On Nov. 18 Jose Pimentel, an American citizen from the Dominican Republic, was arrested in New York and charged with constructing a pipe bomb. A federal informant who had been monitoring him sat by, giving him directions, having already instructed Pimentel to attack an American target in revenge for the assassination of American Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Reuters and other news agencies immediately met reports of the plot with skepticism, especially after they said Pimentel bought his bomb-making materials while accompanied by the informant, who eventually caused his arrest.
This incident was the latest in a series of bogus terror arrests that has drawn the attention of international media sources, particularly Britain’s Guardian newspaper, which ran a Nov. 16 exposé on increasing governmental efforts to fabricate terror incidents in order to generate fear that can be used to control the American people.
The Guardian report followed a study by the University of California at Berkeley showing that only three of the hundreds of terror plots investigated by the United States may have had an existence independent of the FBI. Federal informants have been scouring the country trying to create terrorist incidents in order to help the careers of U.S. attorneys and justify excessive American expenditure on anti-terrorist campaigns.
The FBI has 10,000 field agents on its payroll, and each of those agents is required to have at least four informants working for him full time, manufacturing crimes, in exchange for a paltry $400 a week, plus up to a $2,000 bonus if their lies lead to a conviction. On average, each FBI agent maintains approximately 10 such informants, meaning that 100,000 Americans on the FBI’s payroll do nothing with their day but manufacture criminal conspiracies. The U.S. Marshals, DEA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and BATFE maintain similar programs, meaning that as many as half a million Americans are earning a full-time living attempting to lure other Americans into criminal acts, only to be prosecuted by the government.
“Legally, you have to use the word ‘entrapment’ very carefully. It is a very strict legal term,” said Karen Greenberg, a professor at Fordham University.
Under U.S. law, all an FBI agent has to do in order to “sting” someone for a terror plot is show that he was “predisposed” to commit acts of terrorism. To qualify as predisposed, all one must do is express a strong opinion either opposing the U.S. government or supporting an ideology the government believes is opposed to it. Thus, if a person were to express a strong belief in Islam, that would be sufficient for U.S. domestic intelligence forces to suggest that that person commit a terrorist act, then provide him with items necessary to carry out the act.
Generally, the FBI tries to lure victims into conspiracies, in which several people with similar ideas are brought together and persuaded to commit a crime in unison—a maneuver that means that no actual ability to carry out the attack need be present. But, sometimes, the FBI is unable to bring a group of people together, in which case it manufactures the crime by providing explosives—or explosive material and instructions—to its victim, and then arrests him.
An effort by the FBI to stop terrorist attacks on US soil before they begin has turned into (or perhaps by design always was) a propaganda tool to legitimize the fear of "lone wolves." If we are to fight a war on terror, then we need terrorists to fight, right?
The big boys and girls in charge made the decision to create a nation wide chain of domestic spies to infiltrate communities and seek out the most vulnerable potential "radical" individual to persuade into becoming a terrorist. Once the FBI informant picks his target he gains the trust of the individual. The informant will then began the process of creating a "lone wolf" terrorist to later bust and parade around on the news as a "thwarted terror plot"...[Full Article]
In a new video message released on the internet Friday, American-born al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn calls on Muslims living in America to carry out deadly one-man terrorist acts using fully automatic weapons purchased at gun shows, and to target major institutions and public figures.
"What are you waiting for?" asks Gadahn in English, and then adds that jihadis shouldn't worry about getting caught, since so many have been released. "Over these past few years, I've seen the release of many, many Mujahideen whom I had never even dreamed would regain their freedom."
The two-part, two hour video appeared on jihadi websites Friday with images of jihadi leaders as well as snapshots of alleged underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan. Both Hasan and Abdulmutallab are charged with carrying out attacks inside the U.S.
Called "Do Not Rely on Others, Take the Task Upon Yourself" and produced by al Qaeda's media arm, as Sahab, the tape mixes Gadahn's new message with clips from old videos of Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other al Qaeda leaders praising one-man attacks. They call on jihadis in the West to carry out lone wolf operations...[Full Article]
[Webmaster - Here is Adam Pearlman, grandson of Carl Pearlman who was on the ADL Board of Directors. Pearlman-Gadahn (a CIA-Mossad-ADL provocateur) is being used to whip the crazies up into a frenzy. I guess the CIA-Mossad-ADL feels there isn't enough terrorism going on in America, so they need to stir the pot hoping to get some going.]
