The Many Terror Ties Of Anwar al-Awlaki

If the name Anwar al-Awlaki sounds familiar, it's because the extremist imam's name came up in the course of the investigation into the actions of Major Malik Hasan, who massacred 13 soldiers at Fort Hood.

However, this isn't the first time that Awlaki's name has surfaced in connection with terror suspects and terror trials. In fact, more than a dozen terror investigations had a common denominator - Anwar Awlaki.

In 2006, for example, a group of Canadian Muslims listened to Mr. Awlaki’s sermons on a laptop a few months before they were charged with plotting attacks in Ontario to have included bombings, shootings, storming the Parliament Building and beheading the Canadian prime minister.

In 2007, one of six men later convicted of plotting to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey was picked up on a surveillance tape raving about Mr. Awlaki’s audio clips. “You gotta hear this lecture,” said the plotter, Shain Duka. Mr. Duka called the cleric’s interpretation of Muslim duties “the truth, no holds barred, straight how it is!”

Last year, Mr. Awlaki exchanged public letters on the Web with Al Shabaab, a Somali Islamist group that has attracted recruits among young Somali-Americans living in Minnesota. The message from Al Shabaab praised the cleric as “one of the very few scholars” who “defend the honor of the mujahideen.”

“Allah knows how many of the brothers and sisters have been affected by your work,” it said.

Evan Kohlmann, a counterterrorism researcher who has testified in terrorism trials in the United States and United Kingdom, said Mr. Awlaki’s work had also turned up in cases in Chicago and Atlanta and in at least seven in the United Kingdom.

“Al-Awlaki condenses the Al Qaeda philosophy into digestible, well-written treatises,” Mr. Kohlmann said. “They may not tell people how to build a bomb or shoot a gun. But he tells them who to kill, and why, and stresses the urgency of the mission.”

For at least a decade, counterterrorism officials have had a wary eye on Mr. Awlaki, an American citizen now living in Yemen. His contacts with three of the Sept. 11 hijackers, at mosques where he served in San Diego and Falls Church, Va., remain a perplexing mystery about the 2001 attacks, said Philip Zelikow, who was executive director of the national 9/11 commission.

Awlaki's Internet presence allows him to spread his message of jihad and hate to a wider audience than merely holding forth in a mosque somewhere in the world. His Internet presence allows counterterrorism experts to track and get a bead on those who might present threats, but now that his site is offline, that task gets much more difficult.

Now, just because Hasan is linked to Awlaki doesn't mean that Hasan was operating on behalf of any other group; he could have engaged in the massacre on his own. Awlaki's extremism informs as to motive and Hasan's own extremism.

Awlaki is believed to be somewhere in Yemen spreading his hate and preaching the jihad to all who wish to listen.

More Details Emerge On Thwarted NYC Terror Plot

While more details continue to trickle out about the thwarted NYC metro area terror plot, which included attempted bombings of two synagogues in the Bronx and steps taken to acquire surface to air missiles to hit military aircraft flying out of the Air National Guard base at Stewart Airport, Jammie notes that there are idiots who are trying to claim that this is just another setup.

These are many of the same people who want to believe that the Fort Dix Six weren't planning terrorist attacks against the military personnel at Fort Dix (5 of 6 were convicted and will spend life or life plus 30 years in prison; the sixth served 20 months on charges stemming from providing weapons to illegal aliens). They're quick to jump on the FBI for investigating and carrying out survelliance to thwart terrorists from carrying out their plans.

In this case, these four terrorist suspects were trying to actively bomb the synagogues. They obtained what they believed was C4 to bomb the synagogues and an anti-aircraft missile. Since the person providing the weapons and explosives was an informant posing as a Pakistani militant, the FBI swapped the real explosives for inert replicas. The intent was there, and these four were stopped only because of the FBI's actions.

The suspects - three U.S.-born citizens and one Haitian immigrant - at least three of whom were said to be jailhouse converts to Islam, were angry about the deaths of Muslims in Afghanistan, sources told The News.

"They wanted to make a statement," a law enforcement source said. "They were filled with rage and wanted to take it out on what they considered the source of all problems in America - the Jews."

The group's alleged ringleader, James Cromitie, according to the complaint, discussed targets with an undercover agent. "The best target [the World Trade Center] was hit already," he allegedly told the agent. Later, he rejoiced in a terrorist attack on a synagogue.

"I hate those motherf-----s, those f---ing Jewish bastards. . . . I would like to get [destroy] a synagogue."

The men allegedly parked car bombs wired to cell phones outside the Riverdale Temple and nearby Riverdale Jewish Center. They were also heading to Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, Orange County, when the law swooped in on them.

Read more: "FBI arrest four in alleged plot to bomb Bronx synagogues, shoot down plane" - http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/05/20/2009-05-20_fbi_arrest_four_in_alleged_plot_to_car_bomb_bronx_synagogue.html#ixzz0G9EKkDO1&A

New York area papers and media reports are clearly indicating that these were terrorists on jihad - that they sought to attack National Guard aircraft because they support the US mission in Afghanistan, and they wanted to target Jews living in the Bronx. Ray Kelly, commissioner of the NYPD says that the two synagogues targeted appear to have been selected because of their proximity to local highways for speedy access upstate to Newburgh where the four terrorist suspects lived. Stewart Airport is a short drive from Newburgh.

