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A US soldier accused of plotting an attack on a military base afterfleeing his post as a Muslim conscientious objector went on trialTuesday wearing a surgical mask and manacled to the floor. Courtroom security agents behind him wore protective goggles, anapparent reaction to an incident in which the soldier, Naser JasonAbdo, who claims to be HIV positive, bit his lip and spat blood atlaw enforcement officers. Prosecutors called the first of 43 witnesses to the stand in a bidto show that Abdo, who fled his post in Kentucky, was gatheringbomb-making materials and weapons to attack soldiers and theirfamilies at the Fort Hood base in Texas, the scene of a deadlyshooting rampage in 2009. One witness said Abdo told him that the assault was intended toshow support for Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslimpsychiatrist accused of killing 12 soldiers and a civilian in the2009 shooting, which also wounded 32 others. The FBI alleges Hasan had contacts with the charismatic US-borncleric Anwar al-Awlaqi, a leading member of Al-Qaeda in the ArabianPeninsula who was killed in a September 2011 drone strike. FBI agent Charles Owens said that Abdo told him in an interrogationsession that "he wanted to do it for the sake of the men and womenof Afghanistan, that they had been wronged." Abdo was arrested July 27 at a discount hotel in the nearby Texastown of Killeen. Police and federal agents have previouslytestified that they found a handgun and enough gunpowder to make atleast one bomb. They also discovered directions from an Al-Qaeda magazine on how tobuild an explosive device. Prosecutors mounted a detailed case, mixing a trail of receipts andtime-stamped videos of Abdo with testimony from a number of workerswho encountered him. They said he planned to detonate a bomb in a crowded Chineserestaurant not far from Fort Hood, and then gun down soldiers,their families and civilians as they fled. "He referred to civilians as collateral damage," Owens said. Defense attorney Zachary Boyd countered that prosecutors couldn'tprove that his client intended to kill anyone, and that noexplosive device was ever built. "I want the jury to focus not just on the evidence, but the law,"Boyd said in his opening statement. Prosecutor Gregg Sofer told jurors that Abdo had intended to kidnapa soldier and execute him on video when he was still in Kentucky. "He had already acquired a body bag, a stun gun, a cattle prong,"Sofer told the jury. But the plan fell apart and Abdo fled, leaving his Cadillac, bodybags, a green body bag carrier and bleach to clean up the crimescene. A hood, three handcuff boxes, batteries for the prong, his car keysand identification papers were also found. "My heart was racing," Oak Grove Police Sergeant Victor Lynch toldthe court. "I was thinking somebody was in danger." Abdo bought a .40-caliber handgun and two extended round clips froma man in Nashville and paid $315.05 in cash at a Dallas-areadepartment store for items that prosecutors said could be used tomake a bomb, including electrical wiring, clocks and a pressurecooker. He then took a four-hour cab ride from North Texas to Killeen,where he bought smokeless gunpowder in a local gun store. A federal forensic analyst testified that the powder, typicallyused in fireworks, burns slowly but could be used to detonate abomb. Prosecutors displayed receipts for the goods and showed videos ofAbdo at the department store, his Killeen hotel and at the gunstore a few miles down the road. Along the way, he aroused suspicion that twice prompted policeinvestigations and ultimately led to his arrest. One store employee recalled telling Abdo to have a nice day afterhe paid $256.44 cash for a number of items that included thesmokeless gunpowder. Bothered after the exchange, those at the store later calledpolice. "I just had a feeling," the worker said. I am an expert from modern-arearug.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Wool Area Rug Manufacturer , China Modern Area Rug, Modern Area Rug,and more.
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