I was pretending, terror suspect says

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Thu, Nov. 08, 2007
I was pretending, terror suspect says
BY JAY WEAVER

Narseal Batiste, the leader of an accused terrorist group in Miami, testified at his federal trial Wednesday that he has led a good life:
A devoted father of four, a construction entrepreneur and a religious man who tried to help the poor in Liberty City.
(snip)

Batiste, who took the unusual step of taking the witness stand, said he began collaborating in fall 2005 with an Arabic convenience store owner in North Miami to contact a financial backer in the Middle East because he desperately needed money.

`PLAYED ALONG'

He said the shopkeeper, an FBI informant named Abbas al-Saidi, offered to put him in touch with a relative in Yemen who could help him with his finances as long as he ''played along'' with the the idea of waging jihad in the United States.
(snip)

And so Batiste said he wrote up wish lists for uniforms, boots, machine guns, rocket launchers and sport utility vehicles -- along with $50,000 in cash. He gave those lists to al-Saidi as well as the Middle Eastern contact, another FBI informant named Elie Assad. Assad, who was actually living in Mexico, came to Miami in late 2005 to ''evaluate'' Batiste and his organization.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/299851.html

[highnooner]

1. This guy was either incredibly stupid or is quite disingenuous.

[sam sarrha]

2. i have problems believing an Arab would even think of 'Ripping Off' other Arab extremists Jihadists

would anyone here think they could rip off a mafia hit man.??

[Judi Lynn]

3. They weren't Muslims. They had their own little religion.

From a Sun-Sentinel article:

Defense opens case in 'Liberty City Seven' trial
By Curt Anderson | The Associated Press
2:11 PM EST, November 6, 2007

MIAMI - The leader of a group of men charged with plotting terror attacks was described as a hardworking and trustworthy construction contractor Tuesday as the man's defense opened its case in the so-called ``Liberty City Seven'' trial.

Witness Michael Sharpe testified that he hired 33-year-old Narseal Batiste several times to do work at his Fort Lauderdale home, including removal of an enormous ficus tree downed by Hurricane Wilma in October 2005.

Sharpe described Batiste and the men working with him as steady and respectful, adding that he had no problem leaving them unsupervised at times.
(snip)

Under cross-examination by prosecutors, the witnesses who worked with Batiste acknowledged they knew little about his personal life and that they never socialized with each other. Several said they had never heard of the Moorish Science Temple, a religious sect with a Miami chapter led by Batiste that does not recognize the U.S. government's authority.
(snip/)

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1106libertycityseven,0,5325052.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One's sister testified he is a Catholic, and, as this article indicates, two are Haitian, others Haitian-Americans, etc.:

Not Quite Jihad

by Michael I. Niman, ArtVoice (etc.) 6/29/06

Upon closer examination of the indictment, however, it seems the supposed warriors had no weapons, no plans to obtain explosives, had never been to Chicago and didn’t even have maps of Chicago. Their only al Qaeda connection was with a member of the FBI’s South Florida Terrorist Task Force. The Miami Cell, it turns out, is a group of seven Haitian immigrants and Haitian-Americans, most with backgrounds in petty crime and street names such as Brother Rot and Brother Naudy. Their supposed leader, Narseal Batiste, also known as Prince Manna, is the aforementioned Moses figure who wandered the neighborhood in robes and capes, sometimes wearing odd headgear, preaching a homemade Judeo-Christian hybrid religion.

If you think this doesn’t jibe well with al Qaeda mythology, read on. When the FBI raided the homes of the supposed terrorists, they found no weapons, which, quite frankly, is rather odd in South Florida. And they had no explosives. Not even, it appears, any books on how to make explosives. Not even an Internet post on how to make a Diet Pepsi-Mentos rocket.

What they did have, however, was a wish list, which Prince Manna presented to the FBI’s al Qaeda poser. According to the indictment, the Prince promised that he, Brothers Rot and Naudy and company, would “build an Islamic Army” to “wage jihad” against the United States—but they’d first need supplies from al Qaeda. Over the course of a few meetings, Prince Manna allegedly requested things such as automatic weapons, cars, radios, video cameras, military boots, clothes and, most importantly, according to subsequent reports issued after the indictment, $50,000 in cash.

Interestingly enough, the supposed bombers never asked for bomb-making material. The items they did request were all things that are easily convertible into cash on the streets of Miami. For all the trash talk out there about Liberty City, in real life explosives aren’t easy to peddle.

Can you give a jihadist a lift?

Before the whole investigation was over, the FBI bought cameras and rented cars for Prince Manna, Brothers Rot and Naudy and company. As it turned out, the people about to “wage full ground war” didn’t have the means to leave Liberty City and go downtown without the FBI’s help. When the cars and cameras were provided, they drove around Miami with the FBI informant, taking pictures of potential targets, which means buildings. Beyond supplying cameras so that Prince Manna, Brothers Rot and Naudy and the rest of the crew could manufacture supposed evidence to be used against themselves, “al Qaeda,” wasn’t very forthcoming with the requested goods, pretty much only supplying some nifty boots.
(snip/...)

http://mediastudy.com/articles/av6-29-06.html

[Javaman]

4. "sometimes wearing odd headgear"

:tinfoilhat: :rofl:

[TheWraith]

5. People do things that stupid all the time.

Once in awhile, they even get away with it without being shot in the head by their mark.

[Beerboy]

6. It's un-Constitutional torture to not let him go! n/t.