UPDATE:
Jules Crittenden links. Thanks!

Keep in mind that the same kind of complaints about entrapment were made about the Lackawanna Six and other terror plots disrupted around the nation both before and since 9/11. That they were disrupted should be applauded, but these people feel compelled to attack the FBI and local law enforcement for being proactive and doing their utmost to infiltrate and thwart these terror attacks. Imagine what would have happened had the NYPD and FBI thwarted the first WTC bombing or even the 9/11 attacks. That's the point of infiltrating the terror cells hellbent on carrying out mass casualty attacks - it's to prevent the kind of carnage seen on 9/11 and repeated elsewhere around the world in a series of mass casualty attacks.

UPDATE:
Sister Toldjah is following the situation and mentions a thwarted plot in Miami that resulted in convictions.

UPDATE:
The leader of the mosque that these four attended (and one of whose other members informed the FBI as to the intentions of the foursome) noted that he had to repeatedly correct one of the suspected terrorists on Islamic law.

Hamin Rashada told the Times Herald-Record of Middletown today that 21-year-old Laguerre Payen told him he was a Muslim. Rashada says Payen occasionally attended a Newburgh mosque where his statements on Islam often had to be corrected.

Rashada, an assistant imam at the mosque, says he met Payen through a program that helps parolees reintegrate after being released from prison.

Rashada says Payen lived in Middletown and Newburgh, where he stayed in a rooming house. State police and FBI searched his room for several hours last night and early this morning.

Video of the imam speaking about the arrests can be found here.

Rashada is a member of the Board of the Islamic Learning Center of Orange County/Masjid Alikhlas.

UPDATE:
No bail for three of the terror suspects. A fourth suspect is expected to be arraigned this afternoon.

The shackled suspects - James Cromitie, 55; James Williams, 28; and Onta Williams, 32 - were led into the courtroom in White Plains federal court wearing the same clothes they were wearing when they were arrested late Wednesday.

Snyder branded David Williams as the worst of the bad-news bunch of wannabe terrorists.

"[He was] bragging, boasting he would shoot anyone who tried to stop them," Snyder said.

The three suspects did not ask for bail and a judge ordered them detained until a hearing on June 6.

The fourth suspect, Haitian immigrant Laguerre Payen, was expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon.

There were additional details about the takedown provided as well. They include that the suspects cased the two synagogues before attacking them with cars laden with 34 pounds of what they believed was C4. The NYPD cordoned off both ends of the block with 18-wheelers and swarmed in with their counter-terrorist police unit.

Some people want to think that the NYPD was some podunk police force and that the take-down should have been handled by the FBI, but in this case, the NYPD has more manpower and capabilities than the FBI.

After all, the NYPD has nearly 40,000 police officers with hundreds assigned to counterterrorism duties, while the FBI has just over 30,000 spread out across the nation.

Fort Dix Six Sentencing Completed; Lengthy Terms For Five Defendants

Another day, another life sentence imposed on a Fort Dix Six terror plotter. This time, it's Mohamad Shnewer who was sentenced to life in prison for his role in plotting to attack Fort Dix or other military installations.

Shnewer, a former cab driver from Jordan with a thin beard, sat quietly shackled as Kugler handed down the life-plus-30-years sentence. There is no parole in the federal system.

It was Shnewer who was responsible for much inflammatory rhetoric authorities tape recorded with help from two informants. At one point, he volunteered to drive a hijacked gasoline truck into a military base for a suicide mission. He also suggested firing a rocket into the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard during the Army-Navy football game.

Before being sentenced, Shnewer read a five-minute statement, proclaiming his innocence, quoting the Koran and apologizing to his family and co-defendants.

"I might have spoken like a jihadist," he said. "But I could never take another person's life.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hammer said Shnewer was at the plot's epicenter and the first to propose attacking Fort Dix. He was "fully radicalized," Hammer said.

So, he admits to speaking like a jihadi, but claims he couldn't take another life. Gotcha. I guess that's what separates the leaders and the followers. He had no problem inciting others to carry out the jihad, but as a leader, he's just as responsible for their actions.

UPDATE:
Serdar Tatar, 25, will get 33 years in prison for his role in the plot. The sixth person involved, Agron Abdullahu, previously got 20 months in prison for weapons charges stemming from the terror plot.

Fort Dix Six Sentencing Underway: UPDATE: Duka Brothers All Get Life

Dritan Duka, one of the Fort Dix Six, was sentenced to life in prison, plus 30 years. He, along with two of his brothers and two other men were convicted on terror-related charges stemming from a plot to attack troops at Fort Dix or other military installations in New Jersey.

A man convicted of plotting to kill military personnel in the Fort Dix trial has been sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison.

Thirty-year-old Dritan Duka (DRY'-tahn DOO'-ka) was the first of five men to be sentenced over two days.

