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FBI arrests 7 in domestic terrorism probe - Raids being conducted in Miami area
CNN ^ | 6/22/06

Posted on 06/22/2006 4:41:45 PM PDT by kcvl

Edited on 06/22/2006 5:22:54 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- FBI agents were raiding sites in Miami, Florida, on Thursday in connection with a domestic terrorism investigation, law enforcement sources said.

The FBI said one search warrant was being executed in the Liberty City area of Miami. Officials said no weapons or bomb-making materials had been found in the searches so far.

"We are conducting a number of arrests and searches, and we'll have more about that when the operation is completed, probably tomorrow morning," FBI Director Robert Mueller told CNN's Larry King in an interview to be broadcast Thursday.

Excerpt.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Florida; US: Georgia; US: Illinois; US: New York; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 200606; alfuqra; allamericans; alqanada; americahaters; attackcanada; attackcanadanow; blackmuslims; blamecanada; bombcanada; bushsfault; canadacausedit; canadahatesus; canadamissile; canadaneedskillin; canadasucks; canadatheenemy; cedarrapids; chicago; destroycanada; detroit; detroitcell; fbibuilding; fifthcolumn; florida; govwatch; haitian; ihatecanada; iowa; islam; islamofascism; islamokazis; jamaatalfuqra; jamescomey; jihad; jihadinamerica; killcanada; killwhitey; koranimals; libertycity; libertycity7; lisapage; miami; miamicell; mueller; nationofislam; notalqueda; nukecanada; peterstrzok; ratsblamebush; religionofpieces; robertmueller; searstower; searstowerplot; seasofdavid; seedsofdavid; sleepercells; sneakycanada; terrorism; trop; wehatecanada; whitedevils; wot; yahweh
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To: BunnySlippers

Interesting so far is there is no discussion of 'who' this group have as their spiritual leader. I hope someone makes the point the connection here is ISLAM once again and most likely behind this is a local group of islamic leaders. Hopefully some good reporters will get this information out.


561 posted on 06/23/2006 8:11:05 AM PDT by Faithfull
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To: NautiNurse

Sheesh! Just switched to Fox, heard droning from "no oil on my valuable beach front property" Nelson-D Fl.


562 posted on 06/23/2006 8:12:54 AM PDT by bwteim (bwteim = Begin With The End In Mind)
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To: livius

"What in the world is that? Is this a sort of "Black Masons" thing? Actually, Masonic lodges (or Shriners, actually) often do have a quasi-Islamic decorating theme, so I suppose this might be what attracted them. A group of black Muslim nutcases I used to see on the street in New York wore what was clearly Shriner-type regalia."

Most Arab Muslims hate the Masons and tie them into crazy Nazi propaganda. Not sure why they would be in an old
Masonic lodge.


563 posted on 06/23/2006 8:20:22 AM PDT by penelopesire
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To: bwteim

It only got worse on Fox. Some Democrat Congressman was on blaming Bush policies in Iraq for making these poor boys do what they were doing.

I had to turn it off. Bridget Quinn tried to reign the guy in but he wouldn't shut up so I turned it off.


564 posted on 06/23/2006 8:23:16 AM PDT by Republican Red (Everyone is super stoked on Gore. Even if they don't know it)
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To: Zuben Elgenubi; backhoe; Cindy; piasa; Ernest_at_the_Beach

"Thanks for the link, GD. Pretty interesting reading. Do you have a link to a list of al fuqra orgainizations in the rest of the USA?"

I don't have any link like that. I have pinged some of our better indexers to see if they have such a link.

The link below will take you to a very intersting FR Thread re an article about these home grown Islamo terrorist wannabee scumbags.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/643426/posts


Ove the past close to 5 years I and most of us have just linked any al Fuqra thread/event with the key word al Fuqra.



http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=alfuqra


565 posted on 06/23/2006 8:28:09 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (There's a dwindling market for Marxist Homosexual Lunatic wet dreams posing as journalism)
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To: Republican Red; Grampa Dave

Meanwhile, on one of the sites that dare not really reveal their name: "A half a dozen guys playing 'army'"

It is amazing to think how ostrich-like people can be. I'm with Grampa Dave on these "home grown Islamo terrorist wannabee scumbags". Identify them and lock them up.


566 posted on 06/23/2006 8:39:23 AM PDT by bwteim (bwteim = Begin With The End In Mind)
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To: kcvl

The FBI said these arrests have nothing to do with a particular religion :)


567 posted on 06/23/2006 8:43:03 AM PDT by silentknight
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To: Republican Red
It only got worse on Fox. Some Democrat Congressman was on blaming Bush policies in Iraq for making these poor boys do what they were doing.

Unbelievable. I knew there were going to go there. I told my husband last night that friends and relatives of the 7 would be on TV saying what nice boys they are. I'm sick and tired of the left holding us back from winning the WOT.

