GreNME
Philosopher
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2007
- Messages
- 8,276
For those unaware, or those who have only heard a little of the goings-on, last week saw a few cases of would-be terrorists having been caught attempting to engage in separate acts of terrorism that were remarkably similar in nature. In Dallas (TX) and in Springfield (IL), the details and subsequent arrests were practically mirror images of each other, while the Colorado man who seemed to be intending to set a bomb in New York had actually been purchasing precursor components for a TATP bomb already and was being tracked. These incidents of arrests occurred within a week of each other, and all go back to some very impressive work on the part of federal authorities-- impressive in that they were methodical and efficient, not that they performed a drama-filled game of intrigue-- and in at least the Dallas case (though I suspect the others as well) there was a fair and beneficial amount of information-sharing between federal and local agencies. In each case it looks like the action that was averted would have been significant enough in nature to at least compare to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 in terms of damage and loss of life, and are quickly (and easily) comparable to September 11, 2001 in terms of the motivations behind the actions.
I'm getting to a point of discussion and the reason for the thread, and for those already aware of the details you can skip to the bottom of this post for that part. My analysis and opinion are noted there, but the following are the details as are available to the public:
The first arrest came September 19th of 2009 in connection to the man in Colorado, Najibullah Zazi, who was tracked since at least the end of last year or very early this year as he collected information and materials to build a TATP bomb for use (ostensibly) in New York City. His indictment (PDF) has him listed as being charged with "conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction" and his detention memo (PDF) has information on his activities from his trips to Pakistan (where his wife and children live) to his acquisition of component materials to make TATP. The Dept. of Justice has an announcement that can be read here with links to the two aforementioned PDF documents. In the detention memo, the assistant US attorney indicates that Zazi was also apparently not working alone:
At this time, it's unclear who else has been arrested in connection with Zazi's case, or whether there is an ongoing case regarding the others involved. It's possible that the other person mentioned could have been what is popularly called (especially by CT-ists) an "asset" and as such isn't being mentioned by name or identifying information.
Along with the materials purchases, evidence in the form of instructions on bomb-making were found on Zazi's laptop, as well as a scale containing Zazi's fingerprints-- on the scale and the batteries inside, indicating more than a passing handling of the device-- were also collected, and apparently there was a tap on his cell phone at some point this year leading up to his arrest. It's also described in the detention memo that Zazi became aware that he was being watched and left New York about a week before his arrest, which likely helped the federal agents get authorization to both arrest Zazi and to search his (father's) home in Colorado for additional evidence.
The indictment is brief, and the detention memo itself basically makes the case for a petition to hold Zazi without bail due to his being a flight risk and the extreme nature of the charges against him, so there's not an extensive description of the tracking of his activity or his eventual arrest. The other two cases, however, both have far more available detail and documentation of damning information (to the defendants).
The Illinois man, known as 'Talib Islam' a.k.a. Michael Finton, is a US citizen who converted to Islam in prison, was more enamored with the militancy of those who practiced the faith when he was incarcerated, and had what appears to be a man-crush on John Walker Lindh for having been captured and imprisoned for fighting on the side of the Taliban. All of this, as well as other information leading up to the event Finton was arrested for, are documented in the criminal complaint and affidavit connected to his arrest. Based solely on the information in the affidavit, Finton doesn't seem very intelligent, including what seems to be a number of very odd statements regarding what he believes is the "purpose" of groups like the Taliban and al Qaeda in Islam and a supposed selection process existed for wannabe-terrorists. From the affidavit:
Obviously, in his zeal to engage in militancy-- in other parts of the document Finton mentions how he would have joined the military to learn how to blow things up, and then start a militia group when he finished his commission-- this guy was filling in a lot of operational and organizational details with his imagination. Finton never goes into why he's got such a mad-on for the US government in the details of the affidavit, but there are quotes from Finton stating that he'd "always" felt such animosity and that he'd even considered anti-government action prior to his conversion to Islam in prison. So along with his Hollywood-esque characterization of al Qaeda and the Taliban, there seems to be some weird things going on in Finton's head beyond only believing he was a mujahid fighting on God's behalf against the evil American empire. The "UCE" mentioned above is an undercover federal agent (UnderCover Employee), and seems to have let Finton retain his outlook on how al Qaeda and the Taliban operate.
