FBI Stops Yet Another (Yes Another) Of Its Own Terrorist Plots; This Time: Anarchists!
from the anarchists-running-amok dept
Following our post about the NY Times highlighting how the FBI seems to spend an awful lot of time foiling its own terrorist plots, some of our commenters pointed us to the news that the FBI has done it again (just in time to coincide with our story), arresting five individuals in a plot that appears to have been coordinated by the FBI itself. Even though some of the "anarchists" arrested expressed concerns about how resorting to violence would help, the FBI helped supply fake explosives and that appears to have convinced the group to move forward with its "plot." Prior to that, they seem to have had little actual ability to do much of anything, other than thumbing through The Anarchists' Cookbook and talking about what they'd like to do.
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Filed Under: anarchists, fbi, terrorism
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Well, the FBI needs to look like it does something
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Re: Well, the FBI needs to look like it does something
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Re: Re: Well, the FBI needs to look like it does something
As redundant as it is redundant.
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Re: Well, the FBI needs to look like it does something
And if you try to bring out the point of how the FBI finds people who are pissed off at the Government like these guys (who look like a punk or Alt.Rocker in a local band) and then eggs them on and sucks them in to a plot they may not have done in the first place well..............
Read Comments on News Sites as US Citizens are braindead and do not realize this one bit.All they care about is We Caught A Terrorist.USA Is going down more and more each year.
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Re: Well, the FBI needs to look like it does something
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I wish some of our Anonymous Cowards would post comments that are actually coherent and have some sort of point.
I guess you don't always get what you wish for. *sigh*
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Also to the OP, it is Yay! and not Yeah! If you are going to fake enthusiasm at the very least do it correctly.
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Cheerleaders, altogether now
Your number one
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What mass psychosis?
Your tax dollars at work, America.
Meanwhile, Hilary and the wall street money troll are in Beijing to beg for more money from The Evil Commies® to keep paying off the Wall Street felons who are really killing the country.
Can you say "laughing stock"?
Mission accomplished, Osama.
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Re: what a shame
One other major problem is that those people enticed into these plots will leave jail eventually much better informed on how to actually make a successful attack and feel more justified in doing so.
There are many ways that these FBI planned attacks could cause more damage to the country, encouraging terrorists to be extra careful when planning and implementing attacks is just one of them.
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Re: Re: what a shame
For the rest of their lives they will have no privacy, pay almost all their income to the government, and be forbidden from having rights. Just like normal citizens, except moreso and they aren't allowed to vote.
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Re: Re: Re: what a shame
Thereby creating a 'nothing-to-lose' scenario for the incarcerated.
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It's bound to happen sooner or later, and can you just imagine the sort of PR disaster it would be for the feds?
They might have to go back to investigating crimes and chasing real terrorists. Apparently, real terrorists are too rare to justify the FBI budget, so they have to make their own at home in their garage.
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Re: Fonzi Scheme
One cannot buy into something in which they have no belief.
The government is becoming so transparently pathetic in their attempts to assert control that even the 'normals' are beginning to recognize the farce for what it is.
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Re: Re: Fonzi Scheme
Aaaaaaay! /thumbsup/
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Re: Re: Fonzi Scheme
In all seriousness, I suspect that a big reason governments are so hesitant to be transparent is they know how much incompetence it will reveal. There's very little we'd let the government do if we knew exactly how incompetent they are at doing it.
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Kids these days...
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Re: Kids these days...
Safety notice of the Sarcasm Advisory Council]
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Reality show is now.
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Re: Reality show is now.
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Like the ATF on the Mexican border
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Re: Okie Doke
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Yeah, the explosives the FBI supplies are fake. But it'd be a hell of a black eye for the agency if a fake terrorist plot turned real and successful because the "terrorists" used the FBI plan with their own home brew explosives and successfully blew up a federal building.
If a sting like that goes wrong, can the undercover agent(s) be charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism?
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Most likely scenario:
Everyone involved points a finger at each other. A Congressional inquiry will be made where loud voices will be spoken, and more fingers pointed. A mid-high level functionary will be forced to resign into an executive level position with a security or defence company. The government claims immunity from prosecution as the culprit was a terrorist anyway (that they created the terrorist is beside the point), so no restitution is made for the victims.
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All of these things could land on anyone even remotely connected to a successful terrorist attack, if it comes out that the plot was created, planned, driven and all but carried out by the feds.
Conspiracy laws are scary. You can wind up in prison for a LONG time despite having no knowledge whatsoever of the actual conspiracy or crime, simply for associating with people who do. Witness what happened to Osama bin Laden's limo driver! All he did was be employed to drive a car for a wealthy man from a respected family. And from a criminal conspiracy standpoint, that driver is just as guilty as Osama.
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Do Americans even know what common sense is?
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Re: CoSen
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I would really like to tell you that the above is not true for the majority, but I have little faith in my country's people. In fact I doubt the majority would get the joke about that.
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A bureaucracy is a massive network of committees. Do the math.
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Nice way to discredit "OCCUPY"
You can bet that photos of these "TERRORISTS" will be plastered all over as "THE FACE(S) OF THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT"
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It would make a good project for a patriot. Pretty risky, I won't be trying it, but if you document it well and have a good lawyer advising you, your defense should hold up.
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C'mon people... really?
Unlike others here, I believe the FBI did just fine in this instance.
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Re: C'mon people... really?
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Re: C'mon people... really?
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Arresting them after they'd actually blown something up was never an option. There was never any plan to blow up anything other than with the "C4" which the FBI offered.
