Word: portlands
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Four years later, Ford, now 31, is entangled with another Bush. This time it's George W., whose Administration arrested Ford on Oct. 4, claiming that he was part of a terrorist cell in Portland, Ore. Ford and several others were charged with conspiring to levy war against the U.S., contributing services to al-Qaeda and the Taliban and possessing firearms in furtherance of crimes of violence. Ford has pleaded not guilty to all the charges...
...long held strident political views. But he is also something of a model citizen. As a student, he once penned a note thanking a professor for a well-taught course. As an adult, he volunteered to teach arts and crafts to children in a Muslim community center in Portland. Tall and athletic, Ford is consistently described as calm and gentle and is admired for his linguistic abilities. Is this a man who would turn to violence against his country...
...American public knows him instead as a suspected terrorist. The U.S. government claims Ford flew to Hong Kong last October with four others intending to enter Afghanistan to fight against American forces. None of the five actually made it to Afghanistan. Ford returned to Portland in November, according to the indictment...
...passion, however, was not Central Asia but China. His interest was sparked by an uncle, Leonard Trigg, a kung fu expert who often traveled to Asia. Ford learned martial arts from Trigg and chose his high school--Lincoln--because it taught Chinese. Ford continued to study the language at Portland State University, where teachers regarded him as an ideal student. "We expected him to have a career in international relations," says Linda Walton, a professor of Chinese...
...gradually began to take over his life. In 1998 he returned to China for more studies, enrolling at the prestigious Hopkins center in Nanjing. There he met local journalist Xie Chunlin, whom he brought back to the U.S. and married in 2000. Ford briefly interned in the office of Portland Mayor Vera Katz but otherwise supported his family by selling cell phones. He became more serious about his faith, letting his beard grow, wearing a Muslim cap and studying Arabic. Friends say the man they knew as a gentle giant began distancing himself from the African-American Muslim community, choosing...