Update: Five Muslim Soldiers Questioned at Fort Jackson in South Carolina

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Update: Five Muslim Soldiers Questioned at Fort Jackson in South Carolina
CBN
CBN News has learned exclusively that five Muslim soldiers at Fort Jackson in South Carolina were questioned just before Christmas. It is unclear whether the men are still in custody. The five were part of the Arabic Translation program at the base.
Patrick Jones, the Deputy Public Affairs Officer for Fort Jackson, confirmed for CBN News Thursday afternoon that an investigation was ongoing.
Prior to this posting, CBN News learned that these details were also confirmed by a government official with knowledge of the investigation.
The men are suspected of trying to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson.
A source with intimate knowledge of the investigation, which is ongoing, told CBN News investigators suspect the “Fort Jackson Five” may have been in contact with the group of five Washington, D.C., area Muslims that traveled to Pakistan to wage jihad against U.S. troops in December. That group was arrested by Pakistani authorities, also just before Christmas.
Coming as it does on the heels of November’s Fort Hood jihadist massacre, this news could have major implications.

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And this anoither update:
Fort Jackson: The Latest
CBN
Terrorism expert Patrick Poole, an anti-terrorism consultant for the U.S. military and law enforcement, told CBN News that “if this incident had become public in late December while the military was still working on the Ft. Hood report it would have no doubt been catastrophic. What exactly happened at Ft. Jackson and why is this only coming out now? That’s a question that Congress should be asking. ”

“As noted in the Washington Times last month,” Poole continued. “My colleagues and I have been warning of jihadist threats – both external and internal – for several years. The Pentagon has entirely ignored us and the Ft. Hood report released last month is evidence of the culture of willful blindness that wants to pretend this threat doesn’t exist. Regardless of how the Ft. Jackson incident is resolved, it demonstrates that this threat is not going away.”

I spoke today to Army spokesman Christopher Garver, who said the five men are not currently in custody. He was unclear whether the men who were questioned were U.S.citizens. And that brings us to another interesting wrinkle to this story.
According to my colleague, CBN Military Correspondent Chuck Holton, the 09 Lima program, which these men are a part of:

…is specifically geared towards non-US citizens who bring to the table one very in-demand skill – the ability to speak fluent Arabic, Dari, Pashto, or some other needed language. But these recruits also have a handicap – their grasp of the English language is not sufficient to allow them to make it through basic training. So the 09 Lima program puts them through a sort of pre-basic basic, where they learn American culture, Army culture and work on their English language skills. Once they finish the course, they are then able to enter normal basic training. It’ is a very small program, with something less than forty recruits in each class.

Holton continues:

Here’s the interesting part. According to Lt. Col. Frank Demith, these recruits are offered an “expedited citizenship program, once they serve one day of honorable active duty.”

Military service has always been a way for non-citizen US residents to obtain citizenship, and thousands have performed honorably in service to our country before it actually became their country.
Though the Army must certainly have a thorough vetting process in place to try and avoid a scenario like that described by Erick Stakelbeck’s recent blog, in the case of the 09 Lima program, the ability to receive “expedited American citizenship” must present a tempting opportunity for jihadi extremists with ulterior motives.
This is relevant not only because of the Fort Hood case, but because in the last month, there was an incident (see here) of an interpreter in Afghanistan murdering U.S. troops
Stay tuned to this blog for more details as they unfold.

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Wild Thing’s comment………
This is an update of yesterday’s story and they FINALLY say Muslims.
What is most telling about this is that the Obama admin will be far more outraged that this story hit the media than they will be over the fact that there was an attempted poisoning of our military personel.
“Attempted to poison” implies that they had the poison in hand and made some attempt to use it. But the authorities sure are dancing around this one, and they’ve had two months already to investigate.
When Obama says “I am glad to see fallen soldiers in the audience” and “Corpse-man” it rings with an entirely new meaning in his 57 (Islamic) states. Freudian slips which he’s stupidly thinks we cannot see through to his loathing of US soldiers.

….Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67