Military: there was no hint that Enright couldn’t handle exposure to Afghan battlefield

Slashing suspect traveled with Marines for 5 days

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military says there was no sign the suspect in the slashing of a New York cab driver might not be able to cope with the experience of living with troops fighting in Afghanistan.

Michael Enright, a freelance journalist from Brewster, N.Y., was embedded with a Marine unit in southern Afghanistan for several days in May. He is accused of slashing the face and neck of an immigrant cab driver this week in Manhattan after asking if he was Muslim.

Army Col. Hans Bush, a military spokesman in Kabul, said Friday that Enright was with Marines from May 5 to May 10.

He declined to say what missions Enright witnessed, but said there was nothing in Enright’s application that indicated the 21-year-old was not up to facing exposure to military operations. Authorities say that before attacking, Enright told the cab driver, “Consider this a checkpoint.”