I wonder how these three terrorists were caught in the United States:
A federal grand jury has indicted three Toledo-area men for terrorist activities. Prosecutors say the three conspired to wage a “holy war” against the United States and coalition forces in the middle east. The indictment was unsealed Monday.
The U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez is expected to release more details at a news conference this afternoon in Washington D.C.
According to the indictment from the US Attorney’s office, the suspects are Mohammad Zaki Amawi, Marwan Othman El-Hindi, and Wassim Mazloum. The indictment says all three were living in the Toledo area. Amawi is a citizen of the US and also a citizen of Jordan. El-Hindi is a naturalized American citizen who was born in Jordan. Mazloum is a legal permanent resident of the US, who came here from Lebanon.
The indictment also names an unindicted co-conspiratory called “The Trainer,” who has U.S. military backround in security, and bodyguard training.
I bet you can guess where I am going with this:
In count 1 of the indictment, prosecutors say the three met together many times, going back as far as November 2005. The three reportedly conspired to recruit and train others for a violent jihad against United States forces and US allies in Iraq. They also reportedly put together the funding needed for the operation, and collected the equipment needed.
Prosecutors also say the three communicated by computer with an individual in the Middle East, passing information about potential attacks and terrorist training materials back and forth, as well as communication about potential weapons and targets.
In count 2, the grand jury found that the three had similar plans to kill US citizens abroad in addition to service members.
The last two counts in the indictment dealt specifically with Mohammad Zaki Amawi. One count said Amawi distributed information on bomb-making, which in itself is a federal crime. Prosecutors also said he verbally threatened President George W. Bush. Those crimes are separate from the conspiracy.
The NSA apparently wiretapped these individuals and now have an indictment. Another reason to keep this wiretapping program going. The question is, was this one of the cases where they got a warrant or not. Will be interesting to hear the AG’s press conference coming this afternoon at 1330hrs EST.
Here is the indictment in .PDF form.
After reading the indictment it’s apparent that not only were their phone’s and electronic email tapped, their living quarters may have been tapped as well. Lots of dates with details about conversations.
Here is the video from the local news channel detailing the indictment:
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Latest from Fox News:
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UPDATE
Fox News is coming to same conclusion as we are:
One interesting aspect of the case is that officials seem to have intercepted e-mail communications from the suspects to their jihadist brethren in the Middle East. The indictment shows the nature of the e-mails, including a concern the men needed to use code words to conceal what they were talking about.
One official told FOX News that this investigation used all the tools, including FISA warrants.
“A lot of FISAs,” one source said, referring to the warrants obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
UPDATE II
Pictures of the accused:
Something interesting in the lastest press release:
Law enforcement officials also told FOX News that if it were not for the Patriot Act, authorities would not have been able to bring the charge of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.
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