Dritan told the judge he was innocent.

His brothers Eljvir (EL'-veer) and Shain were also to be sentenced Tuesday.

The brothers and two other men were convicted in December of conspiring to kill military personnel in a plot that authorities portrayed as one of the most frightening homegrown terrorism plans ever in the United States.

All five men are immigrants. The Duka brothers ran a roofing company in Cherry Hill before they were arrested two years ago.

The remaining convicted terrorists are to be scheduled today and tomorrow.

UPDATE:
The remaining two Duka brothers also got life sentences. Shain Duka got life plus 30 years and Eljvir got life. They'll have lots of time to spend contemplating what they did.

Verdict Expected In Fort Dix Terror Case: UPDATE: Guilty

A verdict is expected to be handed down shortly in the Fort Dix terror case. The jurors have been deliberating for five days, and expected to have a verdict in sometime today.

The defendants are charged with plotting to carry out a terrorist attack against the Fort Dix military installation.

Prosecutors say the defendants conspired to kill U.S. military members, either at Fort Dix or another target, and sought weapons to carry out the strike. The evidence at the eight-week trial suggested the men watched Al Qaeda videos, listened to jihadist lectures, and trained with rifles and horses during an excursion to the Pocono Mountains.

They were arrested in May 2007, after a 15-month investigation that ended when two suspects tried to buy weapons from an FBI informant.

Charged with conspiracy and attempted murder are brothers Eljvir, Dritan and Shain Duka, ethnic Albanians who worked at a family roofing business; Mohamad Shnewer, a Jordanian who drove a cab and worked at his family's market in Pennsauken; and Serdar Tatar, a native of Turkey who was an assistant manager at a Philadelphia 7-Eleven.

Each faces up to life in prison if convicted on the conspiracy charge.

Attorneys for the defendants, who became friends at a Cherry Hill high school, said there was no conspiracy. They said the Pocono trip was a vacation, replete with pillow fights, and argued that the informants concocted and encouraged the plot because they were being paid by the FBI or promised legal immigration status.

UPDATE:
All five remaining defendants were found guilty of terrorism related charges although they were found not guilty on attempted murder charges. Guilty verdicts on charges of conspiracy to kill US soldiers at Fort Dix means that the five are looking at life in prison.

UPDATE:
The jurors included a note showing the burden that the jurors felt with going through the charges. Sentencing is set for April 22-23.

The Fort Dix probe began in January 2006 when an electronics store clerk in South Jersey gave police a copy of a customer's videotape that showed the men firing rifles and shouting Islamic battle cries. FBI agents and two paid cooperators then spent 15 months shadowing the suspects, recording their conversations and examining their computers.

The evidence indicated that the men gathered weekly at a Palmyra mosque and regularly watched and discussed Al Qaeda videos extolling jihads and depicting deadly attacks against U.S. forces. In January 2006 and February 2007, they rented a house in the Pocono Mountains, where investigators said they trained for an attack by riding horses, shooting weapons at a rifle range and playing war games with paintball.

Prosecutors conceded the men had not settled on a target or a timetable for their strike, but called them "radical Islamists" with a shared goal: a jihad to kill American troops. They played for jurors hidden videos of the lead defendant, Shnewer, traveling with an FBI informant to Fort Dix, Dover Air Force Base and other sites in August 2006.

But for an alert Circuit City store clerk, this plot would have continued unknown until these terrorists managed get caught or carried out the attacks.

Fort Dix Six Trial Underway

The trial of five men who are alleged to have plotted a terrorist attack against the military base at Fort Dix in New Jersey is finally underway.

Authorities say that in 2006 and 2007, the men turned paintball games into terrorist training sessions and met at places like Dunkin' Donuts to discuss killing soldiers on the Army's Fort Dix base.

The men, all foreign-born Muslims in their 20s, are charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and weapons offenses.

Their lawyers are expected to question the role of two paid government informants who made hundreds of hours of secret recordings.

The jury consists of eight women and four men. The trial is expected to last into December.

A sixth man, Agron Abdullahu, has already entered a guilty plea on weapons charges and received a 20-month sentence. He entered a guilty plea on charges of providing weapons to the illegal aliens (the Duka brothers).

Good News From the Dockets

Yesterday's Supreme Court ruling was a serious setback for the nation and how it handles those enemy combatants it captures on the fields of battle around the world. For those individuals picked up in the US, they face a civilian criminal justice system that sometimes misses the mark as well.

Today wasn't one of those days.

Today two decisions/deals were reached that found suspects guilty of engaging in terrorism against the US.

The first is University of South Florida student Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, who entered into a plea deal with prosecutors and admitted to being a terrorist.

In the court document, he admits to providing material to support terrorists. He also acknowledges that a YouTube video he produced was to be used in "preparation for or in carrying out the killing of employees of the United States," including uniformed personnel.

Mohamed and Youssef Megahed were arrested August 4, 2007, in Goose Creek, South Carolina after a traffic stop. Authorities recovered a number of items from the car which constituted explosive materials.

Megahed remains in custody.

