Tag Archive for: Islamic

Esteban Santiago [a.k.a. Aashiq Hammad] is a Puerto Rican Salafist Sunni Muslim

EDITORS UPDATE:

WeSearchr and GotNews published more of their findings that neither the government nor media have yet discovered or released: BREAKING: #FortLauderdale Terrorist #EstebanSantiago Joined MySpace As “Aashiq Hammad”, Recorded Islamic Music – GotNews

Fort Lauderdale Airport terrorist Esteban Santiago registered on MySpace under the name “Aashiq Hammad” and recorded Islamic religious music on the site, 3 years before he ever deployed to Iraq as a U.S. soldier, destroying the lying mainstream media’s narrative that he was just a mentally disturbed veteran and that “Islam had nothing to do with it.”

[ … ]

And take a look at the three songs recorded by “Aashiq Hammad.” The first one is titled “La ilaha illAllah”, which is Arabic for “There is no God but Allah,” and the first half of the Muslim declaration of faith, the Shahadah:

[ … ]

That song was recorded in 2007, 3 years before Esteban Santiago went to Iraq as a U.S. soldier in 2010, destroying the lying mainstream media’s narrative that he was a “mentally disturbed veteran”, although even they admit Santiago went into an FBI office in 2015 and told agents he was being forced to watch ISIS videos by voices in his head (or something).

2007 was also the year that “Naota33” was posting on an explosives/weapons forum about mass-downloading Islamic propaganda videos, as GotNews exclusively revealed yesterday.

[ … ]

“Aashiq Hammad” also has Bryan Santiago — Esteban’s brother — as a connection…

The perpetrator of today’s random shooting at Fort Lauderdale, Esteban Santiago Ruiz is a Puerto Rican Salafist Sunni Muslim who was a resident of Anchorage, Alaska. CBS reported that he walked into an Anchorage, Alaska FBI office in November 2016 claiming he was forced to fight for ISIS.

He was born in New Jersey, but moved to Penuela, Puerto Rico to live with his brother and mother shortly thereafter. He moved to Alaska in 2015 for work, and had been employed as a security guard. Same job as Omar Mateen, the perpetrator of the Orlando Pulse Nightclub Massacre. He was “fighting with a lot of people” during his time in Alaska, including his girlfriend. At the time of the shooting, he was receiving mental help for his depression .

Santiago Ruiz is reportedly a Sunni Muslim with Salafist beliefs, and he is a father of one. He served in the Puerto Rican National Guard for six years. He also signed up for the National Guard as a combat engineer and served a year in Iraq. Reports indicate he had a history of mental health issues. In November 2016, he walked into the FBI office in Anchorage, claiming he was fighting for ISIS.

Esteban Santiago Ruiz’s record:

  • February 2015: Eviction for nonpayment of rent.
  • January 2016: Fourth-degree assault and damage of property, from a domestic violence incident. Santiago settled the charges.
  • On January 6, 2017 Esteban Santiago killed 5 people and injured many more in the . His name was released by Florida US Senator Bill Nelson on MSNBC. He was carrying a military ID.
  • On January 6, 2017 Esteban Santiago killed 5 people and injured many more in the Fort Lauderdale Airport shooting. His name was released by Florida U.S. Senator Bill Nelson on MSNBC . He was carrying a military ID.

Santiago took Delta Airlines Flight #1088 from Anchorage to Minneapolis – Saint Paul Thursday night. He landed Friday morning, and then took Delta Flight no. 2182 from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Fort Lauderdale. He then appeared in the Terminal 2 baggage claim area wearing a Star Wars shirt.

Witnesses say he appeared to randomly target his victims during the shooting spree which has left at at least five people dead and many more injured. He was apprehended by authorities when he stopped shooting to reload, witnesses said.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Airport Shooter Converted to Islam, Identified as Aashiq Hammad Years Before Joining Army

The Trump Administration Should Treat Islamists Like The Mafia

Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooter Lived Near Islamic Community Center of Anchorage Mosque

Fort Lauderdale Airport shooter had told FBI he was forced to fight for the Islamic State

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of Santiago pictured wearing a black on green Palestinian Keffiyeh scarf giving a “one-finger salute,” a gesture displayed by the ISIS gunman who shot the Russian ambassador in December.

A Democratic Death Wish

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015, two Muslim terrorists, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife,  Tashfeen Malik, walked into an afternoon Christmas party at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, and opened fire on the assembled guests.  Fourteen innocent people were killed and 22 injured.  Two of the injured remain in critical condition.

