U.S.: Three things you should know about the U.S. Capitol bombing suspect
- one Amine el-Khalifi, a 29-year-old originally from Morocco, has lived in the U.S. since he was 16 and has long outstayed his visa, meaning he’s living in the U.S. illegally.
- two Khalifi was captured in a year-long sting, thinking he was being assisted by al-Qaeda, when he was actually being helped by FBI. Sound familiar? It’s happened before.
- three Though Khalifi was arrested near the U.S. Capitol, officials say that “at no time was the public or congressional community in any danger.” Whew. source
- » A couple quick thoughts: We’ve seen a number of these “honeypot”-style terror schemes in the past year or two, and the end result always makes us wonder — were they actual threats, or were they simply tricked into looking threatening? If it’s the former, then perhaps this was a good idea. If it’s the latter … the tactics seem questionable. As journalists, we of course have to take them seriously whenever they crop up. But second-guessing is certainly fair. (Note: We’ll post updates on this topic here.)