Saudi gets life in jail for Texas terror plot

AUSTIN, Texas: A Saudi-born college student has been sentenced to life in prison in the US for trying to make a bomb to carry out jihad.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari was sentenced yesterday in Texas, where jurors convicted him in June of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Prosecutors say Aldawsari collected bomb-making material and researched possible targets, including the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush.
The 22-year-old came to the US legally to study chemical engineering. He was arrested in 2011 after federal agents secretly searched his apartment and found explosive chemicals, wiring, a hazmat suit and clocks, along with videos showing how to make the chemical explosive TNP.
Court records show that Aldawsari had successfully ordered 30 liters of nitric acid and 3 gallons of concentrated sulfuric acid in December 2010.
Prosecutors said other targets he researched included nuclear power plants and the homes of three former soldiers who were stationed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
His attorneys acknowledged that their client had intent, but they argued that he was a harmless failure who never came close to attacking anyone.