American Arrested for Fighting in Syria

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Former U.S. Soldier Charged with Conspiring to Use Destructive Device While Fighting with al Qaeda-Affiliated Group in Syria. U.S. Attorney’s Office - Eastern District of Virginia, March 28, 2013.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Eric Harroun, 30, of Phoenix, was arrested and charged with conspiring to use a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) while fighting with the al Nusrah Front, an organization commonly referred to as “al Qaeda in Iraq” and designated as a foreign terrorist organization since October 2004.

FBI Affidavit in Support of a Criminal Complaint (PDF)


US Army veteran charged with fighting with al-Qaida in Syria, using weapon of mass destruction. Associated Press, March 28 2013.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A U.S. Army veteran, who boasted on Facebook of his military adventures with Syrian rebels, was charged Thursday with firing rocket propelled grenades as part of an attack led by an al-Qaida group against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Eric Harroun, 30, of Phoenix, was charged in U.S. District Court in Alexandria with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction — specifically, a rocket propelled grenade launcher — outside the U.S.

Background Article:
The Jihadist from Phoenix, BY Greg Tepper, Ilan Ben Zion. ForeignPolicy.com, March 22, 2013.

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IMHO, this is pretty ridiculous. To be honest I am angry that our government is wasting resources to bring charges against this guy – I see no threat to the United States from this guy. The “weapons of mass destruction” charge for firing in an RPG is absurd. I'm sure its an issue of legal semantics or something - but damn, how about a whole of government lexicon?

This guy posted his Jihadi adventures on his Facebook account – I highly doubt he would then return to the US as some kind of AQ sleeper. The US government has been known to ignore its Muslim citizens who have gone overseas to fight wars (Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo, Arab Spring, etc). I suspect his arrest has something to do with political correctness and his anti-zionism comments.

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A Weapon of Minor Destruction - How Eric Harroun, the American jihadist in Syria, was duped by the FBI into incriminating himself, by Robert Young Pelton. ForeignPolicy.com, 4 April 2013.

Harroun had just finished an interview with an editor from the Times of Israel. He explained that the interview was combative, including numerous insults and even shouting matches with the Israeli reporters. When the article was published on Fox News, it highlighted Harroun's statement that he had fought alongside the Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra, which the State Department has labeled an alias for al Qaeda in Iraq.

The article rattled Harroun. He decided to check in with the American consulate, with the aim of telling U.S. officials exactly what transpired while he was in Syria. He was surprised to see a print out of the Fox News story sitting on the desk of the FBI agent when he walked in for what turned out to be a four-hour interview.

If saying unkind things about Jews and Zionists is now an arrestable offense – my Grandmother should be going to ground right about now.

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Suspect in Syria case removed from 'no fly' list, now jailed in U.S, by Carol Cratty. CNN Security Clearance Blog, 8 April 2013.

U.S. authorities had a former soldier they were investigating removed from a "no-fly" list and allowed him to travel from Turkey to the United States where he was promptly arrested on charges related to fighting alongside a terror group in Syria.

That unusual step, revealed on Monday by a federal prosecutor in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, allowed authorities to get Eric Harroun back in the United States without having to ask Turkish authorities to arrest him.

Seriously, how much does our government spend on clown-shoes each year?