Miami bomb plot to attack the Sears Tower
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On June 22, 2006, seven men, aged between 22 to 32, were arrested during a raid on a warehouse in Miami on charges of plotting to bomb both the Sears Tower in Chicago, the FBI building in Miami, as well as planning a "full ground war" against the United States.
The story briefly made headline news the following day when there was a high level press briefing by the Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales and the Deputy Director of the FBI John S. Pistole. The Director of the FBI Robert Mueller also mentioned it in Cleveland the same day in his speech entitled "Protecting America from Terrorist Attack: The Threat of Homegrown Terrorism".
The bulk of the indictment that was handed down by the grand jury in Miami lists a series of meetings beginning on December 16, 2005, between the leader of the group and an FBI agent, who was posing as a representative of al-Qaeda. At these meetings the leader of the group made requests for money and equipment, took delivery of military boots, and swore an oath of loyalty to al-Qaeda. Many of these words were captured on video.
No weapons or explosive materials were found at the scene, and none of the accused men really made contact with members of terrorist organizations.
Because of this, the government lawyer said that the prosecution was being brought under [18 U.S.C 2339A] rather than [18 U.S.C 2339B], since the former requires only that the accused believe they were conspiring in a terrorist act, even if they were actually being deceived.
At the press briefing, the Attorney-General and the Deputy Director of the FBI took questions from reporters:
Question: Did any of the men have any actual contact with any members of al-Qaeda that you know of?
Attorney-General: (pausing for someone else to step forward before responding) The answer to that is "No".
Question: Did they have any means to carry out this plot? I mean, did you find any explosives, weapons?
Attorney-General: You raise a good point.
Question: Was there anything against the Sears Tower other than this one apparent, just, kind of mention of the Sears Tower? It doesn't look like they ever took pictures or...
Deputy Director of the FBI: One of the individuals was familiar with the Sears Tower, had worked in Chicago, and was familiar with the tower. But in terms of the plans, it was more aspirational than operational.
He assured the public that the men posed no actual danger because their plot had been caught in "its earliest stages", and that the group's only source of money and weapons would have been the undercover FBI agent.
The group was composed of five U.S. citizens and two immigrants from Haiti, one legal and one illegal. It has also been reported that the seven men are adherents of an unusual set of beliefs derived from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, reportedly called the "Seas of David," (possibly derived from the Moorish Science Temple of America, an early 20th century religion founded by the Noble Drew Ali). The leader was reported to be Narseal Batiste (also known by some as "Prinze Nas"), 32, a father of four and a martial arts enthusiast, who had been a member of the Guardian Angels in Chicago.
The only media outlet to make mention of the event the following week was The Daily Show, where Jon Stewart quipped:
Now, I am not a general. I don't have any association with any military academy. But I believe that if you are going to wage a full ground war against the United States, you need to field at least as many people as, say, a softball team.
References
See also
- Stanley Phanor
- Narseal Batiste
- Lyglenson Lemorin
- Rotschild Augustine
- List of terrorist incidents in the U.S.
- Kevin James(alleged terrorist reportedly involed in a California terrorist plot)
External links
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