Anti-War Al Qaeda Sympathizer Charged With Plotting to Blow Up Gas Pipelines

Michael Curtis Reynolds was upset about the Iraq War and wanted to do something about it.

Michael Curtis Reynolds, 47, faces six charges including attempting to support al Qaeda. (CBS)

Reynolds thought gas prices would reach astronomical levels after he bombed the country’s gas pipelines.
The AP reported Via Terrorism Research Center:

A Pennsylvania man who sympathized with al Qaeda plotted to blow up U.S. energy installations in a bid to drive up gas prices and prompt a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, prosecutors alleged on Monday.

Defendant Michael Curtis Reynolds believed gasoline prices could hit “astronomical” levels if he succeeded in attacking the Alaska pipeline or the Transcontinental Pipeline connecting the Gulf of Mexico and the U.S. Northeast, a jury heard in federal court.

Reynolds, 49, of Wilkes-Barre, faces six charges including attempting to support al Qaeda, plotting to damage an interstate pipeline, distributing instructions on making explosives over the Internet, and possession of hand grenades.

Reynolds is a divorced father of three who has held a series of electronics jobs and once worked at a paintball field. His suspected plans were uncovered by Shannen Rossmiller, a former Montana magistrate and Internet sleuth with a record for tracking down extremists online.

Rossmiller posed as an al Qaeda operative, luring Reynolds to a rest stop on a remote Idaho highway with the promise of $40,000 to finance his plot. He was arrested there by the FBI.

Reynolds’ attorney, Joseph O’Brien, argued that his client had done no harm and was, like Rossmiller, snooping for potential security threats online.

“He was attempting to uncover terrorist activity, to do the job that the government had not been doing,” O’Brien said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gurganus described a series of e-mails between Reynolds and Rossmiller in late 2005 in which Rossmiller, in cooperation with the FBI, learned about his plans to attack major energy facilities.

“Americans will trample Washington to recall troops, and people will make a new government,” Reynolds wrote to Rossmiller in one e-mail, Gurganus told the court.

Rossmiller testified she came into contact with Reynolds through a chatroom named OBLcrew after al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

“It’s true America has overstepped its bounds in invading Iraq,” said one e-mail purportedly written by Reynolds. “Those serious enough to do something about it should e-mail …”

Reynolds was granted the right to represent himself at trial in May.

MORE… Great catch by Juandos.
Back in July of ’04 Michelle Malkin had a posting on Shannen Rossmiller and her courageous work in fighting terror.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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