Two US men charged in plot to kill Obama
28/10/2008 16:16
Two US men were charged yesterday for plotting a "killing spree" against
African-Americans that would have been capped with an attempt to kill Democratic
presidential nominee Barack Obama.
The US attorney's office in Jackson,
Tennessee, said Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, were
self-described white supremacists who met online through a mutual friend.
The
pair planned to kill more than 100 African-Americans, including 14 who would be
beheaded.
According to an affidavit from the federal agent who questioned
them, Cowart and Schlesselman planned to charge at Obama with a car, firing from
the windows as they went.
They would be dressed in white tuxedos and top hats
during the attempt, the affidavit states.
However, officials have not found
any evidence that Cowart, from Tennessee, and Schlesselman, from Arkansas, had
any details of Obama's schedule.
"We take this very, very seriously but we
see no evidence these guys have the ability or the wherewithal to pull off what
they say they wanted to do," an official was quoted by the CNN as
saying.
Cowart and Schlesselman were arrested in Tennessee, after an aborted
robbery attempt last week.
They made their initial appearances before a
federal judge yesterday and are scheduled for a bond hearing Thursday.
Obama,
an Illinois Democrat, is the first African-American nominee to lead a
major-party ticket and was placed under Secret Service protection in May 2007,
far earlier than other candidates.
His campaign declined to comment on the
case.
Threats against Obama have led to arrests in two previous
cases.
Xinhua
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