduce still more high schoolers into the military.

I was on lunch duty one day in a high school and saw a reluctant just-out-of-boot-camp soldier being badgered by his superior to get more kids interested.

My son had a friend who joined up after high school and he was sent back to his high school after basic and told he couldn't leave for the day until he got two students ready to sign up...

These two kids were were killed hadn't even had time to know whether or not the military was going to be good for them or not.

three of them on recruiting duty. The vast vast majority of recruiters are honorable people who are just trying to do their jobs. Its because of the recruiters and the people who serve our military that helps protect our right to post even the most ridiculous things on interned discussion boards.

-nnnm

percentage to make nonsense of your not-so-subtle dig at my post ridiculous.

I was in that cafeteria, standing close enough to hear every work, when the recruiter got on the young soldier for not engaging the students.

And the young, just-out-of-boot-camp soldier who is my son's friend, told him about the two-ready-sign-up minimum.

Nothing I stated in my post was ridiculous or made up.

BTW, recruiters lying to potential recruits has been an accepted reality for more years than I've been alive (and I'm in my 50s). Remember the Private Benjamin movie? It was fodder for comedy twenty years ago... at a time when there were no wars, police actions or other euphemisms for military actions which include kill or be killed.

Somewhere here on DU is a story about a young man who suffers from autism who signed up and was accepted by the military despite the recruiter, the doctors who did the preenlistment physical, and the basic training camp officials KNOWING about the autism. The young man had a conservatorship which did not allow him to enter into any kind of contract, which by common sense would also mean a military contract, because he was not competent to do so. The military maintains differently.

There have been way too many stories that have made the news since the Iraq War started for you to make like recruiter misconduct doesn't happen or that it is extremely rare.

The fact that you have to bring up Private Benjamin only serves to prove my point.

nnnm

:eyes:

Source: KATV

Little Rock - One person is in custody, and two others have been transported to a local hospital in serious condition following a double-shooting in west Little Rock Monday morning.

Authorities say the incident occurred around 10:00 a.m. at a U.S. Army Recruiting office at 9112 North Rodney Parham Road. According to Lt. Terry Hastings with the Little Rock Police Department, two recruiting officers standing outside the office were hit when the unidentified suspect drove up in a black SUV and began shooting.

The suspect led police on a brief pursuit towards downtown Little Rock. That individual was taken into custody in the area of the Interstate 30/630 interchange. According to the Little Rock Fire Department, a bomb squad is currently on the scene, checking out a suspicious package inside the suspect's vehicle.


Read more: http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0609/627959.html

and what party affiliation could he possibly have had?

I'm sure 'they' will disown him in a heartbeat of being linked to him


jmo

Or carry bomb-like stuff around in their cars.

It could be a "peacenik" taking it too far, it could be someone wanting to blame a murder on "peaceniks," it could be someone who is an anti-tax type who doesn't want his tax dollars going for military spending. It could be someone who is pissed because that recruiter recruited someone that was important to the shooter.

I have no idea why this guy would shoot these guys. If I had to guess, though, I'd say there was a political motive, and it might not have to do with an "antiwar" attitude, either--it could be one of those militia nuts.

I have no concept what "party" this bozo belongs to either--it's probably the Party of Crazy Assholes.

But I doubt the media will dwell long over it as he acted alone. Nobody "in their right mind" will copy cat this "DC sniper",Part II

jmo

He wasn't a "they." It was just one idiot.

Mon Jun-01-09 03:08 PM
Response to Reply #5
13. They targetted the uniform nt
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3902720&mesg_id=3902769

It wasn't rocket science to figure out that it was 'a disturbed' , misunderstood idiot that the MSM reported four hours later



Mon Jun-01-09 07:07 PM
Response to Original message
57. Update: Police say Suspect Targeted Military

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3902720&mesg_id=3903081

Because there is nothing in the posted information that shows motive.

Drive-by fellahs don't normally carry bombs around in their cars.

It says there is a "suspicious package". And even if it were a bomb that doesn't go to motive at all.

They were just out of basic training, on a temporary "recruiter assistant" program that all the services have. They were kids who were between boot camp and their advanced training, who are stashed at recruiting stations to help the recruiters by offering personal anecdotes to potential prospects. But they were not "recruiters." To be a recruiter, you've got to go through a lengthy training course.

From a link upthread:

Artis says the victims had just completed basic training and were spending two weeks in Little Rock to recruit in their home area, showing the difference that less than two months of training made in their lives.

The are attached to the recruiting office and it is correct to refer to them as recruiters. There is a distinction between those on long term recruiting duty, but the reporting was accurate as it made clear they were on temporary duty. That's why I think the shooting was personal.

that is not what they were. As someone who ran a recruiting command, I know--those kids were TAD "Harpers" -- temporary assistants, there for a two week TAD to show other kids that boot camp isn't so horrible-- not the real thing.

In order to be a recruiter, you have to go through a very long course of instruction, that lasts, depending on branch of service and the duties to which one will be assigned, from six to nine weeks.

It's not something a kid coming off eight or nine weeks of boot camp is equipped to do, or has the credentials to do.

Those kids were not qualified to write contracts. They were qualified to make the coffee, pick up kids and run them to MEPS for their physicals, chat up their friends, make introductions to the recruiter running the station to which they were TAD, go with a recruiter on a home visit or a high school visit, but not to act unilaterally.

The shootings were not "personal" -- they've established that this guy was gunning for people in uniform.

A preliminary hearsay statement isn't evidence of motive any more than the nonexistent BOMB you were pointing to a couple of hours ago was.

