Today's New York Times has some more details on the arrests made in Miami. The plot is described as still being in the talking stages. CAIR is insisting the men are not Muslims – which has never mattered to me, anyway. But the Times seems almost dismissive because the authorities moved in before the threat was imminent.
News of the arrests touched off widespread television coverage of the plot against the Sears Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world. But details of the indictment disclosed Friday at news conferences in Washington and Miami presented a less alarming picture. The indictment made clear that a pivotal role was played by an unidentified undercover F.B.I. informer who posed as a Qaeda member and met repeatedly with the reported ringleader of the group, Narseal Batiste.
Last month, after months of meeting the fake Qaeda representative, Mr. Batiste told him that "he was experiencing delays because of various problems within his organization" but still hoped to continue his mission of building an "Islamic army" to wage jihad against the United States, the indictment said.
In Chicago, Police Superintendent Philip J. Cline said there was "never any imminent danger to the Sears Tower or to the city of Chicago."
Florida officials emphasized that the reported attack plans apparently never passed the discussion stage.
The seven defendants, 21 to 32 years old, include five Americans, a legal immigrant from Haiti and an illegal Haitian immigrant. They voiced grandiose goals in the yearlong investigation by the federal agents and the police, officials said.
The indictment charged that Mr. Batiste recruited the others beginning in November "to wage war against the United States government." Mr. Gonzales said the men said they wanted to "kill all the devils we can" in attacks that would be "just as good or greater than 9/11."
Frankly, I thought the Canadians got a bit too close by actually delivering the ammonium nitrate fertilizer to their conspirators. It may make for a great case, but there's always a chance something can go wrong, too. Stop them early and take them out of circulation seems a better course. Sort of the way Rudy Giuliani cleaned up NYC. Which appears to be the course the authorities are following.
At a later briefing, Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty answered critics who have said terror prosecutions have often picked out seemingly unsophisticated extremists who are more talk than action. Mr. McNulty said the goal was "prevention through prosecution."
Rather than allow a genuine threat to take shape, he added, investigators move in as soon as there is sufficient evidence to prosecute.
"Today's example is a good example of that approach," he said.
Mr. McNulty said 261 people had been convicted or pleaded guilty in "terrorism or terrorism-related cases" since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. An additional 180 people have been charged and are awaiting trial or have been acquitted, had their charges dismissed, are awaiting extradition or are fugitives, according to statistics released Friday.
