[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]
Enver Masud, "$1 Million for
Witnesses in Embassy Bombing Trial," The Wisdom Fund, June 1, 2001
Rupert Cornwell, "Sears Tower Plot Was
Not All That It Seemed," Independent, June 25, 2006
"'Airlines Terror Plot'
Disrupted," BBC News, August 10, 2006
[Olbermann concludes that if these occasions are more than just coincidences
then, he says, "it underscores the need for questions to be asked in this
country, questions about what is prudence and what is fear-mongering."--"Olbermann: 'The Nexus of
politics and terror'," rawstory.com, August 15, 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
VIDEO: "Olbermann Timeline: How The Bush Administration Exploited
Terror Threats For Political Gain, 2002-2008," huffingtonpost.com,
February 23, 2008
VIDEO:
"911 FALSE FLAG," NuoViso, September 11, 2008
VIDEO:
Branigin never questioned the legitimacy of clearly bogus charges on
their face - that five young men with hand weapons (automatic or otherwise)
would declare war on the US Army at any or perhaps all of the above
locations.--Stephen Lendman, "It's the Wrong
Time to be a Muslim in America: The Troubling Case of the Fort Dix
Five," counterpunch.org, December 31, 2008
Salvador Hernandez, Doug Irvine and Sean Emery, "Man says he informed on Muslims for FBI," Orange
County Register, February 26, 2009
Sean O'Neill, Steve Bird and Hannah Fletcher, "All suspects in 'student terror plot'
released," Times Online, April 22, 2009
[But the FBI's approach has come under fire from some Muslims, criticism
that surfaced again late last month after agents arrested an Oregon man they
said tried to detonate a bomb at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. FBI
technicians had supplied the device.
In the Irvine case, Monteilh's mission as an informant backfired. Muslims
were so alarmed by his talk of violent jihad that they obtained a
restraining order against him.
He had helped build a terrorism-related case against a mosque member, but
that also collapsed. The Justice Department recently took the extraordinary
step of dropping charges against the worshiper, who Monteilh had caught on
tape agreeing to blow up buildings, law enforcement officials said.
Prosecutors had portrayed the man as a dire threat.
Compounding the damage, Monteilh has gone public, revealing secret FBI
methods and charging that his "handlers" trained him to entrap Muslims as he
infiltrated their mosques, homes and businesses. He is now suing the
FBI.
Officials declined to comment on specific details of Monteilh's tale but
confirm that he was a paid FBI informant. Court records and interviews
corroborate not only that Monteilh worked for the FBI - he says he made
$177,000, tax-free, in 15 months - but that he provided vital information on
a number of cases.--Jerry Markon, "FBI's use of informants strains ties
with Muslims," Washington Post, December 5, 2010]
Gareth Porter, "No Evidence for Charge Iran Linked to JFK Terror
Plot," antiwar.com, July 12, 2013