FBI foils FBI terrorist plot.....Again!

The alleged target

Many Americans have been unsettled by two supposed terrorist plots foiled by the FBI in less than two weeks. Back in late November, Somali-born Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested in Portland, Oregon for allegedly setting off what he thought was the detonator to a bomb at a public holiday gathering, when in fact the FBI had supplied fake explosives for the plot. This was the culmination of an eight-month long undercover sting, the continuity of which was made possible thanks to the FBI preventing Mohamud from traveling to Alaska for a summer job.

The media is of course quick to laud the feds, but Glenn Greenwald over at Salon had a more cautious and skeptical take:

It may very well be that the FBI successfully and within legal limits arrested a dangerous criminal intent on carrying out a serious Terrorist plot that would have killed many innocent people, in which case they deserve praise…

But it may also just as easily be the case that the FBI—as they've done many times in the past—found some very young, impressionable, disaffected, hapless, aimless, inept loner; created a plot it then persuaded/manipulated/entrapped him to join, essentially turning him into a Terrorist; and then patted itself on the back once it arrested him for having thwarted a “Terrorist plot” which, from start to finish, was entirely the FBI’s own concoction. Having stopped a plot which it itself manufactured, the FBI then publicly touts—and an uncritical media amplifies—its “success” to the world, thus proving both that domestic Terrorism from Muslims is a serious threat and the Government’s vast surveillance powers—current and future new ones—are necessary.

That was not two weeks ago, and today we were informed that incredibly the FBI had prevented yet another terrorist attack from happening, this time at a US Army recruiting center in Maryland. The story contained familiar themes:

A Baltimore man who is a recent convert to Islam has been charged with plotting to blow up a military recruiting office in Catonsville, Md., authorities said Wednesday, but the bomb was a fake provided by the FBI.

Antonio Martinez, 21, who changed his name to Muhammad Hussein when he converted, was charged with the attempted murder of federal employees and the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against U.S. property. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Martinez was arrested Wednesday morning after he tried to remotely detonate what he believed to be explosives in a vehicle parked in the Armed Forces recruiting station parking lot, federal authorities said.

Washington Post

What caught the attention of the FBI were postings Hussein made to his Facebook page. The worst of those seem to be:

“The sword is cummin the reign of oppression is about 2 cease,” (posted Sep. 29)

“Any 1 who opposes ALLAH and HIS Prophet Peace.Be.upon.Him I hate u with all my heart [sic].” (posted Oct. 1)

According to the FBI’s affidavit, it was on the basis of these two postings that an undercover agent initiated contact with Hussein. Are these postings the sincere ravings of a radical Muslim hell-bent on jihad, or just venting from a disillusioned 21 year old construction worker? We can’t know for sure, but we do know that up until his association with undercover FBI agents, Hussain seemed to be all talk, and that it took the intervention of the feds to turn a talker into a doer, just like on previous occasions, including the case of Mahmoud in Oregon.

The FBI is beginning to look like an exterminator who puts rats in other people’s houses just so he can come in and show everyone how useful he is. Either that or the United States is run by the Norsefire Party:

- Max Canning

max.canning@gmail.com

ps: Doesn’t the FBI ever try to get a respected imam to talk to any of these would-be terrorists to see if they can be redeemed? Or how about instead of paying for these broke-as-shit potential terrorists’ living expenses while cultivating their nascent jihadist fantasies, the FBI tries to find them gainful employment? Might not these at least be worth trying before conducting elaborate stings that seem to turn nothing into something?