Two chicago Area Muslims Sentenced In Plot To Kill U.S. Soldiers

From Creeping Sharia:

Two Chicago-area Muslims sentenced in plot to kill U.S. soldiers


Posted on July 14, 2010 by creeping

All the terrorists met at a Muslim convention in Ohio. Probably similar to conventions held by CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, et al.







Khaleel Ahmed, 26, of Chicago, center, is led out of the Federal Courthouse in Toledo, Ohio, by a federal agent and accompanied by an attorney at right.



TOLEDO, Ohio — Two cousins from the Chicago area who admitted they wanted to kill American soldiers in Iraq as part of a plot centered in Ohio were sentenced to prison terms of several years Monday.



Both men apologized in federal court, saying they became misguided after the U.S.-led invasion overseas.



“I was caught up with the fervor of world events,” said Zubair Ahmed. “At that time, I was looking at U.S. troops as my enemy.”



U.S. District Judge James Carr sentenced Ahmed, of suburban North Chicago, to 10 years, and his cousin, Khaleel Ahmed, of Chicago, to eight years, four months.



Both pleaded guilty in January 2009 to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.



Prosecutors said that the men were in their early 20s when they traveled to Egypt in 2004 with plans to kill U.S. troops, but that they were stopped and returned to the U.S. by Zubair Ahmed’s father, who had found out about their plans. Investigators said the cousins wanted to go to Pakistan but did not have a concrete plan.



After returning home, they became involved with three men from the Toledo area who were convicted in 2008 of recruiting terrorists and raising money to fund their plans to wage a holy war against U.S. troops.



The Ahmed cousins also met met with an FBI informant and talked about learning to shoot machine guns and sniper rifles.



Assistant U.S. attorney Justin Herdman said the pair had a five-year plan to train for a violent jihad, or holy war.



He said they also had connections with an Atlanta man who is now in prison for plotting to aid terrorists by sending homemade videos of Washington landmarks overseas.



Zubair Ahmed had several conversations with Syed Haris Ahmed, who was sentenced last December to 13 years in prison on a charge of conspiring to support terrorist groups, Herdman said.



Prosecutors said that Marwan El-Hindi, of Toledo, recruited the cousins in 2004 to join his cell there and that they all met at a Muslim convention in Cleveland with a former U.S. military man who worked undercover and helped foil the plot.



Read more via The Associated Press: 2 Chicago-area men sentenced in Ohio soldier plot.



Related: Georgia Tech Muslim had permission from mom to wage jihad



Zubair Ahmed, 30, also testified that he and Syed Haris Ahmed first talked about waging violent jihad against Muslim oppressors as far back as 2002. “We shared the same opinion,” Zubair Ahmed said.



Over the years, the two men continued to chat online about taking the “three steps” toward jihad —- ideological preparation, logistical preparation and actual fighting, Zubair Ahmed said.



In one e-mail, Zubair Ahmed told Syed Haris Ahmed that “the biggest problem everyone will face for the 3rd [the final step] is our stupid parents.” But during a subsequent chat-room conversation, Zubair Ahmed testified, Syed Haris Ahmed told him he had received his mother’s permission to return to Pakistan and engage in jihad.