Posted on 02/21/2007 7:59:05 PM PST by do the dhue
CHICAGO - Two Chicago-area cousins were arrested Wednesday on federal charges out of Cleveland accusing them of conspiring to wage holy war against Americans overseas, including U.S. military forces in Iraq.
Zubair A. Ahmed, 27, of suburban North Chicago, and Khaleel Ahmed, 26, of Chicago, were accused along with three other men from the Toledo, Ohio, area who already had been under indictment on charges of plotting acts of terrorism against Americans overseas.
The fresh indictment returned by a grand jury in Cleveland added the two Chicago-area men to the roster of defendants and brought additional charges against the three men from Ohio.
The cousins, both American citizens, appeared briefly in Chicago before U.S. Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown, who ordered them sent to Ohio for arraignment. Prosecutors asked her to order them held in custody and sent to Ohio as federal prisoners. Defense attorneys asked for bond.
A hearing on whether to permit bond was set for 2:30 p.m. Monday.
Defense attorneys Gerald Collins and Brian Sieve said they had just met the two defendants, knew little about them and had no comment on the case.
The indictment claims that, between June 2004 and February 2006, the cousins and the other three men - Mohammad Zaki Amawi, 27, and Marwan Othman El-Hindi, 42, both formerly of Toledo, Ohio, and Wassim I. Mazloum, 22, formerly of Sylvania, Ohio - conspired to "kill or maim persons in locations outside of the United States, to including U.S. armed forces personnel serving in Iraq."
The conspiracy allegedly included finding fresh recruits to commit terrorist acts and seeking out sites for training in firearms, hand-to-hand combat and the use of explosives. The men also allegedly agreed to raise funds for "jihad training" and download Internet information on improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
A shadowy figure was described in the indictment only as the trainer, a U.S. citizen with a military background. The indictment said the two cousins met with the trainer in July 2004 and discussed sniper tactics, counter-surveillance techniques and the use of heavy machine guns.
The three Ohio men, currently in federal custody, were charged in the original indictment with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Amawi was also charged with verbally threatening the president of the United States and unlawful distribution of a video concerning suicide bomber vests.
Wednesday's indictment charged Amawi with distributing information about explosive chemicals downloaded from the Internet and charged El-Hindi with distributing information about explosives and making false statements to officials.
The five men face a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted of conspiring to kill Americans overseas, according to federal prosecutors.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in Cleveland said a separate indictment was returned charging Bilal Mazloum, 22, of Sylvania, Ohio, brother of Wassim I. Mazloum, with making a false statement to federal agents.
In addition, El-Hindi and Ashraf Zaim, 39, of Ottawa Hills, Ohio, are charged in a separate, seven-count indictment with conspiring to commit theft of public funds, making false statements and wire fraud in connection with a $40,000 federal grant they obtained to operate clinics for low-income taxpayers.
The government contends that no clinics were ever operated.
It is really, really time for immigration reform. Honestly, the election of Sarkozy could be a very good thing for the US.
Citizenship is given far too freely in this country, and so, predictably, is esteemed far too lightly. I think it's one of the Founding Fathers' biggest oversights, that the Constitution contains no provision for the forfeiture of citizenship.
reverse jihad is the only solution
iranian exploding buses and collapsing mosques are the only wake-up calls that communicate we're serious
Look...these people are so insane that these mothers could theoretically come here, about to give birth, in order to give birth here making their children automatic U.S. citizens. We need to amend the Constitution so that just being born here in the U.S. does not make you a citizen. You should have to be born here to parents who are citizens. This would also stop the pregnant mothers illegally crossing the border just to give birth, so their children can bring them over. Time to act. This war is against people who have the patience to wait the 20 years until these kids are old enough to blow themselves up. Couple that with the Left's (and ACLU's) insistence that we outlaw racial profiling....in my eyes we are asking to be attacked again.
It's a bit late for immigration reform. The damage has been done and the bad guys are already here.
"We need to amend the Constitution so that just being born here in the U.S. does not make you a citizen."
I agree with you on this, and so would many others. But don't hold your breath waiting for it to happen.
That map of the Islamic Terrorist Network in America is not a mirror image of the Blue State Red State pattern but it's awfully darn close!!
People who hate the U.S., from different angles, for different reasons.
Bears fans, no doubt...
Hear hear.
....and repeal the Immigration Act of 1965.
You suck
Damn. Was hoping that one of them was a Daley.
Looks to me like there are way more in the Red States
I know that there is a fat chance of it passing, but, I would love to see Congress on the record about an issue like this. Who (besides the usual suspects) could be against it? It's not racist.....it is simply a method of survival. Why should you be able to be here on vacation, have a child, and that child has automatic dual citizenship? Anyone here illegally should have no rights whatsoever, much less the right to perpetuate themselves in this country just by having children. It's not a fence, it is applied across the board, so the issue of race would be a non-issue. America needs to start standing up for its own rights and sovereignty.
Barack HUSSEIN Obama?
Note the 'violent' part. I think they're buying into Islamist claims that Jihad CAN be peaceful, an inner struggle, which is pure nonsense.
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