Thwarted terrorist attack.

[MrFun]

Feel free to discuss.


JFK International Airport (New York)

[snoopy369]

By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 2, 7:48 PM ET

NEW YORK - Federal authorities announced Saturday they had broken up a suspected Muslim terrorist cell planning a "chilling" attack to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods.
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Three men, one of them a former member of Guyana's parliament, were arrested and one was being sought in Trinidad as part of a plot that authorities said they had been tracked for more than a year and was foiled in the planning stages.

"The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable," U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said at a news conference, calling it "one of the most chilling plots imaginable."

In an indictment charging the four men, one of them is quoted as saying the foiled plot would "cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks," destroying the airport, killing several thousand people and destroying parts of New York's borough of Queens, where the line runs underground.

One of the suspects, Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and former JFK air cargo employee, said the airport named for the slain president was targeted because it is a symbol that would put "the whole country in mourning."

"It's like you can kill the man twice," said Defreitas, 63, who first hatched his plan more than a decade ago when he worked as a cargo handler for a service company, according to the indictment.

Authorities said the men were motivated by hatred toward the U.S.,
Israel and the West. Defreitas was recorded saying he "wanted to do something to get those bastards."

Despite their efforts, the men never obtained any explosives, authorities said.

"Pulling off any bombing of this magnitude would not be easy in today's environment," former U.S. State Department counterterrorism expert Fred Burton said, but added it was difficult to determine without knowing all the facts of the case.

Richard Kuprewicz, a pipeline expert and president of Accufacts Inc., an energy consulting firm that focuses on pipelines and tank farms, said the force of explosion would depend on the amount of fuel under pressure, but it would not travel up and down the line.

"That doesn't mean wackos out there can't do damage and cause a fire, but those explosions and fires are going to be fairly restricted," he said.

Since Defreitas retired from his job at the airport, security has significantly tightened and his knowledge of the operation was severely outdated.

He was arraigned Saturday afternoon in federal court, but did not enter a plea. He was to be held pending a bail hearing scheduled for Wednesday, prosecutors said. A phone number for his lawyer could not be located.

Two other men, Abdul Kadir of Guyana and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad, were in custody in Trinidad. A fourth man, Abdel Nur of Guyana, was still being sought in Trinidad.

Authorities said Kadir and Nur were longtime associates of a Trinidadian radical Muslim group, Jamaat al Muslimeen, which launched an unsuccessful rebellion in 1990 that left 24 dead.

Kadir, a former member of Parliament in Guyana, was arrested in Trinidad for attempting to secure money for "terrorist operations," according to a Guyanese police commander who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Kadir left his position in Parliament last year. Muslims make up about 9 percent of the former Dutch and British colony's 770,000 population, mostly from the Sunni sect.

Isha Kadir, the Guyanese suspect's wife, said her husband flew from Guyana to Trinidad on Thursday. She said he was arrested Friday as he was boarding a flight from Trinidad to Venezuela, where he planned to pick up a travel visa to attend an Islamic religious conference in
Iran.

"We have no interest in blowing up anything in the U.S.," she said Saturday from the couple's home in Guyana. "We have relatives in the U.S."

The pipeline, owned by Buckeye Pipeline Co., takes fuel from a facility in Linden, N.J., to the airport. Other lines service LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.

Buckeye spokesman Roy Haase said the company, which moves petroleum through pipelines in a number of states, had been informed of the threat from the beginning but he declined to detail the company's security measures.

"Given the nature of Buckeye business and the importance of this transportation network, we have an intense and ongoing communications relationship with the Port Authority, the New York City fire and police departments, the federal Department of
Homeland Security and the
FBI," he said. Buckeye is a subsidiary of Buckeye Partners, L.P. based in Macungie, Pa.

JFK and the area's other airports remained at a heightened state of alert Saturday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.

Jeanie Mamo, a spokeswoman for the White House, said
President Bush had been briefed and updated regularly as the investigation into the plot progressed.

"This case is a good example of international counterterrorism cooperation," Mamo said.

The arrests mark the latest in a series of alleged homegrown terrorism plots targeting high-profile American landmarks.

A year ago, seven men were arrested in what officials called the early stages of a plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and destroy FBI offices and other buildings.

A month later, authorities broke up a plot to bomb underwater New York City train tunnels to flood lower Manhattan.

And six people were arrested a month ago in an alleged plot to unleash a bloody rampage on Fort Dix in New Jersey.

___

Associated Press Writer Tom Hays and Pat Milton contributed to this report.

Not including the text

Anyhow, this seems sort of boring. Yet another "maybe" plan stopped early on. Great, good job FBI/DHS/ etc... but I want to know if this was a serious, likely to happen plot or not. It's somewhat of a sad attitude - after all, if they're doing their jobs, this is the furthest it should get... but at the same time, how many of these are serious, and how many are just made up to be big to win elections or get more funding?

Eventually it's the boy who cried wolf, and we don't care anymore...

