Posted on 06/22/2006 6:13:02 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand
Seven people were arrested Thursday in connection with the early stages of a plot to attack Chicago's Sears Tower and other buildings in the U.S., a federal law enforcement official said.
The official told The Associated Press the alleged plotters 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 news conferences planned for Friday in Washington and Miami.
Miami U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said in a statement that the investigation was an ongoing operation and that more details would be released Friday. Local media reported that agents were raiding a warehouse in Miami's Liberty City section.
"There is no imminent threat to Miami or any other area because of these operations," said Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman in Washington. He declined further comment.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was scheduled to hold a news conference Friday to discuss the raid. A simultaneous news conference was to be held in Miami.
Cedric Thomas, an owner of Thomas Produce Market, told The Miami Herald the area around his store was teeming with federal agents.
"There is a ton of guys in uniforms moving around, blocking the streets," Thomas said.
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 North American terror cell.
___
Associated Press Writer Mark Sherman in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
Not anyone's first bet, certainly, but if those gals come uncorked, man-o-manischewitz, sombody's gonna get a whuppin'!
Chicago's Sears Tower is shown on Friday, Dec. 2, 2005. Several people were arrested in connection with the early stages of a plot to attack the Sears Tower and other buildings in the U.S., a federal law official said. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
Chicago's Sears Tower, left, is shown in this Dec. 2, 2005, file photo in Chicago. Seven people were arrested, Thursday, June 22, 2006, in connection with the early stages of a plot to attack Chicago's Sears Tower, the FBI office in Miami and other buildings in the United States, a federal law enforcement official said. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, file)
A Miami police officer stands watch at the Port of Miami, February 21, 2006. The FBI and other U.S. law enforcement agencies made arrests on Thursday as part of ongoing investigations into a 'terrorist-related matter,' U.S. prosecutors in Miami said. (Marc Serota/Reuters)
Official: 7 Arrested In Connection With Terrorism Plot
FBI Conducts Terrorism-Related Investigation In Florida
POSTED: 8:55 pm EDT June 22, 2006
UPDATED: 9:32 pm EDT June 22, 2006
LIBERTY CITY, Fla. -- Seven people were arrested Thursday in connection with the early stages of a plot to attack Chicago's Sears Tower and other buildings in the United States, a federal law enforcement official said.
The official told The Associated Press the alleged plotters 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 news conferences planned for Friday in Washington and Miami.
FBI agents investigating terrorism-related activities were conducting a number of raids Thursday, federal officials said.
Miami U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said in a statement that it was an ongoing operation and that more details would be released Friday.
"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.
Several streets were cordoned off during the search.
A Miami Police Department SWAT team assisted federal agents in the search. Armed agents could be seen in the area.
Several warrants were served at a housing complex, a reporter at affiliate station WTVJ said.
South Florida has been linked to several terrorism investigations in the past. Several of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, lived and trained in the area.
Jose Padilla, a former resident once accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive bomb in the country, is charged in Miami with being part of a North American terror support cell to al-Qaida and other violent Islamic extremist organizations. He has been in federal custody since 2002 and is scheduled for trial in September.
Padilla was originally designated an "enemy combatant" and held for 3½ years without charge by the Bush administration shortly after his May 2002 arrest at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
Several plots by Cuban-Americans against the government of Fidel Castro have also been based in Miami.
http://www.local10.com/news/9414235/detail.html
I believe you meant Radical anarchist negroid black afro-American leftist muslim...trash!
See #30
The men part of a radical Black Muslim group were planning terror acts in Miami and Chicago, officials say. The planned targets were the Sears Tower in Chicago and a federal building in Miami.
See #31
"They seemed brainwashed. They said they had given their lives to Allah."
------
"I have a feeling somebody's going to get fired over there at MSNBC."
Fired for telling it like it is? I certainly hope not.
How can this be? Hillary, Chuckie, and that blowhard Peter King keep telling us that all the terror targets are in New York City.
All that and pretty ladies, too?
It certainly is refreshing to hear the truth coming from the MSM.
Strange, but refreshing.
This is an under the radar type reference so common on television shows like Law and Order.
You slip into the story that people who try to liberate their home country from a murdering dictator thug are the moral equivalent of people who would blow up an entire building full of innocent people.
In other words, "don't go getting all smug about this you right wing nutjobs".
They are very subtle about this type of thing, which hurts them because their audience is so dense, it doesn't take anyway:)
You left out "entrapment".
Good advice.
You never know when I might accidentally delete it from my site and replace it with a pic of my fat cat.
" . . .
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."
There is NO connection whatsoever to these two opposing thoughts in this one sentence.
Any reporter that could put these two disconnected events in one sentence will NEVER get the connection between Atta and the Anthrax symptoms in him, with the actual attempt to use it across this nation.
Or with the fact Saddam had it and passed it to some unsavory folks.
...and nice weather, great beaches...and a government that isn't afraid to send the mooselimbs this message:
"PETER COSTELLO: What I've said is that this is a country, which is founded on a democracy. According to our Constitution, we have a secular state. Our laws are made by the Australian Parliament. If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you. This is not the kind of country where you would feel comfortable if you were opposed to democracy, parliamentary law, independent courts and so I would say to people who don't feel comfortable with those values there might be other countries where they'd feel more comfortable with their own values or beliefs..."
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2005/s1444603.htm
Fair enough!
What's your cat got to do with it?
Since 9/11 the Sears Tower has been turned into a friggin fortress.
For good reason.
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