(CNN) -- Farooque Ahmed, the man accused of attempting to help bomb Metro stations in the Washington area last year, pleaded guilty Monday to two charges in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.
Ahmed was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Ahmed had pleaded not guilty last year. In changing his plea, Ahmed admitted to attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization.
He also pleaded guilty to collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack on a transit facility.
Authorities found three weapons at Ahmed's home at the time of his arrest: a Smith & Wesson pistol, a 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun and a Remington rifle, along with ammunition.
Also discovered was a biography of American-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Ahmed told the court that he was "sorry."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- FBI Masterminds Al-Qaeda Attack On Four DC Metro Stations, Indicts Pakistani Patsy
WASHINGTON - A Pakistani-born Virginia (CIA import) man was arrested Wednesday and charged with trying to help people posing as al-Qaida operatives plot to bomb Washington-area subway stations.
The bombing plot was a ruse over the past six months, the FBI said, but 34-year-old Farooque Ahmed readily handed over video of northern Virginia subway stations, suggested using rolling suitcases rather than backpacks to kill as many people as possible and offered to donate money to al-Qaida's cause overseas.
The public never was in danger because FBI agents were aware of Ahmed's activities and monitored him throughout, the agency said. And the people that Ahmed thought were al-Qaida operatives were actually individuals who worked on behalf of the government, according to a federal law enforcement official who requested anonymity to discuss details of the case.
Ahmed was indicted under seal by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va. on Tuesday, and the charges were made public Wednesday. He is accused of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack on a transit facility, and attempting to provide material support to carry out multiple bombings to cause mass casualties. Ahmed, a naturalized citizen, lives in Ashburn, Va., outside Washington.
During a brief court appearance in federal court in Alexandria, Ahmed did not enter a plea and was ordered held without bond. He told U.S. Magistrate Judge John Anderson he couldn't afford to hire a lawyer. Prosecutors said they planned to use some classified information as evidence in the case.
Metro issued the following statement on its website on the arrest of Farooque Ahmed: Following this morning's arrest of Farooque Ahmed for attempting to assist others in planning to conduct terrorist activities against the Metrorail system, we want to assure our riders and employees that at no time was the public in danger during this investigation. The FBI was aware of Mr. Ahmed's activities from before the alleged attempt began and closely monitored him until his arrest.
The story is disturbingly familiar. FBI agents arrest a suspect on terrorism related charges, nearly always a Muslim, photographed full bearded to look menacing. Media reports highlight it, headlining government charges to incite fear. Announced arrests are strategically timed, this one days before mid-term elections. The message - Obama keeps America safe, vote Democrat.
Though too early to conclude guilt or innocence, what's so far known is worrisome, involving an FBI sting to entrap. Based on numerous previous cases, without exception, innocent men and occasionally women have been targeted, evidence later showing no plot and no crime. Yet suspects are arrested, charged, tried, and convicted by manipulated/intimidated juries, right-wing judges sentencing them to long prison terms.
Since America declared war on Islam post-9/11, Muslims have been the target of choice. As a result, hundreds have been wrongfully incarcerated, guilty only of practicing Islam in America at the wrong time. So far, Ahmed's case has all the earmarks of another man, victimized for political advantage.
On October 27, a Department of Justice press release headlined, "Virginia Man Arrested for Plotting Attacks on DC-Area Metro Stations with People He Believed to Be al Qaeda Members," saying:
"Today's case underscores the need for continued vigilance against terrorist threats and demonstrates how the government can neutralize such threats before they come to fruition."
How reassuring!
The DOJ accused Ahmed "of plotting with individuals he believed were terrorists to bomb our transit system, but a coordinated law enforcement and intelligence effort was able to thwart his plans....Today's arrest highlights the terrorism threat that exists in Northern Virginia and our ability to find those seeking to harm US citizens and neutralize them before they can act."
On October 27, a United States of America v. Farooque Ahmed indictment listed three familiar counts:
(1) Attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO).
It stated that from about April 18 - October 25, 2010, Ahmed plotted with believed Al Qaeda operatives to cause "mass casualties" in Washington DC Metrorail stations through "multiple bombings."
It mentions a visit to a Dulles, VA hotel to meet with "a courier he believed to be affiliated with a terrorist organization who provided Ahmed with a document which provided potential locations for future meetings."
Subsequent ones at other locations followed, during which the DOJ alleged that "he might be ready to travel overseas to conduct jihad in January 2011 after a Hajj Saudi Arabia pilgrimage in November."
