'South Park' Critic Appears in Va. Court on Terror Charge

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - There are new details about the suspected homegrown terrorist who lived in Fairfax County. Zachary Chesser appeared briefly in federal court in Alexandria Thursday. Chesser is accused of trying to join a Somali terror group with links to al-Qaida. Court documents show Chesser had contacts with a well-known radical cleric with ties to northern Virginia.

Chesser, also known as "Abu Talhah al-Amrikee", looked like your typical young American, in a shirt, khakis and his shaven beard growing back in. Federal prosecutors say the 20-year-old is a home-grown terrorist.

"We don't know what a terrorist looks like anymore. We can't say it's someone who looks Arab or looks Muslim because these homegrown terrorists are white, they're African-American, they're Asian-American," said Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor and professor at George Washington University.

Chesser faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on charges of attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

He is due back in court Friday for a detention hearing. He had several supporters in court Thursday. All of them refused to comment. One of them was a woman in black burka, with only her eyes showing, was crying.

The Anti-Defamation League had Chesser on its radar. On one Islamic website, the ADL says Chesser justified the 9/11 attacks saying "the WTC, the Pentagon, and the White House are all military targets," even if there are civilians involved.

Court documents say he also had contact with the Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, a former imam at a northern Virginia mosque.

"Al-Aulaqi to the United states is the number one threat. Unlike Osama Bin Laden, or Zawahiri, he's the one who knows the country and he's the one attracting American-born boys and kids," said Walid Phares, with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Al-Aulaqi has been linked with the suspects in the Fort Hood shooting, the Christmas Day bomb attempt and the Time Square bomb attempt.

"Al-Aulaqi is now in charge of attracting and indoctrinating, recruiting american born people," said Phares.

Chesser is accused of trying to go to Somalia to join Al-Shabaab, a known terrorist group. He once e-mailed Fox News saying "if you kill us, then we'll kill you."

But despite all the public jihad postings, the government must prove it is more than talk.

"This is going to be a tough case for the prosecution ... He says that since that day, he changed his mind. That's going to be his defense," said Butler.

Phares, who has chronicled the radicalization of young Muslim Americans, says he believes Chesser's arrest as well as recent terror arrests in the area suggests there is a larger jihad network in northern Virginia.