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Plot To Blow Up JFK Is 'Tip Of The Iceberg'
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 6-4-2007 | Toby Harnden

Posted on 06/03/2007 7:53:27 PM PDT by blam

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To: blam
Defreitas, 63, becoming enraged at seeing American missiles being shipped to Israel

He's not enraged about Iraq? It's hard to get these terrorists in line with DNC talking points.
21 posted on 06/03/2007 8:29:46 PM PDT by Thrownatbirth (.....when the sidewalks are safe for the little guy.)
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To: jwalburg

“These people aren’t just terrorists. They are majorly messed up. They have severe mental problems.”

Islam creates mental illness.


22 posted on 06/03/2007 8:30:05 PM PDT by navyguy (We don't need more youth. What we need is a fountain of SMART.)
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To: Diogenesis
"Unauthorized residents". Ha, that's a new one. How about "unverified neighbors"?

I spoke to a guy in California today who "bought" a house near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico today. He can't actually buy the house because foreigners are prohibited from owning property in Mexico near the coast. It is prohibited by Mexico's constitution. So he "bought" the house by investing in a "trust" that has a "lease" on the property for a period of time. You see, they don't allow unauthorized residents in Mexico. Have a nice day.

23 posted on 06/03/2007 8:37:14 PM PDT by Sender ("America is at that awkward stage..." - Claire Wolfe)
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To: rbg81

He’ll get to be “the virgin” at least 72 times.


24 posted on 06/03/2007 8:46:10 PM PDT by mathurine (ua)
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To: jwalburg

They’re life’s losers who declare jihad and find lots of money coming their way. We need to cut off the oil money flowing to jihadi outfits and freelancers like these.


25 posted on 06/03/2007 9:08:41 PM PDT by Roy Tucker ("You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality"--Ayn Rand)
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To: blam

You know, this isnt Die Hard....how are they going to blow up an entire pipeline? It isnt like in the movie, where a leaking airline will light a long run of fire, into the air and then blow up the engine.

Yippe Kai Yay!


26 posted on 06/03/2007 9:09:42 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
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To: BurbankKarl
Yup.

However, we may not know or ever know if there's more to the story.

27 posted on 06/03/2007 9:15:46 PM PDT by blam
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To: Thrownatbirth
"Defreitas, 63, becoming enraged at seeing American missiles being shipped to Israel"

Actually he's a perfect Democrat Presidential candidate. I wish just one of the "moderators" would ask if any of the present candidates agrees with this guy's statements.

28 posted on 06/03/2007 9:35:25 PM PDT by boop (Now Greg, you know I don't like that WORD!)
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To: blam
The counter-terrorism official said that although the plan "was not technically possible"

Like simultaneous sex with 72 virgins?
29 posted on 06/03/2007 9:38:21 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: blam

The guy looks a little like Denzel Washington.


30 posted on 06/03/2007 9:40:24 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: blam; billbears

“However, we may not know or ever know if there’s more to the story.”

Agree. A bunch of bumbling fools? Hardly. Here’s an Aussie version of home-grown jihadi’s.

Australian Anti-Terror Raids: A Serious Plot Thwarted

By Trevor Stanley

On November 9 Australian police raided properties in Melbourne and Sydney, arresting 17 men and seizing bomb-making materials
Since September 11, 2001, Australians have been warned that an attack on Australian soil by al-Qaeda or its allies is probable, if not inevitable. In October, ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organization) released its 2004/05 annual report, which warned of the risk of “home grown” terrorists.

Despite evidence of networks, training and preliminary planning for terrorist attacks in Australia before and after 9/11, several raids and waves of anti-terrorist legislation, only one person—Jack Roche—has been convicted of terrorist offences in Australia to date. This has led some in the country to speculate that the domestic terrorist threat was exaggerated. But the thwarting of a terrorist plot in its late planning stages in early November shows that the threat is very real.

