Abdo said in 2010 that he wanted to combat “Islamophobia” and “to try and put a good positive spin out there that Islam is a good, peaceful religion. We”re not all terrorists, you know?” No, not all, Abdo, but you are.
“Judge won’t toss confession in Fort Hood bomb plot,” from the Associated Press, April 20 (thanks to Kenneth):
A federal judge on Friday rejected a defense motion to throw out a confession from the soldier accused of planning to bomb a Texas restaurant filled with Fort Hood troops.
Lawyers for Army Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo say authorities did not read his Miranda rights or grant his request for a lawyer before he told them of plans to blow up the building and shoot survivors. They also asked the judge to suppress evidence obtained after Abdo was detained in July at a Killeen motel near the Texas Army post.
U.S. District Judge Walter Smith rejected the motions Friday after a four-hour hearing in Waco.
Abdo, 22, faces up to life in prison if convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and eight other charges. His trial is set for May.
In a muffled recording played in court Friday, a Killeen police detective, Sgt. Eric Bradley, is heard saying he saw footage of Abdo in area stores and asking if the soldier knew about events in Killeen, including the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood in which an Army psychiatrist is charged.
Abdo tells the detective in the recording that he applied for conscientious objector status but it was put on hold after he was charged with having child pornography.
“So I’m AWOL … and I was planning an attack here in the Fort Hood community,” Abdo says in the recording.
Another Killeen detective testified that he read Abdo his Miranda rights shortly after placing him in a police car, but said the audio did not record because of a delay and no other officers were present. Bradley talked to Abdo in the police car after that.
C. Michael Owens, an FBI special agent, testified that he read Miranda rights to Abdo twice _ before interviews with him on July 27 and 28. Prosecutors showed documents signed by Abdo agreeing to talk to investigators and waiving his rights to an attorney. During the first six-hour interview, Abdo said he was in Killeen to make things right with Allah because he had sinned against Allah, Owens testified.
Abdo was AWOL from Fort Campbell, Ky., when he was arrested. Authorities say they found a handgun, ingredients for an explosive device and an article titled “Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom” in his room and backpack. An article with that title appears in an al-Qaida magazine….