Saudi arrested for planning to attack Bush’s home
By IANSThursday, February 24, 2011
WASHINGTON - A Saudi citizen has been arrested in Texas for allegedly building a bomb for an attack among others on former president George W. Bush’s home in Dallas, which he disparaged as the “Tyrant’s House”.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, who attended a small college near Lubbock, Texas and kept a detailed journal outlining plans for a string of attacks, was charged with attempting to build and use a weapon of mass destruction.
Arrested late Wednesday, he is to appear Friday in federal court in Lubbock. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
Aldawsari described nuclear power plants as “NICE TARGETS” and collected the names and home addresses of three former US military officers from the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where prisoners were tortured and humiliated, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed Thursday.
The 20-year-old Aldawsari described on his “fromfaraway90″ blog his journey to the Texas panhandle on a financial scholarship and student visa, “providing me with the support I need for Jihad,” the FBI said.
He learned English as a second language, rented a one-bedroom apartment, and purchased a 2006 silver Hyundai Sonata in Oklahoma.
He attended Texas Tech University, then switched this semester to the smaller South Plains College at Levelland, Texas, and took up chemical engineering classes.
Two searches of Aldawsari’s apartment turned up sulphuric and nitric acids, glass beakers and flasks, wiring from miniature Christmas tree lights, a Hazmat suit and gas mask, a 3.2 million volt stun gun, and a battery tester and Elgin alarm clock, some of it purchased on Amazon.com.
The FBI also reviewed his emails and blog, most of which FBI said Aldawsari sent to himself as notes. He allegedly considered hiding some bombs in the necks of dolls, then placing the toys in rental cars to be detonated by remote control during rush hour.
Aldawsari, FBI said, believed the Sep 11, 2001, terror attacks brought about a “big change” in his thinking, and he was “inspired by the speeches of Osama bin Laden.”
In one blog posting, Aldawsari allegedly vowed, “After mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad.”
