Teacher gets 15 years for aiding terrorists

[Rose Siding]

ALEXANDRIA -- A former third-grade teacher at a Muslim school was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday for providing support to a Pakistani terrorist organization.

Ali Asad Chandia, 29, who taught at the al-Huda school in College Park, Md., is one of 11 Muslim men convicted in what prosecutors called a "Virginia jihad network." The network involved a group of men who played paintball in the Virginia woods in 2000 and 2001 to train for global holy war.
...
The sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton was less than the 30 years sought by prosecutors and more than the five- to six-year range that defense lawyer Marvin Miller said would have been appropriate under the sentencing guidelines.

Miller noted that a 30-year sentence would be equal to that given to Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who was convicted of plotting with al-Qaida to assassinate President Bush. It also would be significantly more than some in the paintball group received after accepting plea bargains and admitting that they traveled to Pakistan and received training from Lashkar with the goal of fighting U.S. troops.

"You have a schoolteacher who gave a guy a ride, let him use a computer and helped him ship some paintballs, and they want 30 years, and I wonder where justice is," Miller said.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149190211715&path=!news&s=1045855934842

[larrysh]

1. Oh man....paintball is a trip!

I haven't played paintball in years and years!!! All the paintball places close to my house closed down. I'll never forget the first time a group of us from the office went to play paintball. One young kid and 4 old men (three of us vets). I made it thru scenario alive but only because towards the end the fellow firing at me was a bit out of range....I cold actually see the paintballs coming and had plenty of time to duck. Of course, he had the same advantage, so it was more or less a draw.....

Funniest thing was Monday morning back the office. I was walking literally stooped over. I was waaaay too out of shape to go charging around the woods for 6 hours on a Saturday afternoon. The rest of the"old men" in the office were suffering just as badly.

Have to admit, though, it was exciting and as close to combat as anything I have done since leaving the regular Army back in 1977.
Beats the heck out of using blanks....I can see why these guys used paintball for their training. You can "mark your target" and get a good feel for whether you are shooting someone in a critical spot or
not....

[CoffeeCat]

2. Ok...is this from the Onion?

This article reads like a straight news story. However, it's one of the most surreal things I've ever read.

Terrorists....training for holy global war by playing paint ball?

I can see next week's big bust..."Local Group Arrested After Milton Bradley 'Battleship' Tournament Raided"

I know what to put in our family's disaster-preparedness kit now. A giant bottle of Shout stain remover.

"Have mercy, Mr Terrorist!!! Not the red paint!!! I've got a white shirt on!!!! Ohhhh the evill!!! Ohhhh the terrror!!!!"

I got a million of em...

:rofl:

[angstlessk]

4. TwoSparkles,,,guess it helps having a clown for a husband?

Yes, we have Xians (not true Christians) with ACTUAL militias IN the US with REAL guns..and they aint dangerous, but put a paint ball gun in the hands of a Muslim and we have an INSTANT terrorist! I bet the 'confessions' were garnered by other than kindly questioning! They went to Pakistain but never made it to Afghanestain? WHY? Osama can go back and forth, but no unknow entities? GIVE ME A FRIGGING BREAK!

[Generic Other]

5. Paintball jihad???

Are they serious?

[tocqueville]

3. McCarthy is alive

notice that the accusations are for "deeds" happening pre 9/11. How could they go fighting US troops in Pakistan (?) when they weren't any there at that time ? Or maybe they "knew" ? Well, good ole McCarthy would have required the death penalty...

[kenny blankenship]

6. paintballs. Paintballs of terror? Full of anthrax? Dirty paintballs ?

loaded with radioactive isotopes of cesium and strontium?
Help me to understand how playing paintball could get you 15 years in prison.