Breaking on MSNBC.com.
A Columbus, Ohio, man has been charged with participating in an al-Qaida plot to blow up an Ohio shopping mall, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Monday.
“The American heartland was targeted for death and destruction by an al-Qaida cell,” Ashcroft said at a news conference announcing the four-count indictment of 32-year-old Nuradin Abdi, who originally is from Somalia.
Ashcroft said Abdi conspired with admitted al-Qaida member Iyman Faris and others to detonate a bomb at the unidentified shopping mall in the Columbus, Ohio, area after he obtained military-style training in Ethiopia.
Abdi is also charged with fraud and misuse of documents by claiming that he had been granted valid asylum status in the United States. In fact, prosecutors say, he obtained that refugee document under false pretenses.
Great. Makes me think twice about shopping at Easton now.
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Saw this after ducking out for a little shopping at lunch today…
But we can’t let them put us off our shopping, though, can we? That means the terrorists have won. We need to show that we are not afraid. Shop, shop, shop!! Blah, blah, blah…
The Barenaked Ladies put it best in the “Shopping” song off their recent album.
It’s why I haven’t left my living room since 2001. Actually, if the terra-ists are moving in this direction, this could be more devastating than attacks on high-profile targets in big cities. Imagine if a bunch of little things started happening in Nowhere, Utah, and BFE, Missouri — the fear factor would be enormous. People would be scared to get groceries or go to the bank, etc.
Coming from Ashcroft, tho, gives me hope — because he’s awful quick to announce things like this, and they promptly turn out to be completely off.
Yeah, he’s definitely quick on a lot of announcements. So it is hard to get a real hold on what’s serious and not serious.