Home-grown terror: 'Nightmare scenario': The Swamp
The Swamp
Chicago Tribune
Posted October 21, 2009 2:25 PM
The Swamp

by Mark Silva

With the arrest today of a Boston-area man accused of plotting against Americans abroad and at home, Sen. Joe Lieberman said: "We have a problem now; it's what we call home-grown terrorism.''

"This is the kind of nightmare scenario... I am always worried about,'' Lieberman (I-Conn.) said on FOX News Channel's Happening Now

He also endorsed the idea of deploying additional troops in Afghanistan.

"There's a lot on the line in Afghanistan. This is the place from which we were attacked on 9/11,'' Lieberman said today. "I hope the president decides to increase our troop presence there... I think we can win in Afghanistan, as we're now winning in Iraq and it provides more protection to our troops."

The senator's remarks follow an arrest reported today by the Tribune Washington Bureau's Josh Meyer. Read Meyer's account here of a Boston-area man accused by federal authorities of intentions to wage an attack on a U.S. shopping mall, his plot allegedly deterred by an inability to find automatic weapons:

By Josh Meyer
Reporting from Washington

Federal authorities today charged a Boston-area man with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists as part of a plot to ``kill, kidnap, maim or injure'' persons -- including U.S. officials -- overseas and here in the United States.

Prosecutors and FBI agents said that, from 2001 to 2008, Tarek Mehanna, 27, of Sudbury, Mass., conspired with at least two other men to carry out an Islamist holy war, or jihad. That included discussions about killing two prominent U.S. politicians, attacking American troops in Iraq and shooting at shoppers in U.S. malls, according to those authorities and detailed FBI affidavits that were unsealed this morning in connection with the case.

The charges against Mehanna were announced by the acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, Michael K. Loucks, and Warren T. Bamford, the FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Office.

According to prosecutors, and two lengthy FBI affidavits filed in support of the charges, the three men discussed their desire to participate in "violent jihad against American interests" and "to die on the battlefield.''

Mehanna had "multiple conversations about obtaining automatic weapons and randomly shooting people in shopping malls," Loucks said, adding that their plan was thwarted when they could only get handguns, not the automatic weapons which they believed necessary for an attack at a mall.

One senior federal law enforcement official cautioned that the alleged conspiracy was not nearly as far along, or as ``operational,'' as one allegedly headed by a Denver area Afghan native, Najibullah Zazi.

Zazi, 24, was arrested last month and charged with training with Al Qaeda in Pakistan and conspiring with others to detonate homemade explosive devices on U.S. soil, possibly New York-area transit hubs.


``It's very aspirational; hopes and dreams,'' said the law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because both investigations are classified, and ongoing. ``It's nothing like the Zazi case.''

Federal authorities said the investigation is part of a nationwide hunt for individuals in this country who are going to Somalia to fight with Al Qaeda-linked militants trying to overthrow the U.S.-backed government there.

Dozens of men in the United States, mostly Somali nationals, are suspected of supporting that effort, either through funding and recruitment or by actually traveling to Somalia to engage in combat and guerilla activities, several senior FBI and Justice officials have said recently.

If convicted on the material support charge, Mehanna faces up to 15 years in prison. His attorney was identified as J.W. Carney Jr., who was not available for immediate comment.

Authorities in Boston said today that Mehanna sought, but never received, training in terrorist camps despite several trips overseas. They identified one alleged co-conspirator as Ahman Abousamra, who is now believed to be in Syria.

Abousamra committed a felony several years ago by lying to FBI agents conducting a broad counter-terrorism investigation into U.S. support for the Somali militants, the court documents said.

The complaint also alleges that the men attempted to radicalize others and inspire each other by, among other things, watching and distributing jihadi videos. Authorities alleged that Mehanna and two associates traveled to the Middle East in February 2004, seeking military-type training at a terrorist training camp that would prepare them for armed jihad against U.S. interests, including U.S. and allied forces in Iraq. It also said one of Mehanna's coconspirators made two similar trips to Pakistan in 2002.

Some time in recent years the alleged plot escalated, according to the complaint and affidavits, and Mehanna and the co-conspirators had multiple conversations about obtaining automatic weapons and randomly shooting people in a shopping mall.

Authorities said the conversations went so far as to discuss the logistics of a mall attack, including coordination, weapons needed and the possibility of attacking emergency responders.

At a news conference, authorities would not say which, if any, malls had been targeted by the men. They also would not provide details about which politicians allegedly were targeted, but suggested that they were members of the executive branch who are no longer in office. They also declined to provide details about any potential attacks on U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.

