U.S. soldier Naser Jason Abdo was found guilty on Thursday on multiple charges, including attempted murder of federal employees, in connection with his plot to blow up a restaurant popular among soldiers from Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. In addition to attempted murder, the 22-year-old private first class was found guilty of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and four weapons charges. He faces up to life in prison.
Police found a gun, two clocks, and two pressure cookers belonging to Abdo, who confessed his plan to carry out an attack. “I didn’t appreciate what my unit did in Afghanistan,” he said. Abdo was absent without leave when he was arrested in Texas in July 2011 after being charged two months earlier with possession of child pornography.
“I felt like the only way to freedom or justice was martyrdom,” said Abdo, who is a Muslim-American. It’s unknown if Abdo had any connection to Al Qaeda extremists like Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who in 2009 killed 12 fellow soldiers and wounded 31 others at Fort Hood. However the Post reports that Abdo had an article entitled “Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom,” which is also the name of a story published in Al Qaeda’s English-language magazine Inspire.
