Mom 'n' Pop Terrorists Indicted
Seven men have been charged with plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and attack FBI offices in Miami. The men, five from the US and two from Haiti, hoped to wage a "full ground war" against the US, according to the charges brought against them. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller cited the breakup of the alleged conspiracy by seven members of the Florida-based "Seas of David" to bomb the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago and federal buildings in Miami’s Dade County as an example of the growing threat posed by mom 'n' pop terror operations born and bred in the United States.The alleged plotters are not believed to have ties to al Qaeda or other foreign terrorist organizations but sought to acquire materials from an undercover agent posing as an al Qaeda member.
Officials said the men were captured at an early stage and posed no danger. Attorney General Gonzales said the men were inspired by "a violent jihadist message. They were persons who for whatever reason came to view their home country as the enemy," he told reporters.
According to charges brought against the men, the group of men aged 22 to 32 had sworn allegiance to al Qaeda, but had no contacts with it. They have been charged with conspiring to blow up both the Sears Tower and the FBI building in North Miami Beach.
The men appeared headed for federal trial under the system of laws that governs trial of US citizens, and not by a far more secretive military tribunal. A federal indictment says they were conspiring to "levy war against the United States." Gonzales said the lack of direct link to al Qaeda did not make the group any less dangerous. "Today terrorist threats come from a smaller, more loosely defined cells not affiliated to al Qaeda," he said. "Left unchecked these home-grown terrorists may prove as dangerous as groups like al Qaeda."
Alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste apparently asked an undercover agent he thought was from al-Qaeda for help to build an "army to wage jihad," the indictment said.
No weapons were found in the Miami warehouse, and the seven had not posed any immediate danger, the FBI said. Deputy FBI leader John Pistole said the plot had been "aspirational" rather than "operational."
Neighbours in Miami's poor Liberty City area said the men apparently slept in the warehouse where they were arrested. "They would come out late at night and exercise," said one neighbor. "It seemed like a military boot camp they were working on there. They would come out and stand guard."
- June 24, 2006
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