Trial Starts in Liberty City 7 Case

[Ghost in the Machine]

Trial Starts in Liberty City 7 Case
Published: 10/2/07, 9:05 PM EDT
By CURT ANDERSON

MIAMI (AP) - Seven men intended to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI buildings to ignite a guerrilla war that would overthrow the U.S. government and pave the way for an Islamic regime, federal prosecutors said Tuesday in opening statements.

Defense attorneys, however, blamed government informants for instigating talk of terrorist plots, and said the defendants just played along in hopes of conning them out of money.

FBI audio and video recordings show that the so-called "Liberty City Seven" hoped to use street gangs as soldiers who would stage attacks, ranging from large-scale bombings of major buildings to poisoning salt shakers in restaurants, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie said.

On one of the 15,000 FBI recordings, Narseal Batiste is overheard saying he would make sure no one survived destruction of the 110-story Sears Tower because his soldiers would be ready to shoot down anyone who escaped.

"These defendants wanted to wage jihad against the United States, and they tell us so in unequivocal detail," Gregorie told jurors. "They say 'the war has to be fought here. And it can't be just a bombing. It's got to be chaos.'"

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