And I don't give a fig whether you claim to have "Ran a recruiting command" or not, 1) these kids on temp duty are referred to as being on "recruiting duty" and it is common for not only for anyone outside the system refer to them as recruiters but for them to refer to themselves as recruiters. In the article you cite the distinction was made much as it was in all others, they are "not REGULAR recruiters." That doesn't say they "Aren't recruiters" it says they are recruiters but not RREGULAR recruiters. Both my daughter and my son-in-law pulled this duty in the USMC and for his part when he crossed over to the Navy.

You don't have to believe me, believe the guy who runs the recruiting command where those kids were TAD. That's in the article, too.





Stuff that's "common" as dirt can be wrong, you know.

A "recruiter" by definition is a person who can sign and witness a DD Form 4 contract and attachments on behalf of the government of the United States. There are training AND paygrade requirements to do that job. Those two kids had insufficient training or paygrade to perform those duties. They were two lads TAD for two weeks on a boondoggle out of boot camp, whose job was to do gopher work, strut the uniform and chit chat. They were enjoying a short hiatus prior to going on to their guaranteed training or their permanent duty station. They were not "recruiters."

If you don't want to discuss this topic, don't. You're babbling about "evidence" like you're Perry Mason, and demanding absolutes like you're on the scene and know better than anyone else. This is a rapidly evolving news story, and you're no more "right" than the next person with an opinion.

So you have a nice day. And take it down a notch before you blow a gasket.

You are jumping to conclusions and being reactionary. That kind of public reaction needs to be confronted when it happens. I'm sorry you don't like it but all you need to do is heed your own advice - take a breath and tone it down. The guy might be a terrorist, he might be nuts or he might have a sister who is in love with someone he doesn't like.

no one here sees things your way. Talk about rumors! Frustrated screenwriter?

Your memory is playing very large tricks on you. Remember when you have proof there was a bomb proving he was a terrorists? Remember when you missed the part that they were just out of basic on temp assignment to the home they only just left?

Those two alone are very laaaaaaaarge mistakes and yet you just go on and on and on with the same type of rumormongering.

Your fixation on an alternate scenario, in the absence of growing reports to the contrary, that no one else is postulating is rather curious. As is your insistence that these sourced and quoted media reports are "rumors," while you won't categorize your own pipe dream scenarios, invented in your head, in the same fashion.

Here, read the NYT and call them a bunch of liars, too, why doncha? You seem to get your jollies from doing that.

Let's see what the story is 72 hours from now; I mean, 12 hours after the announcement, what was the NYT saying last week about the "terrorist plot" of those dumbasses that were conned by the FBI?

don't see who's doing the projecting here?

:rofl:

Yeah, let's SEE what the story is in three days, why not? I'm game.

I'll bet, when it turns out to be the exact same story that we're seeing in the NYT this morning, that you'll be nowhere to be found. I'm guessing that's how you roll. But see, that's only 'speculation.'

In a simian sort of way...

I gave the guy nothing. I simply used examples to illustrate that we know nothing about him. Do you know if he knows either of the victims in any way? Until we do, claiming he is a terrorist, that he did it for his religion or that he just hates the military is nothing but utter bullshit. One of those motives may turn out to be correct, but at this point there is no more basis for concluding they have merit than the illustrations I used.

Ah, now your "speculation" becomes "examples?" "Illustrations?" No...they're silly little rumors that you made up. Ideas that came to you, absent any suggestion of them in any of the dozens of news articles.

Please. You've stepped in it up to your neck. You make crap up, and then you backpedal. And it turns out, you're just so incredibly wrong!

This Bledsoe/Muhamad guy's father lives in Memphis. Yet you assume the guy lived in Little Rock for a good chunk of his life and knew these guys (but according to the local news report below, second link, he's only lived in LR a few months). Why do you assume that the shooter and his victims know each other? Seems like these guys were in boot camp when our shooter moved to LR.

One of the guys who was shot--the one killed-- is from Conway, not Little Rock. The one who was wounded, but not killed, was from Jacksonville. They're not even from the same town or city where the shooter had his apartment (near the recruiting office)--so why "must" they know each other? And why even think there might be drugs, gangs or sisters involved, per your silly scenario?




And gee, our shooter just got back from....YEMEN. Yes. YEMEN. You know, where that pathetic John Walker Lindh (who was called "Yusuf Islam" as a joke by his instructors) went to learn Arabic? AND...he's under investigation by the FBI! The Terrorist Task Force, too, as we find out below!

I think your "gang/drugs/sister" rumors/speculation/examples got even more unlikely:



Oh, but wait....there's more. The guy was ARRESTED in Yemen...for using a Somali passport!




Have a banana--in a simian sort of way, of course.

:rofl:

Twenty bucks says that either this is a disgruntled vet lashing out at recruiters, or else somebody who got turned down for military service.

Anyway, if the two recruiters are only described as being in "serious" condition, then they'll make it.

I'm not sure why but I think a disgruntled vet would just walk into the office and start shooting.

arrested using a Somali passport over there, and who was under FBI terrorist task force surveillance. He'd only been in LR a couple of months--he didn't even know those kids. That's from ABC news.

Pity the FBI weren't surveilling the guy a little closer...that dead kid would be alive if they had done.

the other critical with a head wound

And the were involved in local activities just a couple of months ago. Those activities could easily have involved drugs.

