According to an FBI search warrant affidavit acquired by NBC News, an Iraqi citizen who entered the United States in September 2020 allegedly conspired to kill George W. Bush. It included driving to Dallas to spy on the former president’s home.
Shihab Ahmed Shihab, of Columbus, Ohio, allegedly wanted to provide material support to the Islamic State terrorist group. Thereby, telling a confidential FBI source that he wanted to smuggle people into the country “to murder former President George W. Bush” because he blamed him for the deaths of numerous Iraqis during the country’s 2003 invasion.
Forbes was likewise the first to reveal the suspected conspiracy. According to NBC station, WCMH-TV in Columbus, Shihab’s public lawyer Soumyajit Dutta said in court Tuesday that the suspect has performed odd jobs as a food vendor. He has no close relations in the United States.
Shihab is likewise accused of assisting and abetting the attempted murder of a former federal official in reprisal for performing official duties and seeking to bring a foreigner to the United States for monetary benefit. Shihab is being held without bond by federal prosecutors, with a hearing set on Friday.
He allegedly entered the United States legally. Then he claimed political asylum while simultaneously attempting to marry a U.S. woman to secure his immigration status, states FBI. According to the documents, the probe began as an immigration or visa fraud case before evolving into something more nefarious.
The assassination of former President George W. Bush
According to the documents, Shihab told a confidential FBI source that he drove a bomb-filled transport vehicle in Iraq. He had ties to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The US assassinated him in 2019.
Shihab allegedly promised a confidential source in June that he would pay at least $5,000 to transport four former Baath party members from Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, and Denmark into the United States over the Mexican border. Once in the country, the men planned to get weaponry and a huge van with a sliding door to carry out the assassination.
“Further, Shihab stated that he wanted to be involved in the actual attack and assassination of former President Bush and did not care if he died as he would be proud to have been involved in killing former President Bush,” the FBI affidavit says.
On Feb. 8, the suspect allegedly conducted surveillance in Dallas, including a visit to Bush’s home. He also videotaped the gate in front of Bush’s neighborhood.
All confidence in the US Secret Service
A George Bush spokeswoman says, the former president “has all the confidence in the world in the United States Secret Service and our law enforcement and intelligence communities.”
Two of the possible members of the scheme, Shihab allegedly told a confidential FBI source, were ex-Iraqi intelligence agents. According to the records, one of the Iraqi nationals was the secretary of an ISIS financial minister.
As per the records, the suspect told one of the anonymous sources that he planned to use a car dealership in Columbus, Ohio, as a “hawala”. The goal was to likewise transfer funds from the United States to the ISIS financial minister’s secretary.
Sahib believed he was smuggling someone into the nation at one time. He supposedly received tens of thousands of dollars for it. The person was fictitious, according to the Justice Department, and the contact was a hoax that the FBI orchestrated.
The FBI claims it collaborated with Customs and Border Protection. It was to collect phone data, conduct trap-and-trace analyses of phone calls, and conduct physical surveillance on the suspect. This was all while having multiple confidential sources interact with him. It included one who had previously worked with the FBI for over 10 years.
