DALLAS — A 19-year-old Jordanian accused of trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper with what he thought was a car bomb has pleaded not guilty.

Hosam Maher Smadi was arraigned Monday. Smadi, wearing a bright orange jail-issued jumpsuit, pleaded not guilty to both counts.

PHOTOS: Alleged Texas and Illinois Bomb Plots Discovered

A federal grand jury indicted him on one count of attempting to use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of bombing a public place. Each count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Smadi, who was arrested Sept. 24, remains in custody.

Court-appointed attorney Peter Fleury said he plans to ask that the trial begin sometime after March.

The FBI says it had been keeping tabs on Smadi after discovering him on an extremist Web site. Investigators have said they believe the teen acted alone.

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Things like this pop up in the news but don't seem to get as much attention as one might think. Is this "old news"?

Not old news just no one wants to give credit to policies created by Bush that keep terror plots from happening.

what a dumbass if he acted alone how could he have "thought" it was a bomb... you either make q bomb or you dont... its not hard thats the problem any old ******* cn do it

This was the whole story. I had the impression that the FBI found him on an extremest web site and staged a sting. The FBI might have sold or given him the "bomb" just like they use fake money in a blackmail case.

Actually, I looked him up and here is some additional information.

"Hosam Maher Husein Smadi was arrested after placing what he believed to be a car bomb outside the 60-story Fountain Place office tower Thursday, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Dallas. The decoy device was given to him by an undercover FBI agent, the statement said.

Smadi is charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Federal officials say the case has no connection with the major terrorism investigation under way in Colorado and New York or the Thursday arrest of a man facing the same charge in Springfield, Illinois."

that makes sense .. Didn't his mommy tell him not to trust internet people.. What adumbass I'm glad they got this fool off the street before he made his own... I'm sure he was some idiot not connected with any real organization... If only they were all so stupid

That is not true. I give him credit.

The lie that the war stopped us from being attacked again I cannot support.

I never said anything about the war stopping an attack.

Haha caught red handed and says "not guilty". Truly a dipwad. Kinda like a man or woman hiring a hitman to murder their spouse, caught red handed by an undercover agent and lo and behold pleads not guilty. He deserves everything he gets.

Unless someone screws up, he is going to get a "lot".

GOOD

The problem with your claim is that the Bush policies simply forced terrorists to commit their crimes in other regions. The terrorists never "went away". In fact, the illegal occupation and invasion in the middle east has done more to encourage terrorist recruits than the terrorist networks could ever have done themselves.

One of the reasons I posted this story is that these events are going on in at least three major US cities, probably more, and there is little news coverage. All of these terrorists are not this stupid and it is just a matter of time before one or more succeeds.

You are absolutely right. The real terrorists do NOT announce when or where they will attack. For the most part, they are close knit vile organization and this little peon is a mere distraction of what is really out there.

The deadly sleeper cells are planning quietly. Yeah go ahead some of you call me a fear monger, but when something does happen, not if, the rest of us will say "told ya so". It's not matter of living in fear, it's a matter of being aware, big difference.

Terrorists greatest power is fear. If we do not make a spectacle of them then they cannot feel that they have induced the fear they are trying for.

So maybe there is a method to the madness?

Had the skyscraper in Dallas been brought down, there would be lots of spectacle. News is still news and I would think this idiot would be headlines. Who would decide that it wasn't news other than the news organizations?

I think it is just becoming "old news" and they don't bother to cover it in prime time anymore.

Edit: I looked for similar events and found this on the CHINESE web news.

U.S. man charged for terrorism plots
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-21 22:55:03 Print

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. man was charged Wednesday in Boston, Mass., for terrorism plots to attack U.S. shopping malls, authorities said.

Tarek Mehanna, 27, from Sudbury, Mass., and others planned to attack at least one shopping mall, but that didn't happen because they couldn't obtain the weapons they wanted, Acting U.S. Attorney Michael K. Loucks for Mass. told reporters in a conference call from Boston.

According to prosecutors, he also sought to join terrorist training camps and had conspired with others to launch a violent "jihad" against American interests overseas.

Mehanna, a U.S. citizen, is facing charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

He was first arrested and charged a year ago with lying to FBI agents in a terrorism investigation.

"Today's arrest, done in conjunction with a search of his home, involves broader and more serious charges," Loucks said.

Mehanna and co-conspirators allegedly had multiple conversations about obtaining automatic weapons and randomly shooting people in a shopping mall, including discussions of the logistics of the mall attacks, assaulting from different entrances, obtaining the automatic weapons, and possible attacks on emergency responders.

The conspirators were inspired by the Washington, D.C. sniper shootings of 2002 and viewed civilians as fair game because they were taxpayers and nonbelievers, Loucks said.

The plot never materialized because the conspirators could not obtain automatic weapons.

The conspirators also discussed attacking two members of the executive branch of U.S. government, Loucks said.

But those people are no longer in office and "neither were in any danger at any time from Mehanna or his co-conspirators," he emphasized.

The prosecutors alleged that members of the conspiracy traveled to Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, seeking training from various terrorist groups to fight against U.S. soldiers, though none of them were accepted.

Prosecutors also said the conspirators viewed and disseminated jihadist videos.

In December 2006, Ahmad Abousamra, another conspirator, left for Syria and never returned.

Mehanna, was arrested in November 2008 at Boston's Logan International Airport as he was about to leave the country and indicted in January on charges of making false statements to investigators on the whereabouts of Daniel Maldonado, who is jailed in federal prison for terrorism charges.