Americans are horrified by the gunning down on Wednesday of two U.S. airmen and the wounding of two more at an airport in Germany by a man who authorities say was apparently a radical Muslim. But not long before that attack, there was another suspected terrorist plot on U.S. soil.
A man from Saudi Arabia who until recently was studying at Texas Tech University on a student visa faces a charge of trying to use a weapon of mass destruction. Authorities said the student, Khalid Aldawsari, bought chemicals online and intended to blow up U.S. targets.
Which targets? Nuclear plants, dams and the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush. Authorities say the suspect was going to hide the materials in dolls and baby carriages, and that the plot had been under development for years.
“After mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for jihad,” the man allegedly wrote in his journal.
Fortunately, any possible violence was prevented after quick-thinking workers at a chemical company in North Carolina and a shipping company in Michigan alerted authorities to a suspicious shipment that Aldawsari had ordered. Federal agents began tracking his other purchases and found radical statements he had made online.
Still, things might have turned out horribly.
“This was a close call,” Robert Casey, the FBI special agent in charge of the Dallas field office, told The New York Times.
Alarmingly, other terror suspects have been arrested in separate cases recently in Seattle and New York.
Aldawsari may face life in prison if convicted. We applaud law enforcement’s effort in preventing a tragedy. But we plainly can’t let down our guard against the terrorist threat.