Other allegations included a willingness to photograph the Arlington Cemetery Metrorail station and a DC hotel "to obtain information about their security and busiest periods." Other alleged surveillance followed, subsequent meetings as well, including to get "suggestions as to where explosives should be placed on trains" for simultaneous attacks. Email communications were also mentioned.
(2) Collecting Information to Assist in Planning a Terrorist Attack on a Transit Facility
Alleged is that Ahmed "did knowingly and unlawfully surveil, photograph, videotape, diagram, and otherwise collect information with the intent to plan or assist in planning" the above listed attacks.
(3) Attempting to Provide Material Support to Terrorists
Alleged is that he "did knowingly and unlawfully attempt" to do it.
On October 27, a grand jury indicted him on all counts. Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Ahmed came to America in 1993 and became a citizen in 2005. He worshipped at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, known to be very mainstream. If convicted on all charges, he faces up to 50 years in prison with little chance for parole. At age 34, it's perhaps a life sentence.
Disingenuously, DOJ's press release ended saying, "Indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty."
Rest assured, Ahmed's fate is sealed with or without proof. His indictment, as in similar cases, provides none, only circumstantial claims couched in inflammatory rhetoric to be highlighted at trial and already in major media reports. In addition, no mention of a sting is explained - the fact that paid FBI informants arranged everything, entrapping Ahmed in an alleged plot, one he might never have planned on his own. Moreover, he perhaps didn't realize the potential implications of whatever meetings and discussions he had. No matter. It's too late, another testimony to US injustice.
On October 27, New York Times writers Sabrina Tavernise and Eric Schmitt headlined, "Virginia Man Is Charged in Plot on Capital Subway," saying:
Ahmed was "accused of trying to help men he believed to be militants plot bombings at Washington-area subway stations, the Justice Department announced." Cited were unnamed FBI officials "confirm(ing) that Mr. Ahmed's contacts had been FBI agents who were part of a sting operation," without saying his entrapment perhaps involved an alleged plot he might otherwise not have planned. Omitted also is his side of the story, likely very different from DOJ's.
On October 29, Washington Post writer Spencer Hsu headlined, "Suspect in Metro plot aspired to kill troops abroad, FBI says," saying:
Besides allegedly planning Metro attacks, he "wanted to battle US troops in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and trained himself to fight, authorities alleged Thursday." Again no proof, only what paid FBI informants claimed.
On October 27 Washington Post writers Caitlin Gibson and Scott Butterworth were more circumspect headlining, "Farooque Ahmed: Neighbors describe the Metro plot suspect," saying:
He was "reserved." Living next door, Barbi Shires "said she was stunned to learn that he was suspected by federal officials in the alleged plot." She also called him "a very nice gentleman."
Referring to Ahmed and his wife, Sahar Mirza-Ahmed, she said: "They were very nice. Every time we would see them, we sp(oke)."
Another neighbor, Jay Britton, called him "Definitely not social," but had rarely encountered him in the past year. According to Shaya Fitzgerald, "He seemed like a loner."
Ahmed has a BS degree in computer science from City University of New York. He moved to Virginia from Staten Island to work for Ericsson, a telecommunications company. Online with Aspen University, he was pursuing a masters degree in risk management and data security.
On October 28, Findlaw said he asked to be provided an attorney the previous day. "In cases like this," it explained, "where a sting operation is in place and the alleged plan has yet to be carried out, questions of intent and entrapment are often raised as defenses."
Ahmed's lawyer can and should question the legitimacy of charges, demanding proof, not allegations from FBI informants paid to provide what DOJ prosecutors want to hear. Can real intent be proved? Did Ahmed buy or make explosives? Did he actually wish to bomb DC Metro stations and fight Americans in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or did idle, egged on, talk alone take place? Was he, in fact, entrapped in what he never would have planned on his own?
So far, indications strongly suggest it. Proving it against skilled prosecutors is another matter, especially using a court-appointed attorney with a case load too full to devote enough time and resources to his client. As a result, Ahmed's task ahead is all uphill, a very steep one.
Another Fake Bomb Plot?
Remember past ones, including a fake shoe bomber, a fake underwear bomber, a fake Times Square bomber, an earlier fake one there, still another by a fake Al Qaeda woman, fake 9/11 bombers, and others in a fake democracy with fake elections and fake public servants. Some system!
