L
Luminoso
Guest
via cnn.com
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The federal government Monday charged six alleged
"Islamic radicals" with plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in
New Jersey.
The six were arrested Monday night, the U.S. attorney's office in New
Jersey said in a written statement, and are expected to appear in U.S.
District Court in Camden on Tuesday afternoon.
"Their alleged intention was to conduct an armed assault on the army
base and to kill as many soldiers as possible," the office said.
Officials scheduled a news conference at 2:30 p.m. ET to discuss the
case.
The White House said there is no suspected link to any international
terrorist group.
A complaint filed in the case says one of the six used to deliver
pizza to Fort Dix and knew it "like the palm of his hand."
One of the suspects was born in Jordan, another in Turkey, the
attorney's office said. The rest are believed to be from the former
Yugoslavia, "either U.S. citizens or living illegally in the United
States."
An FBI official said three of the six are in the U.S. illegally.
A criminal complaint filed in federal court in New Jersey said a paid
informant who infiltrated the group "consensually recorded" meetings.
An FBI official said six complaints are being filed.
One complaint names as the defendant Dritan Duka, and says he
conspired with four others: Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, Eljvir Duka,
Shain Duka and Serdar Tatar.
The sixth individual, named in an FBI affidavit accompanying that
complaint, is Agron Abdullahu.
A complaint naming him as the defendant charges him with aiding and
abetting the three Dukas, "who were then aliens illegally and
unlawfully in the United States, to possess in and affecting commerce
firearms."
The defendants did not immediately release statements or respond to
the charges.
The complaint says the group "conducted firearms training in
Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania." It also says Shnewer conducted surveillance
at several U.S. military sites: Fort Dix and Fort Monmouth in New
Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, and the U.S. Coast Guard
building in Philadelphia.
"On or about November 28, 2006," Tatar acquired a map of Fort Dix, the
complaint says.
The complaint alleges that Dritan Duka ordered four AK-47 Kalashnikov
fully-automatic machine guns as well as M-16 firearms and handguns,
and that Shnewer ordered an AK-47 Kalashnikov as well.
The complaint also mentions a second paid informant.
A law enforcement source told CNN the group played paintball and
test-fired weapons as part of their training.
One of the sources said there is a video and an audiotape of the
planning.
New Jersey State troopers and the FBI were involved in investigating
and arresting the suspects.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said the six "are not being charged
with being members of an international terrorism organization. At
least at this point there is no evidence they received direction from
international foreign terrorist organizations. However their
involvement in weapons training, operational surveillance, and
discussions about killing American military personnel warranted a
strong law enforcement response."
While authorities are glad to have arrested them, the individuals are
"hardly hard core terrorists," one law enforcement source said.
Another source said that while the allegations are "troubling," they
are "not the type that made the hair on the back of your neck stand
up."
Fort Dix is used to train members of the Army Reserve and National
Guard for missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world.
It was used in 1999 to house ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo,
according to the Defense Department Web site.
A high concentration of soldiers makes a perfect target
for terrorists, "hard core" or not.
It doesn't take much "training" to point a rifle or pistol
at a group of soldiers and blast away. It doesn't take
much training to strap thirty pounds of dynamite under
your jacket and walk into a bar or greasy spoon that's
popular with soldiers and shout "god is great" either.
All it takes is the WILL - and these guys may have had
the will to do it.
Or maybe they were just talking big to impress each other ?
I've a suspicion that the truth is closer to that. I doubt
that proper terrorists would legititimately buy their
weapons either, leaving a paper trail. That's what got
the WTC bombers caught plus some of the 9-11 conspirators.
So far, while there are many moslems in the USA, we haven't
had much in the way of problems. There are a few jihadist
clerics spewing hatred here and there but nobody seems
interested in joining the fight. Maybe it's because in
the USA they can get their virgins in the here and now
or, even better, women naughtier than virgins ???
In any event the jihadist clerics and their faithful are
always under federal scrutiny. It's these oddball groups
that pose a problem because they're not affilliated with
any large movement, commonly met by chance, and often have
little in common except a desire to do some harm in the
name of Allah.
Military personel need to be warned that it's possible
to encounter domestic groups who want to slaughter them,
however short of locking-down every base for the duration
they'll really just have to take their chances. Besides,
the way things are going, "the duration" could be decades.
One possible effect of these arrests is that this group
will inspire COPYCATS. We see that phenomena again and
again. Todays group was sloppy, the copycats might be
more careful.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The federal government Monday charged six alleged
"Islamic radicals" with plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in
New Jersey.