Then, late in the evening of Thursday, January 7, 2016, Philadelphia police officer Jesse Hartnett was on routine patrol in his squad car at 60th and Spruce Streets in west Philadelphia.  Without warning and without provocation, black Muslim Edward Archer stepped from the shadows, ran across the street, and fired 13 close-range shots at Officer Hartnett from a 9mm Glock pistol… a handgun stolen from a Philadelphia police officer in an October 2013 home burglary.  Although Officer Hartnett was gravely wounded, he stepped from his vehicle and gave chase.  The officer drew his sidearm and fired three shots at Archer, striking him in the buttocks.  (For my Democrat readers, that means Officer Hartnett shot Archer in the ass.)

Captain James Clark, commander of the Philadelphia police homicide unit, said Archer told detectives, “I follow Allah.  I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS).  He told police investigators that he did what he did because police “defend laws that are contrary to Islam.”

Moments later, newly-elected Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney stepped to the microphones and parroted to a stunned television audience what has become a standard Democrat Party talking point.  He said, “In no way shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teachings of Islam has anything to do with what you’ve seen on the screen.  That is abhorrent.  It’s just terrible and it does not represent this religion in any way shape or form or any of its teachings.  And this is a criminal with a stolen gun who tried to kill one of our officers.  It has nothing to do with being a Muslim or following the Islamic faith.”

In between those two atrocities, on December 17, 2015, seventy-three members of Congress, all Democrats, introduced House Resolution 569, subtitled, “Condemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric toward Muslims in the United States.”  The resolution calls upon local and federal law enforcement authorities to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those who perpetrate “hate crimes” against-Muslims.  The 73 co-sponsors of HR 569 are as follows:

Don Beyer (D-VA); Mike Honda (D-CA); Keith Ellison, a Muslim  (D-MN); Joseph Crowley (D-NY); Andre Carson, a Muslim (D-IN); Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC); Betty McCollum (D-MN): Marcy Kaptur (D-OH); Carolyn Maloney (D-NY); Daniel Kildee (D-MI); Loretta Sanchez (D-CA); Charles Rangel (D-NY); Scott Peters (D-CA); Brad Ashford (D-NE); Alan Grayson (D-FL); Mark Takai (D-HI); Brian Higgins (D-NY); William Keating (D-MA); Raul Grijalva (D-AZ); Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL); G.K. Butterfield (D-NC); Gerald Connolly (D-VA); Ruben Gallego (D-AZ); Cheri Bustos (D-IL); John Delaney (D-MD); Kathy Castor (D-FL); Luis Gutierrez (D-IL); Mike Quigley (D-IL); Elizabeth Esty (D-CT); Joseph P. Kennedy (D-RI); Robin Kelly (D-IL); Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX); Gregory Meeks (D-NY); Grace Meng (D-NY); Al Green (D-TX); Katherine Clark (D-MA); Adam Schiff (D-CA); Alcee Hastings (D-FL); Sam Farr (D-CA); Frank Pallone (D-NJ); Jim McDermott (D-WA); Barbara Lee (D-CA); Donna Edwards (D-MD); Robert Brady (D-PA); Frederica Wilson (D-FL); Michael Doyle (D-PA); Albio Sires (D-NJ); Susan DelBene (D-WA); Judy Chu (D-CA); Jared Polis (D-CO); David Loebsack (D-IA); Bill Pascrell (D-NJ); Debbie Dingell (D-MI); Janice Schakowsky (D-IL); Steve Cohen (D-TN); Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX); John Yarmuth (D-KY); Niki Tsongas (D-MA); James Langevin (D-RI); Mark Pocan (D-WI); John Conyers (D-MI); Mark Takano (D-CA), Tim Ryan (D-OH); Jose Serrano (D-NY); Hank Johnson (D-GA); Paul Tonko (D-NY); Zoe Lofgren (D-CA); Chris Van Hollen (D-MD); Lois Capps (D-CA); David Price (D-NC); Doris Matsui (D-CA); Gwen Moore (D-WI); and Denny Heck (D-WA).  The resolution reads as follows:

Whereas the victims of anti-Muslim hate crimes and rhetoric have faced physical, verbal, and emotional abuse because they were Muslims or believed to be Muslim;

Whereas the constitutional right to freedom of religious practice is a cherished United States value and violence or hate speech towards any United States community based on faith is in contravention of the nation’s founding principles;

Whereas there are millions of Muslims in the United States, a community made up of many diverse beliefs and cultures, and both immigrants and native born citizens;

