Their goal may have been far-fetched, but authorities would do well to examine where that idea comes from, and how widely it is held.
An update on this story. “Prosecutors say Liberty City 7 sought to topple U.S. government,” by Curt Anderson for the Associated Press:
MIAMI — Narseal Batiste and six followers intended to destroy Chicago’s Sears Tower and bomb FBI buildings to ignite a chaotic guerrilla war that would overthrow the U.S. government and pave the way for an Islamic regime, federal prosecutors said Tuesday as
trial opened for the seven men.
FBI audio and video recordings show that the so-called “Liberty City Seven” hoped to use street gangs as soldiers who would stage attacks, ranging from large-scale bombings of major buildings to poisoning salt shakers in restaurants, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie said in an opening statement.
On one of the 15,000 FBI recordings, Batiste is even overheard saying he would make sure no one survived destruction of the 110-story Sears Tower because his soldiers would be ready to shoot down anyone who escaped.
“These defendants wanted to wage jihad against the United States, and they tell us so in unequivocal detail,” Gregorie told jurors. “They say ‘the war has to be fought here. And it can’t be just a bombing. It’s got to be chaos.'”
Batiste attorney Ana M. Jhones countered that the purported plot was driven mainly by two paid FBI informants, including one known as Mohammed who posed as a representative of al-Qaida. She said Batiste’s group was coerced into going along with the violent plan by “this great con man,” who was paid about $80,000 by the FBI.
“This case is about an orchestrated event, a play,” Jhones said. “These two informants knew how to work the system. They wrote the script.”
Each of the seven defendants from Miami’s impoverished Liberty City neighborhood faces up to 70 years in prison if convicted of all charges, including
conspiracy to levy war against the United States and conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaida. All seven have been in custody since their June 2006 arrests.
Evidence against the group includes a March 2006 ceremony, recorded by the FBI, in which each man swears allegiance to al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden. Members of the group also took pictures of the FBI office in Miami and other government buildings they were told al-Qaida was interested in targeting in a separate plot.
“In this case, all of the conspirators, on tape, walk up, take this oath, give their name and swear their loyalty to a foreign terrorist organization,” Gregorie said. “They do it voluntarily.”