Arizona: No Bail for Accused Iraqi Refugee Bomber
12/08/2012
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In Arizona, the Iraqi refugee accused of bombing the Casa Grande Social Security office last Friday, appeared in court for the second time on Wednesday.

Information about Abdullatif Aldosary has been accumulating over the intervening days, such as the bomb-making materials found in his home.

Aldosary already had a record as a hostile character, having been arrested at least twice for criminal wrongdoing over several years. He spent eight months in prison for a case of aggravated harassment.

Local Congressman Paul Gosar asked why Aldosary was not deported given his history of crime (Gosar questions why officials allowed Casa Grande suspect to live in Arizona). In 2011, Aldosary contacted Congressman Gosar to inquire why his application for citizenship had not gone through. Gosar learned that Aldosary was denied citizenship “pursuant to terrorism related grounds of inadmissability.”

Gosar recently observed, “Why wasn’t a known terrorist detained and deportation proceedings initiated once DHS concluded he was engaging in terrorism related activity?”

Indeed, why was such a dangerous man allowed to remain in the United States?

And why are there no terrorism charges now?

Interestingly, the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence held a hearing on Dec. 4 titled “Terrorist Exploitation of Refugee Programs.” (Watch on C-SPAN.) In Chairman Patrick Meehan’s opening statement, he noted, “According to press reports this past February, intelligence indicates that the threat posed by refugees with ties to al Qaeda is much broader than was previously believed.” For more background, see Judicial Watch’s report on the hearing.

Abdullatif Aldosary Held Without Bond in Casa Grande Bombing Case, Faces Deportation, Phoenix New Times, December 6, 2012

A federal judge ordered Abdullatif Aldosary — the Coolidge resident accused of detonating an “explosive device” outside the Social Security Administration building in Casa Grande Friday morning — to be held without bond.

In the detention order, the magistrate judge says Aldosary there’s no possible way that Aldosary could be released that would assure public safety.

“The nature of the offense alleged in Count I which involves researching the design of an explosive device, procuring the explosive materials and detonating the device at a public building creates a significant risk of danger for which no release condition could reasonably assure the safety of the community,” the order says.

Aldosary — an Iraqi refugee — does face deportation proceedings, the order says. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer has been lodged against him, so Aldosary will likely deal with all that once this case is over.

Aldosary is facing a minimum prison sentence of five years, and a maximum sentence of 20 years, the order states.

Aldosary’s been arrested at least twice before, with the most recent incident taking place at a gym in Casa Grande in August.

Aldosary allegedly “displayed pornographic pictures and struck a man,” according to a blurb published in the Casa Grande Dispatch at the time, and police refused to elaborate on the details after the bombing last week.

He also landed in prison for a few months in 2008, related to harassment of his former employer, a Gilbert construction company.

According to a minute entry from the court proceedings, Aldosary sent letters to the company and its employees — despite an existing restraining order against him — and two of those letters “were accompanied by sexually explicit photographs.”

The owner of the company believed Aldosary “perhaps had ties to terrorist organizations,” although a judge noted that he wasn’t charged with any such conduct.

That business owner did not return New Times’ call for comment.

And, in this bombing case, despite the probable-cause affidavit was penned by an FBI agent in the Phoenix division’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, there’s been no indication from the feds that this was terrorism-related.

No one was injured in the explosion, but the feds allege Aldosary detonated the devise outside the Casa Grande Social Security Administration office, and drove off. Debris landed more than 100 feet away from the spot of the detonation, and Aldosary even lit his own car on fire in the blast, and drove off with his car ablaze, according to the federal complaint.

A search warrant served at Aldosary’s home Friday night turned up recipes and materials for explosive devices.

There was a cache of documents hidden behind a photograph on a wall in the house, including “materials and equipment needed to make RDX…homemade nitroglycerine, ammonium nitrate from homemade chemicals, how to make a bomb from homemade chemicals, and recipes from the Anarchists Chemical Cook Book,” the complaint says. There were also handwritten notes labeled “Materials Needed,” which included a list of things included in the aforementioned recipes. Additionally, investigators found receipts for a nitric-acid solution, and a scale from a chemical-supply store in Phoenix.

Congressman Paul Gosar, in a press release, said his congressional office in Casa Grande — down the street from the SSA office — shook from the blast.

Gosar’s spokeswoman did not respond to New Times’ e-mail seeking additional details.

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