Dutch Citizen Admits To Iraq Attacks Conspiracy

Delaema and his co-conspirators declared their intention to kill Americans using improvised explosive devices.

An Iraqi-born Dutch citizen pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiracy to murder Americans overseas between 2003 and 2005 by planting roadside bombs targeting U.S. soldiers in Fallujah, Iraq, the Justice Department said.

Wesam al Delaema, 36, admitted that he had demonstrated on a video how roadside bombs would be detonated to destroy American vehicles and their occupants in Fallujah, it said.

Department officials said Delaema also had agreed to plead guilty to assault for a December 2007 incident at the Washington jail, when he kicked a prison guard who was on the ground, causing severe injuries.

Delaema was arrested by Dutch authorities in May 2005 and extradited to the United States in 2007. His case marked the first U.S. criminal prosecution of suspected activity in Iraq.

The Justice Department and Delaema have agreed on a prison sentence of 25 years for conspiring to murder U.S. nationals overseas and an 18-month sentence, to be served at the same time, for the assault.

A federal judge in Washington set sentencing on April 15. Under an agreement between the United States and the Netherlands, Delaema will serve his sentence in the Netherlands.

According to court documents, Delaema between 2003 and 2005 entered into an agreement with several others to murder U.S. nationals in Iraq. As part of the conspiracy, he traveled in October of 2003 to Fallujah.

Delaema and his co-conspirators declared their intention to kill Americans using improvised explosive devices. In one video, he said, "This is not the first operation we carry out. We have executed several operations and most of them were successful."