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Seven men from Florida pledged themselves to al-Qaida in 2006 and plotted to destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago. They were arrested on charges of trying to overthrow the U.S. Gov’t.
Defense lawyers have argued the plot was scripted by U.S. government informants. The group’s suspected ringleader, Narseal Batiste, testified he was trying to con the informants out of money to support an inner-city religious sect.
The Liberty City Seven, named for the poor part of Miami where they gathered in a rundown warehouse, were arrested in 2006 on charges of plotting to overthrow the U.S. government, blow up the 110-story Sears Tower — the tallest U.S. skyscraper — along with several FBI offices and the Miami federal court complex where they are being tried.
The young men each face up to 70 years in prison if convicted on all four conspiracy counts in a case government officials have touted as an important battle in the war against terrorism.
Federal agents said when the men were arrested that the group’s plans were “aspirational rather than operational” and posed no real threat because they had neither al Qaeda contacts nor the means of carrying out attacks.
Batiste (one of the defendants) testified he never asked al Qaeda for money and made up stories of plotting to bring down the Sears Tower as he pretended to go along with the informants to con them out of $50,000.
He wanted the money, he said, to build a nonprofit religious organization and community outreach program in depressed Liberty City.
Oh, well, so they weren’t really terrorists. They were community activists. Good to know.
And speaking of members of al-Qaida, guess who’s still kicking out the video jams?
Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on Europeans to stop helping the United States in the war in Afghanistan, according to excerpts of a new audiotape broadcast Thursday on Al-Jazeera television.
Bin Laden said it was unjust for the United States to have invaded Afghanistan for sheltering him after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, saying he was the “only one responsible” for the deadly assaults on New York and Washington.
“The events of Manhattan were retaliation against the American-Israeli alliance’s aggression against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, and I am the only one responsible for it. The Afghan people and government knew nothing about it. America knows that,” the al-Qaida leader said in the five-minute tape.
So, being the only one responsible, next he’s going to come out of hiding, turn himself in, be put to trial (aka: death) and then we can leave the Middle East and peace will reign over the globe right? Right?
…
Screw you guys.
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