An ISIS Operative Planned to Kill George W. Bush in Dallas
An Iraqi citizen who the FBI alleges was working with ISIS planned to kill George W. Bush in Dallas, Texas.
The suspect traveled to the Dallas home of the former President in 2021 to take video around the home and property. He also allegedly talked about smuggling people into the United States through the border to help carry out the attack.
The United States Department of Justice alleged that Shihab Ahmed Shihab, AKA Abu Ahmed, came to the United States in September of 2020 on a visitor visa and claimed asylum in March 2021. Shihab's arrest warrant claimed he told an FBI informant that four other Iraqi nationals were going to assist him in the plot.
According to KHOU, Shihab told FBI informants of his plans:
Shihab, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by WFAA, told two confidential FBI informants he had plans to smuggle people into the United States to help carry out the assassination of Bush. One of the FBI informants was someone pretending to be a human smuggler and another was pretending to be a fellow customer, the document said.
In August 2021, Shihab allegedly intended to help who he thought was another Iraqi citizen enter the country for a fee of $40,000. According to authorities, the individual was the second informant and the interaction was coordinated under the direction of the FBI.
Shihab – who lived and worked in both Indianapolis, Indiana, and Columbus, Ohio – told one of the FBI informants in November of 2021 that he and four additional Iraqi nationals were planning to kill the former president. Shihab asked the confidential informant whether or not they thought four to six people would be enough to kill former President Bush.
Shihab allegedly wanted to carry out the attack on the former president because of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the "breaking apart of the country."
He's been charged with two crimes: attempting to illegally bring an individual into the United States and aiding and abetting a plot to murder.