The religion of peace almost kills AGAIN

[pavelbure]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520908,00.html

NEW YORK — DEVELOPING: As part of a holy war against America, four men sought to commit jihad when they plotted to bomb a Jewish temple and gun down military planes in upstate New York, the New York City police commissioner said Thursday.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters outside the Bronx temple Thursday that one of the men said, "If Jews were killed in this attack … that would be all right."

Kelly said the men allegedly "wanted to commit Jihad" and were angry about Muslims being killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan by U.S. military forces.

Click here for photos.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who stressed that Riverdale Temple is open to people of all faiths, including a Muslim girl who sometimes pray there, warned against stereotypes. Bloomberg, Kelly and other city leaders met privately with congregants early Thursday to alleviate security concerns.

Officials told The Associated Press the arrests came following a nearly yearlong undercover operation that began in Newburgh, N.Y., roughly 70 miles north of New York City.

Click here for coverage from MyFoxNY.com.

The defendants — James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen — were charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, the U.S. attorney's office said. The men, all of Newburgh, are due in federal court on Thursday in White Plains.

Officials said three of the defendants are U.S. citizens and one is of Haitian descent. An official told The Associated Press that three of the men are converts to Islam. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorizes to discuss details of the investigation.

The defendants had allegedly planned to detonate a car with plastic explosives outside the Riverdale Temple and the Riverdale Jewish Center in the Bronx. They also allegedly sought to shoot military plans at the New York National Guard base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh with Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles.

"They stated that they wanted to commit Jihad," Kelly said. "They were disturbed about what happened in Afghanistan and Pakistan, that Muslims were being killed."

RAW DATA: Federal Complaint (pdf).

Asked why the suspects chose to target a synagogue and Jewish center in the Bronx's Riverdale section, Kelly alluded to the proximity to highways, saying it could have been a fast getaway for the suspects.

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.

Bloomberg said the alleged plot shows "that the homeland security threats against New York City are sadly all too real and underscores why we must remain vigilant in our efforts to prevent terrorism."

According to a criminal complaint, Cromitie began working with an FBI informant in June 2008 when he told the official that his parents has lived in Afghanistan and that he was upset with the ongoing war there, including the deaths of many Muslim in Afghanistan and Pakistan by U.S. military forces.

RAW DATA: U.S. Attorney's Press Release (pdf).

Cromitie said he wanted to return to Afghanistan and told the informant about how he'd go to "paradise" if he died a martyr,. He also expressed an interest in doing "something to America," according to the complaint. The following month Cromitie and the informant discussed the organization Jaish-e-Mohammed, a designated foreign terrorist organization based in Pakistan that the informant claimed to be affiliated with.

In April 2009, Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Payen identified the synagogue and Newish community center and began conducting surveillance, including photographs and conducted surveillance, including photographs, of military planes at the Air National Guard Base, according to the complaint.

Cromitie and David Williams then purchased a 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol for use during the planned terrorist operations in April 2009. They also traveled to the location from which they could shoot at the military planes using surface-to air guided missiles, the complaint said.

Earlier this month, according to the complaint, Cromitie, David Williams and Payen drove the informant toward Stamford, Conn., to obtain what the defendants were told would be a surface-to-air guided missile system and three improvised explosive devices containing C-4 plastic explosive material. The informant provided the defendants with a Stinger surface-to-air guided missile provided by the FBI that was not capable of being fired, telling the defendants that he had obtained it from Jaish-e-Mohammed, as well as three IEDs that each contained over 30 pounds of inert C-4 plastic explosives, again telling the defendants that he had obtained them from Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The three men transported these apparent weapons back to Newburgh. Two days later, according to the complaint, the four defendants met to inspect the "missile system" and the "explosive devices" and to further discuss the logistics of the operation.

Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Payen are each charged with one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the U.S., which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, and one count of conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison.

FOX 5 VIDEO: Update on Foiled Terror Plot.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told FOX News that former President Bush and the Department of Homeland Security should be credited for keeping the country safe following the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Maybe the Bush administration might deserve a little credit for the fact that there's not been another attack on the United States of America since 9-11," McCain told FOX News.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said if there can be any good news out of this case it's that "the group was relatively unsophisticated, penetrated early and not connected to any outside group."

"The shocking plan to blow up a Jewish house of prayer with what the jihadist terrorists thought were C-4 explosives is dramatic proof that the dangers from such fanaticism have not passed and that American Jews must maintain their vigilance," said a statement released by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group.

One Newburgh resident who lived near Payen described the 21-year-old parolee as a "strange kid."

“He had a lot of psychological problems," Hamin Rashada told the Times Herald-Record.

Since serving a 15-month prison term, Payen lived alternatively in Newburgh and Middletown in upstate New York, with occasional stints on the street. Rashada told the paper he met Payen through the Orange County Transition Center, a program that helps reintegrate parolees back into society.

A senior life coach with the program, Rashada worked with Payen and encouraged him to attend Friday prayers at Masjid al-Ikhlas in Newburgh, where Rashada is an assistant imam, the Times Herald-Record reports.

Payen only attended the Newburgh mosque occasionally, Rashada told the paper, and he figured the former inmate must have been introduced to Islam in prison, where misunderstandings of its teachings can occur because educated teachers can be difficult to find.

"I guess when he got bored out here on the street," Rashada told the Times Herald-Record of when he saw Payen.

When he did attend, Rashada said Payen would try to impress other members of the mosque with knowledge of Islam, but was often incorrect. Payen would then become quiet and wander off, Rashada told the paper.

[Ex-Cyber]

So if I'm reading things correctly, a potential terrorist plot was foiled by good old-fashioned human intelligence and police work rather than a "war on terror", a surveillance state, or torture. That's fucking awesome, and to the extent that anyone's plotting terrorist attacks (regardless of their motivating ideology), it's what I'd like to see more of.

[Stormwatch]

[not just souLLy now]

FREEDOM FRIES FREEDOM FRIES USA USA USA

[DaMadFiddler]

So if I'm reading things correctly, a potential terrorist plot was foiled by good old-fashioned human intelligence and police work rather than a "war on terror", a surveillance state, or torture. That's fucking awesome, and to the extent that anyone's plotting terrorist attacks (regardless of their motivating ideology), it's what I'd like to see more of.

This is the overarching message I got from the event, as well.