Long story short, the feds supplied Finton with a dummy bomb, which he had in a car that he parked in front of the federal building in Springfield, Ill. on September 23rd, and attempted to use a cell phone to detonate it. At the point where he called the cell phone he thought would detonate the dummy bomb (twice for good measure, as the calls were recorded), Finton was arrested and taken into custody. The affidavit itself was a compelling read, in my opinion, and though it's 26 pages long I recommend it for anyone interested in a description of someone who clearly has some mental issues taking steps to conduct an act of terrorism.
The last arrest was closer to home for me, as it occurred here in Dallas (TX). Hosam Maher Husein Smadi was arrested on the 24th of September attempting to blow up Fountain Place, a distinctive-looking (on the outside) skyscraper in downtown. Unlike Finton or Zazi, Smadi was apparently in the US illegally, living in the small town of Italy (TX), and apparently got along well with neighbors and acquaintances (with the typical "he was so nice" stories). Smadi's arrest warrant criminal complain, and affidavit is also viewable online and the details leading up to the arrest mirror Finton's a great deal. though with less weirdness about how al Qaeda and the Taliban work (but with the typical anti-semitism). Smadi's rhetoric bears more resemblance to that of the pious anti-American Islamic terrorist banter that you would hear coming from the likes of a Taliban soldier or an al Qaeda press recording:
In this, it seems Smadi's commentary seems more in line with the ideological views of the terrorist groups, as opposed to the more pathological desire for destruction that Finton expressed. It's characteristically religious elevational talk, and with very little wording (like removing the "destruction of the Jews" comments) could be just as easily equated to Christian fundamentalist eschatology (an extreme example).
As I pointed out, the events leading to his arrest were practically the same as Finton: he was given a dummy bomb in a car, he called the supposed cell phone that would detonate the bomb (twice), and he was arrested. His home was also searched afterward for evidence of making a bomb, and he was indicted on Friday.
So, now to the point of my posting all of this and of this thread.
We have here at least three cases of what could have been terrible acts of terrorism averted within relatively short order. The first thought had to do with criticisms earlier this year about Obama's likely inefficiency fighting terrorism-- while the White House wasn't conducting the investigation and sting operations, law enforcement does fall under the Executive's branch, and obviously these are three cases where inefficiency was not a factor. Another thought that occurred to me was how non-invasive these three operations were in terms of curtailing of liberties or domestic spying-- indeed, all three cases read to me like law enforcement acting within long-standing and well-understood boundaries in order to curtail terrorist activity. The last thought that occurred to me (that I'll share here as part of discussion) was that with all the "OMG SOCIALISM" and anti-federal yahoos banging on their drums about the healthcare issue, the significance of these three cases are very likely going to fall by the wayside and be largely ignored in the loudmouth right-wing press, since they're all three cases of terrorism being averted under a Democratic president.
To the first thought, I'm recalling stories earlier this year about consternation in the CIA and FBI about Obama's administration possibly restricting their agencies' effectiveness despite intentions at having a more transparent and less criticized (with regard to civil liberties) administrative term. These cases are clearly success stories for our law enforcement, though much like a reversed-cold-reading I'm sure that news agencies will tend to latch on to failures or perceived failures while ignoring demonstrable successes like these. The releases of the affidavits in short order lends credence to Obama's call for transparency, and while I wouldn't say that the Bush administration was completely secretive about the details of their arrests and detainments I believe that having readily-available information like these cases quickly would have lent more credence to that administration's activities. Much like the "show, don't tell" maxim of writing, having as much information as can be deemed reasonable (though some would be left out for security reasons) lends credence to our law enforcement actions and activities, and without making a political argument I believe that it would have supplied more faith in that administration's Homeland Security initiatives to have information about successes available for view and review by the public. The information from these cases renews (some of) my faith in our federal law enforcement agencies, and even on an emotional level it does provide a modicum of reassurance that we are being protected against an existent threat-- something which I believe can be overlooked without sufficient available information.
