[Clips] Montana mother fights al-Qa'eda from her sitting room

[R.A. Hettinga]

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  Delivered-To: rah at shipwright.com
  Delivered-To: clips at philodox.com
  Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 11:12:37 -0400
  To: Philodox Clips List <clips at philodox.com>
  From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
  Subject: [Clips] Montana mother who is fighting al-Qa'eda from her sitting
  	room
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  Sender: clips-bounces at philodox.com


<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/26/wross26.xml&site=5&page=0>

  The Telegraph

  Montana mother who is fighting al-Qa'eda from her sitting room
  By Francis Harris in Helena
  (Filed: 26/06/2006)


  Radical Islamists may not know it but their global jihad has more to fear
  from Shannen Rossmiller, an American mother-of-three, than from a squadron
  of F16s.

  The former cheerleader doesn't phrase it quite like that. That isn't her
style.


  Shannen Rossmiller turned freelance spy after 9/11

  Yet a summary of case histories and transcripts seen by The Daily Telegraph
  reveals that she has uncovered the whereabouts of al-Qa'eda fighters in the
  lawless highlands of Pakistan, shopped groups of would-be terrorists from
  Liverpool to Lebanon, tracked down an Islamist designing a nuclear device
  and much, much more.

  For four years, she has alternated her day jobs of mother and magistrate in
  the mountain state of Montana with a night-time role as a hunter of
  terrorists. Mrs Rossmiller first turned freelance spy after September 11.

  Donning a range of virtual disguises, she uses her functional, self-taught
  Arabic, and customised software that masks her true identity and
  whereabouts, to navigate into radical internet chat rooms frequented by
  real terrorists or any fanatic with a computer and a grudge.

  In her first interview with a British newspaper, the 37-year-old said that
  at first she kept her nocturnal sleuthing secret: "I didn't want my family
  to know because they'd call me crazy and this was just too damn
  interesting."

  Now she finds it hard to escape the world she has entered. Asked whether
  she seeks a way out, she said: "I've tried a couple of times to back off,
  but it just hasn't been the right time.

  "I remember the time I screamed 'Can't these guys take a weekend off?' But
  humanity is such a precious thing that you don't want to see [terrorist
  attacks] happen to anybody, to any country, any people."

  She has proved increasingly useful to the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
  which now supplies her with handlers, Arabic translators and security, in
  case the terrorists seek revenge.

  They have reason to be angry: in America alone, the authorities have made
  several arrests based on Mrs Rossmiller's work.

  In her best known case, she secured a life sentence for a treacherous
  soldier, Pte Ryan Anderson, who was trying to transmit the weaknesses of
  the M1 Abrams tank to al-Qa'eda. It was when she was called to give
  evidence in that case that her cover was blown. "I didn't have the choice
  of remaining anonymous," she said, despite earlier pledges from the
  authorities that her name would never be made public.

  On many occasions she has encountered terrorists overseas. Three times she
  has lured young British Islamists into unmasking themselves, including one
  group in Liverpool. The FBI passed the material to British intelligence,
  after which she heard nothing more.

  She brushes off the possible threat to her and her family from terrorist
  reprisal. She pointed out that in Montana's little towns, strangers stick
  out and the locals are armed. "There have to be risks taken, otherwise you
  can't get anything done."

  The FBI refuses to comment on her work and she has not been offered public
  thanks by members of the Bush administration. Behind-the-scenes however,
  intelligence staffers acknowledge her role.

  One American newspaper reported that "federal intelligence sources
  confirmed that for several years she has provided the FBI and the CIA with
  useful information". Another was told "she's legitimate" by an unnamed FBI
  agent.

  That has helped to make Mrs Rossmiller a star of Right-wing internet sites,
  but she disavowed any political motivation beyond plain patriotism. "I'm
  not a Republican, I'll tell you that right now. But at the same time you
  get tired of seeing your government looking like a bunch of walking idiots."

  Mrs Rossmiller is understandably discreet about her current operations, but
  said that as the years have passed she has become more ambitious and made
  "her" fictional Islamists more senior.

  But when things get sticky she can be ruthless. "I kill off certain
  identities, make them martyrs, so [the radicals] think 'so-and-so is dead'.
  When I've had an idea that's worked well for some time but things are
  getting fishy, I'll move him into Ramadi or Basra and have him martyred."


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  R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
  The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
  44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
  "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'