Arrest in grenade attack shocks suspect's family

By Brad Schrade, Ian Demsky and Leon Alligood
The Tennessean

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — When Asan Akbar left Fort Campbell, Ky., in February for Kuwait, he left behind signals that he wasn't a lockstep, confident soldier sure of his mission, and expressed concerns about carrying his religion to a war zone, say his family and a neighbor.

A sergeant with the 101st Airborne Division's 326th Engineering Battalion, Akbar had told his mother by phone that his Muslim faith could land him in military prison when he got to the Middle East. And a neighbor who spoke with him the night before Akbar deployed said he had said America should not be going to war with Iraq.

Still, those who love him and others who know him only slightly said they were shocked and surprised that Akbar, 31, is the man military authorities are questioning in a grenade attack in Kuwait that left one American officer dead and 15 other soldiers wounded.

His mother, Quran Bilal, said her son is "very brilliant and studious" and was a "straight-A student." She believes he is innocent and is being questioned and held because of his religion.

"He wouldn't try to take nobody's life," she said by phone from Louisiana. "He's not like that. The only thing he said he was going out there to do was blow up bridges."

Akbar, born Mark Fidel Kools, was known as "Speedy" or "The Muslim" in the Bancroft apartment complex in Clarksville, Tenn., where he lived for approximately the past year, said Willie Shamell Jr., a neighbor. Shamell said Akbar would sometimes borrow Shamell's tools, and in return Akbar let Shamell use his computer.

Often kept to himself

Akbar lived what appeared to be a lonely, spare existence in the off-post brick apartment two buildings down from Shamell. He slept on a couch and never took visitors.

Shamell said the soldier would leave early in the morning and often return home late at night and sometimes be gone for several days straight. Akbar, who is black, appeared dedicated to the Army, always wearing his uniform and beret, even after work and on Sundays. But when Shamell, who is also black, raised the issue of race and the military, there was clearly some tension.

"I know he didn't like his unit that much," Shamell said. "He didn't get promoted. I had asked him how that had worked. A lot of people feel that (discrimination) is there at Fort Campbell."

One of Akbar's nicknames came from the speed with which he drove his truck through the complex's parking lot, where children often played. The other was a reference to his religion, which Shamell learned the first time he met him.

"I offered him a drink," Shamell said. "He said he didn't drink. He was Muslim. He said he had changed his name."

Shamell said Akbar appeared to be a devout Muslim, eating what he said were traditional dishes such as "bean pie" and forgoing meats, such as pork.

Shamell said nobody in the apartment complex, where FBI agents had stopped yesterday to inquire about Akbar, knew him very well. He was quiet, spoke in a low, soft voice and when he was there, he mostly stayed to himself.

U.S. 'shouldn't be going'

The night before Akbar deployed, however, he stopped by Shamell's apartment to tell him he was leaving and to borrow tools to disassemble his weight set. Shamell had served in the first Gulf War and advised his friend to stay focused in the field and asked him if he was ready.

"No, America shouldn't be going," Akbar replied, according to Shamell, who when asked to expound said that Akbar said he "didn't think it was right" for America to go to Iraq.

There was nothing to suggest Akbar would have committed the crime authorities are questioning him about, Shamell said.

"Dedicated," Shamell said. "He was military-inclined."

Military officials are questioning Akbar in Kuwait about the incident that occurred at Camp Pennsylvania about 1:15 a.m. Kuwait time yesterday morning.

Authorities say a soldier approached the tactical operation center and threw grenades in three tents. Many of the soldiers were asleep, while others were working, said George Heath, a Fort Campbell spokesman.

The explosions created mayhem in the camp. Shortly afterward, an unrelated Scud missile alert was issued, adding to the confusion.

Akbar was found in a bunker during the Scud alert and detained as part of the investigation, according to statement issued by Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the 101st.

When Akbar was detained and questioned, he was missing several grenades that had been checked out to him, Heath said. When questioned at a news conference yesterday about reports that Akbar had been acting strangely sometime before the incident, Heath said he had heard those reports.

"He was missing four grenades," Heath said. "That's an indication that something was not right in his life."

The grenade explosions killed Capt. Chris S. Seifert, 27, and critically injured three other officers, including Capt. Andras Marton. The other two officers' names were withheld. Twelve other servicemen suffered less serious injuries, including Col. Frederick B. "Ben" Hodges, brigade commander.

'They are going to arrest me'

Heath said Akbar has not been charged with a crime and if charged, he would likely be returned to Fort Campbell to face military court action, unless he were to face a court martial board overseas. He is being detained by the unit's Criminal Investigation Detachment somewhere in Kuwait.

That is the fate that his mother said he feared before being deployed. She said he had expressed concerns about being a Muslim in the Army to his mother in the past.

"He said, 'Mama, when I get over there, I have the feeling they are going to arrest me just because of the name that I have carried,' " Bilal said.

His religion presented a "conflict of interest" in the first Gulf War and he was excluded from participating, she said.

His mother changed his name to Asan Akbar after she remarried when he was a young boy. Akbar returned to using his original name when he entered the Army and that is the name he had on his uniform, officials say.

Akbar was not accepted into the Army with his Muslim name, his mother said, because he could not produce a birth certificate.