Whereas the Muslim community is recognized as having made innumerable contributions to the cultural and economic fabric and well-being of United States society;

Whereas hateful and intolerant acts against Muslims are contrary to the United States values of acceptance, welcoming, and fellowship with those of all faiths, beliefs, and cultures;

Whereas these acts affect not only the individual victims but also their families, communities, and the entire group whose faith or beliefs were the motivation for the act;

Whereas Muslim women who wear hijabs, headscarves, or other religious articles of clothing have been disproportionately targeted because of their religious clothing, articles, or observances, and

Whereas the rise of hateful and anti-Muslim speech, violence, and cultural ignorance plays into the false narrative spread by terrorist groups of Western hatred of Islam, and can encourage certain individuals to react in extreme and violent ways:  Now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the House of Representatives –

  1. Expresses its condolences for the victims of anti-Muslim hate crimes;
  2. Steadfastly confirms its dedication to the rights and dignity of all its citizens of all faiths, beliefs, and cultures;
  3. Denounces in the strongest terms the increase of hate speech, intimidation, violence, vandalism, arson, and other hate crimes targeted against mosques, Muslims, or those  perceived to be Muslim;
  4. Recognizes that the United States Muslim community has made countless positive contributions to United States society;
  5. Declares that the civil rights and civil liberties of all United States citizens, including Muslims in the United States, should be protected and preserved;
  6. Urges local and federal law enforcement authorities to work to prevent hate crimes, and to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those perpetrators of hate crimes, and
  7. Reaffirms the inalienable right of every citizen to live without fear and intimidation, and to practice their freedom of faith.         

In other words, nearly four out of ten Democratic members of Congress feel as though Muslims are so terribly abused in our country… physically, verbally, and emotionally… that those of us who warn our countrymen of the danger posed by radical Islam must be deprived of our First Amendment rights.  What HR 569 tells us is not that Democrats really care about Muslims, Mexicans, or any other ethnic group seeking refuge in America.  They don’t.  What HR 569 tells us is that there are literally no limits to the pandering that Democrats will resort to in order to gain access to yet another voting constituency.

In building their national political coalition, Democrats have extended a welcoming embrace to unionized blue collar workers, teachers, and public employees; trial lawyers; radical feminists; radical environmentalists; gays; lesbians; and ethnic minorities… any identifiable special interest group seeking to gain special treatment or to avoid competition in our competitive enterprise system.  The only two things that Democratic special interests share in common are their numbers and the huge sums of political money they bring to the table.

But now it appears they are throwing caution to the winds as Barack Obama, a man with strong Islamic sympathies, announces plans to import hundreds of thousands of future Democrat voters from the Muslim world.  They appear to take no notice of the fact that Muslims are incapable of assimilating into western cultures.  Instead, they come with sharp knives, suicide belts, and the announced intention of either killing all non-Muslims, or forcing us to convert to Islam.

Meanwhile, Democrats appear to be operating under the mistaken assumption that, when the time comes, the Muslim executioners will first separate Democrats from Republicans before proceeding with their genocidal cleansing.  Although to do so is a pure death-wish, Democrats apparently see no downside whatsoever in snuggling up to Muslims who might be their friends and neighbors one day and their executioners the next… a stark reality that they will have to confront firsthand when Islamic terrorism comes to their neighborhood.

But let’s not wait for the radical Islamists to deliver a moment of truth to our Democrat friends.  Let’s do our best to see to it that the 73 cosponsors of HR 569 are not returned to Congress in January 2017.  Or better yet, let’s provide each of them and their families with a year-long all-expense-paid junket to the Muslim country of their choice.  They have a few things to learn.    

VIDEO: UK Imam Anjem Choudary Tells Pam Geller She Should Be Slaughtered

UK Imam Anjem Choudary told Pamela Geller on the Sean Hannity Show that she should be tried in Shariah Court and slaughtered… for speaking out against Islam. Why did he say this?

The reason that Imam Choudary believes this is because the Quran says he must. What Imam Choudary is demonstrating is the Islamic strategy of Fitna. Fitna is defined as “[F]orces that cause controversy, fragmentation, scandal, chaos, or discord within the Muslim community, disturbing social peace and order.”

Quran versus 2: 191-193, reads:

And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.

And if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

Fight them until there is no [more] fitnah and [until] worship is [acknowledged to be] for Allah . But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors.

Imam Choudary is doing what the Quran demands. Slaughter any unbeliever who causes Fitna for the “fitna is worse than killing.”