[DRoseDARs]

Feds Break Up Terror Plot; I'm Still Not Voting Republican
by The Angry Rakkasan
Sat Jun 02, 2007 at 07:06:36 PM PDT

Tormented by a failing war and desperate to look "tough" on "terror," the Bush administration today announced another phony terror plot designed to scare average Americans into voting Republican. This is the fourth time in the last year alone that they’ve tried to pull the same bull****.
The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security are methodically setting up, arresting, and then publicizing the aspirations of ignorant, wannabe terrorists—while real terrorists like Osama bin Laden still operate freely in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan. As Walt Starr said in the title of his diary earlier today, the FBI Can Only Bust Idiots, Not Terrorists. And it’s apparently true. Read below to see how the executive branch is trying to swindle us.

* The Angry Rakkasan's diary *

It’s not that they’re not catching bad people. They are. And I give them credit for that. It’s that they’re catching mouth-breathing morons with bad attitudes, and Gonzales and Chertoff (with the MSM’s help) are passing them off to the American public as being internationally trained, well-financed, sophisticated terrorists. Essentially, they’re lying to cover for the fact that their incompetence has prevented them from catching real terrorists. Let’s take a look at the last four cases in chronological order:



1. Miami Bomb Plot to Attack the Sears Tower

In June 2006, FBI agents arrested seven men in Miami it said had "sworn allegiances to al Qaeda." The BBC reported that, " They were planning to blow up Chicago’s Sears Tower, the FBI says." The same report stated that, "according to a federal indictment, the men were conspiring to "levy war against the United States."

Now that sounds pretty serious. Almost 9/11-like. When the story broke, cable news networks fell for it hook line and sinker—and it made the headlines, many of which I wish I could reproduce here. Suffice it to say, they were along the lines of "Sears Tower Terror Plot Foiled," and similar such titles. George W. Bush’s executive branch wanted you to think they had heroically stopped Osama bin Laden’s personal emissaries, sent to bring death and destruction to America.
Fortunately, it was all a bunch of bull****. In the same BBC article, the FBI asserted that the group had "sworn allegiance to al Qaeda"—but that they had no contacts with it. Further along, the BBC pointed out that, according to the FBI, "No weapons were found in the Miami warehouse, and the seven had not posed any immediate danger." When pressed, "Deputy FBI leader John Pistole said the plot had been "aspirational" rather than "operational." So what did Attorney General Alberto Gonzales say in the face of not a lot of evidence? Mr Gonzales said the lack of a direct link to al-Qaeda did not make the group any less dangerous.

Okay. Maybe so. But that’s not what the Washington Post said two and half months later: "But court records released since then suggest that what Gonzales described as a "deadly plot" was virtually the pipe dream of a few men with almost no ability to pull it off on their own. The suspects have raised questions in court about the FBI informants' role in keeping the plan alive."

The plot featured self-proclaimed militant religious leaders who referred to themselves as kings, talked of establishing their own nation inside the United States, called their headquarters an embassy and discussed plans to train their recruits to use bows and arrows. One of their quixotic notions was to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower.

Batiste's father, a Christian preacher and former contractor who lives in Louisiana, told the news media after the indictment that his son was "not in his right mind" and needed psychiatric treatment.

At the news conference, Gonzales acknowledged that Batiste was nowhere near carrying out a terrorist act.

At the hearing, Batiste's attorney, John Wylie, showed that the FBI's investigation found no evidence that his client had met with any real terrorist, received e-mails or wire transfers from the Middle East, possessed any al-Qaeda literature, or had even a picture of bin Laden.

Asked for a response, a Justice Department spokesman referred a reporter to Gonzales's remarks about the case.

This case was trumped up, utter bull****. The FBI went in, found a crazy guy with some followers in Miami, talked him into blowing up the Sears Tower, then arrested him for it, and then tried to sell it to the American public as victory against al Qaeda on cable television. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden was still at large.



2. The Hudson River Bombing Plot

Several weeks after the Miami "plot" was broken up, the FBI announced that three terrorists had been arrested after planning to bomb underwater train tunnels in New York City in order to flood lower Manhattan. Reported by a CBS news affiliate, and according to the FBI,

"This is a plot that involved martyrdom and explosives and certain of the tubes that connect Jersey and lower Manhattan," FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon said during a press conference. He called the plot the "real deal."

"We believe we intercepted this group early in their plotting and, in fact, the plan has largely been disrupted," Mershon said.

Initial reports said the terrorists wanted to attack the Holland Tunnel. But Mershon said the group specifically mentioned only the PATH train tunnels between New York and New Jersey.

Wow. That sounds pretty serious—just like the last one. And yes, the media was all over this one, too.
Fortunately, this one was bull**** as well. A day after the initial story broke, the Washington Post was all over it: "But authorities said there was no evidence that the plotters had taken any actions, such as buying explosives or sending money. They cast doubt on the feasibility of initial reports, which first appeared in the New York Daily News, that terrorists sought to flood Lower Manhattan and the Financial District by bombing tunnels."

Two U.S. counterterrorism officials, speaking on the condition that their names and agencies not be identified because the FBI is the government's lead agency, discounted the ability of the conspirators to carry out an attack.

