More Scarey Stories To Distract The Bush Base

By Cernig

The big story today is going to be the alleged plot to blow up a fuel pipeline at JFK airport. Everybody is going to be talking about it - and it will probably be one of the main topics on tomorrows talking head shows again.

Yet another opportunity to remind the conservative base that they must march in lockstep with the Bush administration in the "War On (some) Terror" lest the Jihadis-under-the-bed get them...and just as a whole bunch of the loyal base were getting their anti-Bush rage on. Coincidence?

Let's review shall we?

WNBC, who broke the story, said that one of the alleged plotters "sought help in carrying out a plan and went to an FBI informant, who gathered information about the plot":

Aviation officials said there is no major threat to air travel related to this plot since it was caught in the developmental stages.

One law enforcement official said: "[There was] credible intent to commit violence but it was not operational."

Officials said the suspects never got hold of explosive devices.

ABC's The Blotter:

FBI agents feared but never confirmed the three men accused of plotting to attack John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York were linked to one of the most wanted al Qaeda leaders, Adnan Shukrijumah, known to have operated out of Guyana and Trinidad.

Officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com that they heard repeated references to "Adnan" during the extensive wiretaps conducted on the suspects' telephone conversations, including calls to Guyana and Trinidad.

...A FBI spokesperson in Miami said the squad assigned to track Shukrijumah was aware of the case but that "no connection" to the wanted al Qaeda suspect was found in the JFK case.

And

The plot, authorities stress, was not at an operational stage, and the plotters, who included a former airport employee, had no ability to execute it.

The investigation, which appears to have been ongoing for at least two years, was brought to a conclusion when one suspect was about to leave jurisdictions where U.S. authorities had the ability to monitor his activities.

CNN reveals that three of the four plotters weren't even in the US at the time of their arrest and adds that "Homeland Security sources said there is no current threat at the airport and that the attack as planned was "not technically feasible." And the WaPo reveals how long this "plot" was let run before it's fortuitously-timed breaking today.

U.S. officials said the men had been infiltrated by a law enforcement informant last July, and their plot was still in the planning stages. The men had links to "an international network of Muslim extremists" but apparently did not have connections to al-Qaeda or other known terrorist groups, officials said.

I'm with sane-conservative Dr. Stephen Taylor on this one.

I must confess I am now to the point with these arrests that I have to wonder exactly what we have here. Is this really a “terror” plot or is the work of disgruntled worker? Was this simply the ranting fantasies of a few people or was this some more nefarious plan?

When we are talking about “indirect” links to overseas “terror elements” and the fact that these guys lacks the “technical savvy” to carry out the attack, I lean towards assuming we have here disgruntled cranks.

At a minimum it sound more like the Miami 7 than a serious plot.

But wingnut leaders Little Green Footballs are ecstatic about this plot, because so far a few major progressive sites haven't actually gotten around to posting yet. They crow "Kennedy Airport Plot Stuns Reality-Based Community into Silence." Hardly. Maybe they should check memeorandum too. Or at least wonder about the timing.