- With world eyes on Gaza, the horrific carnage on the
ground, innocent civilians being slaughtered, Israel's grievous crimes
of war and against humanity, and its slow-motion genocide gaining speed,
it's easy to forget America's war at home on Islam and its growing number
of victims. This article highlights five recent ones - innocent young
Muslim men called the "Fort Dix Five."
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- On December 22, The New York Times headlined: "5
Are Convicted of Conspiring to Attack Fort Dix" in reporting that
a federal jury "convicted five men of conspiring to kill American
soldiers at (the base) last year, but acquitted them of attempted murder."
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- After an eight-week trial, jurors deliberated for six
days before returning a verdict. "The men, all Muslim immigrants
(from) South Jersey or Philadelphia, face a maximum term of life in prison."
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- Sentencing is scheduled for April 22 for three defendants
and April 23 for the others. Even The New York Times admitted that the
"five defendants seemed (more like) South Jersey than seething jihadists"
- based on their backgrounds, employment, normal activities, and trial
evidence showing nothing out of the ordinary.
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- It's the latest example of post-9/11 witch-hunt justice
against innocent Muslim victims - targeted for their faith, ethnicity,
activism, prominence, benevolent charity, or whatever other motives the
administration concocts for political advantage. As a result, growing
numbers fill federal prisons for being Muslim at the wrong time in America.
The "war on terror" is a jihad against them. Muslims everywhere
are at risk. So are we all, and that won't change under Obama.
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- Charges Against the "Fort Dix Five"
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- On May 7, 2007, the FBI arrested the five on charges
of plotting to kill US soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey. A June 5 DOJ
press release stated:
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- "The five defendants are charged with conspiracy
and other charges related to their plans to kill as many soldiers at the
Army base as possible. A sixth man was indicted for aiding and abetting
the illegal possession of firearms by three members of the group."
The original Complaint was unsealed on May 8.
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- "One count against two of the defendants charges
them with unlawful possession of machine guns - the AK-47s and M-16s they
purchased and took possession of just before they were arrested by Special
Agents of the FBI."
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- Prosecutors called the men "radical Islamists,"
and according to US Attorney Christopher J. Christie, "We intend
to continue a vigorous prosecution of these defendants. Anyone who would
plan such an attack should expect no less."
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- The six and charges against them are as follows:
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- Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer (an ethnic Jordanian) on "conspiracy
to murder members of the uniformed services (maximum statutory penalty
of up to life in federal prison);"
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- Dritan Duka (an ethnic Albanian like his two brothers
below) on "conspiracy to murder members of the uniformed services;
unlawful possession of machine guns (maximum statutory penalty of 10 years
in prison), two counts of being an illegal alien in possession of firearms
(maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison);"
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- -- Shain Duka on "conspiracy to murder members of
the uniformed services; unlawful possession of machine guns, two counts
of being an illegal alien in possession of firearms;"
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- Eljvir Duka on "conspiracy to murder members of
the uniformed services, one count of being an illegal alien in possession
of firearms;"
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- Serdar Tatar (an ethnic Turk) on "conspiracy to
murder members of the uniformed services;" and
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- Agron Abdullahu (an ethnic Kosovar) on "aiding and
abetting the Duka brothers' illegal possession of weapons (maximum statutory
penalty of 10 years in prison)." Abdullahu confessed and was sentenced
to 20 months in prison for supplying the guns and ammunition in question.
He'd already served 11 months and was released in October, according to
his lawyer, Richard Coughlin.
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- The weapons transaction was "at a residence in Cherry
Hill," New Jersey. "After the purchase from a cooperating witness,"
arrests were made.
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- In October 2007, Abdullahu pled guilty to weapons possession.
A superceding January 15, 2008 indictment charged the other five men
with the attempted murder of military personnel and weapons possession.
According to US Attorney Christie at the time, "there is abundant
evidence that the defendants fully subscribed to al Qaeda's jihadist ideology
(and) were ready for martyrdom. We had a group that was forming a platoon
to take on an army. They identified their target, they did their reconnaissance.
They had maps. And they were in the process of buying weapons. This is
a new brand of (homegrown) terrorism where a small cell of people can
bring enormous devastation....They wanted to be jihadists."
