As this story notes, he stated in his perfunctory apology that “Osama bin Laden is a bad man. I hate terrorism and will have nothing to do with this again.”
That is what he said to try and get a reduced sentence (which, unfortunately, he did), after trying to kill — and fully believing at the time that he was in the process of killing — up to 2000 people inside a 60-story glass skyscraper, not to mention everyone in the path of the blast and shrapnel. And of course, that statement came after he got caught. That tends to make people really, really sorry.
“Dallas bomber’s message to ‘beloved’ bin Laden,” by Rebecca Lopez for WFAA, October 20:
DALLAS — Hosam Smadi, who was convicted of attempting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper, said during his trial that Osama bin Laden is a “bad man.”
But a video released on Wednesday — after his sentencing — tells a different story.
Smadi taped a message in Arabic to Osama bin Laden in which he praises the the world’s best-known terrorist and proclaims his loyalty. At one point, he glorifies the September 11 attacks.
The video was made with the help of undercover FBI agents.
A translation of the tape was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s office. Smadi says:
“May peace, Allah’s mercy and blessing be upon you.”
The 20-year-old Smadi was praising Bin Laden and eagerly trying to please him.
“Allah has facilitated it for me to join your organization from inside the enemy’s midst.”
Smadi was living in Ellis County and working at a restaurant when he came to the attention of FBI agents through an Islamic extremist forum. In the tape, Smadi tells bin Laden:
“You are more beloved to me than my father and mother.”
On Tuesday, Smadi was sentenced to 24 years in prison for trying to blow up the Fountain Place office tower last year, hoping to become infamous — like the 9/11 terrorists.
“The date of the blessed strikes, September 11, was a celebration for us. So let us make another date become a celebration for us that history will mark for us.”
On the tape, Smadi goes on to bless bin Laden for what he calls “good deeds in the name of Allah.”
The U.S. Attorney’s office also released e-mails and hundreds of other documents related to this case. Some of those e-mails were sent to undercover agents as Smadi planned his attack.