Terror plot targeted Chicago's Sears Tower

[AliceInWonderland]

Indictment: Suspects wanted to 'kill all the devils we can'
Terror plot targeted Chicago's Sears Tower

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A federal indictment against seven men revealed Friday details of what the government said was a plan to "kill all the devils we can" by blowing up Chicago's Sears Tower.

The "jihad" was intended to be "as good or greater than 9/11," beginning with destruction of the 110-story tower and FBI buildings, according to court documents obtained Friday by CNN.

Named in the grand jury indictment is Narseal Batiste, who allegedly told an informant -- posing as a member of al Qaeda -- that he was organizing an Islamic army to wage a jihad in the United States. (Read the full indictment -- PDF)

The indictment offered no indication that the suspects were actually in contact with any al Qaeda members or that possible targets in Chicago, Illinois, or Miami, Florida, faced any imminent threat.

At a Friday news conference in Washington, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said, "Terrorist threats may come from smaller, more loosely defined cells who are not affiliated with al Qaeda, but who are inspired by a jihadist message."

Later in the day FBI Director Robert Mueller is expected to make remarks on homegrown terrorism.

Six suspects were arrested on Thursday night in Miami, and a seventh was arrested earlier in Atlanta, Georgia.

Some of the suspects were expected to appear in federal court Friday afternoon.

Batiste "recruited and supervised individuals in order to organize and train for a mission to wage war against the United States government, which included a plot to destroy by explosives the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois," the nation's tallest building, the document said. (Watch why the FBI director says he's scared -- 2:24)

Batiste gave the informant a list of equipment he needed to "wage jihad" including "boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios and vehicles," according to the document, as well as bullet-proof vests and $50,000 in cash.

"In order to obtain funding and support for the mission to wage war against the United States, Narseal Batiste and other conspirators attempted to obtain the support of al Qaeda," the document said.

"... the conspirators pledged an oath to al Qaeda and supported a purported mission of al Qaeda to destroy FBI buildings within the United States," it said.

The document said that Batiste wanted to "attend al Qaeda training, along with five of his soldiers, during the second week of April and further detailed his mission to wage a 'full ground war' against the United States in order to 'kill all the devils we can' ... beginning with the destruction of the Sears Tower."

The indictment accuses the seven men of swearing an oath of loyalty to al Qaeda, Besides Batiste, indictment names Patrick Abraham, Stanley Phanor, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin, Lyglenson Lemorin and Rotschild Augustine.

The document also alleges that the suspects may have been targeting other buildings.

Batiste and Burson Augustin gave the undercover agent photos of Miami's FBI building; photos and video of the James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building, federal courthouse buildings, the Federal Detention Center and the Miami Police Department; all in Miami-Dade County, according to the indictment.

Law enforcement sources said Thursday that the seven suspects are radical Muslims. (Watch how probe involved an undercover informant -- 2:53)

However, senior federal sources told CNN, "These people were not related to al Qaeda." When asked whether they were al Qaeda wannabes, he replied, "possibly."

Sources: 5 suspects American
Federal sources said five of the seven suspects were Americans, one was an illegal immigrant from Haiti whose visa had expired and one man was a resident alien.

No weapons or bomb-making materials were found in the raids, conducted Thursday in the Miami area. One targeted a warehouse in a Liberty City housing project, law enforcement officials said.

No one was inside the warehouse, and it wasn't known where police took the suspects into custody.

The neighborhood was cordoned off around the windowless warehouse about 2 p.m., and neighbors were told to stay inside. Police then showed neighbors photos of the suspects, who had been living in the building since March.

Neighbors said the men, who wore turbans, caused no problems but seemed odd.

"All you could do was just see their eyes. They had their whole head wrapped up. Just the eyes showing. And they were standing guard -- one here, one there -- like soldiers. Very quiet," one woman said.

A man said the men never spoke to neighbors and would just nod their heads if spoken to.

"They was acting like they was in military training," he said.

'Seas of David'
A man who identified himself as "Brother Corey" said five of the men arrested in Miami were his "brothers," members of the group he identified as "Seas of David."

Brother Corey said the group has "soldiers in Chicago," but was peaceful and not associated with any terrorist organizations.

"This is a place where we worship and also have businesses, as a work site as a construction company we are trying to build up," he said, referring to the Liberty City warehouse where the raids took place.

He said the Seas of David is a religious group that blends the teachings of Christianity and Islam.

CNN's Susan Candiotti, John Zarrella, Jeanne Meserve, Mike Brooks and Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.





Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/23/miami.raids/index.html

first of all I don't believe one word of this bullshit story and second of all, why would you want to trumpet that we have "home grown terrrorism" to the world; that shows what psychos americans are and that we should be police-ing ourselves first and the rest of the world later (ex. Oklahoma city bombing) OR this is just another ploy to try and control us w/ fear and paranoia aimed at each other instead of anyone w/ brown skin, a middle-eastern accent, and towel on their head and its sickening! We won't be bullied w/ fear-mongering Bushie!


You know what happened to the boy who cried "wolf" too many times!?!

He got his ass kicked by the whole town!

[Grimmlok]

It *is* awfully convenient that an administration that has used the spectre of terrorism before during election times all of a sudden has a few items like these fall into their laps...

On top of that, and the cheesy disclosure that "WMD's were found in Iraq!", despite them being over 20 years old and useless, and despite everybody knowing about them already, and despite the fact that a number of US senators tried to obscure the information about their age...

Yeha, i dont buy it either.

[MrsDark]

We were in Chicago summer before last for my husband's grandmother's 85th birthday and it took us a bit to even get inside the Sears Tower because everyone who entered the door had to go through metal detectors and put bags and stuff thru an x-ray machine just like at the airport.

[Mr. Authority]

My cousin is in Chicago right now and he told me that there's alot of security in the city anyway, especially around the Sears Tower area.

However this story does seem fishy to me. In a sense that it's being used by the adminsitration to bring fear into the country again. Sad.