Understand that terror threats are announced repeatedly, strategically timed, and entirely bogus, despite alleged confessions gotten by torture or pressured plea bargains to accept the lesser of two bad choices. Now the latest on October 29. Again, note the timing, four days before mid-term elections, delivering a familiar message:
With Democrats preventing terror attacks, retain them on November 2, Obama appearing on national television for emphasis saying:
Involved are "two suspicious packages bound for the United States - specifically, two places of Jewish worship in Chicago." Found in Dubai and Britain, "An initial examination of those packages has determined that they do apparently contain explosive material."
Assuring viewers of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) readiness, he stressed that "additional protective measures (will be pursued) for as long as it takes to ensure the safety and security of our citizens."
He said packages originated from Yemen, Al Qaeda operatives based there. They "plan attacks against our homeland, our citizens, and our friends and allies....The events of the past 24 hours underscore the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism....As we obtain more information, we will keep the public fully informed (at strategically timed moments, of course)....And the American people should be confident that we will not waver in our resolve to defeat Al Qaeda and its affiliates and to root out violent extremism in all its forms."
How reassuring indeed!!
The major media, of course, are all over this story, including an October 29 New York Times Scott Shane report headlined, "US Hunts for More Suspicious Packages," without suggesting perhaps that this alleged bomb attack is fake, like all the others. Instead, in lockstep with Washington, Shane noted that:
Alleged "explosives" were "packed in toner cartridges (inside laser printers), based on a tip from (unnamed) Saudi intelligence officials." They were clearly tampered with, visible wires sticking out of them, running to external circuit boards with white powder dust on top.
"Discovery" triggered a terrorist alert "that included scrambling fighter jets to accompany a passenger flight as it landed safely in New York."
In addition, at Newark and Philadelphia airports, arriving cargo planes were moved to secure areas for inspections. A Brooklyn UPS truck was also stopped and searched. Nothing was found. Neither perhaps in alleged Yemeni originated ink cartridges, especially ones so inexpertly assembled.
Obama's press conference was brief and uninformative. A longer one followed, conducted by press secretary Robert Gibbs and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security John Brennan, "rais(ing) more questions than (they) answered," according to one analyst.
Providing no proof of any plot or why alleged US-based "terrorists" need crude overseas shipments for one, they claimed two packages (one from Fedex, the other from UPS), aboard US-bound cargo planes, contained trace amounts of explosives, both originating from Yemen, Muslims again the bad guys. Whether homegrown or abroad is irrelevant when those cited are invented, even nameless.
Villains, however, are the same. So are motives - to incite fear; maintain public support for imperial wars, outsized military budgets, repressive laws, harsh domestic crackdowns, and whatever other initiatives Washington undertakes, especially if claimed for national security.
No matter that America is now a police state, waging permanent wars for unattainable peace because new adversaries replace old ones. The cycle never ends. Intimidated/distracted people never catch on. As a result, lawless policies continue, the public, of course, the loser, mindless of how they're betrayed, never served. It's truer today than ever under both major parties, beholden to privilege, not vital popular interests.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
Summary: Much of our home-grown terrorism results from the government’s careful nurturing, clearly seen in the many cases since 9-11. Not “stings” using “informants, but incitement (or even entrapment) by agents provocateurs. It’s yielded a full harvest: a fearful and tame public. Here are some of the stories; the pattern tells the tale...[Full Article]
Reports of two explosions at the Maryland Department of Transportation’s headquarters in Hanover and a state government building in Annapolis should be treated with a huge amount of suspicion given the fact that the FBI has been caught habitually provocateuring patsies to commit bombings, most recently in Baltimore itself.
“A source has told 11 News that two packages exploded, one at the MDOT building and another at the Jeffrey Building on Francis Street in Annapolis. The source said when the packages were opened in the mail rooms of the buildings, a small explosion happened,” reports WBAL TV.
“Both were apparently sent through the mail, an official says. In both cases, the packages emitted a small bang or flame, but NBC’s Pete Williams said there were no explosives in the packages,” adds MSNBC. When the packages were opened, smoke was emitted and there was a chemical smell, say eyewitnesses.
Although this may be the amateur work of someone with a genuine grudge, as we have documented for years and in dozens of cases, such terror plots are routinely set up by the FBI who provide the patsy with explosives and radicalize them into carrying out such plots through their vast informant network.
One of the more recent examples also occurred in Baltimore, where 21-year-old Antonio Martinez became suspicious that he was being set up by the FBI in a plot to bomb a military recruitment center.
