Terrorists plan to take out Sears Tower with stolen July 4th firework.

*Oh dear! The FBI arrested 7 terror suspects in Florida who allegedly were planning to destroy the Sears Building in Chicago. Terra! Terra! 9/11! Be afraid! Be very afraid!

What evidence do we have that they were plotting all out war on the United States?
-they wore military style boots and black ninja style uniforms.
-they “trained” in warehouse in Miami.
-they had photos of various government buildings around Miami.
-one of them, the “leader” claimed to be Muslim.
-one of them, the “leader”, told an FBI informant that he wanted to make contact with Al Qeada and destroy the Sears tower in Chicago.
-one of the seven had been to Chicago once.

Pretty damning, huh? Well, not on closer examination. They had no money, no weapons and no access to either. There were no actual plans to destroy anything, only the musings of the deranged. The only reason they had boots and uniforms was because the FBI agent bought them for the group. The only reason they had photos of buildings was because the FBI agent bought them a camera and drove them to and from the buildings. The only contact they had with Al Qeada was the FBI agent investigating them. Their religious preferences range from Catholic to some mix of Protestant Christian and Muslim.

So it seems that at the cost of $thousands and hundreds of man hours of investigation we are protected from 7 inner city black men who are virtually homeless and without enough money to even buy shoes but who have delusions of grandeur fed by an FBI agent.

I find it interesting that the timing of this arrest came hot on the heals of General Casey’s announcement of troop reduction plans in Iraq. After a week of Republicans screaming about Democrats being cowards for suggesting we “cut & run” it seems that Casey’s withdrawal plans almost exactly mirror the Democratic suggestions. Never mind that! Look over here in Miami! Terra, terra! 9/11! People with dark skin to be afraid of!

If you had the pleasure (?) of watching Attorney General “Geneva conventions are quaint” Gonzales hold a press conference announcing the arrest of these “terrorists” you probably got as big a laugh as I did.

Q: “AG Gonzales, did these suspects have any weapons or explosives?”

A: “Um, ah, well . . . (steps away from the podium looking over his shoulder) Anybody want to take that?”

A: (From some FBI rep) “No.” End of press conference, exit stage right.
I assume Mr. FBI meant, “No they had no weapons,” but it could as well have been, “No, take it yourself,” as everybody looked a bit embarrassed to be there.

I sure feel safer, how ‘bout you?

* Sorry for the lack of the usual sources. Most of this came from broadcast media: CNN, MSNBC, Wolf Blitzer, and various other talking heads. Some coverage here: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/14909207.htm

Also here but not up to my normal standards: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/06/27/4849.shtml


edited to correct the plurality as per suggestion in reply #1

...with their new boots.

I heard that on Democracy Now yesterday -- apparently there were no explosive devices on the list of things they said they needed....