"Let's arrest murderers before they commit murder" (with its equivalents) is almost my least favorite popular political catchphrase, coming in a close second after "if you have nothing to hide...".
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Re: Re: Re: C'mon people... really?
For instance, who hasn't heard an angry guy at a bar saying he'd shoot is boss, wife, ex-friend, neighbor, coworker, etc., etc.? Hell, I've heard more than one man say he would shoot Bush if given the chance. I've heard others spout off about Obama too. There's millions of people who at one time or another said they would intentionally kill someone. Now, if some guy where to approach any of them and say, "Hey, I could get you that gun." Never actually give it to them, just merely offer it. How many would say "Oh hell yeah!!"? By your account, every last one of them should be in jail right now.
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wow.
This is the kind of person they must be recruiting. Scary, isn't it?
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And all of the geniuses on this site blame the FBI.
Only in America!
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Techdirt is available worldwide, and many of the folks here aren't from the United States, or even from America (US, Mexico, and Canada, are all part of North America.)
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america
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Should the FBI have a team online that connects with people that like porn and say "hey check out this link" which leads to child porn? Then they arrest anyone who clicks the link. Hey we stopped somone that could have been driven to child porn so it is a success
Or...
Have undercovers at grocery stores (or art galleries, etc.)give away free samples of beer / wine then arrest them for drinking and driving (regardless of BAC since they will have a record of you consuming alcohol just prior to driving) as they leave the parking lot. Hey, these are people that could be led to drinking and driving.
Or..
I could come up with multiple examples of entrapment that we could use to put potential evil dooers behind bars, but you should get the idea.
And a question for you: Do you like cigars? Have you ever wondered what all the rage is about Cuban cigars? ...careful how you answer. I could think that you plan to start importing Cuban cigars. I am sure that I could convince you that it is a good idea to try.
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Catching even one "terrorist" who wouldn't otherwise be is entirely unacceptable under that theory.
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AC's examples are all terrible.
would clicking a link thats not known to be child porn (but actually is) be a crime? is buying bombs with the other documentation of terrorist intent a crime? don't compare apples to oranges.
regardless of BAC? drinking and then driving isn't a crime. driving with intoxicated is a crime, which you wouldnt be after a taste, and your BAC would bear that out.
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Quick thought
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My daily schedule, by an FBI agent
8:30 AM Briefing on Occupy Wall Street protest. Protesters heavily armed with signs and songs, maximum response required.
9:00 AM Requisition gear for Occupy response. Body armor, heavy weaponry, shields, tasers, water cannons, armored vehicles, air-to-ground missiles, pepper spray, barbed wire, and the old standby, truncheons.
9:30 AM-12:30 PM Uphold the First Amendment by beating as many protesters as possible.
12:30 PM Lunch. (Today: provided by our friends and benefactors on Wall Street)
1:30-1:31 PM: Seminar on fundamentals of public service, including protecting the rights of American citizens.
1:35-3:15 PM Undercover detail. Susie Creamcheese (6th grade) was recorded saying "I hate Mrs. Crabtree!" after school and may be a dangerous anarchist communist socialist Muslim Mexican homosexual feminist threat to the security of the United States. Infiltrate soccer team and offer to provide nuclear weapons.
3:30 PM Briefing on religious threats to civilians. Ignore clear and present danger such as North Carolina Pastor Sean Harris: Parents Should 'Punch' Their Gay-Acting Children or the long-term institutionalized practice of systematic child rape (and its coverup) conducted by the Catholic church and focus entirely on THE threat: Muslims on the other side of the planet who are too busy trying to survive to pay any attention to us.
4:30-5:00 PM Write up daily report. (Special crayons today!)
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Put it in song
A pretty awesome song too I must add...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zKE-LfdM5E
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Granny Warned Me
Remember........
I tell granny they will steal the rest of your houses with reverse mortgages. Pretty soon no one will own anything.
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But blowing up some random bridge in a national park somewhere? Who even came up with that idea? "Now that'll teach them to... not... drive in national parks". Even from an anarchistic point of view, I have a hard time seeing how this makes any sense at all.
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It won't be long before they don't even need to supply fake explosives to start throwing people in jail.
Actually, they're already here. Examples can be found I just can't be bothered to search for URL's. Do your own research. If you've read this far on this thread you're already curious enough to find out, which is a good thing...
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Reporter: "But, wasn't the informant, whom you are primarily relying upon for your information, actually paid over $6,000 by the FBI and later jailed for passing bad checks even though you were aware that, of his convictions on robbery and at least three other time on passing bad checks?"
FBI Spokesperson: "Umm... But, terrorism! Mohawk!"
Reporter: "And didn't this paid informant (contractor?) basically entice these folks into planning acts they had never thought of on their own and would likely have never done so had it not been for your informant plans created by the FBI?"
FBI Spokesperson: "But... but... Topple! Bridge! 'Occupy!'..."
Reporter: And weren't you just reprimanded by a judge in September about a similar case, saying the 'essence' of the operation was that you 'created acts of terrorism out of the fantasies and the bravado and the bigotry of [those involved]', that you 'made them terrorists,' and that she was 'not proud of [her] government for' those actions?
FBI Spokesperson: "Well... Um... Anarchist's Cookbook!!... ANARCHISTS!!!"
Reporter: "And ... mrrffle pfrrt ..."
FBI Spokesperson: "Any more questions? No? Okay, well, I want to thank all of you for coming today to help us get the word out about how we're keeping America safe."
FIN
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I am disappointed
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