Scranton, PA - Accused Pipeline Bomber Sought to Topple Bush, Claims FBI

[Yisrael]

Scranton,PA — A U.S. man accused of plotting to blow up oil pipelines sought to bring down the Bush administration and expressed regret for the death of an al Qaeda leader, an FBI official said Tuesday.

Defendant Michael Curtis Reynolds wrote a series of e-mails to FBI agent Mark Seyler, who posed as an al Qaeda sympathizer and promised to give Reynolds $40,000 to blow up a refinery in Wyoming, Seyler told a federal court.

Reynolds, 49, from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, faces charges of planning to attack energy installations, trying to enlist al Qaeda members via the Internet, and possessing hand grenades.

The government accuses him of scheming to attack the Alaska and Transcontinental pipelines and other energy installations to prompt a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

Seyler described e-mails in which Reynolds, a divorced father of three who called himself "Fritz," said he wanted to blow up the Williams Refinery in Wyoming because he said it had lax security and was in a remote location that would enable the attackers to escape.

Reynolds wrote that his planned attack would help topple President Bush.