Records raise questions about Florida terror plot

[Judi Lynn]

Records raise questions about Florida terror plot

Walter Pincus
Washington Post
Sept. 2, 2006 12:00 AM


WASHINGTON - Standing in an empty Miami warehouse on May 24 with a man he believed had ties to Osama bin Laden, Narseal Batiste talked of the setbacks to their terrorist plot and then uttered the words that put him in federal prison: "I want to fight some jihad. That's all I live for."
(snip)

The plot featured self-proclaimed militant religious leaders who referred to themselves as kings, talked of establishing their own nation inside the United States, called their headquarters an embassy and discussed plans to train their recruits to use bows and arrows. One of their quixotic notions was to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower.

Batiste's father, a preacher who lives in Louisiana, told the news media after the indictment that his son was "not in his right mind" and "needs psychiatric treatment."
(snip)

But lawyers for the defendants have raised questions about where a government sting ends and entrapment begins. Not only did informers provide money and a meeting place for Batiste and his followers, they gave them video cameras for surveillance as well as cellphones, and suggested that their first target be a Miami FBI office, court records show.

At the hearing, Batiste's attorney, John Wylie, showed that the FBI's investigation found no evidence that his client had ever met with any real terrorist, received e-mails or wire transfers from the Middle East, possessed any al-Qaida literature or had even a picture of bin Laden.
(snip/...)

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0902terror-miami0902.html

[rzemanfl]

1. I posted a link to this article yesterday and was ignored. It

merits attention.

[FloridaPat]

2. Buzzflash had an editorial about how it was a set-up situation *

could use when he needed to deflect bad publicity.

[struggle4progress]

3. kick

:kick: