ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 4 - Six Charged As 'Terror Cell'.

Attorney-General John Ashcroft says the Justice Department has charged six people, including one woman and a former army reservist, with conspiring to wage war against the US and offering support to Al Qaida and the Taliban. The suspects - five US citizens and a Jordanian living in the US - are named as Jeffrey Leon Battle, Patrice Lumumba Ford, Ahmad Ibrahim Bilal, Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, Habis Abdulla Al Saoub and October Martinique Lewis. Ashcroft says four people were arrested in Portland, Oregon, and Detroit, Michigan, while the other two remain at large overseas. The six suspects could face life imprisonment if convicted of the charges against them, Ashcroft says, adding that they are not charged with plotting a terror attack on the US. The Justice Department alleges that some of the suspects attempted to travel to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks to help the Taliban and Al Qaida in their fight against Washington. Separately, John Walker Lindh, 21, the so-called "American Taliban", was sentenced to 20 years in jail. He told a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, that he made a mistake joining the Taliban and condemned terrorism "on every level unequivocally". He said: "I want the American people to know that had I realised then what I know now about the Taliban I would never have joined them". (In a plea bargain agreed this summer he admitted to supplying services to the Taliban and carrying explosives. In return he was spared a possible life sentence and all terrorism charges against him were dropped). Meanwhile, British-born Richard Reid, 29, pleaded guilty to trying to detonate a bomb hidden in his shoe on a flight from Paris to Miami in Dec. 2001. He told a Boston court: "I'm a follower of [Al Qaida leader] Osama Bin Laden. I'm an enemy of your country and I don't care". He faces 60 years to life in jail. Sentencing will be on Jan. 8, 2003.