They were on a Home Town Area Recruiting Program scheme, where kids fresh out of boot camp are assigned to a recruiting station for two weeks. They help the recruiter and tell positive stories about boot camp, and put a human face on the process. It helps overcome fear of the unknown for kids who are nervous about going to boot camp.

This program has been in existence for many, many decades. It works, too, and it also serves as a place to stash kids when their advanced training is a month or so away from their graduation from boot camp. So it might have been something as simple as a neighborhood grudge, or something.

But 9 years after being recruited, I STILL want to punch my lying sack of shit recruiter in the face.

Not one thing they told me was true, and the lies they told were detrimental. I went in as Dietitian and then was stationed as a MEDIC at Walter fucking Reed.

Lying in any way you can to get the numbers you need is sure to piss us a few of us lowly schmucks, im sure.


Hope they are okay and find a new, less karmically fucked career path.

Which is total bullshit.

Try makingtaht a little more clear dude. Are you saying that its bullshit that I think i was lied to?

in his own inimitable way.

unless...
Did you have a little NJP time ? ;)

lol

in that case if that is what was said. I was never ASKED to do even a single pushup when I was in.

Because if you did, you shouldn't have even bothered talking to a "regular" recruiter, and gone straight to the medical officer recruiters. They specifically recruit people with medical degrees, and they will NOT sign you up to be a simple medic. There is no enlisted MOS for a dietitian in any branch of the military. A simple visit to the Army recruiting website would tell you to go to a medical officer recruiter.

While it's disturbing that a regular recruiter (ie, someone who recruits enlisted personnel) somehow convinced you that you'd be a dietitian if you enlisted in the military, it's equally mind-boggling why you didn't do any basic research before joining. I think I had a pile of literature to sift through before I even called a recruiter, and that was both times (enlisted in the Army National Guard at 18, and went through active USAF Officer Training School some 8 years later).

A parent angry that his/her child enlisted against his/her wishes
A solder between deployments angry about having to go back
A veteran having a flashback
A rejected recruit angry about having been rejected
A Gulf War protestor
A parent/relative of a disabled vet angry about the lack of help s/he's getting
A really bad idea for a gang initiation...

:(
rocktitivy

A misinformation black box campaign by right wing radicals to somehow implicate anti-war protesters to this deed in light of the anti-abortionists murder of Dr. Tiller.

I already hear cries that Obama spoke out on the Tiller murder but hasn't taken a stand against the leftists that perpetrated this act on recruiters.

nt

A Muslim convert...

With out easy gun access that guy who didn't like "army" for whatever reason would only have been able to throw a few insults or maybe a beer can at those poor kids in uniform. As it is there are more grieving mothers and families.
And before you DU - NRA fans pop up to rant about all the other ways those two victims could have been killed (tossing bath tubs, etc) ask your self this: How would your mom feel if you were shot by some disgruntled nut?

Condolences for their unfortunate families

combat deaths in iraq, civilian deaths, those loose guns even shot the doctor in kansas. A PERSON is responsible for their actions.

I would feel the PERSON who killed my loved one should die in florence adx crazy as a loon and eating their own shit from being locked away from human contact for 40 years.

After I got over the initial reaction which would to cold kill the motherfucker who did that to my family.

(reconsidered term) you and the NRA neither one of you represent common sense.

...but the idea that the guy couldn't have "easy access" whether the gun laws were stricter or not is naive. Easy access is not exclusive to loose gun shows, or unscrupulous gun dealers. As a matter of fact the easiest access there is for those wanting weapons for criminal intent is through the black market on the street where stolen weapons are easily purchased. Besides, the guy was driving an SUV, usually more deadly than a bullet when used as a weapon, and this guy obviously wanted the two soldiers absolutely dead. The suspect and his reasons for his actions are why they were attacked. Take a gun or a knife away from someone with murder in mind, and they do not magically transform into a model citizen. They will still find a way to kill you. Like I said, make gun purchases illegal period, and these two most likely would still have suffered gunshot wounds. Money = easy access.

And this...."And before you DU - NRA fans pop up to rant about all the other ways those two victims could have been killed (tossing bath tubs, etc) ask your self this: How would your mom feel if you were shot by some disgruntled nut?"

....doesn't even make any sense.:shrug:....but it's a lot better than some of the stuff I've read and heard. Thanks.
quickesst

funeral so I was not expressing myself well. What I meant to say is that every time there is another thread on DU about another killing with guns, it isn't long before someone jumps in to argue against all the posts decrying
guns to say that the victim or victims could just as easily been killed with _______ (and here they list several interesting but highly less likely ways to kill someone.) The inescapable fact that in the US there are 30,000 plus deaths involving guns each year. Not from drowning someone in a bath tub or hitting them with a base ball bat or shoving them in front of a fast moving train, though those happen sometimes. Those thirty thousand are Just plain old guns. Someone else then pops up and repeats that there are 30,000 plus deaths from auto accidents. But of course those are mostly NOT suicides or murder, just stupid drivers and laws of physics.
It is impossible to change human nature, but there would sure be a lot less successful attempted murders if there were fewer guns available to any damn person that was motivated to get one (or had one already in a drawer or by their bedside).
Just sayin'

Safety in numbers?

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

are capable of "hate crimes" /sarcasm off

Just after 5:00 this evening, Little Rock Police say Abulhakin Muhammad, also known as Carlos Bledsoe, is charged with capital murder and 15 counts of terroristic acts after a shooting at an Army/Navy recruitment center on Rodney Parham Road in Little Rock.

Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas says Muhammad targeted military personnel.

23-year-old Private William Long, of Conway, died as a result of his injuries.