One said the alleged plot was "not as far along" as described and was "more aspirational in nature." The other described the threat as "jihadi bravado," adding "somebody talks about tunnels, it lights people up," but that there was little activity to back up the talk.

Thank God for anonymous sources of integrity within the FBI. Otherwise people might actually believe that Alberto Gonzales was somehow competent in the field of counter-terrorism. Because this story, like the last, was complete and utter bull**** drummed up by federal officials who wanted to look like heroes for America. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden was still at large.



3. The Fort Dix Attack Plot

On May 7, 2007, six "terrorists" were arrested in New Jersey after allegedly plotting to kill soldiers on the Fort Dix military installation. The men were arrested after an FBI agent infiltrated the group. After the arrest, the FBI proclaimed: "Today we dodged a bullet. In fact, when you look at the type of weapons that this group was trying to purchase, we may have dodged a lot of bullets," said FBI agent J.P. Weis. "We had a group that was forming a platoon to take on an army. They identified their target, they did their reconnaissance. They had maps. And they were in the process of buying weapons. Luckily, we were able to stop that."

Geez. That sounds awful. So how did these terrorist masterminds get caught? Answer: They made a tape of themselves shooting assault rifles and screaming for jihad. Then they brought it to a Mt. Laurel, New Jersey Circuit City for transfer to DVD. The store clerk took one look at it and then called the cops. I’m going to say that again: They. Brought. It. To. A. Circuit. City. To. Make. Copies. Now let’s rewind and take another look at what Mr. FBI had to say about these guys: "We had a group that was forming a platoon to take on an army."

Right. And I’m the ****ing Easter Bunny. Do you think Sheikh Osama brings his jihadi video tapes to Circuit City? All that stock footage you see of terrorists swinging from the jungle gym? The ones jumping through hoops of fire? Do you think they made copies of those at a Circuit City in suburban Philadelphia?
Me neither.
The "Fort Dix Six" were not terrorists. These are not the types that pull off real terrorist attacks. These are moron troublemakers. And the longer we allow our government to confuse these ignorant *******s with real, hardened, international terrorists, the more ultimate danger we will be in. There is an old adage: "Know your enemy." Apparently the Bush administration does not. And not only that, but they seem not to care. They’re more interested in drumming up votes from a frightened populace than anything else. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden is still at large.



4. The JFK Airport Terror Plot

And this brings us to today. Another day, another foiled terrorist plot by Gonzales, Chertoff, and the gang. Today’s plan consisted of a suspected Muslim terrorist cell planning a "chilling" attack to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods.

Like the rest, this one dominated TV news coverage on this Saturday. Americans were frightened. But benevolent government forces had saved the day. And like the rest, less than 12 hours after the story broke, CNN was quoting anonymous "Homeland Security sources" as saying "the attack as planned was "not technically feasible."

But wait. . .what about all the "Breaking News" banners I saw on TV today? It had to have been feasible? Right?

The answer is "No." It didn’t.
The bottom line is that these 28-percenters running our government can continue to use fear tactics to try and get votes. That’s fine. But it’s still not going to get me to vote Republican. I’m not that scared yet, and I probably never will be. Maybe this type of stuff worked on people in 2002, but not in 2007—and certainly not in 2008. They’ve used the same tired storyline too many times—and we’re no longer buying it. It’s all phony.

[Dinner]

I heard about this this morning and once again it seems like complete bumbling idiots who didn't have the money or intellectual capacity to pull of their plan. They were just talking and nothing ever progressed beyond that point. Still, they should be tossed into jail for being idiots.

[snoopy369]

I guess as long as nobody actually attacks us we should be happy, right?

[Dis]

I see a lot of scary headlines, so what's up with that?

worse than 911? The suspects thinking they could wreck the american economy?

Seems unlikely. Why does the media have to use scare tactics?

[DaShi]

Unfortunately for Al Qaeda, all their competent planners and strategists were killed on 9/11. This has always been the thorn of coordinated suicide attacks.

[Dinner]

600 AM is saying they were from Trinidad and their families were Pakistani. 600AM is a far right wing radio station though so I don't know if they can be trusted to tell the truth.

[EyesOfNight]

On the other hand, Oerdin the sane and rational moderate should be trusted without a second thought.

And in other news, apparently there isn't a country in this world where Muslims haven't set up shop and started causing problems. The religion of peace.

[SlowwHand]

Re: Thwarted terrorist attack.

Originally posted by MrFun
Feel free to discuss.


JFK International Airport (New York)

Feel free to discuss the headline?
Feel free to discuss your lazy ass?

[Whoha]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs

I'll grant you the fed are incompetent grandstanders, but are the terrorists so perfect as to never make any mistakes?

[DinoDoc]

I'm more curious if he thinks people like that should be allowed to run free.

[SlowwHand]

You have doubt, DD? If they were young, then Asher gets in on the act.

[chequita guevara]

In the case of at least two "plots," FBI informants seem to have been key to moving things along and keeping people from dropping the ideas: the Miami Seven and the Lodi, CA case (not mentioned above). I wonder how much the FBI informants helped these plots move from wishful thinking to actually planning.

[SlowwHand]

And then there's Che. Conspiracy Central.