Saudi Man Accused of Targeting Former President Pegged as a 'Gamer'

February 26, 2011

A Saudi national who was arrested for plotting to "blow up" former President George W. Bush's Texas home and other targets in America has been connected ever so slightly to violent video games - particularly the Resident Evil series from Capcom. The 20-year-old chemical engineering student at Lubbock's South Plains College, described by authorities as a "jihadist" plead not guilty to charges last Wednesday in a Texas federal court. The charge was attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. According to an affidavit in the Northern District of Texas, Aldawarsi, who was came to the US in 2008 on a student visa, had allegedly researched how to make a chemical-based, improvised explosive device (IED) online.

The New York Post reports that enjoyed watching game videos from five titles in the Resident Evil series on YouTube - information the paper found while sifting through his blog.

"Finished watching the Resident Evil Remake game on youtube today and I am glad to watch it because I like the Resident Evil games and this is not my first time to watch the gameplay on youtube," he wrote on his blog. "..in addition to Resident Evil Remake, I watched Resident Evil 3, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 5, and I am now watching Resident Evil Code Veronica."

The Justice Department alleges that Aldawarsi sent a series of emails to himself containing lists of targets including nuclear power plants, hydroelectric dams, and 12 reservoir dams in California and Colorado. One email with the subject "Tyrant's House" contained the Dallas, Texas address of former President George W. Bush.

The Justice Department also alleges that Aldawarsi would deploy these homemade IED's using dolls to conceal explosives, and another plan to carry a backpack full of explosives into a nightclub.

If convicted Aldawsari could be sentenced to life in prison and $250,000 for the charge.

Source: Sify

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Comments

Re: Saudi Man Accused of Targeting Former President Pegged ...

Submitted by greevar on Sat, 02/26/2011 - 19:21.

That's still a lighter sentence than if he had comitted copyright infringement...

-Greevar

"Paste superficially profound, but utterly meaningless quotation here."

Re: Saudi Man Accused of Targeting Former President Pegged ...

Submitted by Andrew Eisen on Sat, 02/26/2011 - 22:40.

"Life in prison" is a lighter sentence? I wasn't aware the penalty for copyright infringement was death.

Andrew Eisen

Re: Saudi Man Accused of Targeting Former President Pegged ...

Submitted by GrimCW on Sat, 02/26/2011 - 23:01.

the fines put on a person for the Copyright infringement are far worse.

they'll ruin your life, your financial state, and make it near impossible to live. As where life in prison you get a warm bed, 3 meals, medical/dental treatment when needed, and plenty of friends. even a job that pays, granted it pays near nothing, but its something compared to being shutout onto the street because you need to pay your legal fees and more having no money leftover to pay rent/loans/food/taxes. Prisoners don't need to pay for pretty much a thing besides special commodities.

Re: Saudi Man Accused of Targeting Former President Pegged ...

Submitted by Andrew Eisen on Sun, 02/27/2011 - 00:39.

I take it you think that they just clear out your bank account, sell off your house and leave you on the street?

Andrew Eisen

Re: Saudi Man Accused of Targeting Former President Pegged ...

Submitted by Neeneko on Sun, 02/27/2011 - 14:16.

While there is some protection to stop people from becoming completely destitute, this actually is not that far off what happens. A multi-million dollar judgment against someone who will NEVER make that kind of money is pretty crippling. Crow, a judgment of a few tens of thousands can result in becoming homeless.

For instance, one of the leading causes of people actually becoming, well, homeless, is collections on medical bills.

Re: Saudi Man Accused of Targeting Former President Pegged ...

Submitted by GrimCW on Sat, 02/26/2011 - 16:11.

okay, so he WATCHED game photage.. making him a gamer?

does this mean watching a Uwe Boll movie also makes a person a gamer?

what about the RE movies?

Shout box

Cecil475: @PHX Corp - The dude's a moron who wouldn't know crap if it came up and kicked him.05/19/2013 - 6:36am

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/ea-sports-developer-calls-wii-u-crap-and-nintendo-wa-508481261 EA Sports Canada Moron calls Wii U 'Crap' and Nintendo 'Walking Dead'05/18/2013 - 11:42am

E. Zachary Knight: If the videos are of sufficient quality that people subscribe and watch regularly, then those let's players are providing a service that people want. That is the heart of capitalism. That is not something that should be shamed.05/17/2013 - 8:06am

E. Zachary Knight: I have no idea who either of those people are. However, I still don't see why making a business out of creating let's play videos is somehow evil or wrong.05/17/2013 - 8:04am

MaskedPixelante: It sure is if you're just doing it for the money. See Tobuscus and/or Pewdiepie for what happens when people get into it just for the money.05/17/2013 - 7:30am

E. Zachary Knight: Why is it wrong to make money doing LPs? Why should that be something that should be shamed?05/17/2013 - 6:20am

MaskedPixelante: https://twitter.com/PsychedelicSA/status/335183893214924801 Now here's an interesting, glass half full thought about the Nintendo LP thing. It outs the people who are just doing LPs to make money.05/17/2013 - 5:56am

E. Zachary Knight: I responded in writing to all this "let's play" stuff Nintendo Started. No need for my permission, I won't give it. It's not mine to give. http://divineknightgaming.com/?p=29205/16/2013 - 2:21pm

E. Zachary Knight: Lars Doucet of Levelup Labs has a Reddit going on game companies that allow monetization of Let's Play videos. http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1egayn/lets_build_a_list_of_game_studios_that_allow/05/16/2013 - 1:04pm

Sleaker: @Imautobot - yah I wouldn't use an emulator as a good first run test of how stable the console is, haha.05/16/2013 - 11:47am

E. Zachary Knight: The 50th person to jump off a bridge is just as dumb if not dumber than the 1st.05/16/2013 - 10:03am

MaskedPixelante: Yeah, let's all jump on Nintendo for doing this, even though they're hardly the first company to do this...05/16/2013 - 9:47am

E. Zachary Knight: Wow Nintendo, this is wrong. http://kotaku.com/nintendo-forcing-ads-on-some-youtube-lets-play-video-50709238305/16/2013 - 8:44am

Imautobot: @Sleaker, further gameplay has revealed that the controller button do stick under the faceplate. Also, The NES emulator (Emuya)keeps crashing on me, though I think a bad ROM is causing it.05/16/2013 - 7:10am

Papa Midnight: AE: I wonder if any other publishers will follow suit.05/15/2013 - 8:12pm

Andrew Eisen: EA is ditching Online Pass. http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/15/ea-kills-its-controversial-online-pass-program/05/15/2013 - 7:20pm

Avalongod: @Zach and quicnkold...I've read the bill and the intent of it is to fear-monger. It's not a balanced message. I don't recall the ESRB being mentioned at all. It's more "keeps your kids away from these movies/games or they'll become violent"05/15/2013 - 4:35pm

E. Zachary Knight: quiknkold, The big problem with that legislation is the amount of misinformation out there. Who is going to ensure that the information in the pamphlet is accurate?05/15/2013 - 3:25pm

quiknkold: REBeardogg : I'm on the fence about this. on one side, I want parents to be aware of the ESRB, and even Movie Ratings. On the other hand, I feel this will be used for nothing but Propaganda. The ESRB does a good job.05/15/2013 - 3:07pm

IanC: Frostbite is coming out on iOS devices. Yet the Wii U cant handle it? *coughbullshitcough*05/15/2013 - 2:31pm

All shouts

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