568 posted on 06/23/2006 8:46:44 AM PDT by freeperfromnj
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To: bwteim

"Meanwhile, on one of the sites that dare not really reveal their name: "A half a dozen guys playing 'army'"

I got an email from one of my wife's relatives, who has a daughter and SIL living and working in Chicago. Apparently some news mediot called these scumbags "soldiers". She was outraged as her husband was in the Army in Nam and the SIL served in Desert Storm.

bwteim thanks for your comments. These scumbags need to arrested and tried for the crimes they have plotted and sent to some place a few stars less than Gitmo.


569 posted on 06/23/2006 8:46:45 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (There's a dwindling market for Marxist Homosexual Lunatic wet dreams posing as journalism)
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To: Grampa Dave; NautiNurse
One 'journalist' said:

"Some people referred to these men as *social misfits* who basically couldn't work themselves out of a paper bag.

Watch MSM pick up on that phrase. Plus a nice way of attributing the source of the phrase to 'some people'.
570 posted on 06/23/2006 8:51:52 AM PDT by bwteim (bwteim = Begin With The End In Mind)
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To: freeperfromnj; Republican Red

The left will go there but won't win any argument with that ridiculous theory. These are immigrants that have been drinking someone's koolaid and don't deserve to be here, much less rage war on the US govt over anything, including our foreign policy. If anything they may claim to hate the US for not loving Haiti enough.


571 posted on 06/23/2006 8:54:23 AM PDT by RDTF ("We love death. The US loves life. That is the big difference between us two.” Osama Bin laden)
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To: RDTF

I was reading the Media Blog at NRO. Steve Spruiell was blasting the NY Times about revealing the banking story and he is being accused by some blogger of being critical of the NY Times only because it "hurts Bush".

Spruiell replied back that it was completely the opposite, that this story will, in all liklihood greatly help the President. It shows the President using every tool he has to protect the country.

I don't give the US citizanship much credit in collective smarts much but on issues of National Security even the dimmest bulbs realize what is going on.


572 posted on 06/23/2006 9:02:55 AM PDT by Republican Red (Everyone is super stoked on Gore. Even if they don't know it)
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To: NautiNurse; Grampa Dave

Correcting my quote to the reporter. I had written-
"Some people referred to these men as *social misfits* who basically couldn't work themselves out of a paper bag.


Should be:

"Some people referred to these men as *social misfits* " ... (who basically couldn't work themselves out of a paper bag, my words)


573 posted on 06/23/2006 9:03:31 AM PDT by bwteim (bwteim = Begin With The End In Mind)
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To: Republican Red

"I turned it off."

An excellent solution at times!


574 posted on 06/23/2006 9:05:12 AM PDT by bwteim (bwteim = Begin With The End In Mind)
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To: kcvl

"Religion of Peace" tries to strike again. The worrying aspect of it that 5 out of 7 suspects are American Citizens--converts to Islam.

Another reason to treat Islamic organizations be it mosques, charities, etc as subversive and totalitarian entities unless they prove otherwise by their deeds--not words.


575 posted on 06/23/2006 9:07:47 AM PDT by sergey1973
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To: bwteim

Most of these misfits have never worked, and the only paper bag they have ever used is a brown one to cover their 32 ozers while complaining about evil America.


576 posted on 06/23/2006 9:12:33 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (There's a dwindling market for Marxist Homosexual Lunatic wet dreams posing as journalism)
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To: Grampa Dave

It doesn't take much surfing to see the hatred that is out there for 'evil' America.


577 posted on 06/23/2006 9:20:27 AM PDT by bwteim (bwteim = Begin With The End In Mind)
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To: Republican Red

My wife's favorite move when a liberal is going bonkers on Fox News is to mute the tv.

They are even funnier when you can't hear them. She loves it when Colmes goes into full liberal lie and his long eyebrow reaches up to his coffed hairline.


578 posted on 06/23/2006 9:21:09 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (There's a dwindling market for Marxist Homosexual Lunatic wet dreams posing as journalism)
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To: STARWISE; SE Mom

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales meets reporters during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Friday, June 23, 2006 to discuss the arrest in Miami of a group of 'homegrown terrorists' who sought to work with al-Qaida but ended up consorting instead with a law enforcement informant. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Terror suspects sought ties with al-Qaida

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Seven young men arrested in an alleged plot against the Sears Tower were part of a group of "homegrown terrorists" who sought to work with al-Qaida but ended up conspiring with an informant, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Friday.

Outlining an alleged plot to bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago and a federal building in Miami, Gonzales told a Justice Department news conference: "They were persons who for whatever reason came to view their home country as the enemy."

Gonzales stressed that "there was no immediate threat" in either Chicago or Miami because the group didn't have the materials it was seeking. FBI Deputy Director John Pistole concurred: "This group was more aspirational than operational."

