Fort Dix

2 A federal jury convicted five Muslim men yesterday of plotting to kill soldiers at an Army base in New Jersey in a case that showed an aggressive FBI effort to infiltrate suspected homegrown terror cells. The five men, all Muslim immigrants who have lived in the United States for some time, were acquitted of the related charge of attempted murder. They could face life in prison for their conviction on conspiracy to kill American soldiers during their sentencing scheduled for April. Critics of the government's anti-terrorism approach said the case amounted to entrapment of angry young men and, if not for the actions of the FBI's informants, the group of immigrants would have done nothing more than talk about a possible attack.

Catonsville native William Roberts III was recently promoted to the rank of colonel in a ceremony at Fort George Meade Army Base. He has served for more than 27 years in both active and reserve capacities. In 1975, Roberts graduated from Catonsville High School, where he was the first black male to win the school's Scholar Athlete Award. After earning a degree in sociology at Towson State University, he worked for the Anne Arundel County Department of Corrections for more than 25 years.

CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- Friends and neighbors of the men charged with plotting a rampage at New Jersey's Fort Dix Army base said yesterday that they had started to notice subtle changes in them: a newly grown beard, a recently built backyard woodshed, talk of leisurely target-shooting practice. "We would always joke around," said Mario Tummilo, 20, who used to work with suspect Serdar Tatar. They played basketball together and talked about Nikes, rap music and girls. "He was just like a normal American person."

2 A federal jury convicted five Muslim men yesterday of plotting to kill soldiers at an Army base in New Jersey in a case that showed an aggressive FBI effort to infiltrate suspected homegrown terror cells. The five men, all Muslim immigrants who have lived in the United States for some time, were acquitted of the related charge of attempted murder. They could face life in prison for their conviction on conspiracy to kill American soldiers during their sentencing scheduled for April. Critics of the government's anti-terrorism approach said the case amounted to entrapment of angry young men and, if not for the actions of the FBI's informants, the group of immigrants would have done nothing more than talk about a possible attack.

CAMDEN, N.J. -- Six foreign-born Muslims charged yesterday in a plot to attack the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey were trying to buy AK-47 and M-16 automatic rifles when they were arrested, and they posed a serious terrorist threat, authorities said. The men were taken into custody Monday night in and around Cherry Hill, N.J., after two of them allegedly tried to purchase the weapons from an FBI informant. The men were ordered held without bail by a federal judge in Camden, pending a hearing Friday.

FORT DIX, N.J. -- With a haven embracing them but fear still in their hearts, the 453 Kosovar refugees flown here from the war-torn Balkans began the paperwork that will soon scatter them around the United States -- and added one more to their numbers, a newborn named America.Many of the refugees, airlifted Wednesday from the squalor of Macedonian holding camps, continued to fear not only for relatives left behind in the killing zone of Kosovo but also for their own lives in the United States.

FORT DIX, N.J. -- Plumes of red and yellow signal smoke wafted over this Army base's training range yesterday as dozens of Maryland National Guardsmen learned how to perfect the coordinated firing of .50-caliber machine guns. They paused only to cover a convoy of friendly Humvees snaking through the sandy pine forest filled with snipers and roadside bombs. It is a scene similar to ones played out by hundreds of thousands of service members who have prepared for a war now in its fifth year.

Catonsville native William Roberts III was recently promoted to the rank of colonel in a ceremony at Fort George Meade Army Base. He has served for more than 27 years in both active and reserve capacities. In 1975, Roberts graduated from Catonsville High School, where he was the first black male to win the school's Scholar Athlete Award. After earning a degree in sociology at Towson State University, he worked for the Anne Arundel County Department of Corrections for more than 25 years.

Things are going a little easier than expected for Lt. Mayb Sersland of the Maryland Army National Guard. Although more than 1,000 National Guardsmen have been sent overseas since Sept. 11, 2001, the Columbia resident will be stationed miles from her home. Her unit, the 121st Engineer Battalion, based in Ellicott City, has been mobilized for homeland defense. Sersland, the battalion adjutant, will return to the Ellicott City Armory to serve her year of duty there. As a result, the 29-year-old Columbia single mother won't be separated from her 6-year-old daughter, Tylyn, for too long.

