DALLAS, Oct. 8, 2009
Jordanian Indicted in Dallas Bomb Plot
Hosam Maher Smadi Accused Of Trying To Detonate Explosives Under Skyscraper
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In this undated file photo provided by the Ellis County Sheriff's Department, Hosam Maher Smadi is shown. Smadi, a Jordanian teenager accused of attempting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper returns to court Monday for a hearing to decide if there's enough evidence to continue the case against him. (AP Photo)
Hosam Maher Smadi, 19, was indicted Wednesday on one count of attempting to use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of bombing a public place, but the charges were not made public until Thursday. Each count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Smadi was arrested on Sept. 24 after he allegedly parked a truck in a garage beneath the 60-story Fountain Place office building in downtown Dallas, authorities said. Once he was at a safe distance, Smadi dialed a cell phone he thought would ignite a bomb in the vehicle — but the device was actually a decoy provided by FBI agents posing as al Qaeda operatives, according to the FBI.
The FBI says it had been keeping tabs on Smadi after discovering him on an extremist Web site earlier this year. Investigators have said the teenager acted alone and was not affiliated with any terrorist organizations.
Read full Smadi indictment
Smadi's attorneys said the government had not shared information in the case beyond a criminal complaint, search warrants and other court documents. With the indictment, the government will have to turn over evidence and other information in the case, said Richard Anderson, one Smadi's court-appointed attorneys.
"Now we know what we have to defend ourselves against," he said. "We will obviously do our own investigation, including going over it with our client."
The indictment alleges Smadi activated a timer connected to a car bomb while inside the parking garage underneath the skyscraper with the intent to harm or cause death.
Testimony in the case shows an undercover FBI language analyst noticed Smadi's comments online, and Smadi asked for help in obtaining the tools needed for a terrorist attack.
Another FBI language analyst and a police officer who belongs to a terrorism task force posed as al Qaeda sleeper cell members and communicated with Smadi, FBI Special Agent Tom Petrowski testified this week. During that time, agents said Smadi reiterated his intention to carry out a terrorist attack, according to an affidavit.
The FBI says Smadi made a video while with the undercover officials, and because he believed they were al Qaeda members, thought they would forward it to Osama bin Laden. Agents learned Smadi had been researching how to use a cell phone to detonate a bomb, Petrowski said.
Friends and acquaintances say Smadi moved from Santa Clara, Calif. to the small town of Italy, Texas, near Dallas in 2008. He came to the U.S. in 2007 after his mother died in Jordan, friends and family said. In Jordan, Smadi's father, Maher Hussein Smadi, has insisted his son is innocent.
Smadi remains in federal custody in Seagoville, outside Dallas. He has waived his right to have a detention hearing to consider whether he could have released on bond.
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- If they executed Timothy McVeigh for 'blowing up' the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, Then they should do the same for this jerk. Don't house, clothe and feed him on my dime...
The "only reason that building didn't blow up is that the FBI kept him from doing it. But it was his intention and he "DID"{ actuate what he thought was a "huge" truck bomb... If it had been a 'Nuke' he would still have done it but from a greater distance.
People like that do not deserve to live. - Reply to this comment
- Ah, yes, another peace-loving Muslim.
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- LOL yes. But I have to give kudos to the FBI. They certainly are doing something right and I, as well as alot of Americans are thankful.
- Agreed, they're doing a good job. And before anyone jumps down my throat; I'm an equal-oppurtunity mocker..I'm sure the US has bombed its share of civilian targets.. But in the name of religion? Not convinced.
- "Smadi remains in federal custody in Seagoville, outside Dallas. He has waived his right to have a detention hearing to consider whether he could have released on bond. "
Why on GODs green earth would they even 'consider' a Bond hearing??? That is strictly a 'No Brainer'...
- I would sure hate to be his "Atty" (court appointed) because if something happened and he were to get off Scott free, my life might be in danger. (I am totally against this but had to point it out as a possibility)
- Having come from Jordan, I'm not surprised at all that the only Jordanian in the news is a terrorist...not any Nobel laureates from Jordan. Maybe King Abdullah can get his wife to go on the internet and explain why.....