Early on November 9, State and Federal police raided dozens of properties in Melbourne and Sydney, arresting 17 men and seizing large quantities of alleged precursor chemicals, laboratory equipment, instruction manuals on the production of the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP), and maps and photographs of potential targets.

One suspect, Omar Baladjam, was shot in the neck after firing at police outside a Sydney mosque. An eighteenth suspect, Melbournian Izzydeen Atik was arrested in Sydney on November 11, apparently on a liaison visit. Police and political leaders in both States declared that the operation had foiled an imminent attack of enormous magnitude.

The group was under close surveillance by ASIO and Federal and State police for at least 16 months, with hundreds of hours of conversations recorded. Several of the Melbourne suspects were targeted in raids in June 2005.

It is alleged that those arrested in both States constituted an unnamed terrorist organization led by a 45 year-old from Melbourne, Abdul Nacer Benbrika (aka Abu Bakr). Benbrika had previously called Osama bin Laden a “great man” and claims to support the aims of Algeria’s Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) [1].

Benbrika came to Australia from his native Algeria on a temporary visa in May 1989. He eventually obtained Australian citizenship, claiming that he faced persecution if he returned to Algeria. Respected Sheikh Fehmi Naji al-Imam provided him with a reference letter, but now says he regrets doing so.

In Australia, Benbrika followed a trajectory of increasing radicalism. He fell into the orbit of radical Melbourne Sheikh Mohamed Omran, and was apparently inspired by Abu Qatada, whom Omran brought to Australia on a speaking tour in 1994.

Benbrika determined to become an Islamic scholar, but instead of studying jurisprudence at a recognized Islamic University, he taught himself, largely cut off from the wider community. He began preaching at Omran’s Brunswick mosque, attracting a small following. A number of those arrested in Melbourne in the recent raids are known to have attended the Brunswick mosque.

Several years ago, Benbrika broke away from Omran, taking the most violent, radical elements of the congregation with him. Later, he was able to extend his influence into New South Wales, creating a second cell.

Benbrika’s Sydney cell achieved an advanced stage of planning much more quickly than his Melbourne cell, and was much more diverse, even though Benbrika had been recruiting for longer in Melbourne. This suggests a broader, more experienced and well-connected network already existed in Sydney. It is therefore worthwhile to analyze the two cells separately.

At least seven of the Melbourne suspects are the children of Lebanese immigrants, and some began practicing Islam only 18 months ago (see addendum at end of this article). Most are tradesmen and laborers. Some have previous police records for minor crimes, and two of the suspects—Hany Taha and Izzydeen Atik—allegedly operated a “car rebirthing” operation to raise funds for the group.

The Melbourne suspects allegedly used a Kinglake property and various commercial hunting properties for paramilitary training. Only convert Shane Gregory Kent (aka Yasin) is thought to have trained abroad. In mid-2001, he allegedly trained at a Jaish-e-Mohamed camp in Pakistan before proceeding to al-Qaeda’s al-Faruq camp. He was accompanied by another Australian convert, “Abu Jihad,” who is believed to have been the main informant against the Benbrika group.

It has been alleged that Melbourne suspects were filming the Australian Stock Exchange and Flinders Street Station, Melbourne’s landmark central train exchange. During the November raids, officers reportedly found maps of Casselden Place, the Melbourne headquarters of the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Immigration. In addition, the prosecution claims that Abdulla Merhi was recorded asking Benbrika for permission to become a suicide bomber.

The men arrested in Melbourne have been charged with membership of a terrorist organization, except Benbrika who has been charged with leading a terrorist organization. In addition, a number of minor property crime charges have been laid.

Although the evidence suggests an intention to conduct terrorist attacks against major landmarks, the Melbourne group made little progress. However, they maintained close contact with the Sydney suspects by telephone and through regular visits.

In conversations recorded before the raids, the Melbourne cell members reportedly complained that the Sydney cell was ahead of them in planning an attack. An increase in the frequency of these inter-state communications was apparently the trigger for the raids in Melbourne and Sydney [2].

