MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

“A Lebanese immigrant will admit to dropping a backpack he thought held a bomb into a busy street’s trash bin near Chicago Cubs’ home ground Wrigley Field.

Sami Samir Hassoun, 23, also talked about poisoning Lake Michigan, bombing a landmark skyscraper and assassinating the then Mayor of Chicago.

He initially pleaded not guilty to charges that he received a fake bomb he believed was real from undercover FBI agents last year.

But attorneys have now told a federal judge he will plead guilty under an agreement worked out with prosecutors – a deal experts say may reflect the enormous odds he would face a trial.

At a hearing in Chicago, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman set a date of February 14 for Hassoun to change his plea.

But neither side offered details about exactly what charges he would plead guilty to, and government and defence attorneys declined to comment after the hearing.

Hassoun has a strong incentive to reduce his potential prison time via a plea deal.

A conviction on just one of the charges against him – attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction – carries a maximum life prison term.” Read more.