They appeared more like bumbling holy-warrior wanna-bes than professional terrorists. They made little effort to fit in. Aside from Bilal and a white man in his early 20s named Ibrahim, the Kashgar Seven were all burly black men, such a rarity in China that their every move through the local markets–where they queried Pakistani traders about transport to Afghanistan–attracted crowds of gawkers. More important, their stories just didn’t add up. Ibrahim, from Oakland, Calif., talked hopefully of visiting Afghanistan. Yet his traveling companion, Battle, professed surprise at hearing the country’s border was so near. “You mean where the fighting is? You’re kidding,” he said. “I had no idea we were anywhere near there.” Ford said they had all been touring China for two or three weeks after passing through Hong Kong. Separately, Battle insisted he had never been in Hong Kong. None of them had visited China previously, they all said. Yet Ford was later heard talking on a hotel phone in fluent Mandarin. When confronted, he confessed, “Actually, I lived for a while in Beijing.” Every so often, one of them would boast of their intentions. “We’re like a fighting squad,” said Ibrahim one day with a wink. “We’re in training. Believe me, pretty soon we’ll have our chance to prove ourselves.” Their sympathies were no secret, either. Battle expressed outrage over China’s treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority and praised the Taliban. They had restored the “natural balance between men and women” and “society to righteousness,” he declared. I brought the group and their comments to the attention of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Contacted late last week, the State Department said it would look into the matter.
The Portland Six remain shrouded in mystery. Bilal’s brother Ahmed was deported last week from Malaysia, pleading not guilty to charges of being part of a “sleeper cell.” Ford, Battle and Battle’s ex-wife, October Martinique Lewis, also denied any connection to Al Qaeda.