18-year-old Private Quinton Ezeagwula, of Jacksonville, was also shot. Chief Thomas says he is in stable condition and will recover.

Around two o'clock Monday afternoon, police and bomb squad officers went Muhammad's apartment off Napa Valley Drive in the Bristol Park complex.

The military revealed information about what the victims were doing at the center. Lt. Col. Thomas F. Artis, Commander of the Oklahoma recruiting battalion which has command over the Little Rock recruiting station says the soldiers were enlisted men, not officers, and that they did not work as recruiters. Lt. Col. Artis says they were part of a recruiting program called "hometown recruiting assistance."

~snip~

A witness to the shooting told KARK 4 they were sitting at a nearby traffic light when they heard the gunfire and saw a vehicle speed away from the scene. Another witness saw it all happen from an apartment complex across the street.

The FBI is assisting in the investigation. Police have been questioning the suspect since his arrest, but have not yet filed any charges.

more: http://arkansasmatters.com/content/fulltext/?cid=226222

Gunman Shoots 2 at Arkansas Military Recruitment Center
Monday, June 01, 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,523860,00.html?test=latestnews

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gQACNshVFYt6M9CDykHq6DKqPhiwD98I6F4G0

Muhammad acted alone, the police chief said, and based on an interview with officers, the suspect "probably had political and religious motives for the attack."

...bombs in the suspects van and terrorists on every street corner.

Give it a rest and stop being so rash.

:rofl:

Valiant try with the "WMD in Iraq" redirect, though!!

it is not my view that the attack was religiously or politically motivated, nor is it my view that the Muslim name apparently used by the suspect has any deep significance

If I were to make a guess right now, based on the limited knowledge I have, I would guess (following an idea upthread) that the shooter was a person who was angry with the Army for some ill-defined or petty reason -- perhaps the Army refused to recruit him, for example

Apparently, his "opinion" about the way this story needs to shake out is the only valid one.

He's carping at anyone who doesn't see it his way.

Hey, it's the internet. Strangers in the night, and all that. Whatchagonnado? It's not you, it's him.

I'm a total prick when people insist on spreading rumors. I don't care if they source the rumors to a news article or not, if they can't practice basic critical thinking I'm happy to help out.

five dozen news outlets are saying, those are rumors.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

:silly:

I've clearly labeled my speculations as just that. Also, those speculations are backed by some very solid statistics on violence and the fact that the two people shot were young men who had returned to their home after a short time away. If they were from other locations in the country there would be a dramatic shift in the probabilities. You missed that fact, spewed a bunch of *conclusions* based on that inaccurate understanding and dug your heels in on the mistakes. You should know that early reporting of these incidents is almost ALWAYS filled with inaccuracies.

and now you're calling them "speculations."

I'll take the (cough) "speculations" backed up by cited quotes from the media before I'll take any of the bullshit you're tossing around this thread.

You seem to get a charge out of being a contrarian, even when being one makes you look foolish. Not much of a life, eh?

I--like most people here--am following (and discussing with the normal folk here) a developing news story. I am not "concluding" anything.

You, OTOH, are making a fool of yourself, berating everyone for following the story, and insisting that your childish speculations should be given some sort of weight. Sorry, I think your "ideas" are farfetched, to be kind about it.

You should know that making up stories (rumors) and then calling them "speculation" is pretty silly when you can't provide an iota of that "proof" or "evidence" you keep whining about to back up your nonsensical "speculations."

a shooter targeting random military targets. If Fox was the only source you might have a point, but it isn't--much as we all dislike Fox, they aren't making this up.

How many shooting victims know their attackers vs are victims of random violence? Since BOTH victims are locals who had left the area only a short time before there is much more reason to believe that the cause was personal than ideological or random insanity. OF all the military people stationed around the little rock area this guy picks the two locals who left 3 months ago?

Give me a fucking break and use some common sense. You are displaying exactly the kind of reactionary, rush-to-judgment thinking that got us involved in Iraq.

you mean like assuming this was gang related or some sort of drug shooting? Oh, wait, you only mean we shouldn't rush to think that two young men in uniform were attacked outside a recruiter's office and that it might be related to the fact they are soldiers?

And this guy just happens to pick two locals that were on the streets less than 3 months ago?

The idea of drugs is only one of the personal motives that might apply. The point is that odds are very very high that the shooter has a previous connection with at least one of those two young men.

Edited to downgrade estimate of troops in area.

:eyes:

Spreading inaccurate information and conclusion as fact. You do it, I don't. While you were "running the recruiting command" (is that MAJCOM level?) I was in the command post gathering factual information for incident reporting to levels as high as the NMCC. I don't do rumors, I do understand how to read for comprehension and I do understand how to evaluate rapidly developing scenarios.

the servicemembers who were shot.

That's rumor, Rumorboy.

You were in the command post in your head, I'm thinking. You can't evaluate your way out of a paper bag, but you do have an active and rather fertile imagination, and come to conclusions that are completely unrelated to any of the available facts. Then you get huffy when folks point that out.

You don't read at all, never mind for comprehension--you just make up stories--like you did about this Bledsoe/Muhamad fellow.

Those were illustrations of how with the lack of information we currently experience, anything is possible. The fact that you can't tell the difference between that and the rumors you are spreading says everything.

G'nite sweety.

are "speculation." And you like to argue, pointlessly. We get that too--sweety.

The 39th Infantry Brigade (Arkansas NG) is only 4,000 people in size scattered across the whole state, add in all other Guardsmen and Reservists in Little Rock and you are lucky to get t0 5K in the greater metropolitan area. At least get you facts straight in your rumors please.

