Archives for May 2009

Nothing like homegrown terrorists to warm the cockles of your heart. Apparently these men had intended to murder Jews and Americans.

How very sad to write a sentence that divides the two groups like that, Jews and Americans. As an American Jew, or Jewish American I take these things very seriously. But I would strongly urge that we all pay close attention to these events.

They should lock these men up and throw away the key. Here is the CNN report:

NEW YORK (CNN) — Three of the four men arrested for allegedly planning bomb attacks on Jewish targets in New York are expected to appear in federal court Thursday, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

The group allegedly plotted to bomb two New York synagogues and wanted to use surface-to-air missiles to fire at U.S. military planes, said a criminal complaint filed this week in White Plains, New York.

“Four individuals were arrested for planting bombs in front of two [Jewish facilities] in the area,” said Raymond Kelly, New York City police commissioner.

The charges are based on information from an FBI informant, with whom the men met as they plotted to carry out their attacks, authorities said.

“While the weapons provided to the defendants by the cooperating witness were fake, the defendants thought they were absolutely real,” acting U.S. Attorney Lev L. Dassin said in a statement.

Added Kelly: “The bombs had been made by FBI technicians. They were totally inert; no one was ever at risk or in danger of being injured.”

Suspects James Cromitie, David Williams and Onta Williams — all U.S. citizens — were at the federal courthouse Thursday morning being processed, FBI spokeswoman Monica McLean told CNN.

This comes from ABC:

The investigation of the men began in June 2008, according to court documents, when met with a person who had been an FBI informant for more than six years and allegedly talked about his anger about U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and said he was interested in doing “something to America.”

According to the criminal complaint, Cromitie told an FBI informant in June 2008 that his parents lived in Afghanistan before he was born, and because of his ties to that country, he was upset about the war there.

Then in November of last year, Cromitie allegedly discussed targets with the informant, saying, “the best target [the World Trade Center] was hit already.” Later in that conversation, the complaint says, Cromitie stated, “I hate those motherf—–s, those f—–g Jewish bastards… I would like to get [destroy] a synagogue.”

Illogical ranting like this seems to be a hallmark of many of these people. I won’t call them crazy because I don’t want this to be dismissed or viewed as being any less serious than it is.

Let’s take a look at MSNBC:

The men, described as Black Muslims, had planned to detonate a car with plastic explosives outside a temple in the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale and to shoot military planes at the New York Air National Guard base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh with Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles, authorities said.

The defendants planned to “destroy a synagogue and a Jewish community center with C-4 plastic explosives,” Acting U.S. Attorney Lev L. Dassin said.

The religious targets were the Riverdale Temple, founded in 1947, and the Riverdale Jewish Center, authorities said.

Defendants dealt with informantIn their efforts to acquire weapons, the defendants dealt with an informant acting under law enforcement supervision, authorities said. The FBI and other agencies monitored the men and provided an inactive missile and inert C-4 to the informant for the defendants, a federal complaint said.

The investigation had been under way for about a year.

“They never got anywhere close to being able to do anything,” one official told NBC News. “Still, it’s good to have guys like this off the street.”

In June 2008, the informant met Cromitie in Newburgh and Cromitie complained that his parents had lived in Afghanistan and he was upset about the war there and that many Muslim people were being killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan by U.S. military forces, officials said.

Cromitie also expressed an interest in doing “something to America,” they said in the complaint.
In October 2008, the informant began meeting with the defendants at a Newburgh house equipped with concealed video and audio equipment, the complaint said.

Beginning in April 2009, the four men selected the synagogue and the community center they intended to hit, it said. They also conducted surveillance of military planes at the Air National Guard Base, it said.”

After you read these stories you cannot help but wonder if profiling is an appropriate measure to take. Preventative action is imperative.