But Bryant Neal Vinas became very angry, according to his mother, when his parents’ bitter divorce cleaved through his adolescence. He opted against college and instead joined the United States Army at 18.
Years later, he became a Muslim, joined a mosque, began visiting jihadist Web sites and, in 2008, found himself traveling to Pakistan, and eventually Afghanistan. There, this young man from an American suburb tried to kill American soldiers in a Qaeda rocket attack against a military base, according to federal court papers unsealed in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
Some two months after the September assault, Mr. Vinas, going by names like Bashir al-Ameriki, or Bashir the American, was picked up by Pakistani authorities in Peshawar, according to American officials. Days later, he was back in the United States, providing counterterrorism officials with what they called “valuable information” gleaned from his visits to Al Qaeda’s camps, leading to the arrests of senior Qaeda operatives and to Predator drone strikes.
Mr. Vinas, 26, pleaded guilty in January to conspiring to murder United States nationals, providing material support to Al Qaeda and receiving military training from the group.
He also told Brooklyn federal prosecutors and F.B.I. agents about discussions he had with operational planners from Al Qaeda about a plot to blow up a Long Island Rail Road train inside Pennsylvania Station, according to several law enforcement officials.
The threat against a transportation hub is no surprise, think Madrid.
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