The seven individuals — ranging in age from 22 to 32 — were indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami. Six were taken into custody in Miami Thursday when authorities swarmed a warehouse in the Liberty City area, removing a metal door with a blow torch. A seventh was arrested in Atlanta.

The alleged terrorists — five U.S. citizens, a legal immigrant from Haiti and a Haitian national who was in this country illegally — were expected to appear in federal court in Miami later Friday. They had taken an oath to al-Qaida and sought help from someone they believed was a member of the terrorist organization, the indictment alleged.

Said Gonzales: "The convergence of globalization and technology has created a new brand of terrorism. Today terrorist threats come from smaller more loosely defined cells not affiliated with al-Qaida but who are inspired by a violent jihadist message, and left unchecked these homegrown terrorists may prove to be as dangerous as groups like al-Qaida."

Gonzales outlined the contents of an indictment handed up Thursday, which identified Narseal Batiste as having recruited and trained others beginning in November 2005 "for a mission to wage war against the United States government," including a plot to destroy the Sears Tower.

To obtain money and support for their mission, the conspirators sought help from al-Qaida, pledged an oath to the terrorist organization and supported an al-Qaida plot to destroy FBI buildings, the four-count indictment charged.

Batiste met several times in December 2005 with a person purporting to be an al-Qaida member and asked for boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios, vehicles and $50,000 in cash to help him build an "'Islamic Army' to wage jihad'," the indictment said. It said that Batiste said he would use his "soldiers" to destroy the Sears Tower.

Gonzales said "the individual they thought was a member of al-Qaida was present at their meetings and in actuality he was working with the South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force."

In February 2006, it said, Batiste told the "al-Qaida representative" that he and his five soldiers wanted to attend al-Qaida training and planned a "full ground war" against the United States in order to "kill all the devils we can." His mission would "be just as good or greater than 9/11," the indictment accused Batiste of boasting.

The seven defendants were charged with conspiring to "maliciously damage and destroy by means of an explosive" the FBI building in North Miami Beach and the Sears Tower in Chicago.

They were are also charged with conspiring "to levy war against the government of the United States, and to oppose by force the authority thereof."

At a news conference in Miami, U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said officials decided to raid the warehouse and make the arrests on Thursday because investigators had sufficient evidence and were confident they had fully developed the case. Acosta said authorities are confident that each arrested member of the cell "had intent to pose a threat."

"You want to go and disrupt cells like this before they acquire the means to accomplish their goals," Acosta said. "This is exactly the kind of case we should be investigating."

Acosta said the group came to law enforcement's attention when the alleged ringleader, Batiste, approached an individual about waging jihad inside the United States. This unidentified individual went to authorities with that information and later posed as an al-Qaida member, Acosta said.

He would not more fully describe the individual other than to say it was a person "who was working with us."

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. Tashawn Rose, 29, 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."

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.

In Chicago early Friday, people headed to work in the Sears Tower knew about the potential threat but didn't plan to change their routines.

In addition to Batiste and Augustin the defendants were identified as Patrick Abraham, or "Brother Pat"; Stanley Grant Phanor, or "Brother Sunni"; Naudimar Herrera or "Brother Naudy"; Lyglenson Lemorin, also known as "Brother Levi" or Brother Levi-El"; and Rotschild Augustine, or "Brother Rot."

Lemorin was arrested in Atlanta.

Joseph Phanor, the father of defendant Stanley Grant Phanor, said he didn't believe "anything they say about" his son being involved in a terrorist plot.

"This boy, he's not a violent boy. He never got into trouble. ... He didn't want to kill people," the elder Phanor told The Associated Press.

He said his son and his friends studied the Bible together in Miami. "All I know is that they have a construction job there and they have a contract to do some construction job. That's what he told me," he said.

The person they believed to be an al-Qaida representative gave Batiste a digital video camera, which Batiste said he would use to record pictures of the North Miami Beach FBI building, the indictment said. At a March 26 meeting, it went on, Batiste and Burson Augustin provided the "al-Qaida representative" with photographs of the FBI building, as well as video footage of other Miami government buildings, and discussed the plot to bomb the FBI building.

But on May 24, the indictment said, Batiste told the "al-Qaida representative" that he was experiencing delays "because of various problems within his organization." Batiste said he wanted to continue his mission and his relationship with al-Qaida nonetheless, the document said.

___

Associated Press writers Kelli Kennedy and John Pain in Miami and Connie Cass and Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.

579 posted on 06/23/2006 10:08:16 AM PDT by TexKat
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To: Faithfull

Just noticed on Fox (I had the sound turned off though) they showed a film of the outside of the "mosque" that they go to. Looked like it was in a mini-mall with a plastic sign out front.


580 posted on 06/23/2006 10:16:47 AM PDT by BunnySlippers (NUTS!)
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