AWOL soldier defiant in court(Photo-Video)

The AWOL soldier accused of planning an attack on Fort Hood defiantly cried out "Abdeer Qassim al-Janabi, Iraq 2006! Nidal Hassan, Fort Hood 2009!" at the end of his initial appearance Friday on a weapons charge.

Pfc Nasser Abdo, 21, was referring to an Iraqi girl who was raped and killed by U.S. soldiers in

Mahmudiyah five years ago and to the attack by Hassan, who is facing death penalty court martial in the massacre two years ago at a Fort Hood deployment facility.

Abdo, a Muslim conscientious objector, has been accused by Killeen's police chief of preparing a terrorist attack that would have been directed at soldiers on and possibly off Fort Hood.

According to a criminal complaint filed Friday, Abdo, who was absent without leave from his post at Fort Campbell, Ky., admitted he planned to assemble two bombs in his Killeen hotel room using gunpowder and shrapnel packed into pressure cookers to detonate inside an unspecified restaurant frequented by soldiers at Fort Hood.

James Runkel, an FBI special agent assigned to Austin, filed the complaint alleging that Abdo possessed a firearm and a destructive device.

Runkel also stated Abdo "made statements to the arresting officer that he intended to conduct an attack against Killeen and Fort Hood" and that he "also indicated in response to questioning that there were explosives in the backpack and in his room."

FBI agents joined a search of Abdo's hotel room along with Killeen police and Fort Hood's criminal intelligence division. During the search, FBI Special Agent Bomb Technician Stephen Hauck, based in Austin, said that the components found by authorities "are those which can be used to construct a destructive device."

Abdo's initial court appearance on the weapons charge lasted about five minutes.

As U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Manske came into the courtroom with a bailiff calling "All rise," Abdo sat.

Four U.S. marshals came to his side, took him by the arms and made him stand before the judge.

Manske then proceeded to question him about his educational status. Abdo, who is from Garland, told the judge that he had graduated from high school and had one year of college.

Manske then asked if he was unable to understand why he was in the courtroom and if he was under the influence of any drugs or alcohol. Abdo replied "no." The judge read him his rights as Abdo stood before a lectern with two U.S. marshals at his side.

When he was asked by the judge if he understood his right to remain silent, Abdo replied, "I sure do."

Abdo faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $10,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Abdo, who is being held without bail because of his AWOL status, was remanded into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, where he will remain until his trial.

The judge set another hearing for 2 p.m. Thursday in Waco and closed the hearing.

A group of marshals surrounded Abdo as the judge rose from his bench and left.

Abdo, wearing a short military haircut, stood, startling everyone as he called out his defiant statement in a strong voice. Then he was gone.

Blue Angels’ chief screws up, steps down

The commanding officer of the elite Blue Angels flight demonstration team stepped down Friday after a making a “lower-than-normal maneuver” during a recent air show, the Navy said. Because the team has been grounded since the May 22 incident in Lynchburg, Va., its performances at the Rockford Airfest next weekend and an air show in Evansville, Ind., on June 11-12 were canceled. “With deep personal regret I shared with my command today that I will be voluntarily leaving the greatest

flight demonstration team. I performed a maneuver that had an unacceptably low minimum altitude,” Koss wrote in a statement released by Naval Air Forces. “This maneuver, combined with other instances of not meeting the airborne standard . . . led to my decision to step down.” Koss will be replaced by Capt. Greg McWherter, previous commanding officer of the Blue Angels, for the rest of the season. The commanding officer is assigned to the No. 1 jet in demonstrations. Koss, who assumed command of the Blue Angels in November, is a 1991 Naval Academy graduate and veteran naval aviator with more than 3,000 flight hours and 740 arrested landings on carriers. He took part in late 1990s flight operations over Iraq and Bosnia-Herzegovina and flew missions over Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003.

‘Miracle’ transplant gives dad fresh start

The historic and ground-breaking full-face transplant conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital was aimed at giving hope to scores of severely battle-scarred soldiers of the Iraq and Afghan wars — but it also has given a brave little girl a daddy with a face.

A trailblazing team from Brigham and Women’s Hospital successfully completed the nation’s first complete-face transplant on a Texan left deformed by a high-voltage line accident. The only other full-face transplant was performed in Spain last year.

Dallas Wiens, 25, of Fort Worth underwent more than 15 hours of surgery last week by teams of doctors who worked to attach an anonymous donor’s nose, lips and skin, linking the donor’s facial muscles and nerves to his. The surgery was financed by the Department of Defense, which wants to develop ways to help disfigured soldiers.

“It’s a miracle, and he is determined to get well and make something of his life,” said Wiens’ grandfather, Del Peterson, who accompanied him to Boston. “His faith, and his will to live, and his youth kept him going.”

He also credits Wiens’ daughter, Scarlette, now 4, who was not yet 2 years old when he was injured, as a big reason to live after his world went dark.

“She’s the joy of his life,” Peterson said. Three years ago, doctors at the Parkland Hospital emergency room in Dallas told Wiens’ family he probably wouldn’t live.

“His whole face was gone, right down to the bone, and they called us in to say our goodbyes,” Peterson said. Wiens not only refused to die, he insisted on being with his little girl.

“The hospital introduced her to his injuries before she was 2, after they connected her with a child psychologist. The hospital said she wouldn’t recognize him, but Dallas said, ‘No, she’ll recognize my hands,’” Peterson said. Sure enough, he said, “Before she came in the room, he put his hands on his chest, and she said, ‘Those are Daddy’s hands!’ ”

Scarlette, back home in Texas, hasn’t seen her daddy’s new face, which remains swollen as he recovers. It could be months, but yesterday Wiens chatted with her by phone. With her youthful experience, the family isn’t worried this time that Scarlette won’t know her dad.

“I can recognize him through his personality and sense of humor,” Peterson said. “He’s determined to get well and make something of his life. He wants to go to college, and he has a lot of different interests.

“And I imagine that he’ll help other sightless people, too,” Peterson said.

Wiens already has. The Brigham and Women’s program that gave him a new face received a $3.4 million grant from the Department of Defense.

Facial transplant surgery remains in its infancy, with a few high-profile cases in France, Spain and the United States, while other patients wait, such as Charla Nash, the Connecticut woman mauled by a chimpanzee, a potential candidate for surgery at the Brigham.

Col. Janet R. Harris, a registered nurse with the Army Corps of Nurses, said yesterday that battlefield medical care has improved so much that there are as many as 100 American war veterans who might benefit from similar surgery.

“Many wouldn’t have survived before,” Harris said. “Eventually, we hope that this will move out of research and into the standard of care. We want to make sure our wounded warriors get covered . . . and get well.”