However, how did they get those "weapons of mass destruction"? Well, they got them from an FBI agent who also served as the "idea guy" or what is known as the "agent provocateur." An update in the New York Times that the four men arrested "acted alone" seems to confirm my hypothesis.
Furthermore, there is this little problem of actually obtaining these WMDs. Plastic explosives and Stinger missiles are not exactly standard fare at your corner drug store or even at your local flea market. Furthermore, it seems that this particular agent was a guy who was trying to get people to engage in terrorism:
At the Masjid al-Ikhlas mosque in Newburgh where the men first met the F.B.I. informant, they were not considered devoted members, said an imam at the mosque, Salahuddin Mustafa. He also said that the man he believes was the informant showed up about two years ago and started inviting people to meals, where he would talk about jihad and violence. The imam and others believed the man was a government agent and steered clear of him, he said, but Mr. Cromitie (one of the people arrested) apparently took the bait.Would any of these men be planting any bombs or be looking to obtain missiles had this agent provocateur not been there to push along this "plot"? Somehow, I don't think so.
Now, the standard response is that they might have done something in the future, so it is best to "smoke out" the "potential terrorists" now. I'm sorry, but I don't buy that. The idea of the FBI or any other government agency manufacturing a "crime" so that the government then can claim it is "protecting" us is as dishonest and phony as it comes.
Interestingly, the FBI had infiltrated both the groups at Elohim City that gave us the Oklahoma City bombing and the group that set off a huge truck bomb at the World Trade Towers in 1993. In those cases, the bombs actually exploded, so maybe we should be thankful that this time the explosives were inert and the missile was a fake.
3 comments:
It just might be for the reasons you state in your last paragraph that the FBI pulls the vulnerable into participating in hurting this country. If an FBI agent can do it with these dummies, then a real terrorist leader can do it. I for one cannot criticize the FBI for doing their job.
Yes, the Feds methods and motives have to be questioned. It could be entrapment. For example, John DeLorean was found innocent because as his attorney said: "This [was] a fictitious crime. Without the government, there would be no crime." The DeLorean defense team did not call any witnesses. DeLorean was found not guilty due to entrapment on August 16, 1984.
Another example, the Feds completely manufactured a case against Ed Wilson in the early 80's. Wilson was branded "The Most Dangerous Man in America" by the Feds in a framing conspiracy that involved many high ranking officials at the DOJ and CIA. Wilson was sentenced to 52 years in prison for supposedly shipping weapons and 20 tons of C-4 explosives to Libya. He was finally freed in 2005, after serving 22 years for a crime he did not commit. The judge said, "America will not defeat Libyan terrorism by double crossing a part-time, informal government agent."
The ultimate enemy then was Muammar Gadhafi of Libya, who was called the most dangerous man in the world. So does the end justify the means when it comes to counter-terrorism?
Feds, including especially the FBI, pulled that same kind of trickery against racists and Ku Kluxers in bygone days.
It helped keep the FBI budget up, but several people were killed because the FBI agents provocateurs created the situations.
It makes us wonder about ABSCAM and about the "Tennessee Waltz," too, although I admit I am thankful that some particularly slimy politicians went to jail.
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