Man Arrested For Conspiring To Kill The President
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A Virginian who had been detained in Saudi Arabia as a suspected terrorist was charged Tuesday with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and with supporting the al-Qaida terrorist network.
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen, made an initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court but did not enter a plea. He contended he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia since June 2003 and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars.
The federal indictment said that in 2002 and 2003 Abu Ali and an unidentified co-conspirator discussed plans for Abu Ali to assassinate Bush. They discussed two scenarios, the indictment said, one in which Abu Ali "would get close enough to the president to shoot him on the street" and, alternatively, "an operation in which Abu Ali would detonate a car bomb."
The White House had no comment on the indictment.
After Abu Ghraib and all the hubbub about the detainees at Guantanamo Bay I think the "I as tortured" defense is going to be a popular one among terrorists. The terrorists obviously recognize that there is no better way to get people on your side and draw attention away from your own dastardly acts quickly than to accuse the government, and by extension the hated President Bush, of torture/killing civilians/bombing weddings, etc.
This is also of interest.
Abu Ali was born in Houston and moved to Falls Church, Va., a Washington suburb. He was valedictorian of the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Va.
Just another example of how mingled mainstream Islam and radical Islamic terrorism have become.
Update:
Wizbang has more.
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