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Today Hasher Jallal Taheb, 23, of Cumming, Georgia, has pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to destroy, by fire or an explosive, a building owned by or leased to the United States. Taleb had planned an attack on the White House using weapons and explosives.  As part of the plea agreement, the defendant and the government agreed that the defendant should receive a 15-year sentence of imprisonment.“Taheb planned to conduct a terrorist attack on the White House as part of what he claimed was his obligation to engage in jihad,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John...

<p>U.S. intelligence agencies are watching several groups of Middle Eastern men thought to be part of an infrastructure of as many as 5,000 al Qaeda terrorists and their supporters in the United States, The Washington Times has learned.</p> <p>Small groups of about a half-dozen men in Seattle, Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta are under surveillance by FBI and other intelligence agencies and are thought to be part of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, said intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.</p>

Authorities have issued an alert for a 35-year-old British man who was taking flight lessons at Gwinnett County Airport-Briscoe Field and allegedly tried to have his pilot rating upgraded despite not being qualified. In a special alert bulletin sent to law enforcement agencies and aviation facilities this week, the Atlanta Joint Terrorism Task Force said the man, Zayead Christopher Hajaig, became "aggressive" and also tried to have the flight school speed up his training schedule, which began in 2002 and continued off and on for more than two and a half years. The flight school notified the task force. The...

A man trained as a pilot at a Lawrenceville airport three years ago raised an international terror alert this week. He was found in Britain on Friday, the FBI said. Zayead Christopher Hajaig, a 35-year-old British national, "remains a person of interest" although he has been located, said Steve Emmett, an FBI spokesman in Atlanta. FBI officials released little information about Hajaig on Friday. They would not say whether he had been detained or how he had been located. Earlier this week, authorities issued a "special alert bulletin" warning airports about Hajaig, who took flight lessons at Astron Enterprises at...

WASHINGTON - A British man whose behavior raised suspicions at a flight school in Georgia has been located in England, an FBI official said Friday. Zayead Christopher Hajaig, 35, was taking lessons at the same airport in suburban Atlanta where two of the Sept. 11 hijackers briefly trained, the official said on condition of anonymity because the matter is still under investigation. The Atlanta Joint Terrorism Task Force issued a special bulletin to law enforcement and flight schools this week after it received reports from the school that Hajaig became hostile while trying to upgrade his pilot's license, according to...

Norfolk-based sailor uses Web to channel opposition to war By LOUIS HANSEN, The Virginian-Pilot © November 5, 2006 NORFOLK - Jonathan Hutto graduated from Howard University with a degree in political science and a résumé of social activism. He worked for the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International after college. He whipped up grass-roots protests against police departments and college administrators. One day in 2003, broke and seeking direction, Hutto enlisted in the Navy. The Navy couldn't have known it then, but they know it now: They had signed up a sailor strongly opposed to the Iraq war. Seaman...

Investigators used a ruse to question a man later charged with aiding terrorists, an FBI agent testified Tuesday at a hearing over admissibility of the conversation and a search of the defendant's luggage. FBI agent Michael Scherck said he and another law enforcement officer approached Ehsanul Sadequee as he got off a flight from Atlanta to New York on Aug. 18, 2005, and told him they wanted to talk to him about passenger complaints that he had acted suspiciously on the plane. Scherck said that in fact there were no complaints, but investigators wanted biographical information from Sadequee as part...

Six statements by a Georgia Tech student arrested on terrorism-related charges should be thrown out because of false promises and implied threats from investigators, the man's attorney said in court filings Thursday. Syed Haris Ahmed, 21, talked to FBI agents after being told he would not be arrested if he cooperated. Ahmed did talk — six interviews over a week's time — and then was arrested, his court-appointed attorney Jack Martin said. The agents also "prey[ed] on the defendant's devotion to Islam" to gain his trust and cooperation, he said. "Office [Khalid] Sediqui, who revealed that he was a devout...