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- The DOJ, Dominant Media, and Islamophobes Respond to
the Convictions
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- A December 22 DOJ press release stated: "Five Radical
Islamists (were) Convicted of Conspiring to Kill Soldiers at Fort Dix....announced
Patrick Rowan, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Acting
US Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr....These men planned, trained and ceaselessly
talked unambiguously about their intention to ambush and kill US soldiers."
Other "would-be terrorists of the homegrown variety (be alerted that
we'll spend millions of taxpayer dollars to) find you, infiltrate your
group, prosecute you and send you to federal prison for a very long time"
- whether or not you're guilty.
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- The Washington Post highlighted the conviction of "five
foreign- born Muslim men conspiring to kill US soldiers at Fort Dix and
other military installations (never mentioned in the indictment) as part
of what prosecutors charged was a plot to launch an Islamic "holy
war" against the United States. Writer William Branigin emphasized
their "plot" to use "automatic weapons (and) rocket- propelled
grenades (also not mentioned) to kill as many US soldiers as possible.
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- Other comments included saying the "plot" began
in January 2006, Osama bin Laden's "terrorist network" inspired
it, the "cell" viewed "terrorist training videos glorifying
the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and depicting the beheading of American military
personnel..." When arrested in May 2007, "they were in the final
stages of preparations....in addition to targeting Fort Dix, the cell
discussed attacking other military installations, including Fort Monmouth,
Lakehurst Naval Air Station, McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, the
US Coast Guard building in Philadelphia, and Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
Another potential target was the annual Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia...."
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- Branigin never questioned the legitimacy of clearly bogus
charges on their face - that five young men with hand weapons (automatic
or otherwise) would declare war on the US Army at any or perhaps all
of the above locations. Instead he accepted the official explanation and
reported it like in a straight press handout.
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- David Horowitz is a right wing ideologue, an opponent
of the progressive left, and a prominent anti-Muslim hatemonger "spread
(ing) fear, bigotry and misinformation," about Islam according to
the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). It
calls him "the Islamophobia movement's premier promoter....(as editor)
via his website, FrontPage Magazine" and activities like his October
22 - 26, 2007 "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" that held "protests,
teach-ins and sit-ins on more than 100 college campuses (to highlight)
the threat posed by the Islamic crusade against the West."
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- On December 23, Front Page writer and Jihad Watch director
Robert Spencer wrote about the Fort Dix Five, referred to the men as
"jihad plotters," and said "They wanted to burst into Fort
Dix and murder as many American soldiers as they could...." He commented
on how Muslim community leaders "hurl(ed) reckless charges of entrapment
(and should instead take) hard steps necessary to clean their own house."
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- "While Muslim and non-Muslim spokesmen have spilled
oceans of ink since 9/11 asserting that Islam condemns 'terrorism' and
the killing of 'innocents,' without defining what is meant by either
term, no one has ever produced any examples of authoritative and orthodox
Islamic religious scholars rejecting, on Islamic grounds, jihad violence
against non-Muslims." It's about time they "institute (d) comprehensive
and inspectable programs teaching against the jihad ideology and Islamic
supremacism."
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- On December 23, Spencer's Jihad Watch (with no byline)
mocked the kangaroo justice victims in its headline: "Muslims on
Fort Dix jihadists - They wuz framed....It was all a joke....Oh Shnewer
(one of the five about his explanation), you kidder! It then added various
demeaning comments to clearly show disrespect for Islam.
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- Pat Robertson preaches hate and intolerance and his CBNnews.com
leaves no doubt where it stands in a December 22 article by its "Terrorism
Analyst," Erick Stakelbeck - titled "Fort Dix Jihadis Convicted."
He called the convictions "A nice 'stockade stuffer' for the US government,
just in time for the holidays," then added Islamophobic comments
like this:
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- "....it doesn't take a brain surgeon to walk into
a shopping mall, yell 'Allahu Akhbar,' and start firing a rifle at shoppers.
Granted, it obviously helps to have a larger force behind you (for funding,
guidance and training) if you are scheming to carry out an attack like
the one planned on Fort Dix. But deadly intent, a gun and some explosives
can get a motivated, committed jihadist a long way as well." Obviously
for Stakelbeck, they're guilty, case closed.
