Rolling Stone: The Fear Factory...is the government manufacturing ghosts?

[laststeamtrain]

The Fear Factory

The FBI now has more than 100 task forces devoted exclusively to fighting terrorism. But is the government manufacturing ghosts?

By Guy Lawson

Click here to read a history of every homeland-security terror alert and the real news that was buried

28/01/08 "RollingStone" -- - "So, what you wanna do?" the friend asked. "A target?" the wanna-be jihadi replied. "I want some type of city-hall-type stuff, federal courthouses."

It was late November 2006, and twenty-two-year-old Derrick Shareef and his friend Jameel were hanging out in Rockford, Illinois, dreaming about staging a terrorist attack on America. The two men weren't sure what kind of assault they could pull off. All Shareef knew was that he wanted to cause major damage, to wreak vengeance on the country he held responsible for oppressing Muslims worldwide. "Smoke a judge," Shareef said. Maybe firebomb a government building.

But while Shareef harbored violent fantasies, he was hardly a serious threat as a jihadi. An American-born convert to Islam, he had no military training and no weapons. He had less than $100 in the bank. He worked in a dead-end job as a clerk in a video-game store. He didn't own a car. So dire were his circumstances, Shareef had no place to live. Then one day, Jameel, a fellow Muslim, had shown up at EB Games and offered him shelter. Within hours of meeting his new brother, Shareef had moved in with Jameel and his three wives and nine children. Living together, the pair fantasized about targets in Rockford, a Midwestern city of 150,000, with a minuscule Muslim population and the lone claim to fame of being the hometown of Cheap Trick.

The fact that Shareef was a loser with no means of living out his imagination didn't stop his friend from encouraging his delusions of grandeur. On the contrary, Jameel continually pushed Shareef to escalate his plans. "When you wanna plan on doing this?" he asked Shareef, talking about the plot to go after a government building. "Because we have to make specific plans and dates."

<more>

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19215.htm

[truedelphi]

1. And then there is the fact that this

Administration thought that there might be a serious thret or two back in AUgust of 2004.

But did they take action? Well, no, because it is hard to sell COngress on anything in AUgust, and best to wait until September, said Andy Card.

Sheesh.

Sort of like the old joke about the guy spotted looking for something late at night under a street lamp.

What's he doing?

Looking for his contact lens.

Did he lose it there under the street lamp?

No, actually he lost it down the street a ways - but the light is better under the lamp.

[sam sarrha]

2. this is just abusing the mentally ill...

[4dsc]

3. Rightie truely believes terrorism is a threat to the US

oem..