The Daily Background
| Florida ‘terror cell’- Terrorists or Wannabes?
by Arlen Parsa
ABC News’ website asks the question everyone is wondering
A few thoughts on that supposed homegrown terror plot down in Florida that the feds ‘busted’ the other day. Ignoring all the spin, here’s what we know, and it’s not much:
1. The suspects weren’t in communication with al Qaeda and there is zero evidence that they had any connection with them.
2. The suspects did not have any explosives.
3. The suspects didn’t have any weapons of any kind.
4. The suspects did not have any plan. It is alleged that they had a desire to bomb the Sears Tower and 1-3 other sites, but regardless, they had no plan.
5. The 7 men were black.
6. The FBI had been monitoring them the entire time, and had infiltrated them. There was no actual danger of them doing anything.
7. According to CBS news tonight, the suspects were ‘getting cold feet,’ were losing interest in the idea of targeting anything, and were breaking up the group. And then all of a sudden the FBI went in and arrested everybody. I’ll have more on this angle if it develops.
I’ve also heard the suggestion (but I’m unable to confirm) that the FBI’s insider in the group was encouraging the group to become more militant, and trying to bait them into obtaining explosive materials, and trying to get them to try and move forward with the plot. Despite whatever efforts there were or weren’t by the FBI to try and do this, officials say that the group was more motivated by desire to do things, rather than intention to do things. They’re probably going to plead innocent, from what I’ve heard.
So, have we been saved by the government from an imminent threat? Did they really have the potential have been “worse than 9/11″ as has been claimed? I dunno, but the initial hype around the story is wearing off pretty quickly.
