The Red and Black

Issue date: 9/4/02 Section: Sports

A detailed article appearing in the Sept. 16 issue of ESPN The Magazine will address the alleged involvement of junior tailback Musa Smith's father with Islamic militant groups.

Smith, who was 11 at the time of the initial incident, said the subject is a personal matter that has been dealt with and left in the past.

"It's not an issue, and it doesn't have anything to do with me," he said. "I haven't read the article, so I can't comment on that."

As of Tuesday afternoon, Georgia coach Mark Richt had not seen the article either.

"All I can say is what I know about him as a person. I'm glad he's on our team," Richt said. "He's been nothing but a model guy for us. I see Musa Smith as a Georgia Bulldog, that's it."

According to the article released Tuesday on the Web site (www.ESPN.com), Kelvin Smith, also named Abdul Muhaimin, allegedly allowed a group of mostly Arab Muslims from the New York and New Jersey area to conduct training exercises on the family's farm in rural Perry County, Pa., in late 1992.

Six of the trainees and one leader were arrested and convicted seven months after meeting at Smith's farm on charges related to "seditious conspiracy" for plotting to blow up the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, the U.N. building and other targets, the article said.

Smith advertised the courses in mosques during the Bosnian crisis to support an effort to rescue Muslims from the Balkan genocide, the article said. Smith said he was unaware the group had U.S. targets, the article goes on to say.

"I would have personally broke them up into little pieces and put them into a body bag myself," he told the magazine.

Following the incident, Smith failed to cooperate with investigators, and, in 1999, he pled guilty to three counts of making false statements and one of destroying evidence. He was sentenced to a year and a day in federal custody.

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