NationStates Jolt Archive


Traitor busted by Montana Cheerleader/Mom/Para-legal

DesignatedMarksman
05-06-2006, 05:11
Smart lady. Maybe on the side I should start being an internet sleuth looking for Terrorists on the net? Hmm...


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www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13055979/


HELENA, Mont. - Like a hunter using a duck call, Shannen Rossmiller invites the online attentions of would-be terrorists by adorning her e-mail with video clips of Westerners getting their heads cut off.

"They get pumped up when they see beheadings. For them, it's like rock videos," Rossmiller said. "I always give the appearance that I am one of them."

Appearances deceive. At her Montana high school, Rossmiller was a cheerleader -- a farm girl whose slight frame meant she was the one hoisted to the top of the human pyramid. Now 35, she is a mother of three, a part-time paralegal and a $23,000-a-year municipal court judge in a town north of here.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, she has found herself an unpaid night job. She uses the Internet to find terrorism suspects, she said, hunting for them while her family sleeps, spending the hours between 3 a.m. and dawn at her home computer. Her husband, Randy, a wireless network technician, keeps eight computers and two broadband systems working in their house.

Posing as an al-Qaeda operative, she has helped federal agents set up stings that have netted two Americans -- a Washington state National Guardsman convicted in 2004 of attempted espionage, and a Pennsylvania man who prosecutors say sought to blow up oil installations in the United States. Rossmiller was a key prosecution witness against the Guardsman, who is serving a life sentence, and said she has been told she will be called as a witness in the Pennsylvania case.



Rossmiller's night job became public knowledge in 2004, when she testified against Spec. Ryan G. Anderson, who was part of a National Guard tank crew based at Fort Lewis, Wash.

Rossmiller said she spotted him Oct. 6, 2003, when he appeared, writing in English, on an Arabic Internet forum. She apparently convinced him she was a member of al-Qaeda and he wrote back, asking: "Just, curious, would there be any chance a brother who might be on the wrong side at the present, could join up defect so to speak?"

Anderson was arrested six days before his unit was deployed to Iraq. Rossmiller was a key witness at his court-martial, during which one of her e-mail identities was published in newspapers. Within hours, she said, a man with a Middle Eastern accent called the Montana courthouse where she works and asked for her address.

So much for this story!



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Ryan Gibson Anderson (born 1978), is an American convicted of attempting to engage in espionage for al-Qaeda, charges amounting to attempted treason.[1] Anderson lived in Everett, Washington, and converted from Lutheranism to Islam circa 1998. He attended Washington State University, where he studied Middle Eastern military history; he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2002.

Anderson was a Specialist (E-4) in the 81st Armored Brigade of the United States Army National Guard, he was caught in an FBI sting operation, resulting in his arrest on February 12, 2004. Anderson was a tank crew member, training with his unit at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington. Prior to his capture, Anderson was caught on a surveillance tape, when he said the following: "I wish to desert from the U.S. Army. I wish to defect from the United States. I wish to join al-Qaeda, train its members and conduct terrorist attacks."

He was arrested 12 February 2004 after a joint investigation by the United States Army, United States Justice Department, and FBI. They monitored his online activities, such as logging onto extremist Internet chat rooms, trying to get in touch with al-Qaeda operatives, and offering the organization information on United States military capabilities and weaponry. Shortly before his arrest, Anderson was recorded on video surveillance providing tactical information on methods of killing US troops and destroying tanks to undercover agents posing as al-Qaeda operatives.

On 2 September 2004, a military jury found Anderson guilty of five counts of attempting to aid and provide intelligence to the enemy. In his defense, Anderson's lawyers made an insanity plea, offerring medical testimony that he suffered from bipolar disorder and Asperger's syndrome. They also claimed that he used role-playing to create structure in his life, ergo inducing him into the entrapment created by the authorities. He was given a demotion to the rank of private, a dishonorable discharge, and sentenced to life imprisonment, with the possibility of eligibility for parole.
New Zero Seven
05-06-2006, 05:31
Hmm. Smart lady indeed. The citizens do it better than the government a lot of the times, especially with Bush tapping into phone conversations and what not.
Neu Leonstein
05-06-2006, 05:32
Good on her.

Problem is: Now she'll hand over info to the Feds, and they'll screw up royal, as they do.
Pride and Prejudice
05-06-2006, 05:35
Good on her.

Problem is: Now she'll hand over info to the Feds, and they'll screw up royal, as they do.

Yeah, but she can't do it herself, so she has no choice, now, does she? Unless she just wants to leave the people alone.
DesignatedMarksman
05-06-2006, 05:42
Good on her.

Problem is: Now she'll hand over info to the Feds, and they'll screw up royal, as they do.

