Agent: Man in Dix case tried to shake agents

[unhappycamper]

Agent: Man in Dix case tried to shake agents
By Geoff Mulvihill - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 25, 2008 21:14:53 EST

CAMDEN, N.J. — The government argued Tuesday that one of five men accused of plotting to attack soldiers on the Fort Dix military base was more sophisticated and independent than he was portrayed by his lawyer.

Mohamad Shnewer was not a bumbling young man under the influence of a paid government informant, as his lawyer suggested, an FBI agent told jurors Tuesday in the 19th day of the Fort Dix trial.

Shnewer’s lawyer, Rocco Cipparone, has told jurors that Shnewer talked about an attack with the informant, Mahmoud Omar, but that he didn’t really want to do it. And he has said that steps he took toward one came at the informant’s behest.

The five accused men, all in their 20s at the time of the arrests, are foreign-born Muslims who lived for years in the comfortable Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill. No attack was carried out.

They’re charged with conspiracy to kill military personnel, attempted murder and weapons offenses. If convicted, the men could face life in prison. Prosecutors say the plot is one of the most frightening examples of homegrown terrorism.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_dix_trial_112508/%2e