Terror Plot 'One Of The Most Chilling Imaginable'

[Beestie]

Ibram is right. The article clearly indicates two things:

1. The Patriot Act (aka the Government's shameless overcompensation for its inability to do its job within the parameters of the Constitution) had abso-freaking-lutely nothing whatsoever to do with the apprehension of these conspirators; and

2. The plans weren't even in the planning stage.

Law enforcement officials said that Kennedy, which handles roughly 45 million passengers a year and 1,000 flights a day, was never in imminent danger because the plot was only in a preliminary phase and the conspirators had yet to lay out detailed plans or obtain financing or explosives.

The airport is fed jet fuel, gasoline and heating oil through a capillary system of pipes that run from New Jersey through Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens. Oil industry experts said safety shut-off valves would almost assuredly have prevented an exploding airport fuel tank from igniting all or even part of the network.

But officials said the four men determined to carry out their attack, having conducted “precise and extensive” surveillance of the airport using photographs, video, the recollections of Mr. Defreitas and satellite images downloaded from Google Earth.

They said the men had also traveled repeatedly to Guyana and Trinidad in recent months, seeking the blessing and financial backing of an extremist Muslim group based in Trinidad and Tobago called Jamaat al-Muslimeen, which was behind a bloody coup attempt in Trinidad in 1990.

One law enforcement official played down Mr. Defreitas’s ability to carry out an attack, calling him “a sad sack” and “not a Grade A terrorist.” Comparing the case with the plot in which a group of men were arrested last month on charges of planning to attack soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey, the official said the New Jersey plotters “were a bit further along.”

An informant with a criminal history including drug trafficking and racketeering agreed to work with investigators on the case, in exchange for payments and a reduced sentence.

Emphasis mine.

Basically, what we have here, folks, is a whole lotta nothing trumped up to justify an unconstitutional infringement on our Constitutional rights by an incompetent government.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Beestie

snip~ Basically, what we have here, folks, is a whole lotta nothing trumped up to justify an unconstitutional infringement on our Constitutional rights by an incompetent government.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it as much ado about nothing. These clowns had done a lot of groundwork and reconnaissance. If they were successful in convincing Jamaat al-Muslimeen it could be done, with their money and contacts it could have become a class A threat, rapidly.