He said it was “time for jihad.” Yet Islamic apologists in the U.S. constantly try to convince us that only greasy Islamophobes link jihad or Islam with terrorism. And they have fooled many. But the truth keeps breaking through, courtesy of people like Khalid Aldawsari.
“Saudi man gets life in prison in US bomb plot,” from the Associated Press, November 13 (thanks to Kenneth):
AMARILLO, Texas — A former Texas college student accused of trying to make a bomb and possibly target a former U.S. president with the goal of jihad was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari was sentenced in Amarillo, where jurors convicted him in June of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Prosecutors say he had collected bomb-making material and researched possible targets, including the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush.
Aldawsari, 22, stood silently as the verdict was read. His hair long and wearing a full beard, the former student from Saudi Arabia appeared to have lost a lot of weight.
He came to the U.S. legally in 2008 to study chemical engineering at Texas Tech University. He was arrested in Lubbock in February 2011, after federal agents secretly searched his apartment and found explosive chemicals, wiring, a hazmat suit and clocks, along with videos showing how to make the chemical explosive TNP.
Investigators say Aldawsari’s goal was to carry out jihad, though his attorneys claimed he was a harmless failure who never came close to attacking anyone.
FBI bomb experts have said the amounts of chemicals in the case would have yielded almost 15 pounds of explosive — about the same amount used per bomb in the 2005 London subway attacks. He also tried to order phenol, a chemical that can be used to make explosives.
Court records show that his emails and journal contained the explosive’s recipe.
Prosecutors said other targets he researched included nuclear power plants and the homes of three former soldiers who were stationed at Abu Ghraib prison….
Aldawsari wrote in his journal that he had been planning a terror attack in the U.S. for years, even before he came to the country on a scholarship, and that it was “time for jihad,” or holy war, according to court documents. He bemoaned the plight of Muslims and said he was influenced by Osama bin Laden’s speeches.
Authorities said Aldawsari purchased bottles of sulfuric and nitric acids — chemicals that can be combined with phenol to create TNP….
Aldawsari had transferred from Texas Tech in early 2011 to nearby South Plains College, where he was studying business. A Saudi industrial company was paying his tuition and living expenses in the U.S.…
What did they know, and when did they know it?