The area is also home to Camp Robinson, the state's National Guard training area...although I'd think it's a stretch to say there's 15K troops there. More like several hundred full-timers and several hundred traditionals rotating through at any given time.

By the way, I'm stationed at Little Rock...I do know a few things about the local area...

figure of 5K+.

Your graphic has messed up the thread formatting.

On edit--if you move quickly, you can fix it within the editing period.

Because I cited the 5,000+ at LRAFB, plus maybe a thousand tops at Camp Robinson, which would give you far fewer than 15-20K.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3902720&mesg_id=3903632

I can see where you might have mistaken my intent. I wasn't very clear.

Suspect arrested in Arkansas recruiting center shooting
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/01/arkansas.recruiter.shooting/

why he did what he did," Little Rock Police Lt. Terry Hastings said in a phone interview ... "To be honest we're not completely clear on what he was upset about. He had never been in the military" ...

Recruiter shot dead outside Army office
Little Rock police inspect the scene of a shooting outside a military recruitment office that left one soldier dead and another hurt Monday.
By William M. Welch, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-06-01-army-recruiter-killed_N.htm

all the protestors who ever shared his viewpoint, all his fellow believers, everyone who ever expressed a similiar outrage he had on this issue has blood on their hands and is just as guilty as he is.

Oh wait, this isn't the christian extremist who shot that abortion doctor?

Nevermind, lone nut, acted alone in no way reflects on his fellow muslims or others who likewise have concerns with the US military.

I sincerely doubt he would pull up and shoot two recruiters if he had just become an atheist.

snip
Muhammad acted alone, the police chief said, and based on an interview with officers, the suspect "probably had political and religious motives for the attack." He lived in an apartment just 1.5 miles from the recruiting center. A search warrant had been obtained for the apartment.


Thomas said Muhammad, previously known as Carlos Bledsoe, would be charged with first-degree murder, plus 15 counts of committing a terroristic act. Thomas said those counts result from the gunfire occurring near other people.

The accused shooter's father, Melvin Bledsoe of Memphis, Tenn., hung up on a reporter who called about his son's arrest Monday night

snip

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D98I6F4G0&show_article=1

is there speculation that he converted to islam while in prison two years ago?

A previous criminal record hasn't been looked into or announced.....
besides, such information is inadmissable and isn't even allowed brought up in a court of law.

you have no idea what you're talking about.

because you allways wonder "How the fuck did (X) get a jury to decide he was innocent" ?

thats what I'm talking about.

Go figure. :crazy:

The equation is rather simple. We as humans are born with the trait being homicidal maniacs, it's in our genetic makeup. We are either too arrogant or ashamed to admit it but there is ample evidence to prove it true

theory albeit it fits in nicely with the right wing's deluded perception of what CAUSES terrorism.

The right wings biggest tool is being able to tell other people how to think about things long before they ever get the chance to do it for themselves.
This tool they try to keep sharp as razor at all times. If you observe them carefully you can see the wrinkles they are trying to hide and they acting just like stage magicians

Little Rock - (ABC News) The suspect, arrested in the fatal shooting of one soldier and the critical injury of another at a West Little Rock Army recruiting center was under investigation by the FBI (web) 's Joint Terrorist Task Force since his return from Yemen.

Authorities told ABC news that the investigation was in its preliminary stages, and was based on the suspects travel to Yemen and his arrest there for using a Somali passport. A recent convert to Islam, it was unknown what path the subject, a US citizen, had followed to radicalization.

According to law enforcement sources, when 24 year old Carlos Leon Bledsoe, who recently changed his name to Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, did not resist arrest shortly after the shooting . When the subject vehicle was stopped, the suspect immediately surrendered and advised officers that he had a bomb in the vehicle. Bomb techs were dispatched and no explosive devices were identified. Upon inspection of the subject vehicle, officers found approximately more than one hundred rounds of ammunition, an SKS assault rifle, 2 pistols, and 2 military books.

(Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas) "At this point it appears that he specifically targeted military personnel, but there doesn’t appear to be a wider conspiracy or, at this point in time, any indication that he’s a part of a larger group or a conspiracy to go further" ...

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0609/628166.html

doesn't mean he is guilty by association ;) ...well, plenty of Minnesota citizens visit that place often and they avoid trouble.


His lawyer will have to do the talking to the tabloids.

imo,
many posting with "rose colored glasses" are afraid to face a reality thats creeping across the globe but figure it can't reach them behind their white picket fences





:sarcasm:

?

Early reports in such news stories are often wrong -- and are often only corrected a week or two later, without much fanfare

That's what landed him on the FBI Terrorism Task Force Watch list.

Sounds to me like he was either enroute to or coming back from some "training," if ya know what I mean. A stupid stooge, like the shoe bomber, Jose Padilla, or John Walker Lindh.

so I may briefly suspend my judgment on the veracity of the claim

Every major news outlet has sourced this story back to the FBI and the LR cops. I've heard reports from ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN, and read varying reports from a number of major and international papers.

An internal law enforcement memo says Muhammad may have considered other targets, including military sites and Jewish organizations in the Southeast.

The memo was described to The Associated Press by someone who had seen it. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss its contents.

After the attack, investigators searched a computer connected to Muhammad and found research into multiple sites in different states, according to the memo. Investigators are working to determine if anyone else knew about Muhammad's intentions.

Police stopped Muhammad moments after the shootings on a highway that would have taken him to Memphis, Tenn., where he lived until he moved to Little Rock in the last couple of months.

