US Citizen Accused of Discussing to Kill President Bush

ZTAngel · #1 02-22-2005, 12:42 PM

U.S. Citizen Accused of Discussing to Kill Bush
Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:16 PM ET
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...TY-BUSH-DC.XML

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen arrested in 2003 in Saudi Arabia and returned to this country late on Monday, has been charged with supporting al Qaeda and accused of discussing ways to kill President Bush, according to court documents made public on Tuesday.

The indictment said between September 2002 and June 9, 2003, while he was in Saudi Arabia, Abu Ali discussed with an unidentified co-conspirator two options for assassinating Bush.

They talked about "an operation in which Abu Ali would get close enough to the president to shoot him on the street and ... an operation in which Abu Ali would detonate a car bomb," according to the 16-page indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia.

The indictment of Abu Ali was filed on Feb. 3 and was made public on Tuesday. Abu Ali, who last resided in the United States in Falls Church, Virginia, was arrested by Saudi authorities on June 9, 2003, and had been held in that country.

A court spokesman in Virginia said Abu Ali made an initial appearance before a magistrate judge on Tuesday morning, and that he was ordered detained until another hearing on Thursday.

RUgreek · #2 02-22-2005, 03:36 PM

18 U.S.C. §1751, sounds about right to me.

texas*princess · #3 02-22-2005, 03:38 PM

wow that's crazy!

DeltAlum · #4 02-22-2005, 05:59 PM

Having been in high school when John F. Kennedy was assasinated, I can just say that nothing I can think of has ever left a bigger impression on me -- and the entire country, I think.

I would truly not like to go through a time like that again.

Our son was in the musical "Assassins" last semester, and the one thing that strikes me is how generally strange the people who either killed or attempted to kill U.S. Presidents have been.

cashmoney · #5 02-22-2005, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DeltAlum
I would truly not like to go through a time like that again.

What are you talking about? It'd be the 60s all over again, it'd rock out. Think about it....the country was in the middle of a war most people don't support, actors and musicians are against...or most are anyway. Its all about politics this time, just like Vietnam and if you know anything about history then you know it repeats itself. Think about it....the 50s were the economic boom back then...just like the 90s were. Things slowed down after that and we went to war in vietnam,why? Because for the US war makes the people that run this country more money. So what have we done? We went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan and could possibly be going to war in iran. if you ask me I'm surprised no one has attempted to kill the president yet. I voted for him and believe in him as being our true leader during this time, but the man has certainly pissed a lot of people off. The 60s were a historical era I only dream I could have been apart of.

honeychile · #6 02-22-2005, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cashmoney
What are you talking about? It'd be the 60s all over again, it'd rock out. Think about it....the country was in the middle of a war most people don't support, actors and musicians are against...or most are anyway. Its all about politics this time, just like Vietnam and if you know anything about history then you know it repeats itself. Think about it....the 50s were the economic boom back then...just like the 90s were. Things slowed down after that and we went to war in vietnam,why? Because for the US war makes the people that run this country more money. So what have we done? We went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan and could possibly be going to war in iran. if you ask me I'm surprised no one has attempted to kill the president yet. I voted for him and believe in him as being our true leader during this time, but the man has certainly pissed a lot of people off. The 60s were a historical era I only dream I could have been apart of.

While I've often said that I was born too late, I've known too many people who STILL are in the Sixties. It sounds really cool and really fun, but they are some of the truly scariest people I've ever had to deal with. Guys in their 60's who are still tripping out - not cool at all.

cashmoney · #7 02-22-2005, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by honeychile
While I've often said that I was born too late, I've known too many people who STILL are in the Sixties. It sounds really cool and really fun, but they are some of the truly scariest people I've ever had to deal with. Guys in their 60's who are still tripping out - not cool at all.

Aside from the drugs, it would have been a pretty cool time to be alive and at the age we are today. And wtf are 60 yr old men still doing acid for anyhow? Ive never met any of them.

honeychile · #8 02-22-2005, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cashmoney
Aside from the drugs, it would have been a pretty cool time to be alive and at the age we are today. And wtf are 60 yr old men still doing acid for anyhow? Ive never met any of them.

You're not a geriatric counselor, seeing these guys in nursing homes - LONG before their time! And they're not still doing acid, they're still experiencing the results of 40 years ago. It's a mess.

Besides, you must not have ever been to a Grateful Dead concert!

DeltAlum · #9 02-22-2005, 10:10 PM

I hope you're not saying that a presidential assassination is "fun."

It isn't. It's traumatic for the entire country.