I expect Mohamed to turn on Megahed in what would likely be characterized by Megahed's attorney's as Mohamed giving testimony in exchange for a lighter sentence down the road (that's how these things usually work). CAIR initially came out and claimed that these two were victims, but I doubt we'll be hearing from CAIR again on this case.

The second case was a trial of three men in Toledo, Ohio, where a jury found all three men guilty of plotting terror attacks against US troops overseas.

Mohammad Amawi, Marwan El-Hindi, and Wassim Mazloum, all of whom are Muslim, were convicted on all counts of conspiring to kill or injure people outside the United States and face sentences of life in prison.

Prosecutors said the men were learning to shoot guns and make explosives while raising money to fund their plans to wage a holy war against U.S. troops.

“Today’s verdicts should send a strong message to individuals who would use this country as a platform to plot attacks against U.S. military personnel in Iraq and elsewhere,” said Patrick Rowan, acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, in a written statement.

“This case also underscores the need for continued vigilance in identifying and dismantling extremist plots that develop in America’s heartland.”

Defense attorneys charged that the three defendants were manipulated by a government informant.

So much for the defense attorney claims. The jury didn't buy them.

Closer to home, Brian Morgenstern , who broke open the Fort Dix Six terror plot after overhearing the conspirators talking at a Circuit City where Morgenstern works, was honored by the New Jersey Senate. The trial on five of the six people indicted is to go forward with jury selection in September. The sixth member, Agron Abdullahu, entered into a plea deal separately from the other five and is serving 20 months in prison on weapons charges.

UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin wonders which would get more media coverage - the R. Kelly child porn case verdict, or the terror trial outcomes. Does she really think that the media would focus on the terror trial, especially with guilty verdicts or plea deals involved?

Remember also, that Megahed and Mohamed had claimed that they were in the vicinity of the Goose Creek Naval Station to play with fireworks.

Fort Dix Six Plotter Gets 20 Months

One of the Fort Dix Six, Agron Abdullahu, has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for his role in the terror plot against the Army base in New Jersey after pleading guilty to weapons charges in October 2007.

Agron Abdullahu, the Ocean County man who admitted he provided weapons used at a firing range by illegal aliens charged last spring with plotting to kill soldiers at Fort Dix, was sentenced today to 20 months in federal prison.

Abdullahu, 25 and a refugee from Kosovo, could be released from custody next fall, said his attorney Richard Coughlin, federal public defender for New Jersey.

Throughout the 90-minute sentencing hearing, Couglin, a team of federal prosecutors, and U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler said repeatedly that Abdullahu had no active part in the conspiracy to attack personnel at the military base.

Setting for the his reasons for the sentence, more than the 11 months suggested by the defense but substantially less than the 60 months that the government said “would be reasonable,” Kugler referred to letters written in support of Abdullahu. Those letters described him as a hard-working, pleasant, and polite man who loved the United States.

Abdullahu had pleaded guilty in October to weapons charges stemming from the terror plot.

n October, Mr. Abdullahu pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of providing firearms to illegal aliens. On Monday, he is to be sentenced by Judge Robert B. Kugler of Federal District Court in Camden, N.J.

Five other suspects in the case — Mohamad Shnewer, Serdar Tatar and three Duka brothers, Eljvir, Shain and Dritan — face charges including conspiracy to kill military personnel. If convicted, they could be sentenced to life in prison.

In a case that raised fears of domestic terrorism, Mr. Abdullahu’s sentence could stand as an early gauge of the strength of the government’s case.

The prosecution relies in part on recorded conversations between the suspects. Transcripts were released by prosecutors last week as part of a sentencing brief to Judge Kugler, asking for “a two-level enhancement” of Mr. Abdullahu’s sentence and an “upward departure” from the sentencing guidelines, which call for 10 to 16 months for the crime to which Mr. Abdullahu pleaded guilty.

The 77 pages of transcripts — peppered with profanities, politics, and talk of violence, including the best way to kill American soldiers — cover just a few of the hundreds of conversations the authorities said they had recorded.

In their brief, the prosecutors also cited graffiti Mr. Abdullahu had etched on the door of his cell, including a gun firing at the initials “F.B.I.,” and said the transcripts proved that Mr. Abdullahu knew he was providing firearms to dangerous men.

“Abdullahu’s crime of placing lethal weapons in the hands of self-proclaimed admirers of jihad ‘significantly endangered ... national security’ because the Dukas spoke openly of attacking American soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan,” read the brief.

The transcripts also begin to illustrate the role of one of the government’s informants in the case, called CW-2 in the transcripts. Defense lawyers have said they will focus on the roles the informants might have played in coaxing their clients toward more alarming conversations.

In interviews, some of the lawyers said they were taken aback by the release of the transcripts, saying that it seemed excessive since prosecutors had already agreed to the guilty plea. Michael Riley, a lawyer for Shain Duka, said: “Public perception is an issue. This poisons the well for us.”

He added: “The tone may not be there. The words are devastating.”

