Bomb plot detailed on trial's first day

WACO, Texas (AP) - Wearing a medical mask over his mouth and nose, Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo listened Tuesday as prosecutors began detailing his plot to kill Fort Hood soldiers by bombing a Chinese food buffet and shooting any survivors.

An FBI agent testified that Abdo, a Muslim, admitted to buying a pressure cooker, gun powder and other materials that one would need to build an explosive device. According to the agent, Abdo wanted to bomb the restaurant during lunch hour when Fort Hood soldiers would be inside. He considered it his duty as a Muslim to avenge the actions of his unit while in Afghanistan.

He was stopped just hours before completing assembly of a bomb, prosecutors said during opening statements Tuesday at his federal trial.

After Abdo was arrested at a motel near the Texas Army post in July, police found the components for an explosive device in his room and backpack, showing he "intended to commit mass murder," prosecutor Gregg Sofer said.

Abdo, 22, faces up to life in prison if convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and five other charges.

But lead defense attorney Zach Boyd countered in U.S. District Court in Waco that no bomb was ever built, and the government is "not going to be able to get around that fact." His defense team countered in the opening argument that purchasing such materials are not a crime, and it would be up to the prosecutors to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Abdo intended to follow through with the plot.

Abdo was absent-without-leave from Fort Campbell, Ky., when he was arrested in Killeen. He told investigators he went to Texas to "martyr himself" for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, said FBI special agent C. Michael Owens, the first prosecution witness.

Owens testified that Abdo told investigators he planned to put a bomb in what looked like a gift box, leave it a Chinese buffet frequented by Fort Hood soldiers, wait outside and shoot any survivors.

But he was headed for South Texas and not the Fort Hood area when he went AWOL. He said he stayed in several cities — paying for motel rooms and food with cash or gift cards so he couldn't be tracked. And when he couldn't get to his destination by taxi, Abdo said, he looked at a map and recognized Killeen because of the news reports after the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage in which a Muslim soldier is charged, Owens said.

"He said he wanted to give faith to brother Nidal ... and said 'People think he's crazy, but he's not crazy and I came here to remind the people,'" Owens testified.

Other witnesses on the first day of testimony inside the federal courthouse included a Tennessee gun store employee who refused to sell Abdo a gun due to suspicious behavior and questions he was asking about the firearms and black gun powder. She testified that she called Fort Campbell to report the incident after Abdo became angry with her and left the store.

Fort Campbell officers testifed after receiving the phone call, they could not locate Abdo and AWOL papers were filled out. He had not been seen since the July 4 weekend.

Another witness testified to seeing Abdo dump gloves, a shovel and body bags in a dumpster outside a truck wash near Fort Campbell.

Surveillance video of Abdo buying a pressure cooker and other bomb-making materials at a Plano, Texas Wal-Mart was shown to the jury.

U.S. Marshals escorting Abdo in and out of court Tuesday wore protective glasses due to a recent incident when they say Abdo bit his lip until it started bleeding and then spit blood in a Marshal's face.

The judge ordered the glasses be taken off when the jury was present in the courtroom.

Reference to Maj. Nidal Hasan

Abdo was referring to Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in the shootings that killed 13 and wounded more than two dozen. Hasan faces the death penalty if convicted at his military trial, set to start in August.

Abdo said he didn't plan an attack inside Fort Hood because he didn't believe he would be able to get through security at the gates, Owens said. But Abdo said he bought a military uniform at a local store because it was necessary to fit into the community, Owens testified.

Killeen police began investigating Abdo on July 26 after a gun store employee reported a young man bought 6 pounds of smokeless gunpowder, shotgun ammunition and a magazine for a semiautomatic pistol, while seeming to know little about his purchases, according to previous court testimony and documents. Officers also learned that he bought a U.S. Army uniform and a "Smith" name patch from another store but didn't know his unit. He was detained at the motel July 27.

Police in Oak Grove, Ky., near Fort Campbell, also reported finding a shovel, two large bleach containers, body bags and a digital camera in a trash bin outside a truck stop.

Oak Grove police Sgt. Victor Lynch told jurors Tuesday that "his heart was racing" and he thought someone was in danger when he saw those items. Lynch found Abdo's car at a nearby restaurant, where