And they did not identify another alleged conspirator who appears to be cooperating in the ongoing investigation.

FBI agents were assisted by two undercover informants who wore wiretaps and taped many conversations with Mehanna and Abousamra over the years.

According to the court filings, Mehanna was a U.S. citizen who was indicted last November and charged with lying to the FBI in its 2006 investigation of Daniel Maldonado. Mehanna told the FBI that the Texas-based Maldonado was living in Egypt when he knew that he was actually in Somalia training with the al Qaeda-affiliated militants, the court documents alleged.

While he was in Somalia, Maldonado called Mehanna and urged him to join him in "training for jihad,'' authorities said today. They said Mehanna and his conspirators also contacted Maldonado about how to get automatic weapons for their planned mall attacks.

Maldonado is serving a 10-year prison sentence, and assisted the FBI in gathering evidence against Mehanna, according to the court documents.

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Comments

He couldn't get automatic weapons? Has anyone notified the NRA about this horrific violation of his Second Amendment rights! This is an outrage. Every American has the right to own the means for slaughtering innocent people in large numbers quickly. Certainly none of us would have been any less safe if this citizen had been able to go to his local WalMart and buy as many automatic weapons and as much ammo as he wanted, right?


Nice to see that Joe Liebertoad, prostitute of the Military Industrial Complex, is still his old fear mongering self......NOT!


Neocon nutjobs like Grandpa Warmonger McCain and Holy Joe will do or say anything in order to get thousands of more troops sent to the already lost war in Afghanistan.



Mark Silva are you watching FOX news?

"This is the kind of nightmare scenario... I am always worried about,'' Lieberman (I-Conn.) said on FOX News Channel's Happening Now

Shame on you for even mentioning that name! I'm turning you into the White House Czar of Snitches!


That is the last thing we need to do, take advice from someone, who doesn't know, from one day to the next, whether he is a Republican-Libertarian, a Democrat, or a citizen of Israel !! I think we should wait for him to figure that out, before we listen to anything he has to say, on any subject !! Joe Lieberman is a disgrace to America and to the men and women, who must go out and serve the ambitions of the war-mongerers !! Retire Lieberman, your day is over !! Let Israel fight her own wars !!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.


He couldn't find a vendor for automatic weapons?

Hasn't he heard of gun shows?

Or, just go to the NRA website and they will provide useful links for anyone who wants to murder his family, shoot up a school yard or fast food restaurant, or whatever.

Homegrown terror?

Well, duh.

Parliament was shocked last year when it was announced that the prison population in
Britain reached 85,000.

Eighty-five thousand. No, I didn't leave out a 0.

That shocked the Brits.

How many are in US prisons?

Way over 2 million, I'd say.


Cess pools.


Recruitment centers for Tim McVeighs of all religious persuasions.


Joe Lieberman?


Aren't you sick of him beating the war drums?


Bush's Wars are lost.


Lieberman wants Obama to make like Nixon in Vietnam:


The Long Goodbye.


Warshington still hasn't acted on the lesson of 9/11:


Security begins at home.


Inside the US.


So because these guys were charged today, is it Obama's fault for their planning from 2001 - 2008?
Does that mean that Obama's administration is not doing enough to montior potential domestic threats or that he han't been able to disrupt the anti-terror efforts yet?
Regradless, let's hope the FBI, the ATF, Customs and local law enforcement are able to keep up thier good fight to prevent such attacks.


We already have had "home grown terrorists" here in the USA for years now - they're the men who have been murdering doctors who perform abortions.


democrats, instead of prosecuting the war on Fox News or revealing your anti-Semiticism as Don Fitzgerald has expressed so clearly here, when are you going to get on to repealing that vile FISA law that the Prince of Darkness enacted over your measured objections? U must make a big play on that. This would be a near-perfect moment to stand on your self-righteous principles.