Fort Dix Six Defendant Pleads Guilty

Fort Dix Six plotter Agron Abdullahu entered a plea of guilty to weapons charges (providing firearms to illegal aliens) this morning. He faces up to five years in prison when sentenced February 6, 2008.

I think this is a good move for the prosecution and it might lead to other plea deals as prosecutors will probably use his testimony against the other plotters.

Question For Media

Will this get nearly as much attention as this did?

The short answer will be no. The Holy Land Foundation trial was a showcase trial that the government botched badly by not streamlining the case to pick out the most salient charges or at least to get the defendants to flip against each other.

The Fort Dix Six case will be getting its first guilty plea from Abdullahu on weapons charges, which suggests that prosecutors have made sufficient headway in the case that they might be able to get one of the other defendants to flip, or to accept a plea deal in the face of damaging testimony from Abdullahu.

The contrasting cases show two different approaches. Instead of hitting the Fort Dix Six with hundreds of charges, federal prosecutors in New Jersey provided a grand total of five counts in their indictment. Not all of the defendants were hit with all charges either. Abdullahu was charged with only one count - providing firearms to illegal aliens.

Expect the retrial of the HLF case to streamline the case such that only the strongest of the charges remain in the case.

Fort Dix Six Defendant To Enter Guilty Plea Next Week

KYW Newsradio is reporting that Agron Abdullahu of Collings Lakes, N.J. -- the Fort Dix Six defendant charged with illegally supplying weapons to five men who have been charged with plotting to kill soldiers at Fort Dix -- is expected to plead guilty next week.

The other five mencould spend life in prison if convicted of conspiring to murder the GIs, but Abdullahu faces a 10-year sentence for allegedly supplying weapons to three of the other defendants.

All six men are due in court next Tuesday.

The Fort Dix Six were indicted on multiple charges relating to planning a terrorist attack against the military installation at Fort Dix or other military bases on the East Coast.

The trial had been originally scheduled to begin in November, but it was delayed until January because of difficulties in translating materials.

Agron Abdullahu is facing the lightest of the sentences - providing weapons to illegal immigrants, which carries a 10 year prison sentence. The nj.com article omits the illegal alien aspect of this case, which is strange considering that it is the crux of the criminal case against Abdullahu.

The indictments against the six can be found here.

This plea deal may lead Abdullahu to flip on his co-defendants, which bodes poorly for the other five defendants. It also adds to the pressure on the other five to try and cut deals for themselves.

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Fort Dix Six Terror Trial Delayed Until January 2008

The trial of six men accused of plotting to kill soldiers at Fort Dix, scheduled to begin in November, has been postponed until January 15.

U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler had been pushing to wrap up the case in 2007. He relented Tuesday, acknowledging that there are some complicated issues that cannot be worked out in time for a trial this year.

Translators are still plowing through hundreds of hours of tapes made by two paid government informants. The recordings are in English, Albanian and Arabic.

Terror Investigation Updates

The Fort Dix Six trial may include some interesting elements, including an anonymous jury and the use of technology to provide information to journalists following the case. Prosecutors want to keep the names of the jurors confidential because of possible threats to their safety. The defendants are waiving their right to a speedy trial because of the complexity of the case.

The British car bomb investigation continues, but the Australians may be forced to release one of the suspects for lack of sufficient evidence:

At a hearing on Friday in Brisbane, Australia, the police dropped their request to extend the detention of the suspect, Dr. Mohammed Haneef. Now, authorities have 12 hours of interrogation time left before they would be forced to let him go unless they file charges a new request to extend the detention.

The affidavits, copies of which were provided to The New York Times, offer the first official details about the contacts between Dr. Haneef and some of the suspects currently detained in Britain. The investigators are now trying to differentiate those contacts that are “honest relationships from more sinister,” a senior Australian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the news media.

“I suspect it will turn out that he is in the innocent category,” the official said of Dr. Haneef.

One of the eight suspects detained after the attacks was released on Thursday in Britain, Reuters reported. The suspect, Marwa Asha, was arrested with her husband, Dr. Mohammed Asha, as they drove on a highway in northern England hours after the botched Glasgow bombing. Dr. Asha remains in custody.

Russell Defreitas, the alleged ringleader of the JFK terror plot, has entered a plea of not guilty.

Defreitas appeared in Brooklyn federal court, clad in a blue and orange prison uniform, and addressed U.S. Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom in a raspy, barely audible voice.

He agreed to waive his right to an immediate trial after prosecutors said the complexity of the case and the need to transcribe hundreds of hours of taped conversations would delay their preparation.

His three co-defendants - Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad, and Abdul Kadir and Abdel Nur, both citizens of Guyana - face an extradition hearing in Trinidad, set for Aug. 2.

This article suggests that the investigation continues in that terror plot and at least six others are being investigated for their involvement.

Meanwhile, the US Senate has voted to double the bounty on Osama bin Laden to $50 million. I don't think any amount of money will lead to his capture; I suspect he's already dead as Zawahiri has become the public face of al Qaeda over the past year and change.

UPDATE:
Muhammad Hanef has been charged by the Australian authorities in connection with the British gas car bomb plot.

