Georgia man pleads guilty to attempting to attack the White House with explosives
ATLANTA – Hasher Jallal Taheb, who planned an attack on the White House using weapons and explosives, has pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to destroy, by fire or an explosive, a building owned by or leased to the United States.
“Taheb hatched a dangerous plan that would have resulted in unimaginable injury,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “We are grateful to community members who noticed his dangerous evolution and alerted law enforcement. Along with our federal, state and local partners, we will remain vigilant in order to disrupt these types of attacks before they happen.”
“Taheb planned to conduct a terrorist attack on the White House as part of what he claimed was his obligation to engage in jihad,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers.
“And that was just one of the iconic American landmarks he wanted to target. Thanks to a tip from a member of the community and the work of the agents, analysts, and prosecutors responsible for this case, the threat posed by the defendant was neutralized and the defendant has admitted his guilt and will now be held accountable for his crime.”
“This plea is the result of a more than year-long intensive investigation by FBI Atlanta’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, which was because of a tip from the community,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Our citizens are our most important weapons in fighting terrorism, our eyes and ears in our communities, and why we say to please contact law enforcement if you see or hear something suspicious.”
Surely you’ve seen the news, but what interested me most this morning is that the usual major news sources, even Fox News, have very few details. So, why is it that we have to go to the UK Daily Mail(again!) to get more.
And, I want to know who the victims are! Some of our finest young men and women?
Six Saudis are arrested over Pensacola naval base shooting including three who FILMED the attack by countryman who killed three and wounded eight before being shot dead – as FBI probes terror link
The Daily Mail generally includes a very handy list of bullet points like these!
~Shooting took place on base early Friday morning, sparking a lockdown
~Sources identified the suspected gunman as Saudi Air Force aviation student Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani
~As of Friday evening, six Saudi nationals have been detained for questioning
It’s reported that three of them filmed the shooting as it happened
~Rep Matt Gaetz, a Republican representing Pensacola, called the shooting ‘an act of terrorism’
~President Trump tweeted that King Salman told him ‘the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter…’
~Three other people were shot and killed during incident inside classroom building on base
Read the whole story, but here are a few additional snips, plus a photo the Daily Mail says is the shooter.
In recent weeks, 18 naval aviators and two aircrew members from the Royal Saudi Naval Forces were training with the US Navy, including at Pensacola, according to a November 15 press release from the Navy. It was not clear if the suspected shooter was part of that delegation.
The delegation came under a Navy program that offers training to US allies, known as the Naval Education and Training Security Assistance Field Activity.
A person familiar with the program said that Saudi Air Force officers selected for military training in the United States are intensely vetted by both countries. [We are so stupid, they are skilled liars!—ed]
Amazing how we didn’t learn anything from 911. We don’t need to invite any Saudis to America, let alone to train them to fly.
And, for goodness sake, this attack happened on a Navy base, but it required local police to take out the shooter. Why aren’t there armed Navy men and women protecting the base? (While dreadful people like Mohammed obviously carry guns on base!)
This news from Fox Newsyesterday reminded me of a reader atRefugee Resettlement Watch who sent me information and stories to post for probably a year or so.
She (I think the tipster was a she!) told me how important fire is as a weapon of jihad as she often found stories about mysterious fires, not just forest fires, that she identified as linked to an Islamic imperative—to wage jihad.
I haven’t heard from her for about five years, but her admonitions about fire jihad stuck with me.
ISIS encouraging followers to set wildfires in forests, fields of US, Europe
The Islamic State terror group may have recently lost its leader, but a media outlet affiliated with the group is urging followers to continue to literally set ablaze new paths of terror and destruction.
At least four propaganda posters have appeared in recent months from the pro-ISIS media outlet Quraysh Media that have encouraged followers to “ignite fires” of their own, literally setting wildfires in the U.S. and Europe as a means of “waging jihad,” according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.
MEMRI, which tracks communications of radical groups, said the first poster in the series was published in April.
“Oh monotheists [followers of ISIS], ignite fires in the forests and fields, and we are addressing especially those who live in Europe and America, for they are painful to them,” the poster read, according to MEMRI.
[….]
“Ignite fires in the forests of America, France, Britain and Germany, for they are painful to them,” the text reads, according to MEMRI.
It would be pretty darn easy! And, even if authorities suspected that type of arson, they would likely keep it from us and blame global warming instead.
