Saudi Man Who Allegedly Plotted Attack On Bush Bought Supplies On Amazon.com

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Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, the 20-year-old who allegedly plotted to target the home of former President George W. Bush and attack other locations in the U.S. with improvised explosive devices led a seemingly lonely life in Texas after he arrived from Saudi Arabia in 2008. But the criminal complaint reveals that he may have compensated, in part, by starting a blog — and that his alleged online activities had a decidedly darker side.

The investigation into Aldawsari appears to have started when the Carolina Biological Supply (CBS) reported a suspicious attempted purchase of the chemical phenol. Between December 2010 and January 2011, Aldawsari bought a number of items from Amazon.com that could seemingly be used to develop a weapon.

After Aldawsari made the order, he called Con-Way Freight and asked employees to hold his package for him when it arrived. He had no prior relationship with the company, and he was advised that the package had been returned to CBS. Con-way Freight officials also called the police department and reported the incident.

Separately, he allegedly ordered a professional chemistry laboratory equipment set, a soldering iron kit, a stun gun with built-in flashlight, a precision screwdriver set, a Pyrex flask and miniature Christmas lights — which, according to the FBI, can be used for wiring in IEDs. He also bid on, and lost, a protective gas mask on eBay but he was successful in bidding on a protective Hazmat suit, which was in his apartment at the time of the raid.

Federal officials say they believe that Aldawsari planned to hide improvised explosive devices inside of realistic looking baby dolls — researching baby accessories, including strollers, baby clothes and diapers. He also searched on Google for “can u take a backback to nightclub” and “dallas nightclub,” which an FBI agent believes indicates that Aldawsari was considering attacking a nightclub.

A criminal complaint says that Aldawsari’s university classes and living expenses were paid for by a Saudi-based industrial corporation. He first entered the U.S. in September 2008 and attended school at Texas Tech University (where former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is a professor) until January, when he transferred to South Plains College.

A search of Aldawsari’s e-mail address on Facebook turns up an account under his name, which says he is interested in the Zombie Outbreak Response Unit.

The criminal complaint unsealed by Justice Department officials on Thursday also mentions that Aldawsari maintained a personal blog under the username “fromfaraway90.” On the blog, Aldawsari commented on his dissatisfaction with the condition of Muslims around the world and wrote asking God to “grant me martyrdom for Your sake and make Jihad easy for me only in Your path,” according to the FBI.

He also seems to have developed an obsession with his language partner in May of 2009 when he wrote that “she was nice and pretty, so I like her so much.”

“I am falling in love of her….. She is goregeous that I cann’t [sic] forget her just right away… I am asking Allah the great to covert her to Islam and marry me,” Aldawsari wrote.

He also posted a quote from the movie Meet Joe Black about love and that he “want to convey to myself and to the whole world that I will get you.”

“I have experienced so many hard situations and I won in all of them because I believe there is no impossible in love. You are beautiful that I couldn’t believe I lost you for seconds,” he wrote in Feb. 2009.

“Every time I touch lovely breeze wind I wounder how I did that and how I could. Shall I have I must I or whatever you could imagined. You are still in my mind caged. I hope we will meet as soon as we will engaged,” he continued.

Additional reporting by Paul Werdel and Melissa Jeltsen.

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