Terror Raid In Miami (Updated And Bumped)
The details have not yet been released and Attorney General Gonzales is going to hold a press conference on the matter tomorrow.
UPDATE: A group of 7 suspects has been arrested. They were apparently targeting the Sears Tower. According to this account, "[A federal law enforcement] official told The Associated Press the alleged plotters were mainly Americans with no apparent ties to al-Qaida or other foreign terrorist organizations. He spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt news conferences planned for Friday in Washington and Miami."
Who were these guys then? Were they just some rogue, independent terrorist group? Or, is this group connected to the global Islamist terror network?
My only note at this point is this: We know that al Qaeda has long had an interest in targeting the Sears Tower. Ghusab Ghalyoun, the al Qaeda terrorist who did surveillance on the World Trade Center in 1997, also took video footage of the Sears Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge and several other targets. Early accounts, however, do not indicate that the Miami 7 were part of al Qaeda. But, it will be interesting to find out more.
UPDATE #2: The warehouse where the seven were arrested was in Miami's Liberty City area. One eye witness has described their activities as similar to a "military boot camp."
UPDATE #3: According to the Miami Herald, the would-be terrorists were fooled into thinking they were working on an al Qaeda plot by law enforcement officials:
One law enforcement source said authorities arrested seven people who allegedly were conspiring to conduct attacks in the United States -- but that there was no immediate threat.
Five of those arrested are U.S. citizens, one is a legal U.S. resident and one is an illegal alien, the source told the Miami Herald on condition of anonymity. Citing an investigation before Thursday's raid, the source said the group talked about an attack on the Sears Tower in Chicago and the FBI building in Miami -- but that they had no "overt explosives or other things.'' The group thought that they ''were doing (the attacks) in conjunction with al Qaeda'' but were really dealing with'' undercover law enforcement, the official said. It was ''pretty much talk, we were on top of them,'' the source said.
UPDATE: A group of 7 suspects has been arrested. They were apparently targeting the Sears Tower. According to this account, "[A federal law enforcement] official told The Associated Press the alleged plotters were mainly Americans with no apparent ties to al-Qaida or other foreign terrorist organizations. He spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt news conferences planned for Friday in Washington and Miami."
Who were these guys then? Were they just some rogue, independent terrorist group? Or, is this group connected to the global Islamist terror network?
My only note at this point is this: We know that al Qaeda has long had an interest in targeting the Sears Tower. Ghusab Ghalyoun, the al Qaeda terrorist who did surveillance on the World Trade Center in 1997, also took video footage of the Sears Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge and several other targets. Early accounts, however, do not indicate that the Miami 7 were part of al Qaeda. But, it will be interesting to find out more.
UPDATE #2: The warehouse where the seven were arrested was in Miami's Liberty City area. One eye witness has described their activities as similar to a "military boot camp."
UPDATE #3: According to the Miami Herald, the would-be terrorists were fooled into thinking they were working on an al Qaeda plot by law enforcement officials:
One law enforcement source said authorities arrested seven people who allegedly were conspiring to conduct attacks in the United States -- but that there was no immediate threat.
Five of those arrested are U.S. citizens, one is a legal U.S. resident and one is an illegal alien, the source told the Miami Herald on condition of anonymity. Citing an investigation before Thursday's raid, the source said the group talked about an attack on the Sears Tower in Chicago and the FBI building in Miami -- but that they had no "overt explosives or other things.'' The group thought that they ''were doing (the attacks) in conjunction with al Qaeda'' but were really dealing with'' undercover law enforcement, the official said. It was ''pretty much talk, we were on top of them,'' the source said.
posted by Thomas Joscelyn at 10:30 PM
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