It’s not getting much notice in the blogosphere but with the Sears Tower connection it’s being covered in the Chicago press. The “Sears Tower Plot” case has gone to the jury:
MIAMI – Jurors began deliberations Monday on charges against seven men accused of conspiring to destroy Chicago’s Sears Tower and blow up FBI offices in an attempt to start an anti-government insurrection.
The members of the so-called “Liberty City Seven” face sentences of up to 70 years in prison if convicted of four terrorism-related conspiracy charges, including plotting to wage war on the U.S. and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida.
The jury got the case following a two-month trial. The panel deliberated just a few hours before adjourning for the day because one juror had a doctor’s appointment. They were scheduled to resume Tuesday.
In closing arguments, a prosecutor underscored allegations that 33-year-old Narseal Batiste was the leader of a homegrown terrorist cell hoping to get help from a man claiming to be an al-Qaida operative — in reality an FBI informant.
“This is the fanatic, ladies and gentlemen, and the soldiers who follow his word,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie said.
Batiste testified that he was only trying to dupe the informant out of $50,000, and defense attorneys have said little evidence ties the six other defendants to the alleged plot.
One of the key pieces of evidence, an FBI videotape, showed a March 2006 ceremony in which all seven took an oath of loyalty to al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.
The alleged plots never got beyond the planning stage, but Batiste was overheard on hundreds of other FBI audio and video recordings describing elements of the attacks and the war that would follow.
During their closing arguments last week, several defense attorneys suggested the case was blown far out of proportion as the Bush administration sought terrorism convictions at all costs in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Prosecutors repeatedly mentioned those attacks and focused sharply on a recording in which Batiste claims his plan would be “as good or greater than 9/11.”
You may recall this case from June of last year. One of the most valuable things to come out of it was the characterization of the plot by one of the FBI agents involved as “more aspirational than operational”, a useful turn of phrase.
I don’t think that political motivations for such charges are necessary to explain what’s happened. Not to diminish the potential seriousness of the plot but after 9/11 and the complaints about the FBI’s handling of the information it had in hand prior to the attack, there was a renewed interest in the agency in terrorism. Domestic terrorism plots went from a career backwater to something you could get promoted by following up on. If you reward something, you’ll get more of it and that pertains to chasing down terrorism plots as well as anything else.
And, sadly, it’s easier to chase down idiots like these guys in Florida than it is well-organized and financed terrorists who have the greatest likelihood of doing the most harm.
