Failed Suicide Bomb Plot at US Capitol

Federal authorities arrested 29-year-old Amine El Khalifi, a Moroccan man who is accused of plotting a suicide bombing at the U.S. Capitol. El Khalifi considered other potential targets including a synagogue, but was arrested a few blocks from the Capitol midday Friday. He believed he was coordinating the attack with an al-Qaeda operative , according to court documents. Instead, undercover FBI agents provided a gun and a vest with explosives that didn't work.



Senator Susan Collins, the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, revealed figures that illustrate an increase in thwarted plots like El Khalifi's in recent years. According to the Congressional Research Service, 36 homegrown plots by Americans or permanent US residents resulted in arrests between May 2009 and February 9, 2012, compared to 21similar plots between September 11, 2001 and May 2009.


El Khalifi emigrated to the U.S. when he was 16 years and has no known association with al-Qaida. He has overstayed his visitor visa for 13 years; thus, he is an illegal alien, according to an affidavit, and authorities have been investigating him for a year. The same document revealed that he had told acquaintances in January 2011 that the "war on terrorism" was a "war on Muslims" and that they needed to be ready for war.

Ham and Wry is left to wonder whether those who decry the population of illegal immigrants from south of the border might better focus their energies on another breed of illegals--ones who really don't want to be here and seek to destroy us.