ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A US soldier was handed a 14-year prison sentence on Friday after pleading guilty to attempting to help Islamic State (ISIS) members attack American troops in the Middle East.
Cole Bridges, 24, pleaded guilty in June of last year for “attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and attempting to murder U.S. military service members” by trying to aid ISIS in the Middle East, the Justice Department said in a statement.
An enlisted soldier from Ohio, Bridges in 2019 began researching, consuming, and promoting ISIS propaganda, according to the statement. He began promoting jihadist content on social media before communicating with a covert FBI employee posing as an ISIS supporter.
“During these communications, Bridges expressed his frustration with the US military and his desire to aid ISIS. Bridges then provided training and guidance to purported ISIS fighters who were planning attacks, including advice about potential targets in New York City,” the statement said.
He was sentenced to 14 years in prison and 10 additional years on supervised release.
In January 2021, Bridges provided the FBI agent “with a video of himself in his U.S. Army body armor standing in front of a flag often used by ISIS fighters and making a gesture symbolic of support for ISIS,” according to the statement.
ISIS rose to power in 2014, sweeping vast swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory in a brazen offensive.
But the jihadists’ so-called “caliphate” was brought to an end in 2017 in Iraq and 2019 Syria, as Iraqi, Kurdish, and Syrian fighters, supported by a US-led international coalition, clawed back territory from the group.
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