Re: Kinda conflicted here; this is disturbing for many reasons.
everynametaken Send a noteboard - 28/09/2009 01:07:59 AM
DENVER – An Afghan immigrant was on the verge of unleashing a terrorist attack on New York City on the Sept. 11 anniversary but was scared off after drawing suspicion from police, prosecutors said Friday as they provided new details about how far along the plot was.
This being the first of many: He was arrested not for a crime he committed (apparently, though stealing credit cards is definitely a crime) or even one he was planning, but for something he'd been planning but decided against. On the one hand, this guy and his pals certainly shouldn't be on the street. Conspiracy to commit murder is also a crime, after all, but something about arresting someone for something they'd decided NOT to do is unsettling to me. In this case there's the conspiracy angle, arguing he'd have just tried again later, but I'm a lot more comfortable knowing there are other crimes for which he can be tried.
I think you are being a bit over sensitive here. This man was not thinking about stealing some batteries and then decided he wouldn't do it. Conspiracy to murder has always been a crime in the US and this case is no different than someone conspiring to kill his wife except he was conspiring to kill as many as possible.
This also bothers me a bit:
FBI raids beginning Sept. 14 rattled a quiet, predominantly Asian neighborhood in Queens. Muslim men said dozens of FBI agents ransacked their homes and questioned them for hours, sometimes taking DNA samples and prints from their shoes.
Because of frequent visits by police, fewer people have been attending regular services at the Masjid Hazrat Abu Bakr mosque. Zazi had returned there to pray during his brief return trip to the city earlier this month.
Because of frequent visits by police, fewer people have been attending regular services at the Masjid Hazrat Abu Bakr mosque. Zazi had returned there to pray during his brief return trip to the city earlier this month.
Obviously you want to visit areas the man frequented, look for and talk to people he's met, but if it's true the FBI was raiding whole neighborhoods and taking DNA samples, that sounds more like profiling a whole community because of one man. They didn't raid every dorm on campus after the shooting at Virginia Tech.
Yet, after all that, it's also disturbing that an apparent Al Qaeda operative went from working in Manhattan (what they call a "high value target" ) to driving shuttles at a major US airport. I'm taking what comfort I can from the thoughts that 1) They got him and 2) anyone interested in making explosives doesn't need the details of this article to know how easy it is to make them out of hydrogen peroxide and acetone.
I would like to know more before making any judgments. Obviously they could not just enter people's homes unless they had due cause or a warrant, so I am not sure what might have happened. Of course, immigrants especially don't often understand that they can tell the police no if they do not have a warrant, so the police may have used one of those tactics in which they get people to cooperate by telling them "need" to - wink, wink.
But wine was the great assassin of both tradition and propriety...
-Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
-Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
This message last edited by everynametaken on 28/09/2009 at 01:08:56 AM
Prosecutor: Terror plot focus was 9/11 anniversary
- 26/09/2009 08:48:47 AM
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Kinda conflicted here; this is disturbing for many reasons.
- 27/09/2009 08:11:51 PM
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Re: Kinda conflicted here; this is disturbing for many reasons.
- 28/09/2009 01:07:59 AM
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Charging conspiracy to commit murder is the only way I can live with it.
- 28/09/2009 01:54:26 AM
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