AP News -
Five Muslim immigrants were convicted Monday of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in a case the government said demonstrated its post-Sept. 11 determination to stop terrorist attacks in the planning stages.
AFP News -
Six suspects were arrested initially, four of whom were from the former Yugoslavia, one from Jordan and the other from Turkey. One of the men pleaded guilty to a reduced weapons charge while the rest were convicted in the Camden, New Jersey court on Monday.
The defendants were acquitted of attempted murder charges but face life in prison for conspiring to kill military personnel. The federal jury spent about 38 hours deliberating over the past six days.The men lived in and around Philadelphia for years. The government said after their 2007 arrest that an attack had been imminent and that the case underscored the dangers of terrorist plots hatched on U.S. soil.
Although investigators said the men were inspired by Osama bin Laden, they were not accused of any ties to foreign terror groups.
Defense lawyers argued that the alleged plot was all talk — that the men weren’t seriously planning anything and that they were goaded by two paid FBI informants.
The defense argument might be plausible without the following information provided by Fox News via HotAir -
Prosecutors said the men bought several assault rifles supplied by the FBI and that they trekked to Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains to practice their shooting. The government also presented dozens of jihadist speeches and videos that the men supposedly used as inspiration…
“I think they were in the last stage of planning,” then-U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said at the time of their arrest. “They had training, they had maps, and I think they were very close to moving on this.”
He added: “This is what law enforcement is supposed to do in the post-9/11 era — stay one step ahead of those who are attempting to cause harm to innocent American citizens.”
Sounds like “all talk,” no?
Dritan Duka (illegal immgrant)
Eliver Duka a.k.a. Sulayman (illegal immigrant)
Shain Duka (illegal immigrant)
Serdar Tatar
Mohamad Shnewer (the Dukas’ brother-in-law)
Agron AbdullahuFive of the men lived in Cherry Hill, a Philadelphia suburb about 20 miles from Fort Dix.
The men, aged between 22 and 28 at the time of arrest, “had no clear motivation other than their stated desire to kill United States soldiers in the name of Islam,” The New York Times reported.
