7 Radical Black Muslims Arrested in Plot to Attack Sears Tower

Agreed 100%! I'm glad they found them and they're off the streets. But you might want to check a few facts. Seems they weren't "radical muslims."

They were black though...

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CAIR: Miami Cult not Muslims

I just saw the spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations on CNN saying that the Miami cult members just arrested are not Muslims. I'd say that is a fair statement.

For one thing, they are vegetarians!

It seems pretty obvious that they are just a local African-American cult which mixed Judaism, Christianity and (a little bit of) Islam. It seems to be a of vague offshoot of the Moors group founded by Dwight York. I heard on CNN that one of them talked of being Moors. And Batiste, the leader, called whites "devils" in the tradition of the original Nation of Islam and York's Moors. Now CNN is saying one member said they practiced witchcraft [likely meaning Haitian voodoo or perhaps Santeria-like rituals]. One former member is called Levi-El, suggesting he might be associated with the Black Hebrew movement or an offshoot. Now a relative of one of the members, Phanor, said that they wore black uniforms with a star of David arm patch and considered themselves of the Order of Melchizadek. I wonder if it is "Seas of David" or "C's of David", with "c" meaning commando or some such?

I define cult as a religious group that has values that put it in a high state of tension with the norms of mainstream society, and that has a leadership that imposes high levels of discipline and demand for control of adherents' lives.

This Seas of David group primarily seems to have been studying the Bible. The mother of one insisted that he is a Catholic. Then there is all that Jewish symbology and terminology, even in their names. Islam was nothing more for them but a set of symbols they could pull into their syncretic local culture. The group drew on poor Haitian immigrants and local indigent African-American youth. If this were the 1960s, they'd have been Black Panthers or Communists.

American folk religion, pursued in small groups with charismatic leaders, is replete with such groups, from Father Divine to Jim Jones of the People's Temple to David Koreish.

The group never got past the stage of talking big, and violently. They talked dangerously, and some sort of intervention was warranted. Since they begged the FBI informant for "shoes," they weren't exactly a well-heeled group that seems very dangerous in actual practice. And, to what extent did the FBI informant press an al-Qaeda connection on these otherwise clueless but imaginative zealots?

http://www.juancole.com/2006/06/cair-miami-cult-not-muslims-i-just-saw.html

 

Looks like they weren't Muslim or Christian, they were just plain crazy.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/23/miami.reax/index.html

Families insist suspects not terrorists

Saturday, June 24, 2006; Posted: 12:01 p.m. EDT (16:01 GMT)

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Friends and family of the seven men facing federal charges of aspiring to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower said Friday the men were not involved in terrorism.

The sister of Lyglenson Lemorin, or "Brother Levi," one of the men arrested Thursday on charges of concocting a terrorist plot, said her brother was involved with the group of men to study religion.

Gina Lemorin, who had just returned from her college graduation in Atlanta, Georgia, when she learned of the charges, said he had been with the group in Miami doing construction work.

But when the group began practicing "witchcraft," she said, Lemorin left and moved to Atlanta about four months ago.

Lemorin, 31, has children who live in Atlanta, she said, and he "is not a terrorist."

Lemorin appeared before a federal magistrate Friday in Atlanta, and five of his codefendants did the same in Miami. All were scheduled for arraignment next week.

The seventh man, Stanley Grant Phanor, was in state custody in Miami on a firearms charge and has not yet appeared in federal court.

According to a federal grand jury indictment released Friday, the man who recruited the group, Narseale Batiste, conspired with a government informant to wage "jihad" against the United States. (Full story)

The attack was meant to be grander than the attacks of September 11, 2001, and included planned bombings of the 110-story Sears Tower, the nation's tallest building, and the FBI office in Miami, the indictment says.

While the indictment says the men plotted to "kill all the devils we can," they apparently had no weapons or equipment for such a task. (Watch as the government outlines the alleged plot -- 4:34)

Batiste gave the informant a list of materials he needed, which included "boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios and vehicles" as well as bulletproof vests and $50,000 in cash, according to the indictment.

Batiste told the informant he was organizing an Islamic army to wage a jihad in the United States, the indictment says.

The family of Phanor, who according to the indictment calls himself "Brother Sunni," told reporters in Miami he was innocent of all charges and was a practicing Roman Catholic, not a Muslim.

"They all call themselves brothers and they are well-mannered," said his older sister, Marlene Phanor. "All they were trying to do was clean up the community. We are Catholic. He's Catholic." She said the family attends St. Mary's Catholic Church in Miami.

Sylvain Plantin, a cousin of Phanor's, said he was involved in a religious group called "Mores," which met to read the Bible. (Watch as one of the group's members says they are not terrorists -- 6:52)

"They don't eat meat, they don't smoke, they don't drink, and they train highly intensively," he said. "The warehouse is the temple where they all go and pray and meditate."

The windowless warehouse in Liberty City, a predominantly black and low-income area of Miami, was one of several places searched by FBI agents Thursday. Authorities said the men had been living there since March.

Neighbors said the men, who wore turbans, caused no problems but seemed odd. (Watch as neighbors in the projects react to the arrests -- 1:49)

"All you could do was just see their eyes. They had their whole head wrapped up. Just the eyes showing. And they were standing guard -- one here, one there -- like soldiers. Very quiet," one woman said.

Plantin said what made them suspicious is the training they did.

"They practiced martial arts," he said. "They didn't have guns, bombs and have no money funding."

