Many terror suspects seem to plead not guilty in court

Today, Khalid Aldawsari, arrested for buying chemicals for bomb building, was brought to court and entered a plea that I may have noticed quite a few of his kind filing:

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - A Texas college student from Saudi Arabia accused of buying chemicals and equipment to build a weapon of mass destruction pleaded not guilty Monday.

Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, his hands and feet shackled and wearing dark blue jail clothing, entered his plea at his arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Koenig at the federal courthouse in Lubbock, Texas. Koenig set a May 2 trial date.

If convicted of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction he faces up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine. [...]

Court documents allege he hatched plans to attack various U.S. targets, including in New York City and at former President George W. Bush's Dallas home. [...] Aldawsari, who was legally in the U.S. on a student visa, was arrested Feb. 23. [...] Court records indicate authorities traced Aldawsari's online purchases, discovered extremist online posts he made and secretly searched his apartment, computer and email accounts, and read his diary.

The terrorism case detailed in court documents was significant because it suggests that radicalized foreigners can live quietly in the U.S. without raising suspicions from neighbors, classmates, teachers or others. It also showed how quickly U.S. law enforcement can move when tipped that a terrorist plot may be unfolding.

Federal authorities said a chemical company, Carolina Biological Supply of Burlington, N.C., reported $435 in suspicious orders by Aldawsari to the FBI on Feb. 1. Separately, Ann Arbor, Mich.-based shipping company Con-way Freight notified Lubbock police and the FBI the same day with similar suspicions because it appeared the order wasn't intended for commercial use.

Prosecutors said that in December, he bought 30 liters of concentrated nitric acid from QualiChem Technologies in Georgia, and three gallons of concentrated sulfuric acid that are combined to make TNP. The FBI later found the chemicals in Aldawsari's apartment as well as beakers, flasks, wiring, a Hazmat suit and clocks.

Aldawsari entered the U.S. in October 2008 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to study chemical engineering at Texas Tech University. He transferred this year to nearby South Plains College, where he was studying business. A Saudi industrial company, which was not identified in court documents, was paying his tuition and living expenses in the U.S.

Aldawsari wrote that he was planning an attack in the United States for years, even before coming to the U.S. on a scholarship. He said he was influenced by Osama bin Laden's speeches and that he bemoaned the plight of Muslims.

My estimation is that many vicious characters like him will deny any guilt out of their hatred for the west. All the more reason to hope he'll get the slammer forever.

The Saudi company mentioned may not be named, but we can assume it was government run, realizing how, just like in many commie/fascist run regimes in Europe, this was the precise situation. And if he went to study chemistry first, shouldn't that be reason to suspect he was up to no good?

Not only must foreign exchange students from the House of Saud be shut out, there should be restrictions placed upon what studies they can take in the US: if chemistry could avail their jihadist desires, that's why they simply can't be allowed to learn and work on it.