The Sydney raids turned up hundreds of liters of chemicals, laboratory equipment, 165 detonators, 132 digital timers, batteries, firearms and ammunition. The suspects’ homes also contained al-Qaeda literature and bomb-making manuals [3]. Chemical suppliers have told the media that they tipped off the authorities about several attempts to purchase large quantities of hydrogen peroxide, acetone, hydrochloric and/or sulphuric acid and hexamine, which can be used in explosives [4]. It appears the suspects were turning the Sydney house into a bomb-making factory.

Almost all the Sydney suspects have been charged with conspiring to manufacture explosives in preparation for a terrorist attack [5], a charge that did not exist until four days before the raids. The Federal Government passed an emergency amendment to the Crimes Act after being briefed by ASIO and the Federal Police about the possibly imminent attacks. The amendment triggered accusations that the government was using the terrorist issue as a smokescreen for its contentious industrial relations laws, despite the fact that the opposition leader and relevant State Premiers were briefed and supported the change.

It was felt the amendment was necessary because the Act, as it stood, could be read as requiring the prosecution to prove the specific details—such as the intended date and target—if the alleged attack.

This is not to say that authorities had no idea what targets the suspects might have been considering. In December 2004, three of the Sydney suspects (Mazen Touma, Mohamed Elomar and Abdul Rakib Hasan) were apprehended by police within the 1.6km exclusion zone around Sydney’s Lucas Heights nuclear reactor. A padlock on a gate leading to the reactor’s reservoir had been cut. Laskar-e-Taiba agent Willie Brigitte, deported in October 2003, had also considered an attack on the reactor. Although Lucas Heights is a small, medical research reactor that poses negligible risk, the suspects’ presence at the site raises disturbing questions about the group’s intentions.

While the Melbourne suspects give the impression of being a group of hot-heads who in some cases joined the plot because their friends and relatives did, the Sydney suspects are generally older and more experienced. Several were trained by Laskar-e-Taiba or have been connected with suspected terrorist operatives in the past.

Khaled Sharrouf’s family was close to Willie Brigitte and the Australian he married. Sharrouf’s brother-in-law, Mohamed Ndaw, was extradited to his native Senegal in 2004 on security grounds.

Abdul Rakib Hasan allegedly set up three safe houses for Brigitte in Sydney. In July 2005 he was charged with two counts of lying to ASIO about his close contact with Brigitte. Hasan was also named as a key player in a series of alleged terrorist training camps in the Blue Mountains. These were run by Malaysian man Asman Hashim, who also set up training camps for Jemaah Islamiyah in the Southern Philippines [6].

Another alleged terrorist training camp was discovered in the NSW Southern Tablelands in 2000, after neighboring farmers reported explosions and automatic gunfire. Three of the four owners of the property are brothers of another of the men arrested in the Sydney raids, Mohamed Ali Elomar. The brothers told police that the property was used by Sydney’s hardline Islamic Youth Movement, but only for hunting trips [7].

The arrests and resulting evidence from the November 8 raids support the view that a terrorist attack on Australian soil is a real possibility. They also demonstrate that Australian security agencies have learned important lessons since 2000, when ASIO failed to return calls from would-be terrorist Jack Roche. The enhanced effectiveness of Australian security agencies considerably reduces the likelihood of success for any future terrorist plot in Australia.

The presence of a largely home-grown terrorist organization in Australia may be seen as part of an international trend towards the self-recruitment of terrorists. However, the uneven development of plots in Sydney and Melbourne demonstrates that training, experience and international connections continue to be important factors in determining whether, and how quickly, a terrorist organization can make the transition from intention to capability.


31 posted on 06/03/2007 9:49:09 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (Fair Dinkum!)
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To: jwalburg

I agree. It just shows you how uneducated and immature these maniacs are.


