American Arrested, Accused of Plot to Join al-Qaeda

Federal prosecutors say a 20-year-old California man has been arrested near the Canadian border in Washington state and charged with trying to provide support to al-Qaeda's efforts in Syria. The Justice Department said today that Nicholas Teausant, of Acampo, Calif., was planning to travel to Canada before proceeding to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization. The CBC reports that Teausant wanted to join the Free Syrian Army to battle President Bashar al-Assad's army in Syria's ongoing civil war.

"I'm going to be a commander and I'm going to be on the front of every single newspaper in the country," Teausant said. "Like I want my face on FBI's top 12 most wanted. Because that means I'm doing something right." Teausant was charged in a criminal complaint filed in Sacramento with a single count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. It wasn't immediately clear if he has a lawyer. He was due to appear in federal court in Seattle this afternoon. (More Free Syrian Army stories.)