2 Men Charged in Alleged U.S. Bomb Plots
Two men unconnected to each other or to the investigation that has spawned recent national terrorism warnings are in federal custody after attempting to detonate what they thought were bombs outside an Illinois courthouse and a Texas skyscraper, authorities said.
Michael C. Finton, 29, who also went by the name Talib Islam and idolized American born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh, was arrested Wednesday in Springfield, Ill., after federal officials said he attempted to set off explosives in a van outside a federal courthouse in the Illinois capital.
Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, 19, who is a Jordanian national, was arrested Thursday in Dallas after federal officials said he placed what he believed to be a car bomb in a parking garage beneath the 60-story Fountain Place office tower.
In both cases, decoy devices were provided to the men by FBI agents posing as al Qaeda operatives. Both are charged with trying to detonate a weapon of mass destruction and face up to life in prison if convicted. Finton also is charged with attempting to murder federal officers or employees.
Finton appeared in federal court in Springfield on Thursday and said he was an unmarried, part-time cook at a fish and chicken restaurant in the central Illinois city of Decatur. He was ordered held pending action by a grand jury. A message was left for his attorney, federal defender Robert Scherschlight.
Back in 2001, Finton posted an Internet message declaring himself "an American Muslim... seeking to renounce my citizenship," writing he was "aware of the fact that the U.S.A. will soon be killing Muslims in America," reports CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian.
"Ultimately, the government was right to pursue this individual to some degree, but it's a question of whether or not they facilitated this a bit too much," said CBS News Homeland Security expert Paul Kurtz.
Smadi, who federal prosecutors said lived and worked in the north central Texas town of Italy, was to appear in court Friday. Court documents did not list a defense attorney.
Finton had been closely monitored by federal agents including in the months leading up to his arrest, according to a federal affidavit in his case. It said an FBI agent who posed as an al Qaeda operative presented Finton on Wednesday with a van containing materials he described as explosive but which actually were harmless.
The two men parked the van at the courthouse and close to the office of U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., which Finton allegedly hoped also would be damaged. They then drove a short distance to where Finton twice used a cell phone to try to detonate the explosives, the affidavit said. He was arrested immediately.
A similar scenario played out Thursday in Texas, where the FBI had been keeping tabs on Smadi since an undercover agent discovered him in an online extremists group, according to an affidavit in that case.
"He stood out based on his vehement intention to actually conduct terror attacks in the United States," FBI supervisory special agent Thomas Petrowski wrote.
Undercover agents communicated and met with Smadi over several months, posing as members of an al Qaeda sleeper cell, according to Petrowski's affidavit. The agents provided Smadi with what he believed was a car bomb but was actually an inert device, it said.
Smadi on Thursday parked a vehicle containing the device in a garage beneath the Dallas office tower and set the device's timer, the affidavit said. Smadi then met with an agent, who drove several blocks away and Smadi dialed a cell phone in an attempt to detonate the bomb, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit in the Illinois case traced two years of activities by Finton. It said Finton's parole on a previous conviction was revoked in August 2007 and writings found at the time included reference to a letter to Lindh, who was captured fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan. The affidavit said Finton later told police and agents that he idolized Lindh, who is now in prison.
Public records show Finton was in an Illinois prison from 1999 until 2005 aggravated robbery and aggravated battery convictions. After getting out, Finton told his parole officer he had converted to Islam, the affidavit said.
The affidavit said Finton's bank records showed that in March 2008 he received a wire transfer of $1,375.14 from "Asala Hussain Abiba" in Saudi Arabia and the next day sent the money to a travel agency. It said that April, he went on a monthlong trip to Saudi Arabia, but did not provide details on what he did there.
Authorities said the Finton and Smadi cases are not connected to that of Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old airport shuttle driver who federal officials allege received explosives training from al Qaeda and bought large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and nail-polish remover in a plot to build bombs for attacks on U.S. soil.
CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports that, unlike with Zazi, Finton and Smadi were always closely watched by the FBI and there was never any danger to the public.
Zazi was charged Thursday in New York with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. The government also asked the court for permanent detention, reported CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.
Zazi's complete indictment
Zazi's detention motion
CBS News also learned Thursday that Zazi had been on law enforcement's radar for at least two years. One source says that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents in New York pulled Zazi's "alien file" back in 2007, indicating authorities' suspicions about him, reports the CBS news Investigative Unit.
Talk of the possible plot in recent days set off the most intense flurry of national terrorism warnings since the aftermath of 9/11.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Michael C. Finton, 29, who also went by the name Talib Islam and idolized American born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh, was arrested Wednesday in Springfield, Ill., after federal officials said he attempted to set off explosives in a van outside a federal courthouse in the Illinois capital.
Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, 19, who is a Jordanian national, was arrested Thursday in Dallas after federal officials said he placed what he believed to be a car bomb in a parking garage beneath the 60-story Fountain Place office tower.
In both cases, decoy devices were provided to the men by FBI agents posing as al Qaeda operatives. Both are charged with trying to detonate a weapon of mass destruction and face up to life in prison if convicted. Finton also is charged with attempting to murder federal officers or employees.
Finton appeared in federal court in Springfield on Thursday and said he was an unmarried, part-time cook at a fish and chicken restaurant in the central Illinois city of Decatur. He was ordered held pending action by a grand jury. A message was left for his attorney, federal defender Robert Scherschlight.
Back in 2001, Finton posted an Internet message declaring himself "an American Muslim... seeking to renounce my citizenship," writing he was "aware of the fact that the U.S.A. will soon be killing Muslims in America," reports CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian.
"Ultimately, the government was right to pursue this individual to some degree, but it's a question of whether or not they facilitated this a bit too much," said CBS News Homeland Security expert Paul Kurtz.
