Iraqi-Born Dutch Citizen Pleads Guilty to Terrorism Conspiracy Against Americans in Iraq

The U.S. Department of Justice reports in its press release (quotation, not an independent finding): “WASHINGTON – An Iraqi-born Dutch citizen today pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to murder Americans overseas, including by planting roadside bombs targeting U.S. soldiers in Fallujah, Iraq, and by demonstrating on video how these explosives would be detonated to destroy American vehicles and their occupants. The guilty plea by Wesam al-Delaema, a/k/a Wesam Khalaf Chayed Delaeme, age 36, was announced today by Matthew G. Olsen, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Jeffrey A. Taylor, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; and Joseph Persichini Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Washington Field Office. At a hearing today before U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman, al-Delaema entered a plea of guilty to count one of a six-count indictment returned in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in September 2005. Specifically, al-Delaema pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals outside the United States. Separately, al-Delaema has also agreed to plead guilty next week in Superior Court for the District of Columbia to one count of aggravated assault for a December 2007 incident at the D.C. jail in which he kicked a prison guard to the point of unconsciousness while the guard was prone on the ground. The guard sustained significant injuries, including a subdural hemorrhage. Al-Delaema was indicted for this offense in Superior Court for the District of Columbia in November 2008. The Justice Department and al-Delaema have agreed upon a sentence of 25 years imprisonment for the offense”