« Home | Another auto-jihadist strikes in Long Island, New ... » | Following teachers violent strike in Oaxaca, hotel... » | MySpace teenager declared runaway by court; told t... » | Is blocking off traffic the right way to protest i... » | Update on the documentary at Seaport Museum » | Natan Sharansky hosts bloggers teleconference » | Mayhem in Oaxaca, Mexico » | MySpace.Com's services should be boycotted and avo... » | I support Sderot, and offer some suggestions » | Exclusive film footage on terrorism in America to ... » 

Friday, June 23, 2006 

Seven terrorist gang leaders arrested in Sears Tower plot

From the looks of things, this appears to have been a local militia-style gang as well. Worse, some of them may have been homegrown too, but certainly in their teens and twenties. From the AP Wire:
MIAMI (AP) - Inside a city warehouse, authorities believe, a group was hatching the early stages of a widespread terror plot - one that targeted Chicago's Sears Tower, an FBI office in Miami and other U.S. buildings.

On Thursday, authorities swarmed the warehouse in Miami's Liberty City area, removed a metal door with a blowtorch and arrested seven people, a federal law enforcement official said. Authorities in Washington and Miami were expected to release more details in separate news conferences Friday morning.

Neighbors who lived nearby said young men, who appeared to be in their teens and 20s, slept in the warehouse, running what looked like a militaristic group. They appeared brainwashed, some said.

"They would come out late at night and exercise," said Tashawn Rose, 29. "It seemed like a military boot camp that they were working on there. They would come out and stand guard."

The law enforcement official told The Associated Press the seven were mainly Americans with no apparent ties to al-Qaida or other foreign terrorist organizations. He spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt the news conferences.

"There is no imminent threat to Miami or any other area because of these operations," said Richard Kolko, spokesman for FBI headquarters in Washington. He declined further comment.

Residents living near the warehouse said the men taken into custody described themselves as Muslims and had tried to recruit young people to join their group. Rose said they tried to recruit her younger brother and nephew for a karate class.

She said she talked to one of the men about a month ago. "They seemed brainwashed," she said. "They said they had given their lives to Allah."

Residents said FBI agents spent several hours in the neighborhood showing photos of the suspects and seeking information. They said the men had lived in the area for about a year.

Benjamin Williams, 17, said the group sometimes had young children with them. At times, he added, the men "would cover their faces. Sometimes they would wear things on their heads, like turbans."
I think what they really mean is that the men were wearing kaffiyehs, which is an Islamic form of headwear worn by male Muslims.

There's something fishy about the following though:
A man who called himself Brother Corey and claimed to be a member of the group told CNN late Thursday that the individuals worship at the building and call themselves the "Seas of David."

He dismissed any suggestion that the men were contemplating violence. "We are peaceful," he said. He added that the group studies the Bible and has "soldiers" in Chicago but is not a terrorist organization.

Xavier Smith, who attends the nearby United Christian Outreach, said the men would often come by the church and ask for water.

"They were very private," said Smith, 33.
Were they trying to smear the Christian and Jewish communities as well? It almost sounds that way from the above.
FBI Director Robert Mueller, questioned about the case on CNN's "Larry King Live," said he couldn't offer many details because "it's an ongoing operation."

"We are conducting a number of arrests and searches" in Miami, Mueller said, which were expected to be wrapped up Friday morning.

Managers of the Sears Tower, the nation's tallest building, said in a statement they speak regularly with the FBI and local law enforcement about terror threats and that Thursday "was no exception."

Security at the 110-floor Sears Tower, a Chicago landmark, was ramped up after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the 103rd-floor skydeck was closed for about a month and a half.

"Law enforcement continues to tell us that they have never found evidence of a credible terrorism threat against Sears Tower that has gone beyond criminal discussions," the statement said.

The warehouse owner declined comment. "I heard the news just like you guys," George F. Mobassaleh told the AP. "I can't talk to you."
It sounds like they're still trying to avoid the hard questions, and that's a real shame.

There's another something odd about the last part though:
Several terrorism investigations have had south Florida links. Several of the Sept. 11 hijackers lived and trained in the area, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, and several plots by Cuban-Americans against Fidel Castro's government have been based in Miami.

Jose Padilla, a former resident once accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive bomb in the U.S., is charged in Miami with being part of a support cell for Islamic extremists. Padilla's trial is set for this fall.
Is the AP trying to draw a moral equation between the terrorists and any Cubans who were opposed to Castro? There's another unsurprising mistake being made by one of the crummiest news agencies around.

FOX News spoke about how this was coming just shortly after the arrest of several homegrown jihadists in Canada. This shows that even in the US, there most certainly can be and are some homegrown ones as well.

Also available at Gribbit's Word, TMH's Bacon Bits. Others on the subject include Michelle Malkin, Debbie Schlussel, The Florida Masochist, Hot Air, Wizbang, California Conservative, Macmind, Blogs of War, Amboy Times, A Blog for All, Confederate Yankee, Stuck On Stupid, PartisanTimes, Small Town Veteran, Narcissistic Views on News/Politics, Sierra Faith, Babalu Blog, Rhymes With Right, Ninth State, Speed of Thought, Outside the Beltway, Hyscience, HangRightPolitics, Stop the ACLU, Noublesse Oblige, Interested Participant.

Labels:

Hey There,

My name is Karen Shacham and I work with CNN Pipeline in Atlanta.

I thought you might be interested to know that CNN Pipeline will be featuring FBI Director Robert Mueller giving a speech to the City Club of Cleveland regarding home grown terrorism. He is expected to have a short press conference afterwards. Both will be LIVE on CNN Pipeline at 12PM.

CNN Pipeline is an online, commercial-free, multiple live-news feed. It showcases four simultaneous news feeds from around the world and an on-demand function that allows you to select from a variety of news stories.

Please let your members know that they can go to http://www.cnn.com and click on the CNN Pipeline link to watch it *live* and get a two week free trial.

Thanks,
Karen

Thank you. I'll see if I can find it.

Post a Comment

About me

  • I'm Avi Green
  • From Jerusalem, Israel
  • I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best.
My profile

Archives

Links

    avigreen2002@yahoo.com See also my collection of Link in Bio pages: Realtime Website Traffic
      telchaidrawing

      I also contribute to

    • The Astute Bloggers
    • Infidel Bloggers Alliance
    • Which also includes (open menu)

      My other sites

    • The Four Color Media Monitor
    • The Comic Book Discrimination Dossiers
    • Hawkfan
    • The Greatest Thing on Earth!
    • The Outer Observatory
    • Earth's Mightiest Heroines
    • Puzzle Paradise
    • The Co-Stars Primer
    • Cinema Capsule Cavalcade
    • Food Diner
    • News/Opinion sites (open menu)

      Writers and special activity groups (open menu)

      Media Watchdogs (open menu)

      Columnist bloggers (open menu)

      Research on terrorism (open menu)

      Other bloggers: Israel and Asia (open menu)

      Other bloggers: Europe (open menu)

      Other bloggers: American continent (open menu)

      Museum sites (open menu)

      Bloggeries Blog Directory blog directory Blog Directory & Search engine View My Stats
    • W3 Counter stats
    • eXTReMe Tracker
      Locations of visitors to this page  
      Flag Counter

    This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

    make money online blogger templates

Older Posts Newer Posts

Tel-Chai Nation is powered by Blogspot and Gecko & Fly.
No part of the content or the blog may be reproduced without prior written permission.
Join the Google Adsense program and learn how to make money online.