March 27, 2008

"Narseal Batiste had a mission. His mission was to destroy the United States"

But he was really just trying to con the Al-Qaeda guy out of $50,000, doncha know.

Sears Tower Jihad Plot Update: "Prosecutor: War goal of terror plot," by Curt Anderson for Associated Press (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):

MIAMI - War with the U.S. government was at the heart of a terrorist plot to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices, a prosecutor said Wednesday during closing arguments in the retrial for six Miami men accused of conspiring with al-Qaida.

Alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste and the others in the "Liberty City Seven" conspired with an FBI informant who pretended he was from al-Qaida with the hope of starting an anti-government war, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie said.

"Narseal Batiste had a mission. His mission was to destroy the United States," Gregorie said. [...]

Batiste testified that he was never serious and only went along with the terrorism talk in hopes of conning the informant out of $50,000. His lawyers also claim he was entrapped by two FBI informants who orchestrated the entire plot.

But Gregorie said Batiste and the others would have pursued a terrorism attack no matter what, noting that they were captured on FBI videotapes taking an oath to al-Qaida in March 2006....