Some interesting observations about this article:
1. In Mark Silva's part, he never IDs the terrorist by name or by nationality. He is just a "Boston-area man."
2. In the Meyer piece, one has to go to the second paragraph to find out his name and that he wanted to carry out an Al Qaeda attack.
3. The posts from the Deranged, Worthless Loons on the Left never address the terrorism, but they do comment on the NRA, people who belong to the NRA, Joe Liebermann, and the two or three people who have killed abortion doctors. That last one comes from Idiot-for-Life BC, who believes Cuba is nowhere near the Gulf of Mexico and also believes the Dominican Republic is in Central America. BC has plenty of other deranged, ignorant thoughts too.
4. So nowhere is there a comment on the Muslim terrorists who want to kill innocent Americans and government leaders.
5. Ornery seems to go on a dibatribe against prisons and Bush's wars are lost.
Ornery, sorry to inform you, but we have won in Iraq. That country has had several fair elections, an increasingly stable government, a friendly country to the U.S. and West in general. In Afghanistan (which for years the Loons on the Left said they supported but now show their true colors and call it unnecessary, U.S. imperialism, Bush invastions, etc. Ornery, by the way, Afghanistan is not lost yet, either. Yet. Obimbo seems to be doing everything he can, though, to LOSE in Afghanistan.


Hey, " dajago.. " learn how to spell the silly charge before you go and make a complete boob of yourself !! It looks like this: anti-semitism. As to the accuracy of your charge, you missed the entire target !! Now, go and be stupid with someone else or go play with some tumbleweed !! That's more your speed !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.


Don Fitzgerald, Couldn’t find any tumbleweeds. Think that they are all hanging out in the dnc’s Unemployment line.


I re-read your 3:35 p.m. diatribe, and yes, it was very painful. What is clear is that u hate Joseph Lieberman, and consistent with your political party, u hate Israel. Think that we got all of that. Is it not fair to say that you have anti-Semitic views that are not at all inconsistent with your political party of choice? I applaud your sense of consistency. It's a good marriage.


I would engage you in a discussion, unfortunately your IQ slipped below the 30th parallel, which means, there's nobody home, at the moment !! I don't waste my time with the purposely, intellectually challenged. Thanks, but no thanks !! Have a great day and I sincerely hope, one day, that you and your intelligence will be re-united.
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.


Don Fitzgerald,
No problem. Intere$t is the time value of money because time does have value. It’s all good.


In the year 2009, where political correctness normally dictates the allowable discourse, the two things that u can freely express unchallenged hatred for would be Republicans and Jews. democrats are generally very good at re-defining terms and mis-naming things. Jewish Americans, much to their great credit, do not ever seem to be too troubled by the reliably anti-Semitic attitude of the modern day democratic party, but just wanted to be clear.


Now, how about that FISA law? When can we expect it to be repealed? Well, don’t overdose on the kool-aide, and u have a nice day too.


Django clearly can't differentiate between anti-semitism and disagreeing with some policies of the Israeli Government.


Nick, that is an interesting point, but it is not one that is at all new to me. I have heard it many times. Certainly you can disagree with anyone’s policies, and I can have some respect for that and consider it legitimate. HOWEVER, when the anti-semitics bring up Israel more or less out of the blue and make their standard argument of the Centuries that Israel and Jews are responsible for all of the World’s ills, then NO, I only see the anti-semitic coloring of that palette. The other party in the argument then needs to take on a little bit of the burden of the argument to explain why it is not the standard Hate-Israel-Hate-Jews default position that so appeals to them.


I have seem democrats stand up time and time again for al Fatah, for Hamas, for Hezbollah, the most vile group of jihadic driven Islamic Terrorists that the mind can conjure. Israel, Jews just trying to have a claim to a life ~ well, No democrats ever seem to go there. I understand the differentiation. Someone needs to make it every once in a while.


How about that FISA law? When are we going to repeal that?


Dajngo, Tell that to Rahm Emanuel. Is he an anti-semite too?

Incidently, are YOU an anti-semite? The Palestinian people are a semitic people too. You seem to be overflowing with hate for them. You seem to blame them exclusively, while making the Israeli's blameless in the conflict. I'm sure, that in fact , you are not. I am also equally sure that the Denocratic Party as a whole isn't filled with anti-semitism either, but just disagrees with some Israeli policies. I have seen you repeatedly argue against any charge of racism leveled at others, saying that thoswe who feel a statement is racist just need to lighten up. I think that is advice that you should perhaps take yourself, or be prepared to be judged by the same standard you set for others.


If you want to see the true danger of home grown terror, go read some of the posts over in the Boehner chicago politics thread. There are multiple posts from radical riught wingers threateniong to kill liberals and overthrow the government. Truly appalinh ng stuff, that shoiuuld be roundly condemned by all, liberal, conservative, and everthing inbetween. Those are people we should all be very afraid of.


