Soldier who tried to help ISIS kill US troops sentenced to 14 years

A U.S. Army soldier has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after allegedly trying to help ISIS carry out a deadly ambush against U.S. troops, the Justice Department said.

Cole Bridges, a 24-year-old man from Stow, Ohio, has been sentenced to 168 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for “attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and attempting to assassinate U.S. military personnel.” , based on its efforts to help the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) attack and kill American soldiers in the Middle East,” the DOJ announced Friday.

Bridges originally pleaded guilty to terrorism charges on June 14, 2023, but his sentence was handed down this week, officials said.

Bridges joined the U.S. Army around September 2019 and was assigned as a cavalry scout in the Third Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart, Georgia, according to court documents.

“Before joining the military, at least starting in 2019, Bridges began researching and consuming online propaganda promoting jihadists and their violent ideology, and began expressing his support for ISIS and jihad on social media” , the DOJ said. “In or around October 2020, approximately a year after joining the military, Bridges began communicating with a covert online FBI operative (the OCE) posing as an ISIS supporter in contact with ISIS fighters in the Middle East.”

During these communications, Bridges expressed his frustration with the U.S. military and his desire to help ISIS, officials said.

“Bridges subsequently provided training and guidance to suspected ISIS fighters who were planning attacks, including advice on potential targets in New York City. Bridges also provided the OCE with portions of a U.S. Army training manual and guidelines on military combat tactics, with the understanding that the materials would be used by ISIS in future attack planning.

In December 2020, Bridges then began providing OCE with instructions for suspected ISIS fighters on how to attack U.S. forces in the Middle East.

“Bridges mapped out specific military maneuvers intended to help ISIS fighters maximize the lethality of future attacks on U.S. forces,” the DOJ said. “Bridges also provided advice on the best way to fortify an ISIS encampment to ambush U.S. Special Forces, including by rigging certain buildings with explosives to kill U.S. troops.”

Bridges also provided the OCE with a video of himself in his U.S. Army body armor, standing in front of a flag often used by ISIS fighters and making a gesture symbolic of support for ISIS in January 2021, the said authorities, and even sent a second video to the OCE. a week later, where he reportedly used a voice manipulator to read a propaganda speech in support of ISIS’s expected ambush on U.S. troops.

“The FBI field offices in Washington, Atlanta and Cleveland investigated the matter, with valuable assistance from the U.S. Army Counterintelligence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Criminal Investigation U.S. Army Command and U.S. Army. Army Third Infantry Division,” the DOJ said.

“Our troops risk their lives for our country,” Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said when Bridges was first charged in January 2021. “But they should never face such danger at the hands of one of their own.”