GI Pleads Not Guilty to Fort Hood Bomb Charges

WACO, Texas -- A Soldier accused of plotting to blow up a restaurant full of troops near an Army post pleaded not guilty Thursday to six new charges.

Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo answered "sure do" Thursday when U.S. Magistrate Jeff Manske asked if he understood the charges, and said "sure do have none" when asked if he had questions about the charges.

Abdo was arrested in July at a Killeen motel a few miles from the Texas Army post. Abdo, who was absent without leave from Kentucky's Fort Campbell, planned to detonate two bombs in a restaurant full of Fort Hood soldiers and then shoot anyone who survived, authorities allege.

Abdo was indicted on three federal charges in August and six others last week, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. That charge carries a maximum life sentence.

Prosecutors have said they plan to try Abdo first on the new charges, which carry longer possible prison terms. They include attempted murder of officers or employees of the United States, two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a federal crime of violence, and two counts of possession of a destructive device in furtherance of a federal crime of violence.

At his first court appearance the day after his arrest, a defiant Abdo shouted "Nidal Hasan, Fort Hood 2009!" as he was led out of the Waco courtroom, an apparent homage to the suspect in the worst mass shooting ever on a U.S. military installation.

But Abdo had spoken out against the Fort Hood shooting rampage last year as he made a public plea to be granted conscientious objector status, earlier citing his Muslim beliefs to avoid serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Abdo, 21, later was approved as a conscientious objector, but that status was put on hold after he was charged with possessing child pornography. He went absent without leave from Fort Campbell in early July.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist whose trial is set for March at Fort Hood, faces the death penalty or life in prison if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.