Phanor's mother, Elizene Phanor, denied her son could be involved in any plot that might kill people.

"My son, he don't have a heart to kill people," she said. Then, kneeling on the ground and raising her arms toward the sky, she repeated, "He don't have a heart to kill people."

A man who identified himself as "Brother Corey" said five of the men arrested in Miami were his "brothers," members of a religious group he identified as the "Seas of David."

Brother Corey said the group has "soldiers in Chicago," but was peaceful and not associated with any terrorist organizations. He said he used the term soldiers because they were soldiers of God.

"This is a place where we worship and also have businesses, as a work site as a construction company we are trying to build up," he said, referring to the warehouse.

He said the Seas of David is a religious group that blends the teachings of Christianity and Islam.

 

nice tryyy?

 

Islam, Christianity, Roman Catholic, firearms.

What a combination.

 

What would one expect the family to say? I've read the entire indictment against them. These are not the actions of innocents. If true, then they were essentially caught red handed in planning operations. I wouldn't expect family members to be aware of their intentions. They may not believe it but, unless this Al Qaeda undercover informant is just basically lying through his teeth, they did knowingly and willingly instigate planning with the intent to do harm to America and its citizens. If their innocent, then they shouldn't have to worry because there would be no hard evidence if their innocent. The problem for them is there does appear to be hard evidence.

 

lol. these guys appear to be too poor to even make the trip to chicago.

 

I am glad they were caught, but how much of a 'real' threat were these clowns? It seems like they're a cult of idiots who wanted to make a name for themselves more than anything else, I am not sure I would consider them a serious threat even if they had plans and all...which is good enough to get them thrown behind bars for a loooong time.

Good thing either way, I can't help but LOL at their idiocy...

 

"The group apparently did little to inspire fear in the Liberty City neighborhood where they took up residence. A close family friend and a distance cousin of Stanley Grant Phanor described the leader of the group, Narseal Batiste, as a "Moses-like figure" who would roam the streets in a cape or bathrobe, toting a crooked wooden cane and looking for young men to join his group. Sylvain Plantin, 30, said Batiste was a martial arts expert who preached an obscure religion."


http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/14889641.htm

It was a good show for FOX though.

 

sounds like a child molester.

 

tradertexx beat me by minutes on the thread, but here's the comments from mine...

this whole story reeks of agents provocatouring a bunch of young, poor and not-too-bright guys into running their mouths off and not much else. they had no money, weapons, connections of means to pull off any real attacks. they had never even been to chicago to scout out the sears tower. they had no real plans to actually do anything and they had no cache of weapons to pull anything off.

speaking of the sears tower, how many of you know that the guy who purchased the twin towers and took out a 3 billion dollar insurance policy on it months before 9/11 now owns the sears tower? his name is larry silverstein. he is also on record admitting that building 7 of the w.t.c. was actually "pulled" or demo'ed, not brought down as a result of the attacks.

anyway, one guy swears an oath of allegiance to an undercover agent posing as an al-qaeda operative, but they never had any real dealings with the group. they never met anyone connected with al-qaeda.

these guys were so unequiped that the f.b.i. provocatour even had to buy them a videocamera so that they could go tape the f.b.i. building. now this is the prime evidence against them. its kind of like a cop selling someone drugs and than arresting them for possession.

im not trying to say that these guys are angels, but clearly they were not a real threat and if they didnt have the help from the undercover agent wouldnt have been able to do anything due to lack of resources. the agent even had to buy them boots!

coupled with santorum's WMD's in iraq, this reeks of pre-election fear mongering from the neocons and not much else. the cheney administration has done a terriffic job playing up the fear-card to keep us under control, and i dont see this as anything different.

 

America and religious cults go way back. The 20th century is full of examples: the Moorish Science Temple, The Church of God (Black Jews), United House of Prayer, Mt. Sinai Holy Church of America Inc, Nation of Islam, and -- my favorite -- Father Divine's "Heavens and Peace Mission" movement, which I found to be the most fascinating of 'em all .

In Father Divine's movement, he created heavens and angels. The angels are the women that carry out his orders. The heavens are the places where they reside . In 1932, he created a peace heaven in Saviel, NY -- an exclusive all-White area where one of the Roosevelts lived. He had white women in his group that moved in with him. He was arrested for criminal trespass. Once he was brought to court, he was questioned about any possible 'relations' he had with the White women that served him. Father Divine denies it but -- obviously -- the judge is not convinced, he is mostly furious at the fact that these White men and women were following this Black man. The judge finds him guilty and sentences him to 1 year in jail. Father Divine then told the judge that he wouldn’t want to be him for any reason. That judge dies two days later of sudden heartattack, whereby Father Divine becomes a legend and his following grows even more. In fact, Father Divine became so wealthy that he had his own personal plane!

 

It wouldn't be the first time that the FBI has used 'entrapment' as a technique to lure out those who harbor ill-will against the U.S. However, these guys didn't have to be 'coerced' into anything and once the opportunity was present (or so they thought), they didn't hesitate to take it, however poorly equipped or small a threat they might've been.

I know entrapment is against the law, but I have to confess that it might be the most effective way to lure these fanatics out of the shadows and eliminate them.

 

I agree with that. It's clear that given the opportunity and resources necessary, these young men were more than willing to carry out acts of terror against the U.S.

 

Liberals are just weak on catch phrases and logical fallacies. You guys are great at that stuff.

 

OMG THANK YOU GEORGE W BUSH FOR SAVING MY BABIES!

 

WTF is the deal with thread title.