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FBI arrests Jordanian for downtown Dallas bomb plot

bhkad

bhkad

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FBI arrests Jordanian for downtown Dallas bomb plot
Thu Sep 24, 2009 7:15pm EDT

DALLAS, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A Jordanian national was arrested by the FBI on Thursday for attempting to bomb a skyscraper in downtown Dallas, the Department of Justice said.

"Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, 19, has been arrested and charged in a federal criminal complaint with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction," the department said in a statement.

"Smadi, who was under continuous surveillance by the FBI, was arrested today near Fountain Place, a 60-story glass office tower ... in downtown Dallas, after he placed an inert/inactive car bomb at the location," it said.
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FBI arrests Jordanian for downtown Dallas bomb plot | Reuters

Holy smokes! Two bomb plots in one day. This one and the one in Illinois.

God Bless the FBI!
 
Hmmm...These two plots sound almost identical. They must be related somehow.
 
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Kudos to the Dallas FBI...Btw I'm posting from from Dallas.
 
Kandahar said:
Hmmm...These two plots sound almost identical. They must be related somehow.
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I don't think it can possibly be a coincidence that the FBI arrested two different guys in two different cities on the same day, for a plot to blow up a federal building with a car bomb. There must be some kind of connection.
 
Kandahar said:
I don't think it can possibly be a coincidence that the FBI arrested two different guys in two different cities on the same day, for a plot to blow up a federal building with a car bomb. There must be some kind of connection.
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Could the connection be Jihad?
 
But wait. I voted for Obama. I'm safer now than I was with Bush as president. Right???
 
What exactly counts as a WMD these days?
 
Or a bunch of fertilizer. If that's what a WMD is, we've been dropping tons of them.
 
Ikari said:
What exactly counts as a WMD these days?
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From wiki

The Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States also considers conventional weapons (i.e. bombs) as WMD: "A weapon crosses the WMD threshold when the consequences of its release overwhelm local responders".
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For criminal purposes that seems like a good definition. It is separate from the definition when talking about a nation's armaments.
 
Kernel Sanders said:
For criminal purposes that seems like a good definition. It is separate from the definition when talking about a nation's armaments.
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So it's not so much about destructive potential as much as its about who's hands it happens to be in. Nice.
 
Ikari said:
So it's not so much about destructive potential as much as its about who's hands it happens to be in. Nice.
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They're just separate terms. It's no different than if the FBI called a weapon whose "consequences of its release overwhelm local responders" an "super-duper destructive device," and the FBI's definition is not meant to reflect on the military definition.

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But, yes, it does make a difference in whose hands it happens to be. I can think of absolutely no rationale for my neighbor to own an F-16 and would object very strongly if he acquired one. In civilian hands such a machine would belong in the most extreme category of weapons according to whatever scale you want to use. I have no problem with the military possessing them, though, and they are fairly mundane as far as a military weapon goes.
 
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jackalope said:
That article is written like it's reassuring. I don't know, I guess in a way it could be? But, is it scarier that there are five separate things going on, or is it scarier that they might have been co-ordinated? Six of one, half a dozen of the other ...
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Both are scary in their own way. All we can do is support our local law enforcement and hope for the best.
 
bhkad said:
Could the connection be Jihad?
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I mean they must be ACTUALLY related, not just related in the Death-To-America sense. It seems like a pretty big coincidence otherwise.
 
Kandahar said:
I mean they must be ACTUALLY related, not just related in the Death-To-America sense. It seems like a pretty big coincidence otherwise.
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On the evening news they said law enforcement decided to arrest the Dallas guy and the Illinois guy around the same time to prevent one or the other from getting wind of a bust and deciding to go further underground.
 
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