assassination suspect

Suspect's kin say alleged plot to kill Bush is web of lies

Defense says Saudi police tortured American citizen

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Family and friends who packed a Virginia courtroom to support Ahmed Omar Abu Ali laughed out loud when prosecutors alleged that the former high school valedictorian had plotted to assassinate President Bush.
Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen who grew up in Falls Church, was charged Tuesday with conspiring with al-Qaida to kill the president in a plan that prosecutors said was hatched while the man studied in Saudi Arabia in 2002 and 2003.
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Abu Ali had been detained for nearly two years by the Saudi Arabian government. His family sued the U.S. government shortly after his arrest there, claiming the Saudis were essentially holding him at the U.S. government's request.
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The private school's teachings have come under scrutiny since the Sept. 11 attacks. Federal court documents in a case against another academy graduate suspected of terrorism indicate that student discussions following Sept. 11 took an anti-American bent and that some students considered the attacks legitimate "payback" for American mistreatment of the Muslim world.
Last year, the school also faced criticism for using textbooks that taught first-graders that Judaism and Christianity are false religions.
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Abu Ali's lawyers expressed concern that the government's case may be based on evidence obtained through torture. At Tuesday's hearing, Abu Ali offered to show the judge the scars on his back as proof that he was tortured by Saudi authorities.
"He has the evidence on his back," lawyer Ashraf Nubani told the court. "He was whipped. He was handcuffed for days at a time."
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According to the indictment, Abu Ali discussed Bush-assassination plans with an unidentified al-Qaida member in 2002 and 2003, while Abu Ali was attending college in Saudi Arabia.
They discussed two scenarios, the indictment said, one in which Abu Ali "would get close enough to the president to shoot him on the street" and, alternatively, "an operation in which Abu Ali would detonate a car bomb."
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U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty said in a statement Tuesday that "after the devastating terrorist attack ... of Sept. 11, this defendant turned his back on America and joined the cause of al-Qaida. He now stands charged with some of the most serious offenses our nation can bring against supporters of terrorism."

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Man, does this seem like yet another trumped-up story that is pretty much based on nothing? I mean, there hardly seems to be a actual "plot" - "let's try to shoot him or plant a bomb"! That seems less specific than the pre-9/11 reports that we had about airlines being used as weapons! The "evidence" that he believed that 9/11 was "payback" is hardly revolutionary - that is a pretty obvious fact. As for the school teaching that other religions are false - well, my Catholic school taught me the same thing! All religions belief that they are the one, true religion!
All this vague, circumstantial "evidence" that was derived through torture doesn't sound like much of a case to me! I could be wrong, but it seems like this is a real stretch for a story! More diversionary tactics, anyone?