The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force Tuesday arrested an Iraqi national charged with an alleged plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush. According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, 52-year-old Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab entered the US on a visitor visa in September 2020. Shihab then filed for asylum and US citizenship in March 2021. He lived in Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana working market and restaurant jobs.

The FBI alleges that Shihab attempted to illegally bring foreign nationals into the US and and accepted payments amounting to tens of thousands of dollars. Shihab is also charged with attempting to smuggle four Iraqi nationals into and out of the US to aid in a plot to kill Bush. According to the charging documents, FBI agents believe Shihab plotted to retaliate against Bush for Iraqi deaths which occurred during the US “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” Shihab allegedly traveled to Dallas in February to survey locations associated with Bush.

The case will be prosecuted by US Attorneys for the Southern District of Ohio in coordination with FBI agents. Shihab’s federal immigration charges carry a potential ten-year sentence. He is also charged with aiding and abetting the plot to murder Bush and faces an additional twenty-year sentence.