They could just hand him over to his NG buddies. They'd love to get a few minutes with him.
IL Ruffino
05-06-2006, 06:00
Cool :)
JuNii
05-06-2006, 07:01
let me get this straight. a woman who is Identifying and turning in terrorists is upset that the FBI won't aknowledge her? and that she now has her photo, name, general location and the photo of her husband on the internet, as she says she was instrumental in the arrest of several agents as well as terrorist wanna be's?

anyone else seeing something wrong here?
Mt-Tau
05-06-2006, 07:04
let me get this straight. a woman who is Identifying and turning in terrorists is upset that the FBI won't aknowledge her? and that she now has her photo, name, general location and the photo of her husband on the internet, as she says she was instrumental in the arrest of several agents as well as terrorist wanna be's?

anyone else seeing something wrong here?

I was thinking the same thing.
Non Aligned States
05-06-2006, 07:07
anyone else seeing something wrong here?

You know the old saying. Pride before a fall. But then again, are we even sure this story is authentic? It could have about as much truth as that dude proclaiming to be a special forces unit when it was clear he was lying.

Although if all true, then she's a stupid lady. What next? Mafia key witnesses announcing themselves on CNN?
JuNii
05-06-2006, 07:12
You know the old saying. Pride before a fall. But then again, are we even sure this story is authentic? It could have about as much truth as that dude proclaiming to be a special forces unit when it was clear he was lying.

Although if all true, then she's a stupid lady. What next? Mafia key witnesses announcing themselves on CNN?would it make a difference wether or not it is true?
Cogitation
05-06-2006, 07:16
let me get this straight. a woman who is Identifying and turning in terrorists is upset that the FBI won't aknowledge her? and that she now has her photo, name, general location and the photo of her husband on the internet, as she says she was instrumental in the arrest of several agents as well as terrorist wanna be's?

anyone else seeing something wrong here?Yeah, if I were running this story, I'd be begging her to stay as anonymous as possible.

Of course, her name would probably get out eventually, since she was called as witness in court.

--The Democratic States of Cogitation
Non Aligned States
05-06-2006, 07:18
would it make a difference wether or not it is true?

The difference between a stupid attention whore and a stupid lady I suppose?
Intestinal fluids
05-06-2006, 11:26
The difference between a stupid attention whore and a stupid lady I suppose?

How about just thanking her for doing an excellent job instead of insulting her. There are a million negative things people do to get attention. This isnt one of them.
Non Aligned States
05-06-2006, 11:39
How about just thanking her for doing an excellent job instead of insulting her. There are a million negative things people do to get attention. This isnt one of them.

Look. Being a informant is a non-recognizable job. You DON'T let yourself be found out. Especially if what you're doing gets you into contact with a high profile organization not known for being nice.

Look at the kind of flak the guy who was Deep Throat got when he came out. The neocons all wanted to lynch him. And for what? Exposing a crime so that public pressure could force a hearing. I imagine things like the mafia and Al Qaeda would be more violent in their opinion.

You want to be an informant, don't expect accolades for your work if you want to keep it.

Advertising the fact automatically makes you stupid. It also makes you a prime candidate for the Darwin Awards.
Intestinal fluids
05-06-2006, 13:07
Look. Being a informant is a non-recognizable job. You DON'T let yourself be found out. Especially if what you're doing gets you into contact with a high profile organization not known for being nice.
...
I imagine things like the mafia and Al Qaeda would be more violent in their opinion.

You want to be an informant, don't expect accolades for your work if you want to keep it.

Advertising the fact automatically makes you stupid. It also makes you a prime candidate for the Darwin Awards.

I think your giving Al Qaeda WAY to much credit. Are you suggesting in any way that some ahole in the US that Osama nor any of his friends never even HEARD of gets arrested for being a traitor and they will expend valuable hidden cell assets to kill the person who exposed this guy that..again they dont even know or care about? umm ok....trust me..this woman is in NO danger and she did a great service to this country and her efforts should be applauded.
DesignatedMarksman
06-06-2006, 03:19
You know the old saying. Pride before a fall. But then again, are we even sure this story is authentic? It could have about as much truth as that dude proclaiming to be a special forces unit when it was clear he was lying.

Although if all true, then she's a stupid lady. What next? Mafia key witnesses announcing themselves on CNN?

It is authentic. The guy was active on a forum of mine spewing his anti-American BS until the day the Feds kicked his door down.
OcceanDrive
06-06-2006, 03:50
...they will expend valuable hidden cell assets to kill the person who exposed this guy ....this woman is not a protected target, she a soft target, any AQ-wanna-be can take her out with a knife at the corner store... and get away with it. (it does happen, people gets mugged and killed, and any average IQ can do it without leaving his return adress)

She should not have whored for attention, she should have followed FBI advice.
Non Aligned States
06-06-2006, 05:54
they will expend valuable hidden cell assets to kill the person who exposed this guy that..

Even if they don't do anything to the woman, it means that her value as an informant is now worthless.

And has been pointed out before, she's a soft target, easily done away with by your average thug. Why risk any assets when you can hand a bunch of street thugs a bunch of 20s and point them in the right direction? Or a hit and run with a car. Plenty of those happen and not many of the perps get caught.