Free Republic

Politics: President Obama removed Cuba as a state sponsor of terror Friday, forgetting the dictatorship's long record of killing, smuggling and, yes, terror. If this is the new standard, why not just scrap the list entirely? The lifting of Cuba from the list of nations that support terrorism was a farce that may well come back to the haunt the United States. After all, the ruling Castro regime that benefits from it in the name of normal relations with the U.S. and new access to World Bank loans is the same regime that once tried the first 9/11, aligning itself...

The FBI secretly kept tabs on Nicholas Michael Teausant for six months, having a confidential informant meet with him repeatedly in Stockton at breakfast joints, a park and a flea market as the 20-year-old student allegedly spun his vision of jihad against the United States. Federal court papers say Teausant talked for months of his desire to train fighters in Syria, to bomb the Los Angeles subway system over the New Year’s Day holiday and to spark a civil war that would topple the U.S. government. :snip: In Internet postings quoted in the complaint, as well as conversations Teausant had...

A National Guard reservist has been arrested at the Canadian border in Washington for allegedly trying to aid al-Qaida in a plot to attack a Southland subway. Nicholas Teausant, 20, of Acampo, Calif., was charged Monday with attempting to provide material to support a foregoing terrorist organization, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office said. He made his first appearance in a federal courtroom in Seattle Monday afternoon.

Binyam Mohamed is back in the news. You may remember him as the al-Qaeda operative who was slated to help would-be “dirty bomber” Jose Padilla conduct a second wave of post-9/11 attacks, targeting American cities. You also may not remember him. After all, the Obama administration quietly released him without charges. Well, there’s a new chapter in this sordid tale. Mohamed is living large — taxpayer-funded large — in Great Britain. For that, we can thank the Lawyer Left’s stubborn insistence that enemy war criminals are really run-of-the-mill defendants. Actually, make that run-of-the-mill plaintiffs. Unlike Padilla, who actually got into...

MIAMI – A suspected al-Qaida operative who lived for more than 15 years in the U.S. has become chief of the terror network's global operations, the FBI says, marking the first time a leader so intimately familiar with American society has been placed in charge of planning attacks. Adnan Shukrijumah, 35, has taken over a position once held by 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Miami-based FBI counterterrorism agent Brian LeBlanc (said). That puts him in regular contact with al-Qaida's senior leadership, including Osama bin Laden... Shukrijumah and two others were part of an "external operations council" that designed and approved...

Sting operation by FBI- Press Conference just on FOX: 17 of 18 defendents arrested for attempting to purchase weapons from an undercover FBI agent. One wanted to buy uranium to make a nuclear device in a subway system. FBI spokesperson emphatically stated that did not come to fruition, but the suspect did ask the question. FBI was not involving itself in the end user, the sting operation was focusing on the people who were attempting to purchase the weapons for further sale/distribution. FBI taped over 15,000 phone calls made by the men trying to purchase. Very Dangerous weaponry including: grenade...

Ahmad Afzali, the Queens imam who pleaded guilty in March to lying to law enforcement officials about his relationship with Najibullah Zazi, the airport worker who planned to bomb New York's subways, was sentenced by a federal judge yesterday to time served. Mr. Afzali, who left his native Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion, also agreed to "self-execute" removal from the United States in the next 90 days in order to avoid a deportation hearing. Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Afzali warned Mr. Zazi and his father that they were under law-enforcement surveillance, then, as Assistant U.S. Attorney James P. Loonam told...

Note: The following text is a quote: Ali Al-Marri Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Al-Qaeda Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, 43, a dual national of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda. Al-Marri entered his guilty plea at a hearing this afternoon before Judge Michael M. Mihm in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. In so doing, al-Marri admitted that he agreed with others to provide material support or resources to al-Qaeda in the form of personnel, including himself, to work under al-Qaeda’s...

Nothing on the wires yet. No more news given than what I put in the headline.

A Queens imam pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to feds who were investigating whether he tipped off wannabe terrorist Najibullah Zazi that he was being watched. Ahmad Afzali faces six months in prison and deportation 90 days later under the plea deal - which he said amounts to an execution. "I just signed my death sentence," the Afghan national said outside court, explaining that he has no idea where he would go after leaving the United States. "I'm between a rock and a wall." Afzali lost his composure several times during the proceeding before Brooklyn Federal Judge Frederic Block, wiping...

