South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson told McClatchy newspapers on Friday that five Muslim soldiers who have been under investigation at Fort Jackson have been removed from active duty. This is yet another interesting development in what has become an increasingly head-scratching case with still unanswered questions.
CBN News first broke the news back on February 18th (updates here, here and here) that an investigation of five Muslim soldiers in the 09 Lima translator program was underway at the South Carolina military post over food poisoning allegations. Here is what Rep. Wilson told McClatchy:
A South Carolina congressman said Friday that five Muslim soldiers at Fort Jackson, S.C., had been removed from active duty, and four of them discharged from the Army, in connection with an ongoing probe into alleged threats to poison food at the large South Carolina base.
Republican Rep. Joe Wilson, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said the soldiers' laptops had been seized and were being analyzed. Congressional officials with knowledge of the case said cell phones and Arabic writings had been confiscated as well.
Wilson said the soldiers were discharged because of unrelated incidents of minor theft.
In his first public comments on the case, Wilson said FBI forensics experts were working with the Army's Criminal Investigation Division in the probe.
"The initial investigation confirmed that (the five soldiers) had not made any effort to poison food and that allegations about their disloyalty were inaccurate," Wilson told McClatchy Newspapers. "There was further investigation. I have not received any word of it being over. I think they would tell me."
It's good news, obviously, that the men have apparently been cleared of making threats to poision food at Fort Jackson. But the fact that their laptops were seized and cell phones and Arabic writings confiscated raises eyebrows, to say the least. Here's more from Wilson:
Wilson, who said Army officials had briefed him on the case and provided a written account, confirmed earlier reports that the soldiers at the center of the case were Muslims enrolled in "Lima 09," a program launched in 2003 to train Arabic and Farsi speakers.
Contrary to some previous accounts, however, Wilson said that all five military trainees were U.S. citizens from northern Virginia.
So we now know the men are Northern VA natives. In my initial report, I wrote the following:
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.
Both groups consist of young Muslim males from northern Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. This likely explains investigators' interest in a possible connection. More from Wilson:
Wilson also disclosed for the first time that four of the Muslim soldiers had been "administratively separated" from the Army, a military designation that means they were discharged with neither honorable nor dishonorable status.
"If you don't succeed (in the Army), you can be administratively discharged without a court-martial and without a full military review," Wilson said.
The fifth soldier was removed from active duty and returned to the National Guard's jurisdiction in Virginia, Wilson said.
Congressional officials said three of the five soldiers had been sent to the National Guard unit based in the District of Columbia.
I spoke with Ft. Jackson spokeswoman Karen Soule this morning. She had no comment on the report and instead referred me to Rep. Wilson's office. I received the following response via e-mail from Wilson spokeswoman Pepper Pennington regarding the Congressman's statements to McClatchy:
The article accurately reflects the interview and Congressman Wilson received this information as a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Army CID spokesman Christopher Gray has yet to respond to voicemail and e-mail requests for comment today on these new developments. Stay tuned for more details in the coming days.