NY Terror Plot

Here is the latest from the Times on the NY terror plot.

4 Accused of Plot to Bomb Synagogues in the Bronx
By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ and SEWELL CHAN

The four men arrested Wednesday night in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y. were petty criminals who appeared to be acting alone, not in concert with any terrorist organization, the New York City police commissioner said Thursday.

The men were arrested in an elaborate sting operation at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday after planting what they believed to be bombs in cars outside the Riverdale Temple, a Reform synagogue, and the nearby Riverdale Jewish Center, an Orthodox synagogue.

The men did not know that the bombs, obtained with the help of an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were fake.

In a news conference at the Riverdale Jewish Center, one of the two synagogues said to be the targets of the plot, the commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, offered new details about the four defendants — James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen — all of whom are to arraigned in Federal District Court in White Plains, N.Y., later Thursday morning.

The men, all of whom live in Newburgh, about 60 miles north of New York City, had met in prison. Mr. Cromitie, 53, who authorities described as the plot’s leader, had lived in Brooklyn and had as many as 27 arrests for minor crimes both in upstate New York and in New York City, Mr. Kelly said. Mr. Cromitie, David Williams, and Onta Williams were native-born Americans, while Mr. Payen was born in Haiti and is a Haitian citizen.

The four men arrested are all Muslim, a law enforcement official said. Mr. Cromitie, whose parents had lived in Afghanistan before his birth, had told the informant that he was upset about the war in Afghanistan and that that he wanted to do “something to America.” Mr. Cromitie stated “the best target” — the World Trade Center — “was hit already,” according to the complaint.

Mr. Kelly said: “They stated that they wanted to commit jihad. They were disturbed about what was happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan, that Muslims were being killed. They were making statements that Jews were killed in this attack and that would be all right — that sort of thing.”

“It speaks to our concern about homegrown terrorism,” Mr. Kelly said.

Let's see - this helps Obama because it reassures people that his team can keep us safe.

Or, this hurts Obama because it reminds people that the terror threat is real and ongoing and we can't Move On.  I'll go with "hurts".  And geez - if three of the four guys had to be US citizens, why couldn't they have been violent vets, computer jocks, or disgruntled animal-rights activists like Janet Napolitano warned us about?

Instead we get what earnest libs will not doubt consider to be the ultimate longshot - four Muslims hoping to blow up a synagogue.

Well.  Per Commissioner Kelly they were "disturbed about what was happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan".  Oh, no, not Gitmo?  Not Iraq?  Obama is going to run out of places from which to withdraw.

Comments

[clarice]

I go with "ultimate longshot" for $500 , Alex.

[Sue]

They are just misunderstood. They wouldn't have really done anything if the informant hadn't egged them on. Wait for it.

[bad]

Was profiling involved?

[Jack is Back!]

Tsk,tsk - taking advantage of a person's religion. You can't trust even the cops anymore.

[maryrose]

Remember we mustn't harass or even check on any Muslim at the airport, the subway or in a mosque. She said ironically.That's the current PC dogma.

[Ignatz]

--Per Commissioner Kelly they were "disturbed about what was happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan".--

Yeah, but these are the good kind of terrorists because now it's Barry manufacturing them out of innocent immigrant goat-herders through his arrogance, war mongering and imperialism.

[clarice]

He bowed to the Saudi King and is busy trying to screw Israel what more do they want? And wasn't there just a poll out showing how much more the Islamic world loves us now that BO is Prez?

[maryrose]

The body language expert on OReilly last night reviewed Obama and Bibi"s press op and discerned that these two really don't like each other. She claimed Obama would not make eye contact with Bibi during the presser.

[georg felis]

My honest opinion of these amoral thugs is they fall under the Weatherman/McVey mold, young, dumb and angry at (fill in blank here) with a desire to cause violence, and not caring that they would be killing people. The good news is they were caught before they had a chance to fill up a Ryder truck/blow up their own apartment building making bombs. The bad news is in ten-twenty years, they will be teaching in a campus position, giving advice to the next president….

As an American, I’m just glad we turn out such good Engineers, and such lousy Terrorists, instead of the other way around.

[Thomas Collins]

I doubt that Police Commissioner Kelly would acknowledge at this point that the arrestees were part of a larger plot, even if there is evidence of such a plot. I just hope that whatever interrogation techniques are needed to get all the information out of these arrestees are used.

[PeterUK]

"JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ and SEWELL CHAN".The kind of names you find in any Middle East telephone directory.

[narciso]

That one engineer educated in NorthCarolina,
KSM, directed the deaths of 3,000Americans,
so we can't take those type of odds. Thanks to the interrogation of Abu Zubeydah, which certain parties have compromised, the patterns of death didn't spread to L.A. and other locations. The work of DenBeaux, the blue chip law firm public relations effort
and other efforts, by the Times and the Post have made this possibility all the more unlikely in the future.

[PeterUK]

Won't it be fun when the hard cases are transferred from Guantanamo to the US prison system.Then you might get some professionalism.

Obama might have unclenched his hand,but has he unclenched his buttocks?

[bad]

PUK, You are cracking me up....

[bad]

According to Kelly, these guys want to commit jihad because of what is happening in Afganistan and Pakistan; muslims dying.

Oh my!!

[narciso]

Anybody surprised that Maureen Dowd's crib sheet think this is all a frame up

[bad]

Well, narciso, Josh Marshall mentions undercover agents. I'm pretty sure the dems have established those people are all liars....