Federal agents charged a Saudi student in Texas with attempting to construct improvised explosives and compiling a list of possible targets, including the home of former President George W. Bush.  The FBI says a student had "dreams of jihad" detailed in his personal journal. Now the man is behind bars and has a date with a federal judge and investigators say it all started with a shipment of chemicals ordered on the web. Video of Fox News.  Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20 years old, was arrested and charged in a federal criminal complaint with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Mr. Aldawsari is in the U.S. on a 2008 student visa and is enrolled at South Plains College, near Lubbock, Texas.  Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have scrambled in recent weeks to determine whether Mr. Aldawsari has links to international terrorist groups and have found none, according to U.S. officials. Mr. Aldawsari is set to appear in federal court in Lubbock on Friday and faces up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.  Attempts to contact Mr. Aldawsari's attorney weren't successful.  The FBI alleges that electronic surveillance and searches of Mr. Aldawsari's apartment turned up Internet blog postings and a personal journal that expressed his desire for jihad and martyrdom.  An FBI affidavit filed in federal court says the investigation began Feb. 1 after a North Carolina company alerted law enforcement about suspicious purchases of the chemical phenol. The FBI says phenol has common legitimate uses but can be used to make trinitrophenol, an explosive also known as picric acid.  Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari is shown in this undated photo made available by the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office on Thursday.  After the company's shipping restrictions for the chemical thwarted the purchase, Mr. Aldawsari bought the chemical and other ingredients—including wiring, clocks and lab equipment to help make explosives—from other sources, including Amazon.com, according to the FBI affidavit.  In recent years, jihadi websites and articles published in the Yemeni al Qaeda affiliate's magazine have urged Muslims living in Western countries to build improvised explosives from substances easily found in anyone's kitchen. It isn't clear whether Mr. Aldawsari viewed those websites.  Federal authorities have developed tripwires in the private sector that could alert them to terrorism suspects who are seeking to buy ingredients for explosives. For instance, companies that sell chemicals often used in hair products are required to maintain records and report suspicious customer purchases.  Some of the locales and targets that federal authorities alleged Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari mentioned in email  James T. Jacks, the U.S. attorney in Dallas, credited the information supplied by the public with thwarting Mr. Aldawsari.  Mr. Aldawsari's alleged plot was derailed in part by what appear to be his own missteps. According to the FBI, he sent himself bomb recipes through email accounts that were monitored by investigators. He also allegedly maintained a personal journal, which FBI agents copied during searches of his apartment.  The criminal complaint alleges that Mr. Aldawsari emailed himself a list of possible targets for attack, including the Dallas address of former President Bush, reservoirs and dams in Colorado and California, nuclear-power plants and Dallas nightclubs.  Mr. Aldawsari also researched realistic-looking baby dolls, which the FBI alleges he considered using to hide explosives.  In one journal entry, the suspect said the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks produced a "big change" in his thinking and that he was inspired by Osama bin Laden, according to the FBI.  Another journal entry cited by the FBI is alleged to read in Arabic: "I excelled in my studies in high school in order to take advantage of an opportunity for a scholarship to America, offered by the [Saudi] government and its companies....Now, after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives, and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for jihad."  A Jan. 12 email Mr. Aldawsari sent himself was characterized by the FBI as "a simplified lesson on how to booby trap a vehicle with items that are readily available in every home."  Mr. Aldawsari was enrolled at Texas Tech University in Lubbock before transferring to South Plains. Jimmy Woods, a sophomore at Texas Tech who took a chemical-engineering seminar with Mr. Aldawsari, described him as a dedicated student who always showed up for homework-group meetings.  "He seemed like a normal kid to me, scared about being away from home for the first time," said Mr. Woods, who met Mr. Aldawsari when they were both freshmen in the fall of 2009. "It's not like I ever suspected him to be a terrorist."  Mr. Aldawsari always came to class cleanly shaven and with his hair combed, Mr. Woods recalled, and seemed shy. In the photo released by the FBI, "he looked like a different person," Mr. Woods said.
The FBI has arrested a 20-year-old Saudi student suspected of planning a terrorist attack using explosive chemicals in Texas.