RELATED ARTICLES:

Feds overlooked Texas jihadi because “there are so many like him”

Robert Spencer in PJM: PEN members forget purpose of free speech

The One and Only Way To Defeat Islamic Based Terrorism

SAKR ShariaThink of the following words for one second only and then give a one word description of the first thought that enters your mind:

1. Nazi
Now for the second word:
2. Hitler
Now for the third word:
3. Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City Bomber)
Now for the fourth word:
4. Child Rapist
The fifth and final word:
5. Islam

I have given this little test to several people over the last few years. The vast majority of them respond with a very negative description for the words Nazi, Hitler, Timothy McVeigh, and Child Rapist.

The response is quiet different when they describe with one word Islam. Ten years ago, when I first began giving this test, people were told to describe Islam in one word. The typical responses were: Misunderstood, Religion, Mohammed, Middle East, and Shariah. The responses of people who have taken the test in the last year has grown to a more harsh description of the word Islam, but not to the point of being as harsh as the words Nazi, Hitler, McVeigh, or Child Rapist.

In order to defeat Islamic based terrorism the mindset of people must change their thoughts and descriptions of of the word Islam to be similar to their descriptions of Nazi, Hitler, McVeigh and Child Rapist’s. This can only be accomplished if the American and world media, politicians, senior law enforcement, teachers, corporations, Christian and Jewish leaders, and the American president begin branding ‘Islam’ as what it truly is: violent, dangerous, filthy, evil, Mohammed the Child Rapist, and the major threat to the free world.

During my four decades of studying the Middle East, the Arabic language and Islam, I went through various phases of my descriptions of Islam and it’s founder Prophet Mohammed. The primary difference between the vast majority of people and myself is that I rolled through the phases at a much faster rate. I went from thinking Islam was a religion of peace, to describing Islam with the most vulgar terms humanely imaginable. My description of Islam came to a head about two years before the tragic events of 9/11. I began calling Islam for what it is (vulgar and disgusting) and did not hold back.

My change about Islam and Mohammed was not made lightly and without vast amounts of thought, first-hand research, and absorbing thousands upon thousands of manuals, books,
audio recordings, and videos produced by Muslims and Islamic leaders across the world. In essence I did not rely on self described experts of Islam and terrorism. Instead I became self educated basing my thoughts on what Islamic leaders were advocating to their followers worldwide. I visited several countries throughout the Middle East, visited mosques in the Middle East, and went to the front lines in 2003 when Operation Iraqi freedom started. I interviewed hundreds of Muslims while in the Middle East (to include members of Islamic based terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda).

Since my return to America I have conducted research inside the Muslim Brotherhood National Headquarters in Washington D.C. (CAIR National). I have conducted first-hand research in over 275 mosques in America.

Contrary to what Islamic leaders and organizations such as CAIR say that Islam is a very complex and complicated ideology to understand, the understanding of Islam is rather easy. Billions of Muslims across the world claim to have worshiped, studied and understand their religion. Millions of Muslims to this day can’t read or write, and have very little schooling of any type. The conclusion is it does not take a genius to understand ‘true’ Islam. The only qualification you must have is to begin with an open mind and study everything Islamic you can get your hands on.

The violent actions of ISIS and other Islamic terrorist groups is based solely on what their Prophet Mohammed taught over 1400 years ago. The teachings of Prophet Mohammed are taught in every mosque, Islamic school, and even in our public schools. Islamic leaders are very firm on their stance that Prophet Mohammed is the example for all of mankind to follow.

Prophet Mohammed in actuality had the same qualities of Adolph Hitler, Timothy McVeigh, and the same immoralities as evil child rapists across the world have. Mohammed taught the hatred of Jews and Christians, the use of violent force to convince people to follow Islam, and he was a rapists of small children during his 50 plus years of life.

Based on my current descriptions of Islam and Mohammed, I have been labeled an Islamaphobe, hater, racist, and war monger. The truth is I respect and love anyone who is a good person and has no thoughts about killing innocent people, destroying Israel or any country that supports Israel, and more importantly I love and respect any person regardless of race, religion, or culture who advocate and promote the love and caring for the children throughout the world. Contrary if you put plans in place to destroy the free world by using force to meet an objective of forming an Islamic caliphate worldwide and under Shariah law, then you have incurred my hatred for you and your ideology. I will use what little power I have to attempt to destroy your ideology.