Australian police charged an Indian doctor Saturday with providing support to a terrorist organization by recklessly giving a member of the group his mobile phone SIM card before he moved to Australia.

Muhammad Haneef, 27, is the second person to be charged over the botched attacks on London and Glasgow on June 29 and 30. The other is Bilal Abdullah, who is being held in London on charges of conspiring to set off explosions.

Haneef "has been charged with providing support to a terrorist organization," police said in a statement. The maximum penalty is 15 years in prison.

Australian police arrested Haneef, who moved to Australia from Britain last year, as he tried to leave the eastern city of Brisbane on a one-way ticket to India on July 2.

British police tracked a SIM card in the possession of one of the men accused in the failed Britain bomb attacks to Haneef, and alerted their Australian counterparts.

Fort Dix Six Enter Not Guilty Pleas

The judge will expedite the case and will set up special provisions for the media:

The six, who have been held without bail since their arrests last month, formally entered not guilty pleas during their arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Joel Schneider.

Immediately afterward, the defendants attended a status conference before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler, who said he would like their trial to begin in early October.

The judge signaled that he would be inclined to seat an anonymous jury if such a request were made.

To accommodate the intense media interest in the case, the judge said a special Web site would be created so news organizations could have access to court documents. An auxiliary courtroom also will be wired for audio and video so reporters could follow the case, and passwords would be issued to enable them to file their stories using the court's wireless Internet system, he said.

A federal grand jury last week indicted Mohamed Ibrahim Shnewer, 22, of Cherry Hill, brothers Dritan Duka, 28, Shain Duka, 26, and Eljvir Duka, 23, all of Cherry Hill, and Serdar Tatar, 23, of Philadelphia, on charges of conspiracy to murder members of the armed services. They could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

Dritan and Shain Duka also were charged with possession of machine guns, stemming from their alleged purchase of three fully automatic AK-47s and four M-16s just before they were arrested May 7 by the FBI. All three Duka brothers were charged with possession of weapons by illegal immigrants.

The sixth defendant, Agron Abdullahu, 24, of Buena Vista Township, is charged with providing weapons to illegal immigrants, an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Indictments Handed Down in Fort Dix Six Case

The indictments have been handed down by the grand jury:

A federal grand jury today indicted the six foreign-born Muslim men who were arrested last month in an alleged plot to kill soldiers during an attack on Fort Dix.

Five of them are charged with conspiracy to murder members of the armed services. The sixth was indicted for aiding and abetting the illegal possession of firearms by three members of the group.

The five-count indictment closely mirrors the charges outlined in criminal complaints that were unsealed after the defendants’ May 7 arrests.

However, a new count charges two brothers, Shain and Dritan Duka, with unlawful possession of machine guns, stemming from their purchase of three fully automatic AK-47s and four M-16s just before they were arrested by the FBI.

The six defendants have been held in a Philadelphia detention center since their arrests. The next step in the legal process would be an arraignment on the new charges, likely sometime next week.

The text of the indictments can be found here.

Terror Plot Thwarted at JFK Airport?

Four men have been charged in a terror plot to blow up jet fuel storage tanks at JFK Airport in New York City. One of the four may have worked at the airport:

According to NewsChannel4's Jonathan Dienst, sources said federal investigators have made arrests in an alleged terror plot on Kennedy Airport.

Four people have been charged. One is in custody in New York.

Sources said the plot involved a plan to blow up a jet-fuel pipeline at JFK setting off a potential massive explosion.

Law enforcement officials said the plot may involved a former airport worker.

This situation is developing, and a press conference is scheduled for this afternoon.

UPDATE:
Some background statistics on JFK Airport and the aviation gas facilities:

JFK has a total storage capacity of 32 million gallons. It features:
- 62 tanks in bulk storage and 40 tanks in satellite
- 50 miles of underground pipe
- Five piers
- Transfers of fuel to nine unit terminal buildings (UTB) through 28 separate fuel systems
- Fuel tank farms protected by high pressure foam systems
- More than one billion gallons of fuel were dispensed in 2002.

An attack on the fuel tank farm could lead to a major shutdown of air operations at the airport, beyond the initial need to close the airport to traffic due to the fire and smoke.

Aerial imagery of the airport here.

UPDATE:
Buckeye Pipe Line Company is a major jet fuel provider at the airport.

The NYT reports that three have been arrested and a fourth is still being sought:

Three people were arrested and one other was being sought Saturday in connection to a plot to set off explosives at John F. Kennedy International Airport, officials close to the investigation said.

The plot, which never got past the planning stages, did not involve airplanes or passenger terminals, according to the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the arrests had not yet been announced.

UPDATE:
The FoxNews report indicates the target was a pipeline that feeds the JFK airport fuel tank farm:

Sources said the plot involved a plan to blow up a jet-fuel pipeline at JFK setting off a potential massive explosion.

Details were to be given out at a 1 p.m. news conference.

The pipeline takes fuel from a facility in Linden, N.J., to the airport. Other lines service LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.

UPDATE:
Hot Air, LGF, and QandO are all blogging the developing situation.

