Well Portland almost got blown up yesterday
YNOT
in a studio apt mixing tuna with the ramen 417 Posts
What a crazy story, the feds actually did a good job with this. Glad to see Pioneer Square was left un-touched:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101127/ap_on_re_us/us_portland_car_bomb_plot
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101127/ap_on_re_us/us_portland_car_bomb_plot
Comments
That kid is a special kind of dipshit.
the FBI prevented a teen from blowing up a fake bomb they provided him with AFTER convincing him of pursuing that action by making him believe he was receiving orders from fake jihadists who were actual FBI agents
right ?
outstanding
I guess Americans can be proud of having a government agency stopping fake terrorists attacks
smh
This.
how else would you propose that they handle the situation?
by doing what they did they secured a lock tight case against the guy.
Who doesn't appear to have had any money, plans or supplies before the FBI got involved. It would seem that what he did have were bad ideas, which our government brought to fruition.
This is what is known in the legal system as BULLSHIT.
Many years ago I worked with a guy who told his buddy he wanted to have his wife killed.
His buddy went to the police and they set up a "sting" to see if he would really go through with it.
They basically did the same thing to him that they did to this "terrorist".
They couldn't arrest him for his "bad thoughts" but he's in prison now for solicitation of murder.
As he should be.
Read up. Not remotely the same situation.
You don't get to pick your own facts Rock. Greenwald presents and dissects the legal record, which right now is pretty much limited to the FBI affidavit on file.
There's nothing wrong with Greenwald's blog. He obviously has a political bias, but so what? He's very scrupulous in his factual analysis and he's critical of Democrats and Republicans alike.
His take on this crime is also fair and doesn't jump to any conclusions. The questions he's asking are quite fair and will be factors if and when this kid goes to trial.
If it's true (as the FBI is saying) that this kid had contacted people in Pakistan about joining jihadists, then I have no problem with what the FBI did. That's their job. It's not "entrapment" if the kid was seeking out this kind of activity anyway. The analogy to Rock's would-be wife-killer co-worker is apt.
Then make "contacting jihadists" a crime. Don't go into the business of cultivating acts of terror, since if the FBI/Homeland.Security are to be believed there are plenty of actual terrorists about.
For months they suggest he could really make Allah happy by killing as many infidels as possible.
They even came up with the plans and the hardware necessary to go through with bombing.
They even told him where and when he should attack so he can kill as many people as possible.
And luckily the bombing at LAX was thwarted.
This is exactly what happened to my friend Phil Pearlman's son, Adam.
Except the recruiters in this case were real terrorists.
The actions in Portland seem like they may have prevented the next Adamn Gadahn....if so, how can that be a bad thing???
No one was hurt and this guy was given multiple chances to back out.
You seriously want to make "contacting jihadists" a crime?
Are you kidding?
Now, to a layman like myself, this seems like it could be very crucial. Has the FBI shot itself in the foot because of this little error? Anyone with any familiarity with cases of this sort care to chime in?
In a manner of speaking, yes since it's clearly an absurd basis for.what.happened.
Suppose someone overhears you say you'd like to rob a bank, and they tell the police. Is it then OK for the cops to form a fake gang, recruit, provide you with the tools you'd need to commit the crime.(gun loaded with blanks, naturally) and then arrest you when you try to do it?
The government isn't supposed to be doing shit like that.
If you think the "war on terror" requires new laws that allow that sort of thing, then make new laws, don't stretch the existing ones you have out of shape.
And TEENAGER is relevant. Remember when, long ago, you were all teens? And were outraged, just outraged at the injustices of the world, and were going to save it by going underground, and starting / joining a communist / libertarian / (jihadist) /bank robbing / methlab movement?
I was, and I was just some milquetoast wisp of a child from the midwest. If the FBI had taken me and my friends seriously, and egged us on, a bunch of now milquetoast middle-aged members of society would be in the federal pen!
A lot of this jihadi shit has to do with teenager + no outlet for angst (+ genuine issues of being wartorn and impoverished). Are there some 'build skate parks in Waziristan' movements??
smh
This kid seems to be both.
I'm not sure what the FBI is supposed to have done in this situation. Let the kid go off to Pakistan? Forget he existed? Really?
They couldn't have been sure early on that they knew everything and everyone he might have been involved with, so they get close to him. They're not gonna find out what he might be up to by buying him Wargasm CDs or sitting around drinking Natty Ice and playing video games. So they poke and prod. He could always have walked away when it got hairy, but he didn't because he's some sort of violent fucknut.
Now if it turns out that the FBI's version of events is inflated or inaccurate, that's another story, but the shithead was there at the event dialing a number he thought would leave a bunch of people, including many kids, laying dead or maimed.
I'm about as conservative as Keith Olbermann is, but if the allegations laid out so far are true, fuck this kid.