Former soldier attempts to join al Shabab
AverageNCO sends us a link to an entry on the FBI website about a former soldier, Craig Benedict Baxam, age 24, of Laurel, Maryland, who was apprehended by Kenyan police while he was trying to join al Shabab in Somalia;
The affidavit alleges that Baxam secretly converted to Islam days before he separated from the Army, after finding an Islamic religious website on the Internet
On December 20, 2011, Baxam flew from Baltimore-Washington International Airport and arrived in Nairobi, Kenya on December 22. He took a bus to Mombasa, Kenya, and hired taxis to travel through Kenya to Somalia.
On December 23, 2011, Kenyan police stopped a bus in which Baxam was traveling near Mombasa, Kenya, and arrested Baxam for attempting to travel to Somalia to join Al-Shabaab. Baxam was held at the Kenyan Anti-Terrorism Police Unit in Nairobi and interviewed by the FBI.
AKO lists Baxam’s rank as PV1 and his Career Management Field as 35, Military Intelligence. The FBI says he was trained in “cryptology and intelligence” and was a veteran of Iraq after which he reenlisted, but that he separated a few weeks before his DEROS date from Korea in July 2011.
It looks like he might have been another disciplinary problem while he was in the Army.
Category: Shitbags
An IVAW convert or simply, plain old flat out shithead.
Streets, could be and probably is, both.
@ #2-High 5’s my friend!
He certainly pulled a two-fer. Tired to go full-on retard – and tried to join the keystone cops of AQ franchises.
I don’t know how much credence I would give the Kenyan government on this issue. They have an ex-soldier with a background in intelligence. If they say they’ve captured him they know we will raise hell. If they say he was trying to join a terrorist organization they know we will just write him off and they can do what they want with him. The Kenyan government does not have a great track record when it comes to honesty.
We have a pretty large country. And we have (take note Mr. President) 50 states. So, what’s up with Laurel, Maryland? That was where Atta and a four other of the 9/11 bastards met.
Utah Vet, neither do vets who leave the Army at the same pay grade as they were at when they enlisted.
I personally think that someone has made up a completely fabricated story. One of the reasons that people to watching TV to learn about what is going on in the world is that they reach a point in which they can not trust anything that hear from PBS, FOX, CBS, ECT. So they start searcing the internet for something that sound more beleivable. There they find a much greater diversity of opinion. Sadly most of it is bull. People attempt to find some diamonds in the bull. Bull is really not a very good place to look for diamonds. Even no one knows for sure what a diamond really looks like. So we collect nuggets and we call them diamonds. Some peoples nuggets look like they came from McDonalds and others like they came from Kalishnikov. No one can confirm whether or not we have found a real diamond. Many people give up and throw away thier whole collection of nuggets. That really is a sensible course of action to take for normal people. I have this misfortune of being cursed with not being normal however. So I will continue to fart around on the internet because I can not think of anything better to do much of the time anyways. When you have lots of time and no money the internet can provide some cheap laughs. Yes it contributes somewhat to global warming but if it were that I would be using a lot more energy driving around or buying something that I do not really need. So go ahead write these lunatic stories I will continue to present non political but philosophmoric commentary on the social issues of the day in hopes that I can take shake a little dust off of someones neurons. If any one thinks that I have crossed the line and written an actual political opinion feel free to delete it immediatlely. Of course an eample of what I would not consider crossing over the line would be to say that the death penalty is a stupid idea. That may appear to be a… Read more »
@8 – What the…..?
CI; we inherited Curt Kastens from Blackfive when they banned him a few years ago. He’s trying out a new schtick.
CO,
Care to elaborate?
Sssshhh, CI. It’s okay. Think mascot.
#8 – Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Have you suffered a recent blow to the head?
#7 – UpNorth – Agreed. Especially seeing as he was an Iraq vet and still a pv1?!?
Yes and Jonn has been trying to get in to my pants ever since then.
Oh shit I apologize perhaps that last comment bordered on hazing
Deep thoughts with Jack Handy (Courteous Curt).
Yeah, banning is just more work for me, so I ignore Curt, which apparently makes him think I’m trying to get into his pants. There’s so much illness in that Euro-wienie mind, no matter what I do would cause these delusions, so I just do what’s easiest.
So, when someone ignores you, that means they are trying to get in your pants. This makes me completely rethink my high school experience. I was a stud!
Can we keep him Jonn, please, please. I promise he won’t be any trouble and you’ll never have to feed him, walk him, or anything. Pleeeeeaaassse.
Benedict how appropriate.
Yeah, I get that–but what’s up with Baxam? It sounds like a geometry term–and a rather odd one at that.
Wow, he made it all the way to PV 1? (E-1) Amazing. Sounds like the 2% of the soldiers who were O2 bandits.
For his MOS, there should be a letter after the 35…. sure he wasn’t something like a cook?
@22 – A CMF is just the digits, MOS has the letter.
Ci, you have to remember him from his B5 days. He was as big a treat then, as he thinks he is now.
Mostly bat shit crazy, with a side helping of delusion thrown in.
Naw – every one of you has it wrong – he just got lost on his way to an occupy rally.
you really have to wonder where types like him come from.
“The affidavit alleges that Baxam secretly converted to Islam days before he separated from the Army, after finding an Islamic religious website on the Internet.” A website? Warning! Seems we have a lack of critical thinking skills here.
“AKO lists Baxam’s rank as PV1 and his Career Management Field as 35, Military Intelligence.” Don’t these two points contradict one another?
“It looks like he might have been another disciplinary problem while he was in the Army.” Thats what I’m thinking.
My guess is NJP or court martial in Korea with loss of rank and clearance pissed him off so he decided to get even with the big “A” (he should be a SPC with 4 years in).
@6 2-17 AirCav – Even stranger is that Laurel right outside the Agency buildings on Ft Meade….