Along with the Dallas home of George W. Bush. Aldawsari also "researched baby accessories like a stroller, diapers and a doll as a possible way to conceal explosives or weapons."
"War is deceit," Muhammad said. An update on this story. "Factbox: Details of bomb plot in U.S. by Saudi national," from Reuters, February 24:
(Reuters) - A Saudi-born student was arrested in Texas on Wednesday on charges he plotted to build and detonate bombs inside the United States. Following are details about him and the alleged plot from an FBI affidavit released on Thursday by the Justice Department.
- Khalid Aldawsari was born in Saudi Arabia on April 24, 1990, and came to the United States on a student visa in September 2008. He took English language classes for a year and attended Texas Tech University where he majored in chemical engineering from August 2009 until last month. He then transferred to South Plains College to major in business.
- FBI agents received on February 1 a tip from a chemical supply company, Carolina Biological Supply in North Carolina, after Aldawsari tried to order 10 500-ml bottles of concentrated phenol, a chemical that can be used to make the explosive picric acid. A freight company also called police after he tried to have the chemicals delivered there.
Saving untold lives. Barrons has more, including a press release from the shipping company, Con-way.
- After receiving the tips, the FBI conducted an authorized review of his e-mail communications and a surreptitious search of his Texas apartment. They discovered he had successfully bought nitric acid and sulfuric acid, other materials to build a bomb, obtained directions on how to turn a cell phone into a remote detonator, and had drawn up lists of potential targets.
- FBI agents also found journal belonging to Aldawsari in which he said that he had planned to commit an attack inside the United States for years and that he was inspired by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's speeches. He also listed in the journal the steps he needed to take to carry out an attack, including getting fake U.S. documents, renting cars and placing the vehicles with bombs in them at different locations during rush hour.
- The list of targets for his alleged plot included the address in Dallas for former President George W. Bush, 12 reservoirs and dams in California and Colorado, nuclear power plants, New York City and a Dallas night club. He also researched baby accessories like a stroller, diapers and a doll as a possible way to conceal explosives or weapons....
More, including details on Aldawsari's attempts to get chemicals: "FBI charges Saudi in alleged terrorism plot," by Richard Serrano for the Los Angeles Times, February 24:
Aldawsari, 20, described nuclear power plants as "nice targets" and collected the names and home addresses of three former U.S. military officers from the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where inmates were tortured and humiliated, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed Thursday.
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. [...]
... Aldawsari's arrest can be tied to a Feb. 1 telephone call from a company in Burlington, N.C.
Jim Parrish, president and chief executive of Carolina Biological Supply Co., said that in late January Aldawsari attempted to purchase phenol, a chemical routinely used in college-level organic chemistry classes. "One day after shipping the product, we became aware that the order was suspicious," he said. "We immediately notified the FBI and ordered the product returned to us."
Ten 500-millimeter bottles of 80%-concentration phenol, which can be used to make the explosive trinitrophenol, had been bought for $434.57 on Aldawsari's debit card, and were to have arrived via FedEx.
FBI Special Agent Michael N. Orndorff said in the affidavit that he asked a company employee to call Aldawsari, who told them that he wanted the phenol for "off-campus, personal research."
Next, Orndorff said, he phoned Aldawsari, pretending to be another company employee, and Aldawsari said "he was conducting research into cleaners which contained phenol for the purpose of reducing their odor." He said he hoped the research would get him into a larger university.
Aldawsari phoned the company back, complaining of his "frustration and displeasure" and hinting that he would obtain the phenol somewhere else.
Two searches of Aldawsari's apartment allegedly turned up sulfuric 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; a battery tester; and an Elgin alarm clock. Some of the items were purchased on Amazon.com.
The FBI also reviewed his blog and e-mails, most of which Orndorff 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....
Most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis.
I've watched some Saudi TV shows on MEMRI.org and I've found them to be appallingly primitive and hateful.
I have a suggestion: Instead of spending all those billions on trying to build up an area of the world that's falling apart, let's concentrate on doing what we know we can do, like keeping Saudis out of the West. And if a bunch of terrorists take control of the Mideast oil, then we march in and take it from them. Actually, I think they do have control of the oil...
Could we slow down on the bringing of "students" from the Middle East???
Nah, that would be Islamophobic...
Nothing to see here... carry on....
Isn't this the third or fourth Saudi 'student' caught plotting terror attacks, not to mention dozens of other upstanding muslim legal residents or citizens? But it won't stop student visas or muslim immigration unless something beyond phenomenal happens in Congress. I won't hold my breath.
If this guy had been successful, the wise and erudite elites would have rushed to the microphones to assure the stupid American people that there was no real threat and that they will not tolerate 'backlash' against the muslim community, not that backlash has ever been a problem---yet. But the hyped and dreaded 'backlash' is as inevitable as the future successful terror attack by a deranged, maniacal muslim who should have never been allowed into this country. Who will accept the blame when it happens? Why nobody, of course. They will say it was unpreventable.
Hey, bring it up here, bitch. I got somethin' for your ass.
Khalid Aldawsari left Texas Tech because of poor grades. It seems to me that there is a pattern that muslims who are experiencing adverse episodes in their life turn to thoughts of the accelerated route to islamic "success" as a jihadi. He may well have been having thoughts of this nature before he left Texas Tech, but his academic failure could have provoked the transition from thought to action.
Perhaps academic authorities should be active in informing the appropriate intelligence service of any muslim drop-outs. Oh, that would be all drop-outs, otherwise it would be discriminatory wouldn't it (sarc)?
Consider the case of Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, the Saudi national who stabbed and killed Richard T. Antoun, Professor emeritus of anthropology at Binghamton University, New York.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/12/saudi-grad-student-who-killed-prof-i-feel-like-just-waking-up-and-destroying-the-world.html
Al-Zahrani, a graduate student in Cultural Anthropology, was having financial difficulties and was denied funding to continue his thesis. Another muslim student under stress?