A Long Island resident named Bryant Neal Vinas, 26, has been charged with firing rockets at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan while working with Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terrorist network. According to the Times, Vinas worked at a car wash in Patchogue as recently as 2005 (you know, the train stop where you get off to go to Fire Island?). It was on Long Island that he converted to Islam at a local mosque. He eventually moved to Afghanistan to help the terrorist organization, teaching them about the Long Island Rail Road and the New York City transit system. For much of 2008, he received military training from the group. He went by the names Ben Yameen al-Kanadeea and Bashir al-Ameriki (really?) at times and participated in the attack on an American base in 2008. He was arrested not long after in Peshawar, Pakistan. It’s reported that he is cooperating with interrogators and is a key witness in two European terrorism trials.
Long Island Man Charged in Attack on U.S. Base in Afghanistan [NYT]