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- The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was founded "to
stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair
treatment to all. (It) fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry,
defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all" - or
so it says. How does it act under its national director, Abraham Foxman.
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- Using anti-Semitism and a high moral agenda for cover,
Waxman backs racial discrimination and nationalism. While preaching universal
equality, he's for Jewish supremacy, the right of Israeli Jews to dominate
Arabs, and to maintain a separate and unequal society.
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- On December 23, ADL "applauded the verdict convicting
five would- be terrorists who conspired to kill American soldiers at New
Jersey's Fort Dix last summer." ADL's national chair, Glen Lewy and
Foxman issued this statement:
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- "The successful prosecution of the five terrorists
for conspiring to kill American soldiers....is a testament to the dedication
and hard work of teams of FBI investigators and Justice Department prosecutors
who devoted enormous time, energy and passion to making our nation safer....In
this case, justice has been served and our national security protected."
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- Imagine their comments if five Israeli Jews had been
convicted on the same charges instead of Muslims.
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- No Plot, No Crime, So the FBI Invents Guilt with An Entrapment
Sting Operation - Its Usual Modus Operandi to Ensnare the Innocent
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- At a Cherry Hill, NJ Circuit City store in January 2006,
Mohamad Shnewer innocently wanted a home video transfered to DVD. It showed
men shooting weapons at a Pocono Mountains firing range, playing paintball
(an innocent game in which opposing teams try to eliminate opponents by
marking them with water-soluble dye shot in capsules from air guns), and
repeating Arabic phrases like Allah Akbar (meaning God is Greatest). The
store clerk called the police. They notified the FBI. They began investigating
and recruited two dubious informants to help.
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- Each knew nothing about the other. One was Besnik Bakalli,
an ethnic Albanian, who falsely told defendants he was a Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA) veteran - the US/Germany supported terrorist group recruited
to destabilize Kosovo/Serbia in the 1990s. At trial, however, he testified
that he fought for no group and knew nothing about Islam or extremists
calling for jihad.
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- Mahmoud Omar was the other informant, an Egyptian-born
used car salesman/mechanic on probation for bank fraud. He and Bakalli
entered the US illegally and faced likely deportation or worse. They
were easily recruited, so cooperated, and were well compensated for their
efforts - thousands of dollars a month, and according to defense lawyers,
Omar (from when recruited in March 2006) will have earned $238,000 for
his efforts. NewJersey.com believes more - over $240,000 plus rent and
other expenses, and, of course, leniency in handling their charges. Bakalli
was used for a shorter period and reportedly was paid about $150,000.
The FBI also relocated his parents to America as an added incentive to
cooperate.
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- Its sting was to have both men befriend the defendants,
wear a wire, egg them on with tough talk about their commitment to Islam,
elicit negative views about the US military and war in Iraq and Afghanistan,
incite a need for holy war in response, and suggest how to get weapons
to "do something."
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- Hundreds of conversations were recorded and selectively
played back at the eight week trial. In addition, Shnewer's house and
car were bugged and rigged with hidden cameras for additional videotape
accounts.
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- One conversation with defendant Tatar has Omar saying:
"I want this country to pay the price for something they did to me"
and then asked Tatar for help to get information about Fort Dix. He had
no idea what he meant, yet Omar persisted and wanted Tatar to get him
a map of Fort Dix. At one point, Tatar called the Philadelphia police
about being pressured and voiced concern about something terror related.
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- Omar also organized so-called Fort Dix "reconnaissance
missions" around the base's perimeter. In addition, he got two of
the Duka brothers to buy firearms but not to commit terrorism or attack
the Army base. At that point, they were arrested in Omar's apartment
while buying inoperable rifles the FBI supplied for the sting.
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- What's clear from trial evidence is that no plot existed,
no conspiracy, no intended crime, explicit rejections of violence, and
without informant provocation no planned weapons purchase for any purpose.
All five are innocent, unfairly targeted, entrapped, prosecuted, convicted,
and the latest administration "war on terror" trophies from
its scheme to incite fear.
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- The only trial evidence was their freely expressed hostile
views about America's wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, sympathies for
Islamic causes, and anger over how immigrants are treated in the US.
None of this is illegal or incriminating, yet the defendants were convicted
and face long incarcerations after sentencing, possibly for life.