32 posted on 06/03/2007 9:58:03 PM PDT by freekitty
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To: billbears; blam; Ernest_at_the_Beach
Are there threats? Perhaps. But this wasn't one of them. This guy sounds he flunked out of Nigerian scam school

I want to draw your attention to the final paragraph of the article from Australia. One day, we won't be so lucky. Meanwhile, you are beginning to sound like a (not very) intellectual human shield for islamist fanatics.

The presence of a largely home-grown terrorist organization in Australia may be seen as part of an international trend towards the self-recruitment of terrorists. However, the uneven development of plots in Sydney and Melbourne demonstrates that training, experience and international connections continue to be important factors in determining whether, and how quickly, a terrorist organization can make the transition from intention to capability.

33 posted on 06/03/2007 9:59:55 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (Fair Dinkum!)
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To: Roy Tucker
They’re life’s losers who declare jihad and find lots of money coming their way. We need to cut off the oil money flowing to jihadi outfits and freelancers like these.

Cutting off the money and making the "price" of being a terrorist very high...

34 posted on 06/03/2007 10:14:02 PM PDT by GOPJ (Import fruit, not illegal pickers.)
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To: blam

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6454373.stm

‘Australia terror plotter’ jailed

Willie Brigitte was deported from Australia to stand trial in France
A French national suspected of plotting terror attacks in Australia has been found guilty of links to terror groups.
Willie Brigitte, from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, was sentenced to nine years in jail by a Paris court.


35 posted on 06/03/2007 10:19:16 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (Fair Dinkum!)
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To: Fred Nerks; blam
NY Times says this is NOT a BIG Deal....:

Papers Portray Plot as More Talk Than Action

*****************************EXCERPT*****************************

The plot as painted by law enforcement officials was cataclysmic: A home-grown Islamic terrorist had in mind detonating fuel storage tanks and pipelines and setting fire to Kennedy International Airport, not to mention a substantial swath of Queens.

“Had the plot been carried out, it could have resulted in unfathomable damage, deaths and destruction,” Roslynn R. Mauskopf, the United States attorney in Brooklyn, said in a news release that announced charges against four men. She added at a news conference, “The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded are just unthinkable.”

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly then stepped to the lectern with a vision only a bit less grim.

“Once again, would-be terrorists have put New York City in their crosshairs,” he said. Mr. Kelly said a disaster had been averted.

But the criminal complaint filed by the federal authorities against the four defendants in the case — one of them, Abdel Nur, remained at large yesterday — suggests a less than mature terror plan, a proposed effort longer on evil intent than on operational capability.

(Ms. Mauskopf noted in her news release that the “public was never at risk” and told reporters that law enforcement “had stopped this plot long before it ever had a chance to be carried out.”)

36 posted on 06/03/2007 10:21:36 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The DemonicRATS believe ....that the best decisions are always made after the fact.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
suggests a less than mature terror plan, a proposed effort longer on evil intent than on operational capability.

well, that's all right then...'they' plan to kill us but haven't quite worked out the finer points yet. I can sleep soundly on that.

do I need the sarc tag?

37 posted on 06/03/2007 10:44:41 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (Fair Dinkum!)
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To: GOPJ

Agreed. I think they need to start raising the cost-benfit calculus of the “home-growns”. We should start treating this like the war it is supposed to be and hang (or otherwise execute)traitors and saboteurs. Probably won’t deter the died-in-the-wool suicide bombers but the home-growns might think twice about it.

Right now it is way too easy for these guys to increase their personal liquidity by going jihadi.


38 posted on 06/03/2007 10:58:17 PM PDT by Roy Tucker ("You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality"--Ayn Rand)
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To: blam

What happened to the warning about loose lips sinks ships. Posting a picture of the pipeline kind of shows people where to go. I know, it will have been shown elsewhere.


39 posted on 06/03/2007 11:02:13 PM PDT by BJungNan (w)
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To: Diogenesis

Scary stuff. They are here already.


40 posted on 06/03/2007 11:03:28 PM PDT by BJungNan (w)
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