Army soldier pleads guilty to trying to help ISIS kill U.S. troops

U.S. Army soldier Cole Bridges pleaded guilty Wednesday to terrorism charges for trying to help ISIS attack and kill U.S. forces in the Middle East, and target the 9/11 Memorial in New York City.

Bridges pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to ISIS and attempting to murder U.S. military service members. Bridges could face a maximum of 20 years in prison for each charge when he is sentenced in November.

Bridges, 22, who is from Ohio, started researching online propaganda promoting jihadists in 2019, the same year he joined the U.S. Army, according to court documents. Bridges also expressed his support for ISIS and jihad on social media.

In October of 2020, Bridges began communicating online with an undercover FBI agent, posing as an ISIS supporter. Court documents show during those communications, Bridges expressed frustration with the U.S. military along with his desire to aid ISIS.

The Justice Department says Bridges provided training and guidance to the purported ISIS fighter and included advice about potential targets in New York City, including the 9/11 Memorial.

Bridges also provided the FBI online covert employee with portions of a U.S. Army training manual and U.S. military combat tactics.

In December of 2020, Bridges supplied the OCE with instructions for how ISIS fighters could attack U.S. forces in the Middle East, including military maneuvers and explosives information.

The following year, Bridges created a video of himself in U.S. Army body armor standing in front of a flag used by ISIS fighters and making a gesture in support of ISIS, court documents said. Bridges also sent a second video to the undercover agent, narrating a propaganda speech.

Bridges “created a video for use by ISIS as propaganda, in which he appears in front of a jihadist flag, wearing body armor and speaking through a voice changer, and makes statements celebrating the anticipated ISIS attack on U.S. soldiers that he attempted to facilitate,” the feds said.

“Cole Bridges betrayed the oath he swore to defend the United States by attempting to provide ISIS with tactical military advice to ambush and kill his fellow service members,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement, when Bridges was arrested in 2021.

“Our troops risk their lives for our country, but they should never face such peril at the hands of one of their own.”

Source » msn