“There was nothing provided which showed that Mr. Hussain (Martinez) had any ability whatsoever to carry out any kind of plan,” Martinez’ lawyer Joseph Balter said, labeling the entire series of events a “creation of the government”.
Martinez became suspect that he was being set up by the feds after he learned about the case of another patsy in Oregon who had been groomed by the FBI to bomb a Christmas lighting ceremony.
As Geraldo Rivera explains in the clip below, every recent domestic terror plot has been contrived by the FBI as part of an entrapment ploy. Geraldo called the case against 21 year old Antonio Martinez a.k.a. Muhammad Hussain “bogus, absolutely bogus.”
Expect this latest incident to be exploited by Homeland Security as a justifcation for more invasions of privacy via the opening and confiscation of mail and parcels.
CHICAGO- A 22 year old who allegedly thought being a terrorist would make him some quick cash, plead "not guilty" today in federal court. Lebanese immigrant Sami Samir Hassoun is charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
Police say Hassoun placed a backpack, that he thought was stuffed with explosives, near a busy intersection just outside Chicago's Wrigley Field. Hassoun thought the backpack was lethal because undercover FBI agents told him so, as part of a sting operation.
Hassoun, wearing the standard orange jailhouse jumpsuit, gave a big smile to his family who were sitting in the courtroom. Defense attorney Myron Auerbach, who told the judge he needs more time to go through "more than 100 hours of video surveillance tape" says "my client is not a terrorist...arresting authorities made it clear that he has no terrorist connections". Instead Auerbach characterizes Hassoun as "a troubled young man who got himself into something that took him way beyond where someone else would've gone.....he's a big talker...he just talks too much". While he won't go so far as to use the term "entrapment", Auerbach does blame the FBI for giving Hassoun the (fake) bomb and cash for the deal.
The next status hearing for Hassoun is scheduled for November 3rd, although Auerbach says he will try to postone that date so he will have time to go through all the evidence against his client.
The group - James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen - were caught in an FBI sting operation.
Shahed Hussain, an undercover informant, was hired by officers in 2008 to infiltrate a mosque in Newburgh, about an hour north of New York.
A court heard that there he hatched a plan with Cromitie, 44, to blow up synagogues in the Bronx area of New York with remote-controlled bombs.
The other men, aged between 28 and 24, were recruited to the scheme and planned to shoot down cargo planes with heat-seeking missiles.
The men were seen in secretly filmed video footage practising with a missile launcher and praying together in a warehouse in Connecticut two weeks before the planned attack.
They were arrested last year after planting bombs, which they did not know were FBI-supplied fakes, in the Riverdale section of the Bronx...
Four men have today been found guilty of 30 out of 32 counts stemming from the May 2009 plot to bomb two Bronx synagogues and shoot down military aircraft at a National Guard airbase in Newburgh, New York.
James Cromitie had been accused of scheming with a government informant he met at a mosque in Newburgh but the plot was foiled by a perfectly executed FBI sting.
Prosecutors said Cromitie recruited the three co-defendants David Williams, 29, Onta Williams,29, and Laguerre Payen,28, to fire heat-seeking missiles at cargo planes and blow them out of the sky.
In what was was called a terrorism version of Big Brother, the accused architects of the bomb plot were followed and listened to by law enforcement officials at all times.
The Muslim converts were under constant surveillance from early on in their plans until they were busted by cops last year.
The sting apparently never put New Yorkers at risk but the defendants 'thought this was real - real bombs, real missiles - every step of the way', according to Assistant U.S. Attorney David Raskin.
The federal court jury in Manhattan deliberated for eight days before finding the four defendants guilty of charges including conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles to kill U.S. officers and employees.
Cromite and David Williams were convicted of all eight counts, while Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen were convicted of seven out of the eight charges.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement that homegrown terrorism was a 'serious threat' and added: 'We are safer today as a result of these convictions.
He said the defendants agreed to plant bombs and use missiles 'they thought were very real weapons of terrorism'.
The trial featured 13 days of testimony by undercover mole, Shahed Hussain who met Cromitie at a mosque north of New York City.
The paid FBI informant helped make hundreds of hours of audio and video tapes between the terrorists which were given to officials and used as evidence.
The defence had argued that the government entrapped their clients but the prosecution were determined to avoid the complication that has derailed previous terror cases and took necessary steps to avoid that.
Authorities had bugged the Newburgh home of apparent ringleader Cromitie, the other three defendants as well as some of their haunts...
