Informant plays key role in JFK plot

[babylonsister]

Source: AP

Informant plays key role in JFK plot

By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer 30 minutes ago

NEW YORK - A convicted drug dealer who agreed to pose as a wannabe terrorist among a shadowy group now accused of plotting to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport secretly fed information to federal investigators in exchange for a lighter sentence.

His surveillance trips to the airport with the suspects, travels abroad to meet with supporters and assurances he wanted to die as a martyr in an attack on an underground jet fuel pipeline gave counterterrorism agents insight and evidence that experts say was otherwise unattainable.

And his help once again demonstrated the growing importance of informants in the war on terrorism, particularly as smaller radical groups become more aggressive.

"In most cases, you can't get from A to B without an informant," said Tom Corrigan, a former member of the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force. "Most times when an informant tells you what is going on, speculation becomes reality."

According to court papers and investigators, the informant began working for the government in 2004, after his second drug-trafficking conviction in New York, and he quickly proved to be a credible source.


more...

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070603/ap_on_re_us/terrorism_plot;_ylt=A0SOwl4yTWNGSQ8B7Bis0NUE

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Ze plot...

Sheeza thicken. Drug dealers, when looking for a lighter sentence, are always very truthful fellows.

[babylonsister]

5. An instance of, "I'll tell you want you want to hear". Bad move, makes

this whole bust even more suspect.

[Whoa_Nelly]

8. When you can't deal drugs anymore 'cuz you've been popped...

The gub'mint is always there waiting to access and pay you for the darkside of your life.

Sheesh...could be a VISA commercial with the government paying the sleazoid drug dealer in the PRICELESS line.. :eyes:

[ShortnFiery]

2. Oh gee, another case of entrapment. Is it that damn hard to recruit from the indigenous population?

Or have you totally alienated them (Law abiding Muslims in THAT community) due to your leaders' heavy handed techniques?

IMO it's bullshit to have "an informant" leading the suspects on and FEEDING them their plans and PROVIDING them the potential for weapons. Again, it's essentially *entrapment* not a sting when the guy "on the inside" is the alpha and omega regarding terrorist ties. Add to sweetening the pot, you have *a criminal* who's motivated to MAKE THEM terrorists. :thumbsdown: :grr:

[BrokenBeyondRepair]

3. surprise surprise

..just like wtc '93

[ShortnFiery]

4. Yes, when I need A CREDIBLE SOURCE, I go searching for a convicted Drug Dealer.

:eyes:

The FBI must think that the American Populace is STUPID. :(

[tanyev]

6. Whatever happened to ol' Curveball?

[azurnoir]

7. He perhaps has a new career?

dealing drugs?:sarcasm:

[FarCenter]

9. The Timing Of The Bust Seems A Little Fishy

Has there been any discussion of why, after having watched these wannabee terrorists for 18 months, the government decides to bust them now?

The group didn't have explosives; only the retired baggage handler is in the US; and the bust went down so incompetently that one is still on the lam.

It could be that the government was feeling that the citizenry was not anxious enough about terrorism, and that they played it into the MSM echo chamber in order to ratchet up support for the "War on Terror".

More likely they did it now because of something about the former Guyana parliamentarian. He was removed from an Aeropostal airlines flight that had taken off from Trinidad en route to Caracas which was told to return to Trinidad, where he was detained. This guy, Abdul Kadir, must be the cause of the timing of the bust. He was going to Caracas and then planned to go on to Iran.

There is biographical information in the story at http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_general_news?id=56521602

[Richard Steele]

10. Another "terror plot", another agent provacateur. Is anyone here really surprised? nm

[BrokenBeyondRepair]

11. kick

[durtee librul]

12. Ok, so if informants are so good

why do we need wiretapping of our cell phones?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

13. The "Single Airport Theory."

:think:

[otherlander]

15. ...

:spray:

[stewert]

14. Yeah?

Read this article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nora-ephron/how-to-foil-a-terrorist-p_b_50474.html

[IndianaGreen]

16. Yep, this story may not be what it was announced with such fanfare

As a matter of fact, all of those idiots on TV taking credit should have been a clue that there was more PR than Al-Qaeda in the story.