To the second thought, it wouldn't be difficult to go through the archive of old threads here and find several discussing various surveillance and interrogation issues during the previous administration, and yet very little of the justifications or methods from within those topics would be found in the details provided in these three cases. Unless some other information comes up later, it seems there was a warrant for Zazi's phone tap, and the recorded conversations in the other two don't fall foul of statutes that exist in Texas or Illinois (or federal) laws, and at least in the case of Texas I can verify that the recordings would have been perfectly legal even by a private citizen (as I've had reason to look it up), let alone by law enforcement on an ongoing case. This isn't to argue that the justifications to methods introduced during the previous administration are invalidated by these reports (they aren't), but what I'm noting is that it doesn't seem as if law enforcement requires more extreme or invasive methods for carrying out its duties, and that what seems more important is a clear understanding of how to identify possible would-be terrorists, a means to segregate them from a support source, or to prevent them from actually getting far enough along in a plot to carry out an attack. One issue that was brought up post-9/11 was inter-agency communication, though, and to that end it seems that inter-agency communication has improved greatly (and to positive results) since that time.
To the third point, this may be a matter of perception on my part and not necessarily accurate. Maybe these arrests will be taken up by the more volatile and loud commentators on television and radio as an important piece of news to talk about, and perhaps on the left and the right these cases will be something that they can find some common ground on in expressing relief that the attacks were thwarted. I'd really like to believe that. Due to my cynicism about the state of discourse in the country right now, however, I don't think it's even remotely going to happen. The ideological lines between the left and the right are so stark and divided right now that I don't think that these success stories in thwarting terrorists is going to even make a dent. Unlike September of 2001, I don't even think that a single successful attack would be able to bring the two political and ideological sides of American culture together at this time. Maybe I'm being too cynical, though, and the last few months of downright hateful and distorted rhetoric from practically all over the place has taken a toll on my cultural measuring stick. I'd really be curious to know whether this cynicism on my part seems out-of-whack or in need of perspective or sounds even remotely valid.
I know that's kind of a lot to put into a single thread's OP, but the different points are kind of inter-related and they all begin from the three arrests made last week. Input on one or all of the points would be welcome.
I'm getting to a point of discussion and the reason for the thread, and for those already aware of the details you can skip to the bottom of this post for that part. My analysis and opinion are noted there, but the following are the details as are available to the public:
The first arrest came September 19th of 2009 in connection to the man in Colorado, Najibullah Zazi, who was tracked since at least the end of last year or very early this year as he collected information and materials to build a TATP bomb for use (ostensibly) in New York City. His indictment (PDF) has him listed as being charged with "conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction" and his detention memo (PDF) has information on his activities from his trips to Pakistan (where his wife and children live) to his acquisition of component materials to make TATP. The Dept. of Justice has an announcement that can be read here with links to the two aforementioned PDF documents. In the detention memo, the assistant US attorney indicates that Zazi was also apparently not working alone:
At this time, it's unclear who else has been arrested in connection with Zazi's case, or whether there is an ongoing case regarding the others involved. It's possible that the other person mentioned could have been what is popularly called (especially by CT-ists) an "asset" and as such isn't being mentioned by name or identifying information.
Along with the materials purchases, evidence in the form of instructions on bomb-making were found on Zazi's laptop, as well as a scale containing Zazi's fingerprints-- on the scale and the batteries inside, indicating more than a passing handling of the device-- were also collected, and apparently there was a tap on his cell phone at some point this year leading up to his arrest. It's also described in the detention memo that Zazi became aware that he was being watched and left New York about a week before his arrest, which likely helped the federal agents get authorization to both arrest Zazi and to search his (father's) home in Colorado for additional evidence.
