A Saudi national pleaded not guilty Monday to plotting attacks against possible US targets, including the Texas home of former president George W. Bush. Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20, shuffled into a Texas courtroom with his hand and feet shackled before pleading "not guilty" to the charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
Aldawsari, who came to Lubbock, Texas on a student visa in 2008, was arrested last month after allegedly trying to have a large quantity of a suspicious chemical shipped to a Lubbock freight address.
Authorities also found e-mails and journal entries in which he mentioned starting a local al Qaeda type organisation and planning attacks, according a criminal complaint filed by the FBI. Aldawsari allegedly wrote himself an email entitled "NICE TARGETS," and then listed two types of targets: hydroelectric dams and nuclear power plants.
In another email titled "Tyrant's House," he listed the address of Bush's Dallas, Texas home. The charging papers also allege that Aldawsari researched using dolls to hide explosives and concealing them in a backpack to target a night-club. A search of his apartment found a makeshift lab that could be used to build an explosive device and some of the ingredients and supplies necessary to build and detonate a bomb, the FBI said.