India News

Obama plays down plot to kill him Barack Obama said he was not worried about threats to his life as he vies to become the first black US president, saying that hate groups have been marginalised by his candidacy. “I think what’s been striking about this campaign is the degree to which these kind of hate groups have been marginalised. That’s not who America is. That’s not what our future is,” Democrat Obama told Pennsylvania television station KDKA. “What I’ve found is that people here, they don’t care what color you are. What they’re trying to figure out is who can deliver,” he said. Asked if he was concerned about his safety, Obama said no. “I’ve got the best folks in the world — the Secret Service,” he said. Authorities have announced the arrest of two white supremacists for threatening to assassinate Obama during a “killing spree” of some 100 African-Americans. Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, were arrested in Tennessee for possession of firearms, threats against a candidate running for president and conspiring to rob a gun store, the Department of Justice said. The men began “discussing going on a ‘killing spree’ that included killing 88 people and beheading 14 African-Americans,” Brian Weaks, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told a Memphis court yesterday. “They further stated that their final act of violence would be to attempt to kill/assassinate presidential candidate Barack Obama,” he added, as the two men appeared before the federal court. Sister says Obama plot suspect is sorry The family of one of two suspects accused of plotting to decapitate black people and assassinate Barack Obama today said the teenager disliked blacks and considered himself part of a “master race,” but they doubted the plot was serious. Paul Schlesselman, 18, had dropped out of school and was looking for work, his family told The Associated Press at their rural Arkansas home today. They believed he was in Texas when the Secret Service arrived Friday to seize a computer hard drive and notebooks of drawings. “He just believes that he’s the master race,” said his sister, Kayla Schlesselman, 16, adding that she would often argue with him about his racial beliefs. “He would just say things like ‘white power’ and ‘Sieg Heil’ and ‘Heil Hitler. But she and her father, Mike, both said they didn’t believe he was capable of carrying out an attack. “I think it’s just a lot of talk. He would never do something like this,” his father said. Schlesselman is charged along with Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tennessee, with planning the spree. Authorities described the two as white supremacists who met on the Internet about a month ago. The charges were made public yesterday. Kayla Schlesselman said she spoke with her older brother yesterday night, and that he expressed regret. “He said he’s sorry about everything he’s done,” she said. Despite making sure the plot was stopped, authorities did not believe Cowart and Schlesselman had the means to carry out their threat to assassinate Obama, said a federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.