Dallas Terror Suspect’s Brother Ordered To Stay In U.S.

Interesting side-note to the Dallas terror plot that recently unfolded.  Husein Smadi, the brother of Hosam “Sam” Smadi, the Jordanian national accused of trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper, will not be immediately deported, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn has ordered that Smadi’s brother, Husein Smadi, 18, who is in the country illegally, be temporarily detained as a material witness in his brother’s terrorism case.

Lynn issued the order Friday at the request of Hosam Smadi’s federal public defenders, who feared that Husein Smadi would be deported and unavailable to their client at his trial.

“Husein Smadi is a necessary, favorable and material witness for Hosam Smadi in this case,” according to an affidavit written by Dan James, chief investigator for the public defender’s office for the Northern District of Texas.

Although the defense team requested that Husein Smadi be held until his brother’s case is over, the judge ruled that he be detained by the U.S. marshals only through Oct. 27, giving the defense team time to depose him.

Federal Public Defender Rich

via Source.

Alleged Texas Terror Suspect Made Video For Bin Laden

No details yet, however CNN reports alleged Texas terrorism suspect Hosam Smadi recorded a seven-minute video message for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden sometime before his arrest on charges of plotting to blow up a Downtown Dallas building, according to Monday’s testimony from an FBI agent.

No details of the message were provided in court. But FBI Special Agent Thomas Petrowski said the video was recorded in a hotel room with the assistance of undercover FBI operatives and Smadi intended for it to be delivered to or seen by bin Laden, the fugitive leader of the terrorist network behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian living in the United States illegally, is charged with plotting to set off a bomb at the base of the 60-story Fountain Plaza office tower in downtown Dallas. He was arrested September 24 after federal agents said he tried to trigger an improvised bomb attached to a vehicle at the base of the building.

Source.

Contrasting Portrait of Texas Bomb Plot Suspect Emerges

The New York Times takes a look at the contrasting portrait of Hosam Maher Husein Smadi that has begun to emerge. Smadi is the 19 year old Jordanian who was arrested last week for allegedly placing what he thought was a bomb, outside a 60 story Fountain Place skyscraper in downtown Dallas, Texas.

This is an interesting backgrounder. The big takeaway from this regardless of if Smadi is found guilty or innocent, is that those planning terrorist attacks will do all they can to blend in and appear to be just like everyone else.

From The New York Times

When he first arrived in the United States, Mr. Smadi stayed with Hana Elrabodi, a retired Jordanian businessman in San Jose, Calif., who knew his family, said Mr. Elrabodi’s wife, Temina. He stayed with the family for only three weeks, until Mr. Elrabodihelped him find a job at a restaurant. Mr. Smadi slept in a room above the restaurant, Mrs. Elrabodi said.

Friends in Texas said Mr. Smadi had told them that he had lived with his younger brother, Hussein, in California, and had attended school there but dropped out. He told them he had left California after a fire in his brother’s apartment. He came to Texas, friends said, at the invitation of a Syrian-born man, Tamer Kadah, who manages the Texas Best Smokehouse here and offered him a job as a cashier.

Ms. Duron, his wife, said that Mr. Smadi regularly worked 70 hours a week to rack up $500 paychecks and that he received money from his father as well.

David South, Mr. Smadi’s landlord, said the young man arrived in April 2008 and passed a criminal background check. He was a model tenant until about six weeks before his arrest, when he stopped paying rent, Mr. South said. He was to be evicted last week.

Neighbors said Mr. Smadi moved out of the tiny cottage, which looks like a giant overturned bowl, late on Sept. 21, three days before his arrest. In recent weeks, he had visitors late at night who blocked the driveway with their cars. And one day, he would not let his closest friends enter his cottage.

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