Smadi, who federal prosecutors said lived and worked in the north central Texas town of Italy, was to appear in court Friday. Court documents did not list a defense attorney.
Finton had been closely monitored by federal agents including in the months leading up to his arrest, according to a federal affidavit in his case. It said an FBI agent who posed as an al Qaeda operative presented Finton on Wednesday with a van containing materials he described as explosive but which actually were harmless.
The two men parked the van at the courthouse and close to the office of U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., which Finton allegedly hoped also would be damaged. They then drove a short distance to where Finton twice used a cell phone to try to detonate the explosives, the affidavit said. He was arrested immediately.
A similar scenario played out Thursday in Texas, where the FBI had been keeping tabs on Smadi since an undercover agent discovered him in an online extremists group, according to an affidavit in that case.
"He stood out based on his vehement intention to actually conduct terror attacks in the United States," FBI supervisory special agent Thomas Petrowski wrote.
Undercover agents communicated and met with Smadi over several months, posing as members of an al Qaeda sleeper cell, according to Petrowski's affidavit. The agents provided Smadi with what he believed was a car bomb but was actually an inert device, it said.
Smadi on Thursday parked a vehicle containing the device in a garage beneath the Dallas office tower and set the device's timer, the affidavit said. Smadi then met with an agent, who drove several blocks away and Smadi dialed a cell phone in an attempt to detonate the bomb, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit in the Illinois case traced two years of activities by Finton. It said Finton's parole on a previous conviction was revoked in August 2007 and writings found at the time included reference to a letter to Lindh, who was captured fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan. The affidavit said Finton later told police and agents that he idolized Lindh, who is now in prison.
Public records show Finton was in an Illinois prison from 1999 until 2005 aggravated robbery and aggravated battery convictions. After getting out, Finton told his parole officer he had converted to Islam, the affidavit said.
The affidavit said Finton's bank records showed that in March 2008 he received a wire transfer of $1,375.14 from "Asala Hussain Abiba" in Saudi Arabia and the next day sent the money to a travel agency. It said that April, he went on a monthlong trip to Saudi Arabia, but did not provide details on what he did there.
Authorities said the Finton and Smadi cases are not connected to that of Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old airport shuttle driver who federal officials allege received explosives training from al Qaeda and bought large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and nail-polish remover in a plot to build bombs for attacks on U.S. soil.
CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports that, unlike with Zazi, Finton and Smadi were always closely watched by the FBI and there was never any danger to the public.
Zazi was charged Thursday in New York with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. The government also asked the court for permanent detention, reported CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.
Zazi's complete indictment
Zazi's detention motion
CBS News also learned Thursday that Zazi had been on law enforcement's radar for at least two years. One source says that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents in New York pulled Zazi's "alien file" back in 2007, indicating authorities' suspicions about him, reports the CBS news Investigative Unit.
Talk of the possible plot in recent days set off the most intense flurry of national terrorism warnings since the aftermath of 9/11.
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What was it the Forest Gump said, "Stupid is as stupid does"?
If you can find a legitimate article that refutes the one I posted, please do. I'm sorry news agencies don't have the time to go back and update the date on every article they've ever written.
No sense arguing with you if you didn't read the article.
I never said Bin Laden had anything to do directly with the 1993 WTC bombing.
As for the timeline, you clearly aren't reading the article.
I read the article.
And the "tall man in a flowing white robe" could have been ANYONE - including bin Laden.
The point about the date of your link, is that the ONLY link you can find to prove your point, is a five year old link, that was proven wrong a long time ago. The 9/11 commission report that the story references, was released in July 2004, while the story your link points to, was dated March 2004. But we know that the 9/11 commission report was incomplete anyway, since Bush REFUSED to allow members of his administration to testify to what they knew.
Hungry, the date the article was run doesn't really matter... It was posted by MSNBC! The same MSNBC you've been putting on a pedistal all morning for having immediate and complete coverage of the alleged terrorist arrests and G20 meeting!
You're right, Bin Laden was not directly associated with the bombing (his brother-in law had ties to financing the operation), but Al Qaeda was; they trained the terrorists at their camps in *shock* Afghanistan!
What do you mean "the date doesn't matter"?!?!
It's been very well known, for a very long time, that Bin Laden DID NOT have ANYTHING to do with the 1993 WTC bombing. One erroneous story DOES NOT make it true!
That being said, why should Clinton have taken bin Laden into custody in 1996, when he wasn't indicted for any crimes until 1998?
No sense arguing with you if you didn't read the article.
I never said Bin Laden had anything to do directly with the 1993 WTC bombing.
As for the timeline, you clearly aren't reading the article.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,555241,00.html
Right here hungry, too bad you won't read it anyway!
Uh huh.
While MSNBC is covering the story ALL MORNING, virtually non stop, Fox is talking about some guy with a metal detector in England.
But in their defense, they did just talk about the school children singing the Obama song.
I'm sure the latest "ACORN News" is coming up next.
ROFLMAO!!!!
1. Pelosi Seeks to Make Health Reform Bill More Liberal
2. Elementary School Students Taught Pro-Obama Songs
3. Mackenzie Phillips: I Slept With My Father
4. U.N. Climate Summit Leaves Large Carbon Footprint
5. John Phillips of Mamas and Papas Slept With Daughter Mackenzie Phillips, Says New Book
You can insert a bunch of padded pro-Obama stories for the next 5-15 as well after that probably. I'm not arguing with you that Fox News runs some pretty ridiculous headlines but don't single them out, CBS does it too and as we can see most people don't care about world news anymore.
Oh that's right -- they're too busy with ACORN and school children singing songs to worry about attempted terrorist attacks!!
Right here hungry, too bad you won't read it anyway!