FORT DIX, N.J. -- Many resettlement agencies say the grass-roots interest in the ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo is unmatched since the fall of South Vietnam spawned oceans of boat people two decades ago. There has been such an outpouring of offers for food, clothing and logo-laden products that Fort Dix officials asked people last week to stop donating things.Though most offers are altruistic, some are self-serving. Some people want Kosovar Albanians to work as baby sitters or housekeepers.

Nations consider sanctions on Iran WASHINGTON: Senior diplomats from six world powers discussed yesterday the possibility of imposing new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program but failed to reach a consensus on how or whether to proceed, U.S. officials said. Talks among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. - along with Germany, came after the Chinese dropped objections to them. The United States had been trying to organize the telephone conference call since the beginning of the month after the Security Council, in late September, passed a resolution reaffirming three previous rounds of sanctions but imposing no new penalties that the U.S. and its European allies had sought.

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait -- As the Humvee began to flip over, no one was holding Maryland National Guard Army Cpl. Joseph Giles the right way. So the gunner's 5-foot, 5-inch frame, weighed down by a Kevlar helmet and armor-plated vest, began to slip out of the arms of the four other soldiers and inch toward the open hole on the top of the military jeep simulator. Eventually, the crew from the 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment corrected, but the lesson wasn't lost on the war-bound soldiers.

FORT DIX, N.J. -- Plumes of red and yellow signal smoke wafted over this Army base's training range yesterday as dozens of Maryland National Guardsmen learned how to perfect the coordinated firing of .50-caliber machine guns. They paused only to cover a convoy of friendly Humvees snaking through the sandy pine forest filled with snipers and roadside bombs. It is a scene similar to ones played out by hundreds of thousands of service members who have prepared for a war now in its fifth year.

--Time, says Julius Blattner, hasn't exactly been on his side lately. In fact, it has been flying by. But it isn't just the last-minute crush of details for a graduating senior that has had Blattner, 22, running so hard. It's a military assignment to Iraq that has loomed over his last days as a civilian and a student. A member of the Maryland National Guard for nearly five years, Army Spc. Blattner requested and got permission to leave his unit in Baltimore County, the 1175th Infantry Regiment, just long enough to dash home to deliver the commencement speech to about 600 graduates at Salisbury University yesterday morning.

WASHINGTON -- Even as the FBI hails as a major success story its breakup of an alleged plot by "radical Islamists" to kill soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J., federal authorities acknowledge that the case has underscored a troubling vulnerability in the domestic war on terror. They say the FBI, despite an unprecedented expansion over the past five years, cannot possibly counter the growing threat posed by homegrown extremists without the help of two often unreliable allies. One is an American public that they lament is prone to averting its attention from suspicious behavior and often reluctant to get involved.

NATIONAL Port funding is cut Baltimore has come out a loser in this year's competition for federal port security funds . Designated a second-tier port by the Department of Homeland Security, Baltimore will get $1.9 million, a cut of 60 percent from the current year, state and federal officials say. pg 1a Fort Dix security may have flaw One of the six men accused of plotting an attack on Fort Dix used his pizza delivery job to gain access to the Army...

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait -- As the Humvee began to flip over, no one was holding Maryland National Guard Army Cpl. Joseph Giles the right way. So the gunner's 5-foot, 5-inch frame, weighed down by a Kevlar helmet and armor-plated vest, began to slip out of the arms of the four other soldiers and inch toward the open hole on the top of the military jeep simulator. Eventually, the crew from the 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment corrected, but the lesson wasn't lost on the war-bound soldiers.

CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- Friends and neighbors of the men charged with plotting a rampage at New Jersey's Fort Dix Army base said yesterday that they had started to notice subtle changes in them: a newly grown beard, a recently built backyard woodshed, talk of leisurely target-shooting practice. "We would always joke around," said Mario Tummilo, 20, who used to work with suspect Serdar Tatar. They played basketball together and talked about Nikes, rap music and girls. "He was just like a normal American person."

CAMDEN, N.J. -- Six foreign-born Muslims charged yesterday in a plot to attack the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey were trying to buy AK-47 and M-16 automatic rifles when they were arrested, and they posed a serious terrorist threat, authorities said. The men were taken into custody Monday night in and around Cherry Hill, N.J., after two of them allegedly tried to purchase the weapons from an FBI informant. The men were ordered held without bail by a federal judge in Camden, pending a hearing Friday.