Nick,


I only asked Mr. Fitzgerald to clarify his anti-Lieberman, anti-Israel rant. There are many senators of the democrat party that I could not possibly care any less for, so if he hates Lieberman, then that is certainly his call to make. Joseph Lieberman is a Liberal. I personally like him. There are many democrat senators that I don’t like, but whatever, I am just noting that there is a consistency between Mr. Fitzgerald and the democrat party with respect to Israel, a true democracy in the Middle East.


Without being an anthropologist, I understand that Palestinians are considered Semitics, as are Arabs, and others. Yes, you are absolutely correct that I believe that the racism pimps are invariably always on edge, and always ready to leap on the slightest inflection, often alleging something that they have seemed to have just invented the previous night. One race based commentator told Juan Williams to “Get back on the Porch” just the other night. You would have had to be watching Fox to have seen that. I had never heard that one before, but I knew that it was crude, insensitive, and offensive. They do need to lighten up and find a better way to make an argument.


I deleted a paragraph that I was going to include in my previous post because it probably was too personal. I have 5 associates that I have a close working and personal relationship with in the field of Mathematics. With a ton of work maybe I could be what they are now, but I would not consider that likely. These associates / friends include an Indian national, an Iranian, two Israelis, and a Palestinian. I admire them almost to the point of hero worship. They know more high-powered ways to solve a matrix than I do. My Palestinian Math friend does not work for Hezbollah, al Fatah, or Hamas. He would like to have a Homeland. I would like for him to have a Homeland, but these knuckleheads are not the ticket, so sez he and so sez me. He can always stay with me should he ever need to. We will drink cherry coke, play the guitar, and solve some matrices.


My mother is still part black, my dad was Creek or Seminole. I have always hated seeing people treated shabbily or badly because they did not make better choices during the zygote process. I feel that when someone tries to define me in a certain way, they are totally dismissive of the very few things that I can do well. Racism, and especially anti-semitism just would not be my thing. CAN THE dEMOCRAT PARTY SAY THAT? As you have pointed out, most folk do not even know what the fuller Semitic envelop would include. In addition to being hate-mongers, they are also ignorant.


Without even knowing me, u democrats always want to pull out your race brush and do your work on me. When u descend into The Swamp, these things happen. When Django becomes a racist, Western civilization can call it a day, but whatever. It’s a Swamp.


As for Rahm Emanuel, I cannot guess what would be in his mind with respect to any of this. Perhaps you know, but I don’t. I can only say, with less than total certainty that for most politicos in positions similar to his, that political power trumps all other things. So, whatever that would seem to dictate to him to do, I would expect that would be the path that he would be on. That would just be the speculation on my part.


If you are asking me if I think that these people have any concern for the security of Israel, then I would have to say NO, I don’t believe that they do. What all of their reasons are, I would not know, but at some point, a fair minded person in a position of political responsibility should be able to recognize the difference between right, shades of gray, and pure evil. Sorry, but I sincerely don’t believe that the modern day democrat party is in any way capable of that distinction. Sorry, too about the length..


Nick,
It is fine for you or Mr. Fitzgerald to have a different view, but I like Joe Lieberman, a Liberal, because he DOES stand up for America. I know that he is an Independent now, but that did seem to be a very serious problem for the modern democrat party.


I don’t know who the right wing nuts are, but Glenn Beck has received death threats from the left wing nuts. Ann Coulter is threatened on Liberal college campuses every time she shows up. There is certainly dangerous no shortage of left wing nuts.


Django, dude, you pulled out the "race brush" here. YOU made the allegation. No one else. I specifically said that I did not believe you to be anti-semitic, but that your own standard could paint you that way. However, sadly, it appears you have a double standrd. It's only not playijnmg the race card when you accuse others of racism. Ujngfor5tunately I don;'t think the modern day right is able to apply their own standards to themselves. I especially think they are incapable of discussing race in a non-hypocritical way. They feel\ free to call everyonre else a racist, but they, like you, find the notion of others doing the same thing to be appalling. I doubt that there can be a more broad palying of the race card than callingg all Democrats anti-semites, including Rahm Emanuel, a Jew who volunteered in Israel to aid those attacked by Palestinians. I really finmd it hard to believe that anby rational human being could make that charge, and then cattack others for being to sensative to race.
I am fully willing to condemn anyone who threatens the lives of Beck or Coulter on these boards. I find that to be unaccceptable. Are you willing to go over to the other thread and condemn those on the right who have posted violent and revolutionary rhetoric? Or is that just another double standard on your part? I'll be waiting to see your post there taking your fellow right wing travellers to task for their violent threats.


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