Editor: Thanks for your patience as ‘Frauds and Crooks’ has been moved from wordpress.com to a new secure host. I think we are back in business this morning! There might be a few glitches that still need to be fixed or features that need to be returned, but thanks to all who helped make the move possible my speech is again free speech here and at Refugee Resettlement Watch.
Today’s story is all over the media, but it seems the most complete version of how a Lebanese man, long connected to the Jihadist group Hizballah, came to live among us and plotted against the country that ‘welcomed’ him is at the US Justice Department.
Here is the headline at the DOJ:
New Jersey Man Indicted for Terrorist Activities on Behalf of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization
Alexei Saab Allegedly Was Trained by Hizballah’s External Terrorist Operations Component in Bomb-Making and Conducted Intelligence-Gathering in New York City and Elsewhere in Support of Hizballah’s Attack-Planning Efforts
I searched around and even my usual go-to publication for photos of perps, the UK Daily Mail, did not have a photo of Saab.
The Department of Justice today announced that Alexei Saab, 42, of Morristown, New Jersey, also known as Ali Hassan Saab, Alex Saab, or Rachid, was charged today in a nine-count indictment for offenses related to his support for Hizballah and separate marriage-fraud offenses. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe.
“According to the allegations, while living in the United States, Saab served as an operative of Hizballah and conducted surveillance of possible target locations in order to help the foreign terrorist organization prepare for potential future attacks against the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. “Such covert activities conducted on U.S. soil are a clear threat to our national security and I applaud the agents, analysts, and prosecutors who are responsible for this investigation and prosecution.”
“As a member of the Hizballah component that coordinates external terrorist attack planning, Alexei Saab allegedly used his training to scout possible targets throughout the U.S,” said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. “Even though Saab was a naturalized American citizen, his true allegiance was to Hizballah, the terrorist organization responsible for decades of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds, including U.S. citizens and military personnel. Thankfully, Saab is now in federal custody, and faces significant prison time for his alleged crimes.”
[….]
According to the Indictment and Complaint unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
Hizballah is a Lebanon-based Shia Islamic organization with political, social, and terrorist components. Hizballah was founded in the 1980s with support from Iran after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and its mission includes establishing a fundamentalist Islamic state in Lebanon. Since Hizballah’s formation, the organization has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds, including United States citizens and military personnel. In 1997, the U.S. Department of State designated Hizballah a Foreign Terrorist Organization, pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and it remains so designated today. In 2001, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, the U.S. Department of Treasury designated Hizballah a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity. In 2010, State Department officials described Hizballah as the most technically capable terrorist group in the world, and a continued security threat to the United States.
The Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), which is also known as the External Security Organization and “910,” is a component of Hizballah responsible for the planning and coordination of intelligence, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities on behalf of Hizballah outside of Lebanon.
[….]
Saab joined Hizballah in 1996.
Now here is the part that is so maddening.
He waltzes in to the US in the year 2000 and becomes a citizen in 2008!
Through what means did he enter the US? What program? What visa? Why the hell are we never told how he apparently legally got here and quickly became a citizen?
Saab surveilled UN headquarters in NYC as a possible target for attack.
In 2000, Saab lawfully entered the United States using a Lebanese passport. In 2005, Saab applied for naturalized citizenship and falsely affirmed, under penalty of perjury, that he had never been “a member of or in any way associated with . . . a terrorist organization.” In August 2008, Saab became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
[….]
While living in the United States, Saab remained an IJO operative, continued to receive military training in Lebanon, and conducted numerous operations for the IJO. For example, Saab surveilled dozens of locations in New York City—including the United Nations headquarters, the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the Empire State Building, and local airports, tunnels, and bridges—and provided detailed information on these locations, including photographs, to the IJO.
The DOJ press statement is much longer than usual, go here to read all of the allegations against Saab.
You might also want to look at an interesting storyabout the alleged terrorist as a college lecturer in New York.
Chilling thought—so how many more like Saab are among us!
“Do I regret what I did? Never. If I had to do it one more time, I would do it. I regret I didn’t kill that cop.”
Amor Ftouhi
He is really a Tunisian, but all the earlier reports I read kept referring to him as a Canadian.
He was living in Canada legally and is therefore obviously one of their great diversity picks! Now American taxpayers get to pay for his incarceration for life and you can bet he is going to be a demanding prisoner when it comes to his religious ‘requirements’!
I didn’t get around to this story last week, but I expect most of you didn’t see it anyway, although much to my surprise this is a Reutersstory posted by NBC. What is going on at NBC, they have had some pretty useful stories of late!
You have probably seen the news, but just in case….
