Thread: 7 arrested in Sears Tower Plot

Official: 7 Arrested in Sears Tower Plot
By KELLI KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer
21 minutes ago

MIAMI - Seven people were arrested Thursday in connection with the early stages of a plot to attack Chicago's Sears Tower and other buildings in the U.S., a federal law enforcement official said.

The official told The Associated Press the alleged plotters were mainly Americans with no apparent ties to al-Qaida or other foreign terrorist organizations. He spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt news conferences planned for Friday in Washington and Miami.

Miami U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said in a statement that the investigation was an ongoing operation and that more details would be released Friday. Local media reported that agents were raiding a warehouse in Miami's Liberty City section.

"There is no imminent threat to Miami or any other area because of these operations," said Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman in Washington. He declined further comment.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was scheduled to hold a news conference Friday to discuss the raid. A simultaneous news conference was to be held in Miami.

Cedric Thomas, an owner of Thomas Produce Market, told The Miami Herald the area around his store was teeming with federal agents.

"There is a ton of guys in uniforms moving around, blocking the streets," Thomas said.

Several terrorism investigations have had south Florida links. Several of the Sept. 11 hijackers lived and trained in the area, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, and several plots by Cuban-Americans against Fidel Castro's government have been based in Miami.

Jose Padilla, a former resident once accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive bomb in the U.S., is charged in Miami with being part of a North American terror cell.

___

Associated Press Writer Mark Sherman in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Getting a little too close to home here. I don't know what these people are waiting for in order to seal these borders and get these people out of here.

Sorry to tell you this crazybird, but most of these guys were homegrown Americans.

Sorry to tell you this crazybird, but most of these guys were homegrown Americans.

Must be first generation, because Jose Padilla doesn't sound to American to me.

Is there a link to the story?

link to story in USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... htm?csp=34

Excerpt from the USA Today story:

Residents living near the warehouse said the men taken into custody described themselves as Muslims and had tried to recruit young people to join their group. Rose said they tried to recruit her younger brother and nephew for a karate class.

She said she talked to one of the men about a month ago. "They seemed brainwashed," she said. "They said they had given their lives to Allah."

Terrorism is terrorism whether from inside our country and committed by citizens or from outside the country sneaking in. Our government must take any and all action to keep the citizens of the US safe from any type of terrorism. I for one do not feel any safer than prior to 9/11 with what I see running around in our country everyday. Our law enforcement cannot even identify citizens that are criminals however can they identify what they do not even know is here. We must continue to pressure government to provide interior and exterior enforcement. That is the only hope we can have to combat terrorism in any form on our soil.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/23/miami.raids/index.html

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

But the federal grand jury indictment also painted a picture of a group that had no weapons or other supplies for their alleged "jihad," that was intended to be "as good or greater than 9/11.".......

Terrorists??? I think they had just been smoking too much of the ganga weed

but most of these guys were homegrown Americans

These guys are no more American then the 17 in Canada last month were Canadian. This is more Multi-cultural BS. Just like illegal immigrants or anybody else in this country who have no allegiance to America.

5 are Americans,and 2 are from Haiti.One was here illegally.