Investigation Into Alleged NYC Bomb Plot Includes Nearly All of the Bureau's U.S. Field OfficesCriminal Complaint Suggests Cops May Have Tipped-Off Zazi By Questioning New York Imam, Seizing CarThe FBI is expanding its investigation into an alleged terror plot targeting New York City, and nearly every one of the FBI's 57 field offices in the country and several overseas are now in on the case, working along with local police. On Wednesday, the NYPD was showing a new training video in precincts citywide detailing the intelligence from the agencies. Bomb Squad Commander Lt. Marc Torre narrates the video, giving regular...

Fearful of a Madrid-style subway train bombing, authorities are poised to make more raids to seize bomb-making materials at locations in Queens, sources said Wednesday. The FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team arrived in New York in anticipation of the offensive to thwart a Denver-based terror cell with ties to Al Qaeda, police sources told the Daily News. Another source said an earlier raid uncovered nine backpacks and cell phones, raising memories of the March 2004 bombings in Madrid. A series of terrorist bombs detonated aboard commuter trains killed 191 people. The source said authorities feared a potential attack on the...

Note: Photo included. Trio not guilty of helping 7/7 London bombers Jury clears men of conspiring with four bombers over London 2005 explosions that killed 52 Rachel Williams guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 April 2009 17.01 BST Three British Muslims were today cleared of helping the 7 July bombers choose their targets by carrying out a reconnaissance mission in London seven months before the attacks that killed 52 people and injured almost 1,000. A jury at Kingston crown court unanimously found Waheed Ali, 25, Sadeer Saleem, 28, and Mohammed Shakil, 32, all from Beeston, Leeds, not guilty of conspiring with the four...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal authorities are warning law enforcement personnel of a possible terror plot against the New York City subway system during the holiday season. An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press says the FBI has received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that al-Qaida terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system.

NEW YORK -- Two Brooklyn men have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to bomb a subway station in midtown Manhattan, sources said early Saturday. At least one of the men may have an affiliation with a terrorist organization, according to two law enforcement sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The sources said the group in question was not believed to be al-Qaida.

July 26, 2005 — Five Egyptian men with maps of the New York City subway system and video of New York landmarks have been arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Newark, N.J., ABC News has learned. FBI and law enforcement officials told ABC News the five men — four illegal immigrants and one law enforcement fugitive — were arrested Sunday night following a tip to the Newark Police Department. In addition to the subway maps and video, the men had train schedules and $8,000 in $20 and $50 bills.

3rd Suspect Nabbed in Subway Terror Plot By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, Associated Press Writer 51 minutes ago The investigation into an alleged plot to bomb the city's subway moved forward on several fronts Friday as a third suspect was arrested in Iraq and authorities looked into whether a fourth person had traveled to New York as part of the scheme, officials said. A law enforcement official familiar with the case said the man's trip to New York was described by an informant who had spent time in Afghanistan and proved reliable in past investigations. "He's been a source of multiple correct...

NEW YORK — A man was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday for conspiring to blow up a busy Manhattan subway station. James Elshafay, had pleaded guilty and testified against the mastermind of the plot, Shahawar Matin Siraj, at a trial last year in federal court in Brooklyn. Elshafay, the son of an Egyptian father and Irish mother, testified that after meeting Siraj at an Islamic bookstore, they hatched an initial scheme — later abandoned — to blow up the four bridges connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn and New Jersey. He also told jurors at Siraj's trial that...

When she was arrested in Afghanistan last month, Aafia Siddique allegedly had in her possession maps of New York, a list of potential targets that included the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, the subway system and the animal disease center on Plum Island, detailed chemical, biological and radiological weapon information that has been seen only in a handful of terrorist cases, as well as a thumb drive packed with emails, ABC News has learned.

Pakistani convicted for plot to bomb New York subway05-25-2006, 00h32 NEW YORK (AFP) In this courtroom illustration, James Elshafay (C) and Shahawar Matin Siraj (R) appear August 2004 in Federal District Court in New York, before Magistrate Kiyo Matsumoto (R rear) during an arraignment on charges related to an alleged plot to bomb a New York City subway station. Standing at left are Assistant US attorneys John Nathanson (L) and Kelly Currie (2nd L). (AFP/Getty Images/File) A Pakistani man was convicted of planning to blow up a New York subway station ahead of the Republican National Convention held before the...