Hospital jihad. “U.S. official foresees additional developments before end of week,” from The Argus, :
Federal prosecutors said Wednesday their investigation of two Lodi men charged with lying to the FBI about involvement in al-Qaida terrorism training camps in Pakistan is widening, with three more arrests.
The FBI arrested Hamid Hayat, 22, and his father, Umer, 47, on Sunday after they failed a polygraph test and later confessed that the younger Lodi man attended training camps in northeast Pakistan, according to a federal affidavit filed Tuesday. Both men are U.S. citizens.
Three Lodi men, all Pakistani, have been arrested since the weekend on immigration charges.
According to the FBI affidavit, Hamid Hayat told agents that he attended his grandfather’s madrassah religious school and a “jihadist” training camp for six months in 2003 and 2004 near Rawalpindi, a teeming city of 1.4 million people near the Pakistani capital. He described an al-Qaida camp that trained recruits in weapons use, explosives, interior room tactics and hand-to-hand combat, according to the affidavit.
Hamid also confirmed, according to the affidavit, that he was trained on “how to kill Americans,” used pictures of President Bush during target practice and requested to return to the United States to attack “hospitals and large food stores.”
There are 49 California hospitals and no large food stores on a 2003 state list of terrorist targets obtained by the Oakland Tribune.
Prosecutors downplayed fears of an imminent plot, suggesting Hamid Hayat’s testimony is inconsistent with signals from intelligence chatter.
Of course, of course. The day an official says, “Yes! The threat is imminent!” or “Yes! This is a terrorism-related case!” I will drop my teeth.