[Exiled in America]

17. A quick question to those who mock every claimed terrorist plot regardless of evidence:

Or, a different way to address my question - this question is for the people who apparently wouldn't believe any foiled plot was everreally an example of law enforcement stopping people seeking to commit acts of terror inside America from accomplishing their goal no matter what the evidence:

So, has there never been a terrorist act carried out against an American target before in history? Sometimes it seems weird to me that the almost knee-jerk reaction whenever any kind of news is reported about a potential thwarted attempt at violence is almost always to dismiss it and mock it as "fake."

I don't think that's helpful at all. I think a much more helpful attitude would to remain cautiously optimistic that our law enforcement agencies (which were around before this madman of a president took office) can sometimes have successes, while examining the evidence carefully. Sure, I do think that there are times where the White House and its willing media partners "propagandize" an event and "manufacture" a "terror plot" to "foil" (while "eating their own dandruff" ...sorry...all my air quotes meant I couldn't resist saying that) for the sole purpose of evoking certain kinds of responses from the public.

But I also don't want to get to a point where my instant reaction to any story about a busted up attempt at terrorism is a knee-jerk pooh poohing of the whole thing. Because I feel like that makes me sound just a stupid as blind unquestioning faith that every story is always true.

There are people in the world who don't like us and would love to hurt us in violent ways. It seems pretty ignorant to take an extremely glib attitude towards those real concerns and risks.

[bemildred]

18. I am far more afraid of "law enforcement" and my government

than of any muslim anywhere in the world, and with good reason.

[Exiled in America]

19. I'm "afraid" of both....

..my government and people in the world interested in perpetuating violence against america. Note that you said "muslim." I said, people interested in perpetuating violence. Oklahoma City comes immediately to mind. The threat of terror isn't synonymous with "muslims" as you well know. But its still a real threat. There are lots of people who would like to inflict pain on a mass scale on (and in) this country.

I for one, and glad that we have agencies chartered with security tasked with exposing and thwarting these people. They don't always get it right and - sadly - sometimes they are a pawn of a political agenda. And that is truly sad. But they are still necessary.

[bemildred]

20. Well, I understand, your point is a good one.

But the fact is you are far more likely to get killed or injured driving to Kmart to get a beer than from any of these sources we are discussing now. Security agencies are generally about the security of the government, not you or me. We are allowed to fend for ourselves, when they are not demanding we drop out pants so they can "search" us, or monitoring our phone conversations for "suspicious" content. I am always amazed that as a supposedly "free" people we put up with this sort of mindless government surveillance. I mean, the 9/11 event wasn't some sort of sophisticated James Bond sort of thing, it was some juveniles with box cutters. The government didn't give a shit about that before 9/11 and it doesn't give a shit about it now, as one can easily see by observing what they do worry about, and it is their own asses that they do worry about.

[Exiled in America]

23. Your point is also a good one (the fact that the likelihood is so low)

It reminds me of that book...why americans are afraid of the wrong things.

So, point taken. :)

[FarCenter]

21. In this case, they deserve to be mocked

In this case, the supposed prime mover of the plot is a person of very limited intellectual and physical capabilities, little or no resources, no military or explosives training, no explosives, and recently living on the street.

Besides which, the blowing up of jet fuel tanks (basically kerosene) and pipelines carrying jet fuel may be disruptive, but it is not that destructive. Tanks burn occasionally in the New Jersey refinery complexes along the Kill van Kull. Pipelines are seen burning on TV after they have been blown up in Iraq. Admittedly, those are probably carrying crude oil, which is less flammable than crude. But kerosene is much less flammable than natural gas, and there was a major gas pipeline rupture and explosion in New Jersey a few years ago. It was fairly damaging, but not an "unimaginable catastrophe".

I'd be more worried if they had apprehended someone who had been to CIA or Special Forces schools or trained in one of the many programs that they sponsor around the world. Or one of the many schools sponsored by other governments. Or someone trained by one of the numerous mercenary organizations. Or someone backed by a major criminal or terrorist group.

And it would heighten my anxiety if the group actually had explosives, radioactive isotopes, chemicals, or biological agents.

Ex=Rastafarians converts to Islam, one step up from living on the street, are not so much of a worry.

[TheWatcher]

22. It also seems pretty ignorant to not recognize that our government is

far more likely to be behind most of this nonsense than psychotic Muslims dwelling in Caves.

Are there real people in the world who would like to hurt us? Of course.

But our government is far more able to than they ever will be. And has far more incentive and motivation.

This country will continue to be played like a fiddle and herded like cattle, until the cattle rise up and stampede and stop the music.

And frankly,, I hope it happens in my lifetime.