The indictment is brief, and the detention memo itself basically makes the case for a petition to hold Zazi without bail due to his being a flight risk and the extreme nature of the charges against him, so there's not an extensive description of the tracking of his activity or his eventual arrest. The other two cases, however, both have far more available detail and documentation of damning information (to the defendants).
The Illinois man, known as 'Talib Islam' a.k.a. Michael Finton, is a US citizen who converted to Islam in prison, was more enamored with the militancy of those who practiced the faith when he was incarcerated, and had what appears to be a man-crush on John Walker Lindh for having been captured and imprisoned for fighting on the side of the Taliban. All of this, as well as other information leading up to the event Finton was arrested for, are documented in the criminal complaint and affidavit connected to his arrest. Based solely on the information in the affidavit, Finton doesn't seem very intelligent, including what seems to be a number of very odd statements regarding what he believes is the "purpose" of groups like the Taliban and al Qaeda in Islam and a supposed selection process existed for wannabe-terrorists. From the affidavit:
Obviously, in his zeal to engage in militancy-- in other parts of the document Finton mentions how he would have joined the military to learn how to blow things up, and then start a militia group when he finished his commission-- this guy was filling in a lot of operational and organizational details with his imagination. Finton never goes into why he's got such a mad-on for the US government in the details of the affidavit, but there are quotes from Finton stating that he'd "always" felt such animosity and that he'd even considered anti-government action prior to his conversion to Islam in prison. So along with his Hollywood-esque characterization of al Qaeda and the Taliban, there seems to be some weird things going on in Finton's head beyond only believing he was a mujahid fighting on God's behalf against the evil American empire. The "UCE" mentioned above is an undercover federal agent (UnderCover Employee), and seems to have let Finton retain his outlook on how al Qaeda and the Taliban operate.
Long story short, the feds supplied Finton with a dummy bomb, which he had in a car that he parked in front of the federal building in Springfield, Ill. on September 23rd, and attempted to use a cell phone to detonate it. At the point where he called the cell phone he thought would detonate the dummy bomb (twice for good measure, as the calls were recorded), Finton was arrested and taken into custody. The affidavit itself was a compelling read, in my opinion, and though it's 26 pages long I recommend it for anyone interested in a description of someone who clearly has some mental issues taking steps to conduct an act of terrorism.
The last arrest was closer to home for me, as it occurred here in Dallas (TX). Hosam Maher Husein Smadi was arrested on the 24th of September attempting to blow up Fountain Place, a distinctive-looking (on the outside) skyscraper in downtown. Unlike Finton or Zazi, Smadi was apparently in the US illegally, living in the small town of Italy (TX), and apparently got along well with neighbors and acquaintances (with the typical "he was so nice" stories). Smadi's arrest warrant criminal complain, and affidavit is also viewable online and the details leading up to the arrest mirror Finton's a great deal. though with less weirdness about how al Qaeda and the Taliban work (but with the typical anti-semitism). Smadi's rhetoric bears more resemblance to that of the pious anti-American Islamic terrorist banter that you would hear coming from the likes of a Taliban soldier or an al Qaeda press recording:
In this, it seems Smadi's commentary seems more in line with the ideological views of the terrorist groups, as opposed to the more pathological desire for destruction that Finton expressed. It's characteristically religious elevational talk, and with very little wording (like removing the "destruction of the Jews" comments) could be just as easily equated to Christian fundamentalist eschatology (an extreme example).
As I pointed out, the events leading to his arrest were practically the same as Finton: he was given a dummy bomb in a car, he called the supposed cell phone that would detonate the bomb (twice), and he was arrested. His home was also searched afterward for evidence of making a bomb, and he was indicted on Friday.
So, now to the point of my posting all of this and of this thread.
