
Isaac Aguigui, insets from top: Anthony Peden, Christopher Salmon, and Michael Burnett
On Monday prosecutors in Liberty County, Georgia indicted five men for illegal gang activity including burglaries, thefts and car break-ins, alleging they were all part of a militia group calling itself FEAR, or, Forever Enduring, Always Ready. In August, prosecutors indicted three other men, including purported FEAR leader Isaac Aguigui, for the murder of a former member and his girlfriend last December, allegedly out of concern that the couple would reveal the group's existence and its plans.
One of the accused in the murders, Army private Michael Burnett, 26, pleaded guilty to two charges of manslaughter in order to avoid the death penalty. Burnett testified at a court hearing in August that Aguigui, a private at Fort Stewart, Sergeant Anthony Peden and Private Christopher Salmon led former soldier Michael Roark, 19, and his girlfriend, 17-year-old Tiffany York, into a secluded woodland area near the Fort and shot them execution style. Roark had recently left the Army. Aguigui and his cohorts were concerned that he and York would expose their terrorist plots and FEAR's existence at Fort Stewart, Burnett said.
He said that Aguigui introduced him to "the manuscript ... a book about true patriots," and said that FEAR wanted to "give the government back to the people." According to prosecutor Isabel Pauley, Aguigui sought to recruit soldiers who were disillusioned or in trouble, showing them an article about a video game where soldiers take over the government and gauging their reaction before encouraging them to join. Aguigui called this process "the awakening."
Comment: [...] "the autocratic regime of Bashar al-Assad"... so says a man convicted of raping, torturing and pillaging his own people.
Speaking of funnelling arms and ammunition to Syrian fighters...
It's official: British and US intelligence is directing al-Qaeda operations in Syria