Search warrant affidavits showed that police recovered weapons and caches of ammunition from Muhammad's truck and apartment. Officers confiscated an SKS assault rifle believed to be used in the shootings, a .22-caliber rifle with a laser sight, other firearms, Molotov cocktails, homemade silencers and compact disks with Arabic writing on them.

The truck also held a plastic tub filled with bottles of water, "canned food, boxed food, bagged food and a butane lighter" and, incongruously, a golf score card.

Once in custody, one affidavit said, Muhammad told officers what he had wanted to accomplish.

"Mr. Muhammad ... advised that his intent was to kill as many people in the Army as he could," according to Little Rock police Detective Robert A. Martin.

http://herald-zeitung.com/wire.lasso?report=/dynamic/stories/U/US_RECRUITERS_SHOT&-session=HeraldZeitung:42F944E20eb310F83CWow13139D8

... The Yemeni embassy in Washington said that the suspect, 24, had lived in Yemen for more than a year, after entering the country in September 2007 to teach English in the port city of Aden and the capital, Sanaa.

"He taught English at the British council in Aden and he also taught English at the city institute in Sanaa," said the embassy's spokesman Mohammed Albasha.

The suspect was detained by Yemeni authorities in November 2008 while traveling from Sanaa to Aden because his visa was no longer valid, the spokesman said.

"He was illegally in Yemen. A month or two after that, he was deported to the US. During detention, he told Yemeni authorities that he converted to Islam after 9/11" ... http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jpODkah9cZKm0wroJ0bh-WkUeeWw

and began labeling all christians as potential murderers following the Tiller murder.

Why is it ok to assign blame to one religion for the action of an individual, but not ok to do the exact same thing for another religion?

And in terms of total numbers, self-proclaimed muslim terrorists have self-proclaimed christian terrorists beat, in terrorist acts and in death toll. I don't see then why it's unfair to cite islam as a motivating factor, but perfectly acceptable to cite christianity as the sole cause.

chapter in the 90's eh ?

Officers found an assault rifle believed to be the one used in the shooting, a .22 rifle and a .380 semi-automatic pistol. Police also searched Muhammad's apartment off Mara Lynn Drive Monday afternoon, seizing evidence related to the shooting. However, they will not say if they found any additional weapons or any terrorist or religious literature that may indicate a larger conspiracy.

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=85963&catid=238

Remember that it was the NRA that sued to get the courts declare that cities could not impose gun control regulations.

It couldnt be that the person who actually pulled the trigger is at fault.

for vulture behavior and ignorance. I am sure little rock has a ban in place on MURDER. I am also sure they will not be banning any semiautomatic rifles or handguns.

AND if this asshole was a felon he was breaking the law by possessing any weapon, I mean before he broke the law to commit murder.

I am sure he would follow those mystery regulations, right before murdering someone.

Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad had been under investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorist Task Force, and yet he was able to purchase assault weapons, all thanks to the undermining of local law enforcement by the rabid gun cult that is the NRA and their fellow travelers.

Thank you NRA for supporting the terrorists that murdered our troops.

What does the NRA have to do with Yemen throwing him in jail ?

maybe Obama should take this opportunity to impose an assault weapon TAX ?

But who in congress would support such a bill ? How many votes would it need to pass .... given enough pork is stuffed in the barrel ?


Anyway,the information on mohammad is still very thin and he said a lot to the cops that they are not releasing anytime soon.

When did he purchase these guns and what crime did he commit that would have been on his record that would have prevented him from purchasing these weapons ?
Converting to islam ? Changing his name ?
Going to africa ?

you know there are laws against profiling.........

just sayng
we must give him the benefit of doubt that he may not be a duck ;)

He was arrested and jailed for using a Somali passport while in Yemen. That's likely what brought him to the attention of the FBI Terrorism Task Force. Since the COLE, the authorities in Yemen and the FBI have taken to working together in a more cooperative fashion.

Maybe the FBI started tracking him when he stumbled into an actual 'recruiter' that needed a US passport ? The FBI may have thought they were on to something bigger but seems muhammad of Arkansas failed to deliver. Since the early days, we were being told that "they" were planning to target children,schools and malls.
imo, something was started and they were following from a distance but maybe the FBI didn't expect a 'drive by' shooting was the ultimate alla ahkbar mission plan. It wasn't much of a plan at all. Only his lawyer knows for sure.
dunno but anyway
it seems to me, based on just that fake ID issue,he didn't commit a crime that would have encroached on his right to bear arms yet it seems some here think it should.
Did he forfeit or renounce his US citizenship when they saw the obvious fake ID ?

And how come his own father that lives in Memphis isn't wanting to talk about what he knows.
You know....
And I know...
His dad knows something.
He can plead the fifth but, if the price i$ right, he will waive that right to the highe$t bidder and sing.

His name used to be Carlos Leon Bledsoe.

The FBI cooperates closely with the government of YEMEN, and other nations in the region, too, ever since USS COLE. Yemen is a poor country, it has no oil, and it gets aid from us, it's in their interest to cooperate. The FBI probably wanted him "let go" so they could follow him, hoping he'd lead them to others.

Recruiters don't need passports. They need birth certificates. And recruiters don't even need to travel to places to get them--if they have time, they'll send away for them (and get expedited service, too) or they'll call another recruiting station in the state where the certificate is filed that will do a "courtesy pick up" for the recruiter, fax a copy of the thing, and send the original via certified mail. If you can tell a recruiter where you were born, the recruiter can get you processed, to include testing and a physical, without that birth certificate (they call the registrar/hall of records, and get a verbal affirmation that the information is correct, and then get the certificate later). The actual piece of paper is only needed when the candidate ships off to boot camp.

