AWOL soldier gets life term for Fort Hood plot

AWOL soldier gets life term for Fort Hood plot
By By SARAH KUTA
5 minutes ago

WACO, Texas (AP) — An AWOL soldier convicted of collecting bomb-making materials for what he told authorities would be a "massive attack" on a Texas restaurant full of Fort Hood troops was sentenced Friday to life in prison.

Army Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo, a Muslim, was planning a religious mission to win "justice" for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a recorded jail conservation with his mother played for jurors at trial.

U.S. District Judge Walter allowed Abdo to represent himself at the sentencing after the 22-year-old told him last month that he and his attorneys weren't communicating effectively.

A federal jury convicted Abdo in May on six charges, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. He was AWOL from Fort Campbell, Ky., when arrested with bomb-making materials last summer at a Fort Hood-area motel.

He also was found guilty of attempted murder of U.S. officers or employees and four counts of possessing a weapon in furtherance of a federal crime of violence.

In a recorded police interview, Abdo said he wanted to carry out the attack "because I don't appreciate what my unit did in Afghanistan." His plan, according to what he told authorities, was to place a bomb in a busy restaurant filled with soldiers, wait outside and shoot anyone who survived — and become a martyr after police killed him.
read more here