Talal “Ted” Ali Chammout sure has a funny way of showing his “love” of our country - via Fresno Bee (hat tip: reader Steve):

His attorney said Friday that Talal “Ted” Ali Chammout is a U.S. citizen who loves America, adores his children and is a respectable mini-mart owner in Porterville.

But federal prosecutor Carl Faller said Chammout, 47, wanted to purchase missiles and rocket launchers and other weaponry to send to terrorists in Iraq, Syria and Jordan.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence O’Neill heeded Faller’s advice and ordered Chammout to be detained in the downtown Fresno jail, even though Chammout’s relatives were ready to put up $1 million in property as bail until his trial on weapons charges.

Chammout was in U.S. District Court, accused of being a felon in possession of firearms. A criminal complaint alleges he purchased five semiautomatic pistols from a government witness who told Chammout the weapons were stolen from the military.

That’s for sure:

In March 2004, Faller said, Chammout met with a confidential witness for the government and inquired about purchasing stolen military weapons. Then in the spring of 2005, Chammout wanted to purchase a gun with a silencer, Faller said.

In a conversation with an FBI agent posing as a hit man, Chammout inquired about killing someone, perhaps his estranged wife, Faller said. When the agent balked, Faller said, Chammout still gave the agent “$1,000 for his trouble.”

In September 2005, Chammout talked with the confidential witness about purchasing rocket launchers, Faller said. The next month, he wanted anti-tank weapons, the prosecutor said.

In February of this year, Chammout asked about missile systems that shoot down aircraft, Faller said. Chammout also told the confidential witnesses that “these guys want the stuff. If [news] of it gets out, you’re dead.”

But don’t question his patriotism:

Chammout’s lawyer, Roger Nuttall, said his client, who has family in Lebanon, is a U.S. citizen, cares for his three children and employs a number of people at his Porterville minimart, Trucker’s Oil Co. Petroleum Products.

“He has a love for this country,” Nuttall told O’Neill. “The allegations are diametrically opposed to a man who made his life here.”

He couldn’t possibly be a jihadist, his lawyer argues. After all, his family owns expensive property in Dearborn, Michigan:

Defense attorney Nuttall gave the judge a newspaper clipping that showed Chammout received a businessman of the year award. Chammout’s relatives in court also brought O’Neill paperwork showing they owned properties in Dearborn, Mich., that they said were worth $1 million.

Well, that settles it!

Um, maybe not.

It won’t be long before we start hearing all the “lone gunman” rhetoric and CAIR howls of “Islamophobia!”

Get ready, get set…

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More: Dan Riehl finds a Chammout in Dearborn and wonder if they are related.

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