The six were arrested Monday night, the U.S. attorney's office in New
Jersey said in a written statement, and are expected to appear in U.S.
District Court in Camden on Tuesday afternoon.
"Their alleged intention was to conduct an armed assault on the army
base and to kill as many soldiers as possible," the office said.
Officials scheduled a news conference at 2:30 p.m. ET to discuss the
case.
The White House said there is no suspected link to any international
terrorist group.
A complaint filed in the case says one of the six used to deliver
pizza to Fort Dix and knew it "like the palm of his hand."
One of the suspects was born in Jordan, another in Turkey, the
attorney's office said. The rest are believed to be from the former
Yugoslavia, "either U.S. citizens or living illegally in the United
States."
An FBI official said three of the six are in the U.S. illegally.
A criminal complaint filed in federal court in New Jersey said a paid
informant who infiltrated the group "consensually recorded" meetings.
An FBI official said six complaints are being filed.
One complaint names as the defendant Dritan Duka, and says he
conspired with four others: Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, Eljvir Duka,
Shain Duka and Serdar Tatar.
The sixth individual, named in an FBI affidavit accompanying that
complaint, is Agron Abdullahu.
A complaint naming him as the defendant charges him with aiding and
abetting the three Dukas, "who were then aliens illegally and
unlawfully in the United States, to possess in and affecting commerce
firearms."
The defendants did not immediately release statements or respond to
the charges.
The complaint says the group "conducted firearms training in
Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania." It also says Shnewer conducted surveillance
at several U.S. military sites: Fort Dix and Fort Monmouth in New
Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, and the U.S. Coast Guard
building in Philadelphia.
"On or about November 28, 2006," Tatar acquired a map of Fort Dix, the
complaint says.
The complaint alleges that Dritan Duka ordered four AK-47 Kalashnikov
fully-automatic machine guns as well as M-16 firearms and handguns,
and that Shnewer ordered an AK-47 Kalashnikov as well.
The complaint also mentions a second paid informant.
A law enforcement source told CNN the group played paintball and
test-fired weapons as part of their training.
One of the sources said there is a video and an audiotape of the
planning.
New Jersey State troopers and the FBI were involved in investigating
and arresting the suspects.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said the six "are not being charged
with being members of an international terrorism organization. At
least at this point there is no evidence they received direction from
international foreign terrorist organizations. However their
involvement in weapons training, operational surveillance, and
discussions about killing American military personnel warranted a
strong law enforcement response."
While authorities are glad to have arrested them, the individuals are
"hardly hard core terrorists," one law enforcement source said.
Another source said that while the allegations are "troubling," they
are "not the type that made the hair on the back of your neck stand
up."
Fort Dix is used to train members of the Army Reserve and National
Guard for missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world.
It was used in 1999 to house ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo,
according to the Defense Department Web site.
A high concentration of soldiers makes a perfect target
for terrorists, "hard core" or not.
It doesn't take much "training" to point a rifle or pistol
at a group of soldiers and blast away. It doesn't take
much training to strap thirty pounds of dynamite under
your jacket and walk into a bar or greasy spoon that's
popular with soldiers and shout "god is great" either.
All it takes is the WILL - and these guys may have had
the will to do it.
Or maybe they were just talking big to impress each other ?
I've a suspicion that the truth is closer to that. I doubt
that proper terrorists would legititimately buy their
weapons either, leaving a paper trail. That's what got
the WTC bombers caught plus some of the 9-11 conspirators.
So far, while there are many moslems in the USA, we haven't
had much in the way of problems. There are a few jihadist
clerics spewing hatred here and there but nobody seems
interested in joining the fight. Maybe it's because in
the USA they can get their virgins in the here and now
or, even better, women naughtier than virgins ???
In any event the jihadist clerics and their faithful are
always under federal scrutiny. It's these oddball groups
that pose a problem because they're not affilliated with
any large movement, commonly met by chance, and often have
little in common except a desire to do some harm in the
name of Allah.
Military personel need to be warned that it's possible
to encounter domestic groups who want to slaughter them,
however short of locking-down every base for the duration
they'll really just have to take their chances. Besides,
the way things are going, "the duration" could be decades.
One possible effect of these arrests is that this group
will inspire COPYCATS. We see that phenomena again and
again. Todays group was sloppy, the copycats might be
more careful.