A federal judge is likely to question the confessed would-be bomber of a downtown Dallas skyscraper about a letter he wrote claiming the FBIentrapped him.
Hosam "Sam" Smadi, whose sentencing in federal court is today, could face decades in prison. The 20-year-old Jordanian told the judge in May that he knowingly plotted to blow up the Fountain Place building using what turned out to be a fake device after he was caught in an FBI sting.
But he wrote in a letter to The Dallas Morning News that "I would never do this if the intelligence didn't wash my brain."
In his letter, written in halting English, Smadi says he was led astray. "They implant in my mind to commit crime design by them to take my life from me," he wrote. "Everything was design like al Qaeda because the failure of the intelligence to get Osama bin Laden...
...The press release said that Hosam Smadi was discovered by the FBI “espousing a desire to commit significant acts of violence. Smadi stood out because of his vehement intention to actually conduct terror attacks in the US”.
According to the press release, on July 21, 2009, Smadi made contact with an undercover FBI agent posing as an Al Qaeda operative. In late August, while meeting with one of the undercover agents in Dallas, Smadi discussed the logistics and timing of the bombing, stating that he would have preferred to carry out the attack on “September 11”, but decided to wait until after the month of Ramadan, which ended on September 20.
The offence of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction carries, upon conviction, a maximum statutory sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to US law, the press release said.
Maher Smadi, however, accused the FBI of “entrapping” his son, provoking him to follow through on actions he would not have taken without the encouragement of the undercover agents.
“Instead of encouraging my son to become a terrorist, the FBI should have focused on changing his thoughts and putting him on the right track again. All they did was to add a new name to the list of terrorists,” he said...
[Webmaster - Here it is...the same template over and over again... This is the way the Feds always do it...they locate a vulnerable target, follow them and then provocateur them into trying to commit some act of violence. Fortunately, this time they did not let it go through with a live bomb like the FBI did in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Yes, that's right...The FBI Allowed the 1993 WTC Bombing to Happen. Always remember, if anyone tries to induce or encourage you to commit acts of violence, or make statements espousing those intentions...they are probably a Federal agent or informant trying to provocateur you.]
Three years before Pakistani terrorists struck Mumbai in 2008, federal agents in New York City investigated a tip that an American businessman was training in Pakistan with the group that later executed the attack.
The previously undisclosed allegations against David Coleman Headley, who became a key figure in the plot that killed 166 people, came from his wife after a domestic dispute that resulted in his arrest in 2005.
In three interviews with federal agents, Headley's wife said that he was an active militant in the terrorist group Lashkar-i-Taiba, had trained extensively in its Pakistani camps, and had shopped for night-vision goggles and other equipment, according to officials and sources close to the case. The wife, whom ProPublica is not identifying to protect her safety, also told agents that Headley had bragged of working as a paid U.S. informant while he trained with the terrorists in Pakistan, according to a person close to the case.
Federal officials say the FBI "looked into" the tip, but they declined to say what, if any, action was taken. Headley was jailed briefly in New York on charges of domestic assault but was not prosecuted. He wasn't arrested until 11 months after the Mumbai attack, when British intelligence alerted U.S. authorities that he was in contact with al-Qaeda operatives in Europe...
Federal officials, who spoke only on background because of the sensitivity of the Headley case, also said they suspect a link between Headley and the al-Qaeda figures whose activities have sparked recent terror threats against Europe.
The revelations came after a report Friday by ProPublica and The Washington Post that the FBI had been warned about Headley's terrorist ties three years before the Mumbai attacks. Headley was arrested 11 months after those attacks.
After he was arrested in a 2005 domestic dispute in New York City, his wife told federal investigators about his long involvement with the terrorist group Lashkar-i-Taiba and his extensive training in its Pakistani camps. She also told them he had bragged about being a paid U.S. informant while undergoing terrorist training.
Despite a federal inquiry into the tip, Headley spent the next four years doing terrorist reconnaissance around the world. Between 2006 and 2008, he did five spying missions in Mumbai scouting targets for the attack by Lashkar that killed 166 people, including six Americans...
Mug shot of Faisal Shahzad, the man accused of plotting a car bombing in New York's Times Square.
NEW YORK – A Pakistani immigrant who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison by a judge who said she hopes he spends time behind bars thinking "carefully about whether the Koran wants you to kill lots of people."
A defiant Faisal Shahzad smirked as he was given a mandatory life term that, under federal sentencing rules, will keep him behind bars until he dies.
