Two Iraqi refugees began scheming to ship missiles, guns and money to their home country for use in attacks on US troops shortly after arriving in the United States, officials said.
Waad Ramadan Alwan was allegedly a sniper and skilled bomb maker who targeted US forces in Iraq and bragged that his "lunch and dinner would be an American," charging documents said.
An initial screening of his refugee application did not detect that Alwan\'s fingerprints had been found on an unexploded roadside bomb because a search of Department of Defense database was not part of the process.
The United States has since identified and corrected "specific gaps" in the vetting process and has rescreened applicants, said a Department of Homeland security official who declined to be named.
Alwan, 30, and his cousin Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 23, were arrested on Wednesday, May 25 in Bowling Green, Kentucky after a lengthy and elaborate sting operation, the US Justice Department said.
Neither man is charged with plotting attacks inside the United States and both were "closely monitored" in the months leading up to their arrests, the department said in a statement.
"With these arrests, which are the culmination of extraordinary investigative work by law enforcement and intelligence officials, the support provided by these individuals comes to an end and they will face justice," said Todd Hinnen, acting attorney general for national security.
They were indicted by a grand jury on 23 charges which included seeking to supply inert Stinger missiles, rocket propelled grenades and other weapons for insurgent operations in Iraq.
If convicted on all charges, the two could face life imprisonment.
"I still don\'t understand how (Alwan) was able to get into the country," said Frank Cilluffo, who was White House domestic security adviser to President George W. Bush and is now the director of homeland security studies at George Washington University.
The FBI "may have done a good job preventing an incident. But it should have never gotten to that status," Cillufo added.
Alwan, who was being charged for crimes that occurred both in Iraq and the United States, entered the United States in April 2009 and moved to Bowling Green.
Hammadi came to the United States a few months later in July 2009, and also moved to Bowling Green after a short time in Las Vegas.
Both men were under FBI surveillance by September 2009.
Alwan allegedly sought refugee status so he could travel freely with an American passport.
"I didn\'t come here for America," Alwan allegedly told an FBI informant. "I came here to get a passport and go back to Turkey, Saudi or wherever I want."
Alwan allegedly told an FBI informant of his activities as an insurgent in Iraq from 2003, including using Improvised Explosive Devices (IED)s hundreds of times and sniper rifles to target US forces, until he was captured by the Iraqis in 2006.
When the informant asked Alwan about the effectiveness of the IEDs, Alwan allegedly replied: "Oh, yes," and said his attacks had "f--ked up" Hummers and targeted Bradley fighting vehicles, the FBI affidavit said.
Alwan told the informant that he liked to use a particular brand of cordless telephone base station in his IEDs and the FBI found Alwan\'s fingerprints on that brand used as part of an IED.
In the elaborate sting, Alwan and Hammadi were later videotaped picking up machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers from a storage facility in Kentucky and delivering them to another location.
They believed the weapons were destined for insurgents in Iraq.
The two men also helped deliver other weapons - including sniper rifles and inert C4 plastic explosives, and two inert Stinger missiles - and $100,000 in cash.
All the weapons had been rendered inert by the FBI and none reached insurgents in Iraq, the Justice Department said.
The arrests were the "culmination of extremely well-coordinated, diligent and tireless efforts by the FBI and our law enforcement partners," said the FBI\'s special agent in charge of the region, Elizabeth Fries.
© Copyright AFP Agence France-Presse GmbH - All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed. All reproduction or redistribution is expressly forbidden without the prior written agreement of AFP.
KATALOG FIRM W INTERNECIE
