Liberty City 7 `wanted to wage jihad,' jury told

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Liberty City 7 `wanted to wage jihad,' jury told
The Liberty City Seven trial began with allegations of a plot against the United States.
Posted on Wed, Oct. 03, 2007

BY JAY WEAVER
[e-mail]

Seven men working out of a Liberty City warehouse plotted to create an ''Islamic army'' to fight a ''holy war'' against the United States -- from poisoning salt shakers in Miami restaurants to blowing up FBI buildings in major cities, a federal prosecutor argued Tuesday during opening statements in the closely watched trial.

''These defendants wanted to wage jihad against the United States. They tell us so in unequivocal detail,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie told a Miami-Dade jury, citing wiretaps, videotapes and other FBI surveillance.
(snip)

Attorneys for the ''Liberty City Seven'' argued that the FBI's main informant, a Yemeni man known only as Mohammad, crossed the line by enticing their clients with money to commit illegal acts.

Ana Jhones, who represents Narseal Batiste, the group's reputed ringleader, said that Mohammad and another FBI informant, Abbas, ''wrote a script'' to lure her client and his followers into their terrorism scheme. ''It was an expensive script,'' she said, noting the FBI paid Mohammad about $80,000 and Abbas $40,000.





Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/258459.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Opening Arguments Started In Liberty City 7 Trial

Oct 2, 2007 6:31 pm US/Eastern

Opening Arguments Started In Liberty City 7 Trial
(CBS4) MIAMI Opening arguments got underway Tuesday in the federal trial of the so-called “Liberty City 7.”

Miami Herald reporter Jay Weaver who is covering the trial said prosecutor Richard Gregorie started the morning's proceedings by the telling the jury that the defendants conspired in plans to form an Islamic army to take over the United States.
(snip)

Gregorie said their plan encompassed everything from poisoning salt shakers in restaurants to blowing up the Sears Tower in Chicago to destroying five FBI buildings in Miami.

The seven defendants are all from Miami's Liberty City neighborhood. They were charged after a lengthy investigation in which an FBI informant posed as an al Qaeda emissary sent to help with their alleged plans.
(snip)

Last December, Batiste wrote a 25-page letter to CBS4 reporter Brian Andrews, in which claimed he and his group never had terrorist intentions, but instead were looking to raise money for their Liberty City religious organization.

More:
http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_275150303.html

[Vinca]

2. Be afraid of the salt shaker. Be very afraid.

Meanwhile, back at reality, the anthrax killer is still unidentified.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Trial Nearing For Accused Men In Sears Tower Plot

Trial Nearing For Accused Men In Sears Tower Plot

MIAMI -- To hear prosecutors tell it, Narseal Batiste and six followers formed a budding homegrown terrorist cell determined to rival the Sept. 11 attacks by toppling the Sears Tower in Chicago.

In the same court building where Jose Padilla was convicted last month, trial begins this week for seven men who federal prosecutors say envisioned a "full ground war" that eventually would replace the U.S. government with an Islamic regime.
(snip)

Defense lawyers and supporters of the so-called "Liberty City Seven" say the men never sought to hurt anyone and amassed only one gun and a few knives and machetes. They say the alleged terror conspiracy was driven by a pair of paid FBI informants -- one claiming to be an al-Qaida emissary.

"These guys never left the United States. They never traveled to the Middle East," said Albert Levin, attorney for defendant Patrick Abraham. "They never had any way of carrying out what was discussed. This was pure words."
(snip)

Like the Padilla trial, the Liberty City case will feature dozens of FBI telephone intercepts as well as video of Batiste and the others discussing the alleged plot to destroy the 110-story Sears Tower, America's tallest building.

The strongest evidence is FBI videotapes showing all seven men pledging allegiance to al-Qaida and its leader, Osama bin Laden. But defense lawyers claim at least some group members had no idea what they were doing and were persuaded to take the oath by Batiste and the FBI informant.
(snip)

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:gJKMs-cagjYJ:www.nbc5.com/newsarchive/14131523/detail.html+Liberty+City+trial+FBI+Sears+Tower&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us

[Gman]

4. These are those loser wannabes that

got paraded out as a terrorist cell a couple of years ago. Turns out they had no plan, no money, and just talked a lot. Let's all see how the US DA remains loyal to Bush policy so he can keep his job.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Liberty City 7 `wanted to wage jihad,' jury told

Liberty City 7 `wanted to wage jihad,' jury told
The Liberty City Seven trial began with allegations of a plot against the United States.



J. PAT CARTER/AP
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie walks
to the Miami federal court building Tuesday
during the first day of opening statements in
the trial of the Liberty City Seven.

~snip~
They are each charged with conspiring to provide ''material support'' to a foreign terrorist organization -- al Qaeda -- and to levy war against the U.S. government. They're also accused of plotting to destroy Chicago's 110-story Sears Tower and FBI buildings in Miami and four other cities.

Federal prosecutors will start putting on evidence today. The trial, before U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard, could last through the fall. Each defendant, if convicted on all four conspiracy counts, faces up to 70 years in prison.

The case features a small band of religious followers of the Moorish Science Temple who met in a squat concrete warehouse dubbed ''The Embassy,'' in one of Miami's poorest areas. They fell under the sway of an FBI informant, posing as an al Qaeda operative, who pitched much of the terrorism plan to the group with promises of money.

Along the way, wiretaps and videotapes captured all seven men taking an oath to the global terrorism organization, but the 12 Miami-Dade jurors will have to decide whether any of them actually played a role in a terrorism plot that was largely concocted.

On Tuesday, Gregorie acknowledged that FBI informant Mohammad planted the idea of a joint venture with the terrorist network in planned attacks on government buildings. But the prosecutor stressed that it is Batiste who ''makes the choices'' to carry out the terrorism plot against the United States.
(snip/...)

http://www.miamiherald.com/519/story/258459.html