Oregon conspirators attack war on terror, get 18-year jail terms

By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter

	Jeffrey Battle
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PORTLAND — Seeking to explain their failed attempt to join the Taliban fighters, two American Muslims tried to turn their sentencing hearing yesterday into an attack on the Bush administration's war against terrorism.

"President Bush declared that his war was a crusade, and arrogantly threatened everyone in the world that they must be with him, or against him," Patrice Lumumba Ford said in a statement that he read in court. "His ultimatum forced every single Muslim to choose the side of his religion or the side of those determined to subjugate it. I was no exception to having to make this choice."

Ford, a 32-year-old native of Portland, and Jeffrey Leon Battle, 33, were sentenced to 18 years in prison yesterday for a failed attempt to join the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. They are expected to serve a minimum of 14 years in prison.

Both pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to levy war against the United States. But, unlike four other defendants who pleaded guilty to roles in the conspiracy, Ford and Battle refused to cooperate in what federal officials say is an ongoing terrorism investigation in the Portland area.

Their arrest in October 2002 was hailed by Attorney General John Ashcroft as a "defining day" in the war on terrorism, and U.S. attorneys in subsequent court hearings revealed that Battle, after failing to reach Afghanistan from China, had been tape-recorded boasting about how he once contemplated an attack on Portland-area synagogues or schools.

Their sentencing hearing was anything but routine, with the defendants trying to rally Muslim sympathy to their cause.

Ford, who holds a master's degree in international studies, lashed out at the Bush administration for spying on mosques, threats of deportation, misuse of the grand-jury system and a litany of other alleged misdeeds.

He spoke of his decision to head to Afghanistan as spurred by his horror of an America prepared to "annihilate thousands of Muslim children." He said Muslim teachings called for him to help those "whose honor and dignity is being violated." He ended with an emotional reading of a letter to his 18-month-old son Ibrahim, telling him that "It is for this religion (Islam) that I readily go to prison."

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jones jumped in with his own assessment of what it means to be a good Muslim. "You do not represent the Muslim faith," he told Ford. "Muslims do not engage in the activities you engaged in. You are an insult to that faith."

Battle followed with his sentencing statement. A former choir boy, he spent part of the time singing a song he'd composed while in prison awaiting trial.

He said he never intended to attack anyone in Portland, but he did attempt an apology for his comments about attacking Jewish synagogues. "My words have brought undeserved harm to my community, my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters, and my own family," he said.

In a final scene outside the courthouse — an echo of the raucous trials of the 1960s — Ford's New York civil-rights attorney, Stanley Cohen, denounced the policies of a "bankrupt administration" and a "corrupt Department of Justice."

Ford and Battle's arrest came after months of investigation by hundreds of federal, state and local officials into a Portland-based group that — dressed in skull caps and robes — held target practices at a Southwest Washington quarry and eventually flew to China in an attempt to reach Pakistan.

The men came from different backgrounds but appeared united by a fundamentalist Islam that looked to the Taliban as a leader in a worldwide movement. The Taliban government in Afghanistan, which came to power in the 1990s, sought to enforce a strict form of Islamic law that banned many modern conveniences, required men to wear beards and women to completely cover themselves in public, and forbade women from attending workplaces or schools.

Battle grew up in Houston, where his mother was a Jehovah's Witness. Battle's ex-wife, October Martinque Lewis, was a convert to Islam who never ventured to China but pleaded guilty to money laundering and agreed to testify against Battle and Ford. She has not been sentenced yet.

The other suspects all have reached plea agreements but have not been sentenced:

• Ahmed and Muhammad Bilal were American brothers whose parents had taken up residence in Saudi Arabia. According to other members of the Portland Muslim community, they appeared to mingle easily with people of all faiths.

• Mike Hawash was a Palestinian from Nablus in the West Bank, who had achieved success as an electrical engineer working at one time for Intel in the Portland area.

• Habis Abdu al Saoub, a native of Jordan and the seventh person named in the indictment, worked as a parking attendant in Portland. He was never taken into custody. He is believed to be among eight al-Qaida suspects killed this fall in Pakistan.

Patrice Ford is the son of a former Black Panther activist. His father, Kent Ford, crusaded for improved health care and education for the city's poor. But he also had run-ins with police, and the family was scrutinized by the FBI, according to James Britt, Patrice Ford's brother and an Oregon attorney.

Kent Ford declined to comment on the sentencing of his son.

James Britt said that his brother chose to plead guilty rather than risk a trial that might have resulted in a life sentence. Britt said his brother has spent his time in prison reading and praying five times a day.

He said he was proud of his brother. "He stuck to what he believed in," Britt said.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report. Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company