Bledsoe/Muhamad was jailed for flashing the Somali passport in Yemen (probably because he doesn't look very Somali). His crime was in the nation of Yemen, not the USA. He had no criminal record here in the US.

Muhamad of Arkansas had guns a plenty, so who knows what he was planning? We really don't know how he obtained those guns either, for all we know he might have bought them at a gun show, by mail order, or even on the black market or stolen them--so that's a totally different discussion for the gun forum, once they figure out how those guns got into his hands.

Of course his father knows something--he probably knows that his son is a bum, a troublemaker, and a bit of an oddball. I doubt the father is "in on" anything. And he doesn't want to talk to reporters, so he hangs up the phone when they call. His father hasn't been charged with anything, either, to my knowledge.

I do agree that the FBI didn't expect him to shoot those kids--they probably thought he was part of a cell planning something larger, and that's why they were just following him "loosely."

#175 struggle4progress

The Yemeni embassy in Washington said that the suspect, 24, had lived in Yemen for more than a year, after entering the country in September 2007 to teach English in the port city of Aden and the capital, Sanaa.

"He taught English at the British council in Aden and he also taught English at the city institute in Sanaa," said the embassy's spokesman Mohammed Albasha.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3902720&mesg_id=3906992

mohammad loved bottled water
from your link;

Sounds like a cooler loaded for an extended road trip. Maybe he was a wana be DC sniper planning drive by shootings?

He was a sick fuck and I doubt he was 'recruited' by somebody in that part of the world. He was just living out a dream but will they keep him in with the general prison population when he gets life?
Or will he be "Timothy Mc executed" ?
Does muhammads Arkansas have the death penality ?

#175 struggle4progress

The Yemeni embassy in Washington said that the suspect, 24, had lived in Yemen for more than a year, after entering the country in September 2007 to teach English in the port city of Aden and the capital, Sanaa.

"He taught English at the British council in Aden and he also taught English at the city institute in Sanaa," said the embassy's spokesman Mohammed Albasha.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3902720&mesg_id=3906992

mohammad loved bottled water
from your link;

Sounds like a cooler loaded for an extended road trip. Maybe he was a wana be DC sniper planning drive by shootings?

He was a sick fuck and I doubt he was 'recruited' by somebody in that part of the world. He was just living out a dream but will they keep him in with the general prison population when he gets life?
Or will he be "Timothy Mc executed" ?
Does muhammads Arkansas have the death penality ?

...."IEDs" if you will!

I believe the murder charge is a capital offense.

I do wonder if he was trained or guided, along with others (or at different times), and he was waiting to get "the signal" to meet up, or what. Seems odd that they're now warning other locations, if he was acting alone. So I wonder if he does have accomplices--maybe ones he hasn't yet met.

Or if he's a lone wolf who actually did get his ideas off the internet--as the article below suggests.

There's still a lot to learn about this fellow. He did, apparently, have a load of possible targets.

I realize he got a job teaching English over there, but I have to wonder if that was his actual "purpose" in going to Yemen. People go to Yemen for two reasons--to learn Arabic (they speak it very clearly) and to study (and that may, or may not be, "wholesome" studying going on). There's not much else going on there if you're not a diplomat. Maybe that was a "cover" or a way to make money while he did other things?


ATLANTA -- A suspected home-grown terrorist in Arkansas may have had his sights on Atlanta. The FBI says they have notified a potential target in the metro area to take precautions after 24-year old Abdulhakim Muhammad allegedly shot two soldiers at an army recruiting center in Little Rock.

Police in Little Rock say Muhammad had the firepower to carry out more attacks. A joint FBI-Homeland Security intelligence assessment obtained by the Associated Press said officers found maps to Jewish organizations, a child care center, a Baptist church, a post office and military recruiting centers in the southeastern U.S. and New York and Philadelphia.

One of those Jewish organizations is in Atlanta. "The Joint Terrorism Task Force has been in contact with that entity as well as the Fulton County Police Department and the Atlanta Police Department as a precautionary measure," said Atlanta FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett. Emmett would not identify the target.

Police say they found Molotov cocktails, three guns and ammunition in Muhammad's truck when he was arrested. Search warrants say officers confiscated an SKS assault rifle believed to be used in the shootings, a .22-caliber rifle with a laser sight, other firearms, Molotov cocktails, homemade silencers and compact discs with Arabic writing on them. ....Muhammad was arrested within minutes of the shooting. Police believe he was inspired to carry out the attacks by materials he found on the internet. They don't believe he was directed by any terror organization or outside group. "He appears to have acted alone. I don't see necessarily a broader conspiracy with regards to these acts and we'll just keep working on it," said Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas.

Muhammad faces one count of capital murder and 16 counts of committing a terrorist act. He could face the death penalty. He is being held without bond. During a court appearance, Deputy Prosecutor Scott Duncan said Muhammad told investigators that "He would have killed more soldiers had they been in the parking lot."

Muhammad had been under investigation by an FBI-led terrorism task force since he returned to the United States from Yemen last year, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. The official said Muhammad had been jailed in Yemen at some point for using a Somali passport. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation, spoke on condition of anonymity.
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=131018&catid=3

legally. I can purchase cocaine, prostitutes, and other BANNED items. How is that possible, arent drugs ILLEGAL, BANNED? The "gun cult" did not kill that person, an asshole did. That is why a person will die in prison or get put to sleep by the state. The offending gun will not be charged, even though it bears all responsibility..