I close by stating the media, politicians, Jewish and Christian leaders, and the American president must start a campaign to BRAND Islam as violent, dangerous, immoral, and an ideology that abuses innocent girls and women. The world is on the brink of disaster due to the ideology of Islam and the lack of world leaders to describe Islam just as they would Nazi, Hitler, McVeigh, and Child Rapists. Islam has all of the horrible qualities and is 100 times more dangerous than the disgusting Hitler.

Islamic based terrorism cannot be defeated by air-power, boots on the ground, diplomacy, or even by using nuclear bombs on Islamic terrorist camps around the world. As long as our American president,the media, so called counter-terrorism experts and others describe Islam with nice words such as Islam has been hijacked, only radical Muslims commit terrorist acts, and that the Prophet Mohammed is a man to follow, then we will in our lifetime be condemned to a life of misery, fear, and violence in the name of Islam.

Keep in mind that if you express your views as I have, you will be labeled as a hater and racist. You will be attacked from the left and right, Islamic terrorists, and even your American president will label you as the primary threat to world peace.

If you love America, Israel, the free world, and innocent children, then you will put them ahead of your own safety and comforts of life.

Remember when the New York Times said ‘Americans Should Embrace Shariah Law’?

In 2011 I wrote a column raising concerns about an op-ed in the New York Times saying America should embrace Islamic shariah law. Fast forward to today and the emergence of the Islamic State (IS), which is based, by its own admission, on shariah law. I have decided to republish my original column for all to reflect upon.

New York Times: Americans Should Embrace Shariah Law

Originally published September 4, 2011

An op-ed piece titled “Don’t Fear Islamic Law in America” appears in the New York Times. The column is written by Eliyahu Stern, Assistant Professor of Modern Jewish Intellectual and Cultural History at Yale University. Professor Stern states, “Today, we need an Abrahamic ethic that welcomes Islam into the religious tapestry of American life.”

Professor Stern goes on to say, “The crusade against Shariah undermines American democracy, ignores our country’s successful history of religious tolerance and assimilation, and creates a dangerous divide between America and its fastest-growing religious minority.”

The New York Times editorial board, by publishing this column, endorses Professor Stern’s premise – shariah law must be embraced by America.

First, I would like to briefly show how Professor Stern misunderstands Jewish law (Halacha) and projects that misunderstanding to support his premise that we should embrace shariah law, which calls for his own death as a Jew.

Second, I would like to present how Professor Stern makes a fatal assumption – that shariah compliant individuals easily and over time fully assimilate into non-Islamic societies.

Rabbi Jonathan Hausman in the New English Review regarding differences between Halacha and Sharia in an article, “Halacha, Sharia and the Religious Acceptance of Constitutional Governance”, states:

“Simply stated, there is a basic Rabbinic principle that has operated since roughly the year 226 CE. That principle is known as Dina d’malchuta Dina; the law of the country is binding and, in certain cases, is to be preferred to Jewish law/Halacha.

[…]

Samuel, the leader of the Babylonian Jewish community in 241 CE, specifically imbued his community with the consciousness that one must be reconciled to changed circumstances regarding government, and that civil law is necessary for the functioning of the greater society. The result was an internal recognition of Judaism’s non-supercessionist and non-conversionary character. According to the Prophet Nehemiah, Jews should obey the laws of their rulers (Nehemiah 9:37).”

This Rabbinic principle is embedded in Christian principles and attributed to Jesus in the synoptic gospels, which reads, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21).

So both Jewish and Christian principles recognize “civil law is necessary for the functioning of the greater society.”

Does shariah law have the same principle of “render unto Caesar”?

According to Rabbi Hausman, who is trained in both Halacha and studied doctrinal Islam as a graduate student in Egypt, the answer is no! Rabbi Hausman points out, “Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the direct word of Allah delivered to the last and greatest prophet Muhammad. Therefore, it is immutable, perfect, unchangeable, static, and unchanging. What can’t be derived from the Qur’an may be gleaned from the Sunna, which relates how Muhammad conducted his life in practice, and is considered by Muslims to be immutable for all time.”

Rabbi Hausman finds in shariah Islam: Religion is the State and the State is the Religion. Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, known as the Supremacy Clause, establishes the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Treaties, and Federal Statutes as “the supreme law of the land.” This is compatible with both Jewish and Christian principles. The Supremacy Clause flies in the face of shariah law.

Therefore Professor Stern’s historical comparison of the treatment of Jews and Jewish law in America and shariah law is at best misleading and at worse patently false.

Now for the issue of assimilation.