UPDATE:
Don Surber wonders how the feds found out about the plot. Good question. I am betting that it was some astute civilian observer who noted something out of order and called in the feds who launched an investigation, much as the Fort Dix Six were discovered by a Circuit City store clerk.

UPDATE:
Identities of some of those involved have been made public:

A senior law enforcement official told FOX News that of the three arrests, one was in New York and two were in Trinidad. The New York suspect has been identified as Russell Afreitas, a former JFK employee who allegedly planned to attack the airport's fuel supply because he thought he could do more damage than attacking a passenger terminal. Afreitas is a Muslim U.S. citizen from Guyana.

In carrying out the alleged plot, Afreitas unknowingly recruited an FBI informant, and surveillance on Afreitas began.

One of the other suspects arrested in Trinidad was identified as Abdul Kabir, a member of Parliament of Guyana.

Very curious.

UPDATE:
The names of the four involved are: Russell Defreitas, Abdul Nur, Kareem Ibrihim and Abdul Kadir. Hot Air points out that there's one al Qaeda bigwig who has connections to Trinidad and has been itching to hit at the US for some time, though CBS claims that the four do not have ties to al Qaeda.

No, they have ties to another Islamic terrorist group, the Jamaat al-Muslimeen.

Via nj.com: CNN claims that the plot was a level below the Fort Dix plot in that no explosives had been purchased and no set date had been made for the attack.

UPDATE:
More detail on the steps taken by the plotters in furtherance of an attack:

The official said the plotters had conducted surveillance on giant jet fuel tanks at JFK and the Buckeye pipeline that runs from New Jersey to the airport. They had taken surveillance video of the targets and took it to Trinidad to review the tape, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the arrests were not yet announced.

UPDATE:
WNBC:

Sources said the plot involved putting explosives inside the fuel pipeline but realized that “it was not technically feasible.”

Other jihadis have attempted to put together terrorist attacks against other facilities around the country, including one that would have attacked the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge in order to destroy the bridge. That too was considered not a feasible way to destroy the bridge. However, it did raise concerns that someone might try again, and the anchorages for the bridge were made more secure.

The same jihadis involved in this current plot could just have easily decided to directly attack the tank farm or one of the points on the pipeline where it might cause serious damage to the surrounding area.

UPDATE:
Possible ties to al Qaeda after all?

FBI agents feared but never confirmed the three men accused of plotting to attack John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York were linked to one of the most wanted al Qaeda leaders, Adnan Shukrijumah, known to have operated out of Guyana and Trinidad.

Officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com that they heard repeated references to “Adnan” during the extensive wiretaps conducted on the suspects’ telephone conversations, including calls to Guyana and Trinidad.

There is a $5 million reward for information on Shukrijumah, who officials consider extremely dangerous because of the years he spent living in the Miami area and his known ties to al Qaeda. Some of the 9/ll hijackers attended a south Florida mosque run by Shukrijumah’s now deceased father.

UPDATE:
Ed Morrissey points out there are possible ties to Germany, which for the observant among us, was where Mohammad Atta and the 9/11 gang set the wheels of that attack in motion.

Others blogging: Bill's Bites, Junkyard Blog, Suitably Flip, Jammie Wearing Fool, Counterterrorism Blog, Jay Tea at Wizbang, and Blogs of War.

UPDATE:
Here's a copy of the complaint. Strangely enough, none of the major left-leaning blogs have threads devoted to this subject. Very curious.

UPDATE:
The Justice Department also released a statement on the matter.

Debt of Gratitude

John Doe, the clerk at the Circuit City store who alerted authorities to the actions of the Fort Dix Six, is a John Doe no more.

His name is Brian Morganstern.

Thank you Brian.

Your actions may have saved countless lives by speaking up and contacting law enforcement who confirmed that the group who wanted to make copies of that video were up to no good and intent upon causing mayhem at Fort Dix and other military installations and gatherings in the region.

Fort Dix Six Update: Cops and Entry

One of the men accused of plotting to attack soldiers at Fort Dix had recently applied to be a police officer in two big cities — a move some authorities believe may have been an effort to infiltrate law enforcement agencies.

Serdar Tatar, 23, applied for a job in Philadelphia last month, police spokesman Sgt. D.F. Pace said Wednesday.

"Based on what we know now, I don't think his intentions were good," Pace said.

Tatar also applied for a job in the Oakland, Calif., Police Department, according to a law enforcement official speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

Roland Holmgren, an Oakland police spokesman, said he could not immediately confirm whether Tatar had applied there.

Tatar's lawyer, Richard Sparaco, would not comment on the job applications Wednesday, and neither would U.S. Attorney Chris Christie.

Philadelphia police rejected Tatar, a Turkish citizen and legal U.S. resident, because he was not a U.S. citizen and had not lived in the city long enough to be eligible, Pace said. Tatar had lived there for about eight months when he applied, less than the city's one-year requirement.

Very curious.

Meanwhile, WABC-NYC notes that they were able to get on the base at Fort Dix without trouble.

