-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: October 4, 2007 11:48:24 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: FBI Informants Designated "Conman #1," "Conman #2" (No,
BUSH Is Still #1)
Miami men plotted to overthrow U.S.: prosecutor
By Jane Sutton Tue Oct 2, 5:17 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071002/ts_nm/usa_plot_dc_2
MIAMI (Reuters) - Seven men plotted to bring down the U.S.
government by poisoning saltshakers and bombing landmark buildings,
a prosecutor told Miami jurors as their terrorism conspiracy trial
opened on Tuesday.
The "Liberty City Seven" aimed to create chaos as part of a holy
war to pave the way for al Qaeda-affiliated guerrillas to take over
the United States, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie said in
the prosecution's opening statement.
"We need to make the people go crazy in the streets," Gregorie
quoted alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste as saying. "Allah is
going to take over through us."
Defense lawyers said the charges were "nonsense" scripted by the
government and orchestrated by paid FBI informants they called
Conman No. 1 and Conman No. 2.
They said the defendants --one of whom devoted all his time to
smoking marijuana-- had no weapons or intent to do violence and
that it was the informants who suggested poisoning restaurant
saltshakers and blowing up buildings.
The "Liberty City Seven," named for the poor part of Miami where
they gathered in a rundown warehouse, were arrested in 2006 on
charges of plotting to blow up Chicago's 110-story Sears Tower --
the tallest U.S. skyscraper -- along with several FBI offices and
the Miami federal court complex where they are on trial.
The young men face up to 70 years in prison if convicted on all
four conspiracy counts in a case government officials have touted
as an important victory in the war against terrorism.
'ASPIRATIONAL'
But federal agents said when they were arrested that the group's
plans were "aspirational rather than operational," and posed no
real threat because they had neither al Qaeda contacts nor means of
carrying out attacks.
The government's main evidence is drawn from 15,000 audio and
videotaped conversations made by the informants. One infiltrated
the group and introduced the other, a purported al Qaeda operative
from Yemen, as a friend of his uncle.
"Unknown to Mr. Batiste, it's Uncle Sam," Gregorie said.
Batiste's attorney, Ana Jhones, portrayed him as a would-be
religious leader who aspired to big things but lacked intellect and
ability. He pretended to go along with the informants, she said,
because he was trying to con them out of $50,000 to turn the
decrepit warehouse into a community gathering place.
"All he wanted to do was get his money and run and who better to
con than somebody who was supposedly al Qaeda," Jhones said.
She said the taped conversations would reveal plots "so outrageous
they're also incredible," such as Batiste's proposal to march to
the White House door and announce, "Here I am!"
"It will be entertaining," Jhones told the jurors, who are expected
to hear about two months' worth of testimony.
The defendants met at the warehouse, which they called "the temple"
or "the embassy," to practice martial arts and study religious
texts, but their lawyers scoffed at depictions of them as Islamist
extremists.
Defendant Stanley Phanor is a Roman Catholic who eats pork, said
his attorney, Roderick Vereen. "You will not see one of these guys
say 'Yay Allah, yay jihad, yay holy war,"' Vereen told the jury.
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