Historically, have Christians, Jews and Muslims fully and completely assimilated into other societies? The answer is yes for Christians and Jews. We find that while Christians and Jews have been subjected to unspeakable persecution by a variety of societies from the time of Pharaoh, to ancient Rome, to Nazi Germany to Arab countries in the Middle East, they have worked to assimilate.

The opposite is true of those who adhere to shariah Islamic law. As shariah law spreads in non-Islamic societies it demands seperate but equal status. Additionally, in predominately shariah compliant nations Jews, Christians and all other non-believers are categorized as infidels, a term of derision. They are forced to assimilate or are persecuted. But what says this? The Qur’an, specifically the following verses 2:190-193:

[2:190] Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors.

[2-191] And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.

[2-192] And if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

[2-193] Fight them until there is no [more] fitnah and [until] worship is [acknowledged to be] for Allah . But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors.

Fitnah refers to the First Islamic civil war, in 656–661 AD, a prolonged struggle for the caliphate after the 656 assassination of the caliph Uthman ibn Affan. The Second Fitna, or Second Islamic civil war, is usually identified as the 683–685 AD conflict among the Umayyads for control of the caliphate. The third one refers to the taifas in the end of the Caliph of Córdoba’s rule.

Professor Stern misses the practical application of shariah Islam in countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, etc. For Americans to embrace shariah law requires embracing Fitnah against America.

Professor Stern is asking Americans to sell the rope to shariah Islamists, that will be used to hang us.

Texas: Conviction upheld of Muslim who plotted jihad bombing of Bush’s home, Hoover Dam, “people of New York”

At least Aldawsari has the satisfaction of knowing that he tied up the Infidel’s resources and made him spend a good deal of money on this frivolous appeal, and that in itself is a kind of jihad. “Conviction upheld in Saudi student Texas bomb plot,” by Michael Graczyk for the Associated Press, January 24 (thanks to Bill):

HOUSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of a former Texas college student from Saudi Arabia sentenced to life in prison for trying to make a bomb for use in a religious attack that possibly was targeting former President George W. Bush.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday rejected an appeal from Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 23. A federal court jury in Amarillo in June 2012 convicted him of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Prosecutors said Aldawsari, serving his life term at a federal prison in Terra Haute, Ind., had collected bomb-making material in his Lubbock apartment and researched possible targets, including Bush’s Dallas home, the Cotton Bowl, Hoover Dam and “people of New York,” according to the trial transcript.

Aldawsari’s lawyers contended in their appeal before the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit that the trial judge improperly allowed evidence, gave invalid jury instructions and erred in calculating Aldawsari’s sentence….

Aldawsari was arrested in February 2011 after the FBI searched his computer and apartment for evidence under terms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows such searches if there’s probable cause the offender is an “agent of a foreign power.” The appeal contended the search involving Aldawsari wasn’t valid because there was no evidence of any foreign power’s involvement.

But a three-judge panel of the appeals court said “protection of the nation against terrorist threats” made the search proper under a provision of the act.

Attorneys also argued Aldawsari never completed the bomb but had made “mere preparations,” meaning a single sentence in the jury instruction referring to the crime of attempt was invalid. The court said the reference in the appeal was taken out of context and the instruction as a whole was correct.

In addition, the appeal said the sentence was too severe. While the punishment was the maximum the trial judge could impose, “we do not find the district court abused its discretion,” the appeals panel said.

Aldawsari arrived in the U.S. legally in 2008 to study chemical engineering. A handwritten journal found in his apartment included notes that he believed it was time for “jihad,” a Muslim term for holy war.

Naaah. As Hamas-linked CAIR would have us believe, that just means he was on his way to the gym.

Federal agents also found explosive chemicals, wiring, a hazmat suit and clocks, along with videos showing how to make the chemical explosive TNP.

At his trial, his attorneys claimed he was a harmless failure who never came close to attacking anyone.

He told U.S. District Court Judge Donald E. Walter at his sentencing hearing in November 2012 he was lonely and isolated from family, friends and faith.

The poor guy! Imagine how isolated his victims and their families would have been if his jihad mass murder plot had come to fruition.

“I am sorry for these bad actions, but none of these bad actions did harm to the United States,” Aldawsari said.

FBI bomb experts say the amounts of chemicals he had would have yielded almost 15 pounds of explosive, about the same amount used per bomb in the 2005 London subway attacks….

Aldawsari had transferred from Texas Tech in early 2011 to nearby South Plains College, where he was studying business. A Saudi industrial company was paying his tuition and living expenses in the U.S.