Why Is the Obama Administration Lobbying for the Early Release of a Convicted Terrorist?

Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi is an American citizen who was convicted of conspiracy to murder a Saudi Prince on behalf of Libya. On July 8th, Forbes reported that federal prosecutors are pushing for his early release from prison. Efforts to discover more of the details about this proposed release have been frustrating:

The documents explaining why prosecutors want to cut Alamoudi's sentence are under seal, and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Alexandria declined to say how many years they are seeking to cut from Alamoudi's term.

Mr. Al-amoudi has served just nine years of a twenty-three year sentence. The initial sentencing is reported here:

"Aldurahman M. Alamoudi, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Eritrea, was sentenced to 276 months in jail by District Judge Claude M. Hilton in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, this morning. On July 30, 2004, Alamoudi pleaded guilty to three federal offenses: one count of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which imposes terrorism-related sanctions prohibiting unlicensed travel to and commerce with Libya; one count of false statements made in his application for naturalization; and a tax offense involving a long-term scheme to conceal from the IRS his financial transactions with Libya and his foreign bank accounts and to omit material information from the tax returns filed by his charities."

Considering the offenses listed above, especially the one count of making false statements in his application for naturalization, it might seem amazing to some that Al-Amoudi's naturalization was not reversed. But his citizenship has not be rescinded. Instead, Al-Amoudi is in prison, hoping for an early release at the behest of the Obama administration.

The question remains, Why would this man be released just nine years into a twenty-three year sentence? Reading further into the DOJ press release from 2005, we find that Mr. Al-Amoudi was actually helping Libyan officials with a plot of kill a Saudi Prince (who has since become King of Saudi Arabia).

Initially, during a meeting on March 13, 2003, Alamoudi and Libyan government officials discussed creating “headaches” and disruptions in Saudi Arabia. As the scheme continued, however, Alamoudi learned that the actual objective was the assassination of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Alamoudi participated in recruiting participants for this plot by introducing the Libyans to two Saudi dissidents in London and facilitating the transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash from the Libyans to those dissidents to finance the plot.

Is it possible that the Obama administration believes Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi still has connections in Libya that might yield intel to help us in the current Kinetic Military Action (war) in Libya? (Forbes suggests so)

Or, does this have more to do with the President trying, once again, to create a better connection to the Muslim community around the world? Could this be part of the "Muslim outreach?"

Wednesday morning (7/20), former U.S. Congressman Fred Grandy and his wife (Mrs. Fred) discussed the Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi situation on the Jeff Katz Radio Show out of Boston.  Mr. Grandy and his wife regularly report on "creeping Sharia" in America, and they make a pretty strong case against the proposed release of this convicted terrorist:

Reviewing the facts we know about Al-Amoudi:

• He worked for President Clinton - as a Muslim adviser to the White House and also met with President Bush.
• Al-Amoundi is considered to be founder of the Muslim Chaplin program in the US Military and Prisons.
• Newsweek Magazine described Al-Amoudi as "an expert in the art of deception."
• His plea deal allowed for 31 additional charges to be dropped in exchange for a 23-year sentence.

In the film "The Third Jihad" (featuring narration by Dr. Zudhi Jasser), Mr. Al-Amoudi can be seen singing the praises of terrorist groups like Hamas and Hizbollah. You can see that at about 2:20 into this video below:

Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi was sentenced to serve twenty-three years in prison. His guilt was never in question. So why are Federal Prosecutors pushing for his release?

(H/T - Jeff Katz and Talk1200 Radio in Boston)