The sixties were among the best and worst of times. I'll just leave it at that.

carnation · #10 02-22-2005, 10:18 PM

I was in 5th grade when JFK was killed. It was awful. I felt so violated and unsafe, just like on 9-11.

My take on the sixties: hardly anyone in the deep South saw anything but hippie wannabes. I taught at Auburn in the eighties and couldn't tell that anything had changed from the early seventies...the protests, etc., that a lot of the country saw back then hardly brushed any of the large public Southern universities. If anyone tried to stage a sit-in or whatever, the students would basically ignore them or walk right over them so people who had a serious message to spread went elsewhere.

AGDee · #11 02-22-2005, 10:52 PM

I did think about the fact that nobody brought up the 20 year curse when Bush was re-elected. All talk of it was dropped when Reagan the assassination attempt on him, but there WAS an attempt. Sometimes I thought that some crazy would try it just to fulfill the prophesy.

"For years people whispered that U.S. presidents elected in years ending with "0" were doomed to die in office. From 1840 through 1960, every president elected in the 20-year cycle died while he was still president. (Some called this "The Curse of Tecumseh" after the Shawnee chieftan whose brother allegedly predicted the presidential doom in 1836.)

Ronald Reagan finally broke the "curse" by serving two full terms as president before stepping down in 1989 -- though he had to survive a 1981 assassination attempt to do so."

Dee

DeltAlum · #12 02-23-2005, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by carnation
I was in 5th grade when JFK was killed. It was awful. I felt so violated and unsafe, just like on 9-11.

My take on the sixties: hardly anyone in the deep South saw anything but hippie wannabes. I taught at Auburn in the eighties and couldn't tell that anything had changed from the early seventies...the protests, etc., that a lot of the country saw back then hardly brushed any of the large public Southern universities. If anyone tried to stage a sit-in or whatever, the students would basically ignore them or walk right over them so people who had a serious message to spread went elsewhere.

I agree with your comment on the JFK murder.

On the rest, things were pretty much different in the North, I think. I was in college from 1965 to 1969, and it was a pretty interesting ride with the transition of "beatnicks" to hippies, the free love movement, Vietnam and the Draft and fairly dramatic changes in the drug culture. We were a generation that actually did (help) make a difference in the direction of the country.

As both a student and TV professional (I was working for the NBC station in Columbus, OH), I remember the sit-ins and the taste of teargas and peppergas -- of bonfires set on the College Green during protests. And of Ohio National Guardsmen at every other parking meter in town after the Kent State murders. (sorry, that very last is a personal editorial comment on my part)

I also remember the drunken "social" riots on St. Pattys day -- which, with the change to the quarter system, developed into Ohio University's famous Halloween Party.

Additionally, the shape of rock and roll (an important social marker, I believe) really changed from guitar strumming and drums to the beginnings of what we still hear today. Music from groups such as the Beatles, Beach Boys (Pet Sounds) and others took the genre in totally different directions.

Just yesterday, I was reflecting with a younger guy I work with about one of my early trips to New York City for a college broadcasting workship. That trip included not only my first Broadway Musical (Promises, Promises w/Jerry Orbach), my first visit to the Tonight Show (w/Carson), but also was the week of the first huge peace march on the U.N. The Village was jammed, and the police were out in force on horseback with cattle prods.

And, during that, we still had to date and make out and make love and all the other stuff that college students are supposed to do.

OK, enough, but what amazing memories.

It was not only a great time to grow and learn -- but also could be damned scary.

DeltAlum · #13 02-23-2005, 10:22 AM

I appologize for the post above. It really is a hijack. I have thought about the twenty year curse.

I am not a huge Bush admirer, but devoutly pray that nothing happens to him during the remainder of his term. We have enough problems as it is.

ZTAngel · #14 02-23-2005, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DeltAlum

I am not a huge Bush admirer, but devoutly pray that nothing happens to him during the remainder of his term. We have enough problems as it is.

Yes. And, just think, if Bush were to pass on, Cheney would become President. <shudders>

cashmoney · #15 02-23-2005, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by carnation
I was in 5th grade when JFK was killed. It was awful. I felt so violated and unsafe, just like on 9-11.

See, 9/11 didnt really bother me. I thought it sucked for the people of NYC but aside from feeling bad for those people who died and their families I looked at like it was just another holiday because we didnt have school for 2 days. Had it happened in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale I'd probably feel different but being as it was in NYC I didnt feel violated or unsafe. With all the crazy people up there in NYC I'm surprised something like that hadnt happened earlier. In fact, any of you remember when there was an attempt to blow up the world trade center in 1993?