"If I'm given 1,000 lives I will sacrifice them all for the life of Allah," he said at the start of a statement that lasted several minutes. "How can I be judged by a court that does not understand the suffering of my people?"...
[Webmaster - Doesn't it seem odd that Shahzad was tried, convicted, and sentenced only 5 months after his stunt back in May, while there are still 176 "detainees" languishing at Gitmo, some after 8+ years without a trial. Why didn't the trial get much coverage while it was going on? Why wasn't it televised? Why was the trial itself so low-key when his arrest was hyped up so much? The government doesn't want the full story to get out or you might discover Shahzad was provocateured. They wanted to be able to control and manipulate the "show" trial from beginning to end, then use it for propagana purposes.]
The lawyer of a man nabbed in an FBI terror sting tells The Upshot he is considering arguing that his client was induced by federal agents to commit a crime he wouldn't otherwise have gotten involved in.
Lebanese citizen Sami Samir Hassoun is charged with plotting to detonate a weapon of mass destruction outside of Wrigley Field in Chicago after a Dave Matthews Band concert. The undercover agents gave him a fake bomb that he believed could cause casualties when he dropped it into a trash can, according to the criminal complaint (PDF) against him. A federal judge has denied Hassoun bail, on the grounds that he may be dangerous.
The fake bomb was the culmination of a lengthy sting operation. The FBI asked a cooperating witness to befriend the 22-year-old Hassoun after the bureau began to regard him as a possible terrorism suspect in the spring of 2009. (The FBI hasn't yet disclosed what the basis for such suspicions may have been.) Authorities say that Hassoun told the witness about a bizarre and sinister desire to unseat Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley via the use of fake bombs and similarly unfocused schemes — like poisoning Lake Michigan — and then the informant introduced him to two undercover FBI agents in July.
The agents paid him $2,700 so Hassoun could quit his job and focus on planning attacks. He scouted out potential bomb sites with an FBI-owned camera. When one of the undercover agents said Hassoun's attack would send a message about how America treats Arab people, Hassoun said he didn't agree, that he just wanted to wrest political power from Daley through attacks that would terrify Chicagoans. He said he didn't know how exactly the attacks would translate into political power.
"He's not a terrorist," argues Hassoun's lawyer, Myron Auerbach. "He doesn't have the training, he doesn't have the ideology, he doesn't have the skills."...
Sept. 20: The Chicago sports bar where a man was arrested for allegedly placing a backback he thought contained a bomb.
CHICAGO -- A man arrested for allegedly placing a backpack he thought contained a bomb near Chicago's Wrigley Field got the fake explosive from an FBI undercover agent, authorities say -- a tactic that has been used in other U.S. terrorism cases in recent years.
Sami Samir Hassoun, 22, a Lebanese citizen living in Chicago for about three years, was charged Monday with one count each of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted use of an explosive device.
Hassoun was arrested early Sunday after planting the fake explosive device in a trash receptacle near Sluggers World Class Sports Bar, a popular bar steps from Wrigley Field, FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Grant said. The Cubs were not playing at their home field; the stadium hosted Dave Matthews Band concerts Friday and Saturday nights.
It wouldn't be the first time FBI agents have posed as terror operatives and supplied suspects with bogus explosives. Last year, authorities arrested a Jordanian national after he allegedly attempted to detonate what he thought was a bomb outside a Dallas skyscraper. In an unrelated case, authorities in Springfield, Ill., arrested another man after he allegedly tried he tried to set off what he thought was explosives in a van outside a federal courthouse.
In a similar case in May 2009, four men were arrested after they allegedly tried to detonate fake explosives -- also provided by the FBI -- outside two synagogues in New York City...
[Webmaster - Just another case of government provocateurs in action. Sometimes they let the staged attacks go active and actually provide the terrorists with the expolsives, like they did in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Read the following links...]
In March 2003, federal officials were being criticized for disrespecting the rights of Arab-Americans in their efforts to crack down on domestic security threats in the post-9/11 environment. Hoping to calm the growing tempers, FBI officials in New York hosted a forum on ways to deal with Muslim and Arab-Americans without exacerbating social tensions. The bureau wanted to provide agents with "a clear picture," said Kevin Donovan, director of the FBI's New York office.
Brought in to speak that morning -- at the office building located just blocks from Ground Zero -- was one of the city's most respected Muslim voices: Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. The imam offered what was for him a familiar sermon to those in attendance. "Islamic extremism for the majority of Muslims is an oxymoron," he said. "It is a fundamental contradiction in terms."
