Texas terror suspect pleads not guilty
UPDATED: 01:20 PM EDT 10.26.09
Dallas, Texas (CNN)
A terrorist suspect accused of two counts of plotting to bomb a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court.
Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian, entered the United States illegally and lived in Texas, where he tried to set off an explosive attached to a vehicle at the base of the 60-story Fountain Place office tower, federal officials contend.
Smadi initially drew authorities' scrutiny because of his violent posts on an extremist chat site, court papers say. He was arrested last month in a sting operation.
"Smadi was discovered by the FBI within an online group of extremists," the affidavit says. "Among many others in the group who espoused and endorsed violence, Smadi stood out based on his vehement intention to actually conduct terror attacks in the United States."
Undercover officers posing as members of an al Qaeda sleeper cell contacted Smadi and, after months of conversations, considered him to be a legitimate threat, according to the affidavit.
Smadi picked several potential targets, including the Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport, before deciding on the skyscraper, which houses Wells Fargo Bank, the affidavit says.......
If I'm not mistaken, plenty of people considered his claim to be very odd. There was a technical term for it, but I don't remember it, it started with the letters, "s-t-e-" and I think ended with "____ography"
So look at this:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367887/posts
Link between child porn and Muslim terrorists discovered in police raids
The Times ^ | October 17, 2008 |
Richard Kerbaj and Dominic Kennedy
Posted on 10/21/2009 3:16:14 PM PDT by george76
Paedophile websites are being used to pass information between terrorists.
A link between terrorism plots and hardcore child pornography is becoming clear after a string of police raids in Britain and across the Continent, an investigation by The Times has discovered. Images of child abuse have been found during Scotland Yard antiterrorism swoops and in big inquiries in Italy and Spain.
Secret coded messages are being embedded into child pornographic images, and paedophile websites are being exploited as a secure way of passing information between terrorists.
British security services are also aware of the trend and believe that it requires further investigation to improve understanding of terrorists' methods and mindsets.
Officers have noted that child sex abuse images have been found during investigations into some of the most advanced suspected plots. However, it is understood that the proposed research project was never implemented because the AntiTerrorism Branch was overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases it was having to deal with.
It is not clear whether the terrorists were more interested in the material for personal gratification or were drawn to child porn networks as a secure means of sending messages. In one case fewer than a dozen images were found; in another, 40,000.
British security sources confirmed that such a link had been discovered in several cases. They noted the contradiction between people supposedly devoted to theocracy and Islamic fundamentalism and their use of child pornography. "It shows that these people are very confused," a source said. "Here they are hating Western decadence but actually making use of it and finding that they enjoy this stuff....."