Siddique wanted to kill Carter, feds say

NEW YORK, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- A former Boston student from Pakistan arrested and charged with being an al-Qaida operative wanted to kill two former U.S. presidents, federal officials claim.

But Aafia Siddique's attorney, activist lawyer Elizabeth Fink, says the government case against her client is a lie, ABC News reported Wednesday.

Siddique, a Pakistan native, was arrested in Afghanistan last month outside a provincial governor's compound with chemicals, maps and documents on explosives.

The allegations against Siddique concerning her supposed plot to kill ex-presidents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush, and attack the White House were detailed in a federal complaint filed late in July by U.S. attorneys in a federal court in New York. Siddique plotted to use biological agents to contaminate Carter's water, multiple federal sources said.

"They used the same stuff 40 years ago ... against the Black Panthers, against the Attica Brothers ... a list of targets in their possession ... . Why would anyone be in Ghanzi, Afghanistan, walking around with a list of landmarks of New York?" Fink asked. "These people are nuts and don't even know how to lie."

Saying Siddique has lived up to her reputation as an alleged terrorist "Mata Hari," former CIA officer John Kiriakou said, "She is the most significant capture in five years."