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- Attorney Sam Schmidt represented one of the defendants
accused in the 1998 US African embassy bombings. He explained how "The
government (goes to extraordinary means) to find people (with) an antipathy
to US policies (in the Middle East) and see which ones can get motivated,
or angry enough (to be entrapped by the entreaties of an informant). Many
of these cases appear to be the informant who is either working off a
case to avoid going to jail or be deported or is seeking remuneration...."
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- They're used to entrap defendants, get them angry, and
create the impression that they're willing to commit terrorism. To prove
conspiracy, the government need only show that defendants appeared willing
to commit a crime and did one thing (usually quite innocent) to use against
them and convince a jury. No crime need be committed nor any detailed
plans for one. In the Fort Dix case, prosecutors didn't have to prove
a planned attack - only that defendants appeared willing or approved of
US soldiers being attacked somewhere at some time.
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- With informants taping hundreds of conversations and
training them to egg on targets, prosecutors can selectively use comments
to make their case and intimidate juries to convict. In closing arguments,
Shnewer's lawyer, Rocco Cipparone, said: "Omar led and led and pushed
and pushed Mohamad as far as he could. But at the end of the day, all
Mohamad did was talk and talk and talk. His actions - and inactions -
speak more volumes than his words."
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- Transcripts also revealed that conversations included
a mixture of English, Arabic, and Albanian, were filled with miscommunications,
bravado, ambiguity and at times nonsense. At some points, the defendants
seemed too scared to do anything. Clearly their intentions were non-violent.
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- For example, when they were supposedly shopping for weapons,
one defendant worried that if someone is caught with a machine gun, he'll
"be in deep s..t." And if anyone gets killed, "As Muslims,
if we get caught, we all get sent away to f...ing Guantanamo Bay for
10 years with no court date....they can come to you in the f...ing morning
when you are sleeping. And they don't f...ing play."
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- Despite their convictions, the government's indictment
was vague on any intention to commit terrorism or that defendants' comments
meant they planned it. The informants did the pushing while they just
talked and nothing else. However, under US conspiracy law, if prosecutors
can convince juries that defendants words implied actions they can get
convictions.
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- According to former federal prosecutor and now executive
director of the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at New York
University School of Law, Anthony Barkow: "A person is entrapped
when he has no previous intention to violate the law and is persuaded
to commit the crime by government agents. But if he's already willing
to commit the crime (not applicable to the defendants), it's not entrapment
if government agents convince him to do it."
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- Roger Williams University law professor Peter Margulies
explains further that: "A virtue of American conspiracy law is it
allows you to show conspiracy with relatively thin evidence. In Britain
recently, they couldn't convict people in an airport bombing plot because
they had to show that action was imminent. American law is more expansive
than most other democracies in that respect."
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- Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson was the chief US
prosecutor at the Nuremberg Nazi war criminal trials. In a subsequent
1949 case, he expressed concern that US conspiracy law "constitutes
a serious threat to fairness in our administration of justice." It
lets prosecutors "target the people it doesn't like," according
to Margulies, do it as deviously as they wish, and unjustly convict the
innocent.
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- That's Jim Sues' view, executive director of the New
Jersey Chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations, on the Fort Dix
Five case. "Many people in the Muslim community see this as (another)
case of entrapment. The evidence showed no real honest-to-God planning
for an attack on Fort Dix (or anywhere else). The defendants were never
(even) all in a room at one time with a map of the (base), plotting what
they were going to do." They had no violent plans whatever. Nor did
other unjustly convicted Muslim victims - persecuted to incite fear and
justify America's foreign aggression against Iraq, Afghanistan and all
Islam.
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- Since 9/11, around 150 defendants were convicted through
2007 and many more this year. It shouldn't surprise that perhaps all were
innocent, unfairly targeted, unjustly convicted and sentenced to long
punitive incarcerations in federal prisons. In some cases, (for the so-called
"worst of the worst") to harsh confinement in Supermax ones
that crush the human spirit, mind and body through isolation, cruelty,
and physical abuse for years or even life.
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- It's the wrong time to be Muslim in America. Expect little
change under the new administration. Foreign wars will continue. So will
the "war on terror." Innocent Muslims will be targeted. Others
as well, so today we're all as vulnerable as the "Fort Dix Five."
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- Stephen is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research
on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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- Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com
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