Khalid Ali Aldawsari

Washington, Feb. 24 (AP): A young college student from Saudi Arabia studying chemical engineering in Texas purchased explosive chemicals over the Internet as part of a plan to hide bomb materials inside dolls and baby carriages to blow up dams, nuclear plants or the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush, the justice department said today.

“It is war ... until the infidels leave defeated,” the student wrote in online postings.

One of the chemical companies, Carolina Biological Supply, reported suspicious purchases by Khalid Ali Aldawsari, 20, of Lubbock, Texas, to the FBI on February 1. Within weeks, federal agents had traced his other online purchases, discovered extremist posts he made on the Internet, secretly searched his apartment, computer and email accounts and read his diary, according to court records.

Aldawsari, who was legally in the US on a student visa, was expected to appear in a federal court tomorrow. He was charged today with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Aldawsari entered the US in October 2008 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to study chemical engineering at Texas Tech University, then transferred earlier this year to nearby South Plains College.

The terrorism case against Aldawsari was significant because it demonstrated that radicalised foreigners can live quietly in the US heartland without raising suspicions from neighbours, classmates, teachers or others. But it also showed how quickly US law enforcement can move when tipped that a terrorist plot may be unfolding.