I fart in your direction a second time ( i mean me, not the computer I used to type up this post, we should ban computers because of obnoxious people like me on the internet, RIGHT).

The SKS is the most common rifle in U.S. homes, is not high powered, and doesn't fire any faster than any other civilian self-loader. But heaven forbid moderation should get in the way of a little fearmongering about Scary Guns in the Hands of Scary Muslims.

Remember, it's the AAA and the ACLU that keeps us from having universal anti-terrorism police checkpoints at strategic chokepoints.

for not putting enough reinforced concrete barrier 'checkpoints' at the interstate entrance ramps.

Poor mohammad has just forfeited his liberty to the right to bear arms. The NRA can't help him now

Muh HA HA Ha heeaaa.


?
btw
Being in state detention, does he deserve "Hot Meals" ?

People think it is important he get hot meals.

Abdulhakim Muhammad was arrested in Knoxville on Feb. 21, 2004 with a sawed-off shotgun. Had the US Attorney there done his damn job Carlos Bledsoe would still be not quite a fifth of the way through his sentence for violating the National FireArms Act of 1934.

The police report indicates Muhammad was charged with both weapon and drug offenses but the weapon's charge was dismissed June 21, 2004, court records show.

John Gill, special counsel to Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols, said Wednesday he couldn't make any public statements about Bledsoe's case or explain why the charge was dismissed.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/jun/04/ark-suspect-arrested-by-kpd/?partner=RSS

Another example of "catch and release" enforcement. Don't you think you deserve better from your elected officials than to let them deflect questions about their malfeasance by calling for even more laws crooks won't obey and, more pointedly, prosecutors won't prosecute?

Second point, no matter how many times you say it or some body puts it in the paper, an SKS was not and never was an "assault weapon" as defined by the expired Federal Ban. And since he was running around Yemen on a fake Somali passport, already had a documented history of possessing illegal weapons, it is not much of a stretch to figure he had contacts who could fix him up with all manner of illegal weaponry. The only law that might have prevented him from getting his hands on a gun is the Law of Gravity! And only then if the rope was short enough to keep his feet from touching the ground.

By CHUCK BARTELS – 1 hour ago

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A Muslim convert who pleaded not guilty to killing a soldier outside a recruiting center had the firepower to take out many more while on a mission to "kill as many people in the Army as he could," police said.

In documents released Tuesday, authorities said they recovered Molotov cocktails, three guns and ammunition from Abdulhakim Muhammad's truck after the attack Monday in a suburban Little Rock shopping center.

Muhammad targeted soldiers "because of what they had done to Muslims in the past," authorities said ...

"Mr. Muhammad ... advised that his intent was to kill as many people in the Army as he could," according to Little Rock police Detective Robert A. Martin ...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gQACNshVFYt6M9CDykHq6DKqPhiwD98IS6EG0

C'mon
not guilty ?
It's not my gun in my hand,not my bullets in the clip,not my car I was "allegedly" driving,not my underwear I have on my "alleged" ass.

maybe he prefers a sharia court handle the case?

After that link
I'm done with this thread:wtf:

If you plead guilty, there's no trial. You always enter a not guilty plea, and then work on Ye Olde Insanity Defense.

Everyone's entitled to the presumption of innocence, even if they're caught dead to rights. It's the way our system works.

He didn't take the advice ?



Inmates in Gitmo have proclaimed their guilt but we are not taking guilty for an answer from them.

It's an odd thing this system of justice

By JON GAMBRELL – 1 hour ago

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The man accused of fatally shooting a soldier outside a recruiting center begged for FBI agents to free him from a Yemeni jail where he was "radicalized" by Islamic terrorists, his lawyer told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Lawyer Jim Hensley described Abdulhakim Muhammad as an impressionable youth driven to public service in an impoverished Middle Eastern country. But teachings by "hardened" terrorists in Yemen and experiences with Afghan child refugees who were missing limbs drove him to become someone his parents didn't recognize, Hensley said.

"Here comes the FBI, who may be able to help this guy or save his life, and then they leave and then he's got to go back in with these hardened terrorists. He's got to survive, how do you live with that?" Hensley said. "He absolutely feels that the FBI and anyone else associated with the United States government left him to the wolves, that's for certain."

The FBI referred calls to a spokesman who was not in his office Thursday. Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley did not immediately respond to a call for comment ...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gQACNshVFYt6M9CDykHq6DKqPhiwD98K4SJO0

.... convert charged with fatally shooting an American soldier at a military recruiting center said Tuesday that he doesn't consider the killing a murder because U.S. military action in the Middle East made the killing justified."I do feel I'm not guilty," Abdulhakim Muhammad told The Associated Press in a collect call from the Pulaski County jail. "I don't think it was murder, because murder is when a person kills another person without justified reason."

"Yes, I did tell the police upon my arrest that this was an act of retaliation, and not a reaction on the soldiers personally," Muhammad said. He called it "a act, for the sake of God, for the sake of Allah, the Lord of all the world, and also a retaliation on U.S. military."

snip


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090609/ap_on_re_us/us_recruiters_shot

mohammad of Arkansas pretzel logic states it was an honorable thing to do...seeing that his hands were tied and had little choice in the matter.



Maybe they shyould send him off to a Pacific island where others that believe in the same things can live out their lives and be free once more;










What harm could become of a spit of sand that is due to sink under the ocean in a few years?
:sarcasm: