Americans have a long history of fighting in foreign wars. I’ve heard Soldier of Fortune carrys classified ads for mercenary jobs. Americans joined the RAF in WWII. The famous Flying Tigers flew in China.
Why did this guy get arrested? Why is he being singled out?
Disclaimer: I find the whole merc thing a bit silly. A lot of wanna be soldiers that couldn’t hack it in the US forces.
But if someone wants to earn a buck fighting in someone elses war then why should it suddenly be illegal?
The bit you quoted says, “allegedly fought in Syria with the al-Nusra Front. Al-Nusra is deemed a terror group by the US as an alias of al-Qaeda in Iraq.” The article to which you linked says, “He is specifically charged with ‘conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction outside of the United States’, a law that applies to US nationals anywhere in the world.”
So isn’t it clear why he is being charged?
Well, what about all the Mercs fighting around the world? Is the US suddenly going to label every one of them a criminal?
Political affiliation comes and goes in war zones. If somebody offers arms and supplies then thats who the rebels may align with. It doesn’t necessarily mean they care about the ideology.
I guess it seems like they are opening up a big can of worms. Aren’t there thousands of Mercs fighting or providing security in various countries?
Maybe I watch too many Chuck Norris movies. 
If they fight in support of groups that the US government has deemed to be terrorist organizations, then yes, the US will “suddenly” label every one of them a criminal.
Tough shit. If I fought for al-Qaida and killed 10,000 American citizens, would it matter to you if I said it was only the money that mattered to me, that I didn’t care about their ideology?
I’ve no idea how many mercs there are in the world, or exactly what they are all up to, but yeah, the guy providing security to the next bin Laden type is going to be “suddenly” labeled a criminal for supporting a terrorist organization.
If you are watching any Chuck Norris at all then yes, you are watching too much Chuck Norris. There is no recognized safe level of consumption of Chuck Norris.
I wasn’t talking about someone fighting Americans. The Syrian rebels are fighting one of the worst dictators in the Middle East. Just like the Libyan rebels fought Gaddafi.
Anyone aiding a group harming Americans is a traitor. If theres any indication this guy was plotting anything against the US then he needs a trip to Gitmo.
It doesn’t matter why or who he was fighting against in this instance, but who he was fighting for. And he was fighting for a group previously labeled as terrorists. That alone makes it illegal.
What if I’m fighting for a group that is suddenly labeled as terrorists by the US government, but was not before?
Just a guess, but I’d say that as long as you stopped fighting after the label got slapped on your employer, no problem.
Based on our own cite in the OP, he’s not being charged with making a buck fighting in someone else’s war.
He’s charged with “conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction outside of the United States, a law that applies to US nationals anywhere in the world.”
That’s quite different from being charged with being a mercenary.
He was part of a RPG squad fighting in Syria.
CNN did a good job analyzing the complicated politics in deciding which rebel forces to support. It sounds like some of the decisions were pretty arbitrary. Whos the good guys and whos the bad guys.
I agree this American made a huge mistake going over there. He’ll probably pay a heavy price in an American prison. He picked the wrong rebel group and they’ll burn his butt for it.