It was, by contemporaneous news accounts, a successful lecture.
Flash forward six-and-a-half years, and Feisal Abdul Rauf occupies a far different place in the political consciousness. The imam behind a controversial proposal to build an Islamic cultural center near those same FBI offices has been called "a radical Muslim," a "militant Islamist" and, simply, the "enemy" by conservative critics. His Cordoba House project, meanwhile, has been framed as a conduit for Hamas to funnel money to domestic terrorist operations...
Cenk Uygur (host of The Young Turks) filling in for Ed Schultz on MSNBC talked to Sam Stein of the Huffington Post about his piece explaining how the 'Ground Zero Mosque' Imam is not only not radical, but he helped the Bush administration and FBI with counterterrorism. Link to his piece below:
A US Internet radio host was convicted Friday of threatening to assault and kill three judges who upheld a ban on handguns in Chicago, the US Justice Department said.
Hal Turner, 47, was arrested in June 2009 for an Internet posting that said of the three federal judges who had upheld Chicago's handgun ban, "Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed."
His post included photos of the three men, Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook and Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer, as well as their phone numbers and work addresses.
All three judges testified during his trial, which was held in New York after Chicago judges recused themselves.
Prior to the trial, it was disclosed that Turner was a well-paid informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), pulling in over $100,000 from the government in just five years time...
A Virginia man charged with providing material support to terrorists abroad appeared in court today requesting an attorney be appointed to him.
Zachary Chesser, 20, is accused of trying to join Al-Shabaab, a Somali-based Islamist militant group suspected in the recent bombing attacks in Uganda that left 73 dead and dozens more injured as they watched the World Cup final.
"I'm shocked—I'm just surprised," said Yvette Deale, Chesser's former neighbor. "It's not the kind of thing I would have expected in this neighborhood."
Chesser, who just two years ago was a high school football player and crew member in Fairfax, VA, is now one of 34 Americans accused of and charged with having ties to international terrorists in the past 18 months...
New York (CNN) -- Two New Jersey men arrested at a New York airport were charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiring to kill, maim and kidnap people outside the United States, officials said Sunday.
Mohamed Mahmoud Alessa, 20, of North Bergen, New Jersey, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, of Elmwood Park, New Jersey, were taken into custody Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The two intended to take separate flights to Egypt on their way to Somalia "to join designated foreign terrorist organization al-Shabaab and wage violent jihad," federal prosecutors said in a statement.
The FBI received a tip regarding the men's activities in October 2006, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey. An undercover officer with the New York Police Department's intelligence unit "recorded numerous meetings and conversation with them," the statement said...
With the establishment desperate to engender and exploit violence which will be used to demonize the Tea Party movement as an extremist mob, so-called anarchists are now openly declaring their intentions to pose as Tea Party members and stage violence in order to discredit populist grass roots organizations.
As we warned last week, leading anarchist groups have announced that they plan to “crash” the nationwide Tea Party protests on April 15, a promise that should not be taken lightly given the proven history of such organizations being infiltrated and steered by authorities to provocateur pointless mayhem and violence that serves as a justification for oppressing peaceful protest groups.
Now a new website called crashtheteaparty.org has appeared to act as a forum through which such activity can be planned. The website openly states its mission is to have people infiltrate and pose as Tea Party members and then carry out shameful acts in order to “dismantle and demolish” the Tea Party. The website is registered to a man named Josh Levin...
Deadlocked jurors in the Hal Turner hate blogger case were excused late Wednesday after deliberating two days. It’s the second mistrial in the government’s case to prosecute the New Jersey man for allegedly threatening to kill judges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan said a new trial was “highly likely.” A third trial was tentatively scheduled April 12 in New York federal court.
Turner, of New Jersey, blogged at turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com that the three judges of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals should be “killed” for upholding a Chicago handgun ban in June.
“Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed. Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty. A small price to pay to assure freedom for millions,” the 47-year-old blogger wrote.
He also posted addresses, photos, maps and other identifying information about Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook and Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer.
The first mistrial in December was declared after jurors, deliberating two days, said they were hopelessly deadlocked. That happened again Wednesday with a new jury. That second jury, and not the first one, heard testimony from the three judges who said they felt threatened by Turner’s writings...
A US Internet radio host was convicted Friday of threatening to assault and kill three judges who upheld a ban on handguns in Chicago, the US Justice Department said.
