(UnitedVoice.com) – In 1965, Congress passed a law making it a federal crime to assassinate the president. The law was a response to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The same year the law was passed, Congress also authorized the Secret Service to protect presidents for the rest of their lives once leaving office. President Bill Clinton signed a reversal of lifetime protection in 1994, but President Barack Obama reauthorized it in 2012.
A plot uncovered by federal authorities highlights why it’s so important for former presidents to receive protection. A foreign national who wanted to kill an ex-POTUS is now sitting in prison.
Plot
In 2022, the US attorney for the Southern District of Ohio announced the arrest of 53-year-old Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab. The suspect was accused of plotting to murder former President George W. Bush.
According to the Justice Department, Shihab entered the US in September 2020 on a visitor visa. He moved to Columbus, Ohio, from December of that year until the federal authorities arrested him in May 2022. He moved to America from Iraq, the country that Bush authorized an invasion of in 2003.
The DOJ claims Shihab tried to provide material support to terrorists in order to carry out the assassination attempt. He wanted to smuggle four Iraqis into the US to kill the 43rd president.
In 2021, just one year after arriving in the US, Shihab thought he had smuggled a member of ISIS into America for $40,000. That individual was actually an undercover agent with the FBI. In 2022, prosecutors alleged Shihab traveled to Dallas, Texas, to surveil places he believed were associated with former President Bush.
A month later, the defendant met with people in an Ohio hotel room to view law enforcement uniforms and guns. He told them that he expected the others to use burner phones, code names, and encrypted software for communication.
Authorities arrested Shihab in May 2022.
Guilty Plea and Sentence
In March 2023, Shihab pleaded guilty to trying to provide material support to terrorists as a part of a plot to murder former President Bush. On February 12, 2024, a federal court sentenced him to 178 months (almost 15 years) in prison.
The Iraqi citizen said he believed the former POTUS was responsible for the deaths of many Iraqi citizens. He also accused Bush of being responsible for ripping his country apart during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The US Attorney’s Office stated the defendant said his life changed during and after the war, and he was proud to assist in a plot that he thought would lead to the 43rd president’s death.
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