We have here at least three cases of what could have been terrible acts of terrorism averted within relatively short order. The first thought had to do with criticisms earlier this year about Obama's likely inefficiency fighting terrorism-- while the White House wasn't conducting the investigation and sting operations, law enforcement does fall under the Executive's branch, and obviously these are three cases where inefficiency was not a factor. Another thought that occurred to me was how non-invasive these three operations were in terms of curtailing of liberties or domestic spying-- indeed, all three cases read to me like law enforcement acting within long-standing and well-understood boundaries in order to curtail terrorist activity. The last thought that occurred to me (that I'll share here as part of discussion) was that with all the "OMG SOCIALISM" and anti-federal yahoos banging on their drums about the healthcare issue, the significance of these three cases are very likely going to fall by the wayside and be largely ignored in the loudmouth right-wing press, since they're all three cases of terrorism being averted under a Democratic president.
To the first thought, I'm recalling stories earlier this year about consternation in the CIA and FBI about Obama's administration possibly restricting their agencies' effectiveness despite intentions at having a more transparent and less criticized (with regard to civil liberties) administrative term. These cases are clearly success stories for our law enforcement, though much like a reversed-cold-reading I'm sure that news agencies will tend to latch on to failures or perceived failures while ignoring demonstrable successes like these. The releases of the affidavits in short order lends credence to Obama's call for transparency, and while I wouldn't say that the Bush administration was completely secretive about the details of their arrests and detainments I believe that having readily-available information like these cases quickly would have lent more credence to that administration's activities. Much like the "show, don't tell" maxim of writing, having as much information as can be deemed reasonable (though some would be left out for security reasons) lends credence to our law enforcement actions and activities, and without making a political argument I believe that it would have supplied more faith in that administration's Homeland Security initiatives to have information about successes available for view and review by the public. The information from these cases renews (some of) my faith in our federal law enforcement agencies, and even on an emotional level it does provide a modicum of reassurance that we are being protected against an existent threat-- something which I believe can be overlooked without sufficient available information.
To the second thought, it wouldn't be difficult to go through the archive of old threads here and find several discussing various surveillance and interrogation issues during the previous administration, and yet very little of the justifications or methods from within those topics would be found in the details provided in these three cases. Unless some other information comes up later, it seems there was a warrant for Zazi's phone tap, and the recorded conversations in the other two don't fall foul of statutes that exist in Texas or Illinois (or federal) laws, and at least in the case of Texas I can verify that the recordings would have been perfectly legal even by a private citizen (as I've had reason to look it up), let alone by law enforcement on an ongoing case. This isn't to argue that the justifications to methods introduced during the previous administration are invalidated by these reports (they aren't), but what I'm noting is that it doesn't seem as if law enforcement requires more extreme or invasive methods for carrying out its duties, and that what seems more important is a clear understanding of how to identify possible would-be terrorists, a means to segregate them from a support source, or to prevent them from actually getting far enough along in a plot to carry out an attack. One issue that was brought up post-9/11 was inter-agency communication, though, and to that end it seems that inter-agency communication has improved greatly (and to positive results) since that time.
To the third point, this may be a matter of perception on my part and not necessarily accurate. Maybe these arrests will be taken up by the more volatile and loud commentators on television and radio as an important piece of news to talk about, and perhaps on the left and the right these cases will be something that they can find some common ground on in expressing relief that the attacks were thwarted. I'd really like to believe that. Due to my cynicism about the state of discourse in the country right now, however, I don't think it's even remotely going to happen. The ideological lines between the left and the right are so stark and divided right now that I don't think that these success stories in thwarting terrorists is going to even make a dent. Unlike September of 2001, I don't even think that a single successful attack would be able to bring the two political and ideological sides of American culture together at this time. Maybe I'm being too cynical, though, and the last few months of downright hateful and distorted rhetoric from practically all over the place has taken a toll on my cultural measuring stick. I'd really be curious to know whether this cynicism on my part seems out-of-whack or in need of perspective or sounds even remotely valid.
I know that's kind of a lot to put into a single thread's OP, but the different points are kind of inter-related and they all begin from the three arrests made last week. Input on one or all of the points would be welcome.
