5 US suspects in Pakistan defend 'jihad' plans

SARGODHA, Pakistan – Five Americans detained in Pakistan told a court Monday they intended to cross the border into Afghanistan to wage jihad against Western forces but denied any links to al-Qaida or plans to carry out terrorist attacks in Pakistan.The admission could be a prelude to possible U.S. conspiracy charges but might also draw sympathy from an increasingly anti-American Pakistani public. Such feelings have complicated U.S. efforts to persuade Pakistan to do more to crack down on militants carrying out cross-border attacks on coalition troops in Afghanistan."We are not terrorists," one of the five men, Ramy Zamzam, told The Associated Press as he entered the courtroom in the eastern Pakistani city of Sargodha, where they were arrested in December."We are jihadists, and jihad is not terrorism," said Zamzam, a 22-year-old Egyptian American who was a dental student at Howard University in Washington, D.C....
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Picture Left:Detained American Muslims, center, talk to police officer Pakistani police officers as they leave after appear in an anti terrorist court in Sargodha, Pakistan, Monday, Jan. 4, 2010. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)