by Michael Powell and William K. Rashbaum
The plot as painted by law enforcement officials was cataclysmic: A
home-grown Islamic terrorist had in mind detonating fuel storage tanks and
pipelines and setting fire to Kennedy International Airport, not to mention
a substantial swath of Queens.
"Had the plot been carried out, it could have resulted in unfathomable
damage, deaths and destruction," Roslynn R. Mauskopf, the United States
attorney in Brooklyn, said in a news release that announced charges against
four men. She added at a news conference, "The devastation that would be
caused had this plot succeeded are just unthinkable." . . .
But the criminal complaint filed by the federal authorities against the
four defendants in the case - one of them, Abdel Nur, remained at large
yesterday - suggests a less than mature terror plan, a proposed effort
longer on evil intent than on operational capability. . . .
At its heart was a 63-year-old retired airport cargo worker, Russell M.
Defreitas, who the complaint says talked of his dreams of inflicting
massive harm, but who appeared to possess little money, uncertain training
and no known background in planning a terror attack.
"Capability low, intent very high," a law enforcement official said of the
suspects.
Some law enforcement officials and engineers also dismissed the notion that
the planned attack could have resulted in a catastrophic chain reaction;
system safeguards, they said, would have stopped explosions from spreading. . . .
There is, too, the question of the role played by the unidentified
undercover informant who befriended Mr. Defreitas.
The informant is a convicted drug trafficker, and his sentence is pending
as part of his cooperation agreement with the federal government, said the
authorities. . . .
FULL TEXT
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[Google Earth appears to show that the fuel tanks are about 1.5 miles away
from the nearest terminal at JFK airport. A fire there may disrupt air traffic,
but is not likely to endanger the JFK terminal and passengers.--Editor]
[Picture a society where the government employs thousands of its citizens to
inform on their friends, family members, and business associates; where tens
of millions of dollars in government funds are spent annually paying those
who inform; where police obtain warrants to search and seize private
property based on reports from hidden sources; where the only way to win
early release from prison is to tell stories about others.
Welcome to the United States, 1995.-- Michael Curriden, "The Informant Trap: Secret
Threat to Justice," PBS Frontline, March 20, 1995]
Rupert Cornwell, "Sears Tower Plot Was
Not All That It Seemed," Independent, June 25, 2006
"'Airlines Terror Plot'
Disrupted," BBC News, August 10, 2006
Brian Doherty, "Post-9/11
Prosecutions End With a Whimper," Reason, September 11, 2006
Zbigniew Brzezinski, "Terrorized
by 'War on Terror'," Washington Post, March 25, 2007
[There was no specific intention to target flights or passengers, officials
said, though deaths and extensive damage would have been likely in an
explosion involving millions of gallons of jet fuel. The principal aim of
the plot was apparently to shut down the busy airport and raise new fears
about flying into the US. The plot was in its earliest stages and the
suspects had not yet bought explosives, but were described as 'determined'
by the FBI.--Joanna Walters, "Three
held, one sought for bomb plot at JFK airport," Observer, June 3, 2007]
[Oil industry experts said safety shut-off valves would almost assuredly
have prevented an exploding airport fuel tank from igniting all or even part
of the network.--Cara Buckley and William K. Rashbaum, "4 Accused of
Plot to Blow Up Facilities at Kennedy Airport," New York Times, June 3, 2007]
[Pipeline operator Buckeye Partners L.P. said it had been cooperating with
authorities since the investigation started in January 2006.
Spokesman Roy Haase declined to comment on security measures but said
speculation the plotters hoped to destroy large parts of the pipeline were
unrealistic, since any damage would be confined to the area where fuel
leaked and the pipeline was almost entirely underground.
"There's no oxygen in the pipeline. It's completely full of liquid and you
need oxygen for ignition," Haase said.--Chris Michaud, "Four charged in plot to blow up JFK
airport," Reuters, June 3, 2007]
Marc Lacey, "Trinidad Group Denies Link to New York Bomb
Plot," New York Times, June 10, 2007
[The recently publicized terrorist plot to blow up John F. Kennedy
International Airport, like so many of the terrorist plots over the past few
years, is a study in alarmism and incompetence: on the part of the
terrorists, our government and the press.
. . . "The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just
unthinkable," U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said at a news conference,
calling it "one of the most chilling plots imaginable." Sen. Arlen Specter
(R-Pennsylvania) added, "It had the potential to be another 9/11." . . .
The "Miami 7," caught last year for plotting - among other things - to
blow up the Sears Tower, were another incompetent group: no weapons, no
bombs, no expertise, no money and no operational skill. And don't forget
Iyman Faris, the Ohio trucker who was convicted in 2003 for the laughable
plot to take out the Brooklyn Bridge with a blowtorch. At least he
eventually decided that the plan was unlikely to succeed. . . .
The JFK Airport plotters seem to have been egged on by an informant, a
twice-convicted drug dealer. An FBI informant almost certainly pushed the
Fort Dix plotters to do things they wouldn't have ordinarily done. The Miami
gang's Sears Tower plot was suggested by an FBI undercover agent who
infiltrated the group. And in 2003, it took an elaborate sting operation
involving three countries to arrest an arms dealer for selling a
surface-to-air missile to an ostensible Muslim extremist. Entrapment is a
very real possibility in all of these cases.--Bruce Schneier, "Portrait of the Modern Terrorist as an
Idiot," Wired, June 14, 2007]
Tim Dickinson, "Truth
or Terrorism? The Real Story Behind Five Years of High Alerts,"
rollingstone.com, January 22, 2008
