Iraqi citizen in Ohio planned to assassinate former US President George W. Bush
A man, named in court documents as Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, has been charged with aiding and abetting the attempted murder of the former President.
Law enforcement officials in Columbus, Ohio arrested a man earlier this week in relation to a suspected plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush.
Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, an Iraqi national, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with aiding and abetting the attempted murder of a former United States official. He also faces charges of attempting to bring foreign nationals to the US illegally.
The Justice Department has alleged that Shihab was also planning to smuggle four Iraqi nationals into the country as part of the assassination attempt.
The former President’s chief of staff Freddy Ford has released a statement saying: “President Bush has all the confidence in the world in the United States Secret Service and our law enforcement and intelligence communities.”
How was the assassination attempt on President Bush foiled?
According to court documents obtained by CNN, confidential informants played a key role in uncovering the attempt on Bush’s life. The FBI used informants to infiltrate the group, one of whom is thought to have recorded discussiosn regarding the plot with Shihab. The meetings took place in late 2021 and into the spring of this year.
In a meeting which took place in November, Shihab allegedly told one of the informants that the group “wished to kill former President Bush because they felt that he was responsible for killing many Iraqis and breaking apart the entire country of Iraq.”
A later conversation involved Shihab describing himself as a “soldier waiting for directions from the leadership in Qatar.”
This information has been uncovered after the warrant application investigating Shihab was made public earlier this week. It is not thought that the former President was ever in danger at any point.
Who is Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab?
The New York Times reports that Shihab first arrived in the US in September 2020, initially on a visitor visa with the help of a corrupt contractor at the US Embassy in Iraq.
Six months after entering the country he filed for asylum and US citizenship. It is thought that he was initially planning on bringing his family to the United States too. He reportedly considering marrying an American citizen after worrying that his application would be rejected and he paid for fraudulent papers claiming that he had divorced his wife in Iraq.
During his time in the US, he had worked in restaurants and food market in both Columbus and Indianapolis and had spent the time living in both cities.