Bryant Neal Vinas

Reporting from Washington and Patchogue, N.Y.

-- An American from Long Island who was captured while fighting as an Al Qaeda militant in Pakistan has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to commit murder outside the United States and is now cooperating with authorities, according to a federal indictment and interviews with U.S.

and European officials.

Bryant Neal Vinas, 26, is one of only a handful of Americans known to have made the trek to Al Qaeda's secret Pakistani compounds, and his cooperation is opening a rare window into the world of Western militants in the network's hideouts, anti-terror officials said.



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-american-jihad23-2009jul23,0,4748631.story