When news broke earlier this month about an alleged terrorist plot against Fort Dix, the New Jersey base called it a real wake-up call. Yet days later we went to the base to check security and found serious flaws.
Exactly one week after the FBI foiled an alleged terror plot at Fort Dix, we approached one of the main gates at the Army base expecting tightened security.

Eyewitness News Photographer: "How are you?"
Guard: "Where are you guys heading?"
Photographer: "Soccer."
Guard: "All the way from New York, go ahead."

After saying we were there for an athletic event and only one us having to show a driver's license, we were in, free to drive anywhere within the sprawling base -- the same base that the FBI claims six men wanted to use AK-47's and rocket propelled grenades "to kill American soldiers."

We took our own tour, first stopping by base lodging, a hotel for visiting military personnel. We then followed signs to the command center which is headquarters for the entire base, all along the way passing groups of soldiers, some getting their pictures taken, others conducting drills.

That's quite troubling and disconcerting that base security has not been increased, including checks on those entering the base. And base security is even more lax on days when the base opens for special events.

Abdullahu Denied Bail

A man charged with helping five others plot a terrorist attack on Fort Dix will not be freed on bail, a judge ruled Thursday.

Agron Abdullahu, 24, a legal U.S. resident, is charged with helping illegal immigrants obtain weapons, an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors on Thursday persuaded U.S. Magistrate Joel Schneider that Abdullahu was likely to flee and would be a serious risk to the community's safety if he was released.

``He was an integral part of the plan to attack Fort Dix,'' Schneider said as he explained his decision.

Earlier in the hearing, Abdullahu told Schneider he is ``not really a bad guy'' and asked the judge to allow him to leave jail for house arrest.

Abdullahu, 24, made the plea during a bail hearing at which his father, mother and sister also testified.

``I'm not really a bad guy,'' Abdullahu told the magistrate. ``If I could leave I would definitely go back to my old life ... I would never do anything to harm this country.''

He's not a bad guy. He has only admitted to giving guns to the other members of the group to commit terrorism by going after Fort Dix or other military installations in the region.

Immigrant Song and Dance Routine

We're supposed to believe that a deal has been reached on a comprehensive immigration package. Lovely.

What exactly are we talking about here? Has anyone read the legislation, which is rumored to be anywhere from 600 to 1,000 pages in length? I doubt anyone has read it, and yet this is supposed to be fast-tracked? Why?

Thus far, this is what media reports suggest forms the basis of the plan:

The proposed agreement would allow illegal immigrants to come forward and obtain a "Z visa" and - after paying fees and a $5,000 fine - ultimately get on track for permanent residency, which could take between eight and 13 years. Heads of households would have to return to their home countries first.

They could come forward right away to claim a probationary card that would let them live and work legally in the U.S., but could not begin the path to permanent residency or citizenship until border security improvements and the high-tech worker identification program were completed.

A new crop of low-skilled guest workers would have to return home after stints of two years. They could renew their visas twice, but would be required to leave for a year in between each time. If they wanted to stay in the U.S. permanently, they would have to apply under the point system for a limited pool of green cards.

The program drew fire from liberal groups that said it was unworkable. They had joined Democrats in pressing instead for guest workers to be permitted to stay and work indefinitely in the U.S., and ultimately earn the chance to stay.

Sen. Kennedy says it's "the best possible chance we will have in years to secure our borders and bring millions of people out of the shadows and into the sunshine of America." Isn't that what he said the last time there was an amnesty, and nothing actually improved? Illegal immigration didn't stop and no one actually enforced the laws that were on the books. In fact, the numbers actually accelerated since the last amnesty program.

What are we talking about here? Border control and immigration is a national security issue. Open borders types don't like to hear it, but terrorists can and do cross borders illegally.

The Duka brothers, who are currently being held in the Fort Dix terror plot, illegally entered the US across the US-Mexico border, and have resided in the US for 16 years. No one at INS or DHS ever stopped to pick them up despite the fact that they were illegal aliens and had been picked up for various infractions over the years.

The politicians, most of whom haven't even read this stuff, are busy spinning furiously. Pelosi is seriously concerned. Romney opposes it.

How can anyone take a position unless they know what's in there? How can anyone take national security seriously if they're not going to focus on the two-fold problems of controlling the border and dealing with those illegal aliens who are already in the US.

We don't even know who's here, but we're supposed to believe that the same government agencies that have done such a poor job in the past will manage to get the job right this time? I don't buy into it.

Then, there's the question of funding for all this and dealing with the bureaucratic nightmare. Processing millions of cases takes time and money, and I doubt that the job can be done right, even if we're to believe that all the illegal aliens that are here actually adhere to the new rules, whatever they may end up being.

I'm still undecided where I stand on this issue, but I want to know more about the actual language of the bill, and not just rely on news reports that are spun furiously to further someone else's agenda.

UPDATE:
You think your elected leaders read the bills they vote on? Think again. They're not even going to have the bill in hand to read before they vote on it. And that means you're not going to be able to read it either until it's a done deal. How exactly is this happening and why does everyone think that a deal must be done in this fashion at this time? It helps no one.