Folks like CAIR, who complain that Americans look at Arabs and Muslims and think "terrorist" might want to deal with issues like this in their own community before lecturing us about bigotry.

The Justice Department accused three Ohio men yesterday of plotting to kill U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq, allegedly by seeking to set up a Middle Eastern terrorism camp where insurgents would be trained and equipped.

One of the men was also charged with threatening to kill or hurt President Bush. It is not clear, however, how close the trio came to carrying out any of their alleged plans or whether they intended to fight in Iraq themselves.

Even so, the case appears to be the first time that suspects on U.S. soil, rather than in Europe or the Middle East, have been charged with attempting to directly aid the insurgency in Iraq.

The men are accused of spending more than a year downloading militant videos, taking weapons training, and trying to acquire or build explosives. They could face life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, conspiracy to kill Americans abroad. They are also charged with providing material support to terrorists.

The defendants are Mohammad Zaki Amawi, 26, a citizen of the United States and Jordan; Marwan Othman el-Hindi, 42, of Toledo, a U.S. citizen; and Wassim I. Mazloum, 24, of Toledo, a permanent legal resident who co-owns a Toledo auto dealership with his brother. In addition to the terrorism counts, Amawi is also charged with twice making verbal threats against Bush, court documents show.

The three were indicted last week, but the document was not unsealed until yesterday. They were arrested over the weekend and pleaded not guilty yesterday in federal courts in Cleveland and Toledo, according to the Associated Press. Attempts to reach their attorneys were unsuccessful.

But this isn't REALLY the first such case -- not when you consider the blind sheik, the Holy Land Foundation, the Buffalo case, the ongoing trial in California, etc.

MORE AT Counterterrorism Blog, Michelle Malkin, Fullosseous Flap, Strata-Sphere, Most Certainly Not, Iowa Voice, Unpartisan, Flopping Aces, Right Winged, Small Town Veteran, Blue Star, Conservative Culture, Jawa Report

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