“Texas resident” in bomb plot
Why would the Justice Department call Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, the Saudi citizen who was arrested in a bomb plot, a “Texas resident” instead of a Saudi jihadist?
Seems a little like avoidance to me.
Category: Breaking News, Terror War
I’d imagine it’s to highlight that he was here legally and not some sort of terrorist who slipped over the boarder.
Well, Jonn, they get to do the PC two step (sorry, it was there, I had to use it) by making Texas look bad and avoiding saying that He’s a Saudi national and muslim jihadi. They want people to think everyone in Texas is a hardcore militia loving bad guy. Just like they did with Hasan.
Come on Old Trooper, that’s quite a wild conclusion to draw from the available evidence.
The feds live in horror of saying anything that might set off the American public. To say that a foreign national living here plotted terrorism here would be to (the feds think) cause an immediate “rabid-dog attack” on anyone of that nationality in the area. So they say a “resident” was suspected, instead.
In the modern era, however, the American public isn’t fooled, and will seek out the truth of the situation. Americans haven’t forgotten who/what the enemy is.
If this guy is guilty, he should be punished harshly. But from my understanding of the weapon he was attempting to construct, it does not fit the description of a WMD. Those are nuclear. biological, and chemical weapons. I believe the government is getting awful free and easy with the WMD label.
Bill,
It’s actually a long defined legal term. They charged McVeigh with a WMD offense.
Re: #3
Ya think???
You have to admit it sounds good, though.
Old Trooper,
Sounds like it could generate some traffic 🙂
NSO Marine,
Yeah, I know you are correct but that doesn’t make it true. By their loose definition an M-16 could qualify, or even an AR-15 in the hands of a knowledgable shooter.
Well, Bill, the difference between weapons like the AR15 and the M16 is they are firearms, whereas an explosive, whether it’s a pipe bomb, grenade, or nuke is indiscriminate in it’s destruction. With a firearm, you have to point towards what you want to hit in a discriminate manner. The explosives that this chucklehead was trying to fabricate would cause massive damage with an untold amount of casualties. That’s where the WMD label comes in to play.
Is this Bill R. like a new troll or something? You changed talking points rather quick, Bill. The boy was working on rounding up the chemicals he needed. The chemical sales and trucking company were on to him. Re-read the article, try it one more time.
No, not a new troll or even an old one. I have been working most of the day and all I heard was a short version on the TV. That, and some of the sites he had targeted, led me to believe that chem or bioweapons would be useless anyway. I have posted comments on this blog in the past albeit infrequently. What talking points did I change? I simply stated that under the legal definition that NSO Marine pointed out, almost anything could qualify as a WMD. In reality, WMDs are the three categories of weapons I mentioned in my first post.
Okay, not trying to start anything here but am making a clarification. I read the earlier post on this blog and the chemicals this clown was trying to purchase were chemicals to build an explosive device. Much the same as nitroglycerin is a chemical used in TNT. That is not the same thing as a chemical weapon and that is exactly the point I was trying to make. Legal definition aside, I stand by my comments.
In 2004 some jack ass by the name of Zaclowie (spelling?) who was the leader of the Kurdish area insurgency (Kirkuk, and Mosul) decided to use chem weapons. It was rather crude, using Chlorine tankers as a VBIED. That was scary.
The really scary thing is that, once they actually get competent, with our lax security, and social issues, well the saying is “we be f**ked”
Ok, Bill, I see where you’re going now. I guess it was hard to read in the first story, but you know how journalists can f-up a free lunch line, so that is probably where the confusion would come in. I just re-read that story and it is possible to come away from it thinking chemical weapon.
@ 12 & 13 – Roger that, Bill R. My apologies. Either way this kid wanted to take out as many as he thought he could and I for one, am glad Dallas FBI was on to his shite. Maybe everyone should say “Thank you, FBI”