19-year-old Jordanian arrested in Dallas bomb plot

Well, yes it does.

If the law was broken to apprehend this guy, that is a problem. Slippery slope, etc. I assume it wasn't, and I also hope it wasn't, and I'm very glad he's unable to hurt anyone. But the vague storyline given about the method leaves me with questions just as it would in any other scenario, whether the guy was trying to molest little kids or blow up a building.

As for your second statement, to quote someone on this BBS I respect a whole lot...

 

It does seem like entrapment though.....

DD

 

Not so fast. The guy did live in Dallas...

I don't think we have the right to know every single detail about how the FBI operates. Don't you think potential terrorists/criminals could benefit from knowing this kind of information and adjusting their methods accordingly?

 

Repped.

 

While we may not need to know, and we may not want to know, we sure as hell have every RIGHT to know.... it's our government, and our money.

Can't really comment on that as I don't know.

 

nah. entrapment isn't as broad as you might think it is. did he have no concept of committing this crime at all, but for the fed's involvement...somehow i doubt it.

ordinary, law-abiding citizens usually can't be entrapped into blowing up buildings.

sounds to me like they provided the guy the "materials"....he had to go on his own to the building...set it up...and dial the cell phone to trigger the bomb.

not entrapment.

 

^^^ I say it seems like a very smart and safe way to flush out these people.

 

I knew one of our resident legal eagles would come clear this up! thanks

 

i loved me some criminal procedure in law school...but i haven't had any direct experience with this stuff.

i did stay at a holiday inn express once, though.

 

they should try doing something similar to anti-govt/fed teabaggers and see if anyone takes the bait

 

Hmm, one hater is flushed out alright, but I doubt we'll purge all of them. Who knows how many others are out there who are willing to kill us all if a given chance? And it makes me sick to think these lunatics live and work right next to us! Still, hats off to the FBI agents for jobs well done. At least it will keep these basterds guessing next time they try to set up a bomb...

 

more from Josh --

Apples, Oranges and Jihad

Josh Marshall | September 25, 2009, 11:20AM

We now have three counter-terrorism arrests in different parts of the country (apparently in totally unconnected plots) in little more than a week.

In addition to the Zazi case, which has been percolating for a while now, men were arrested in Illinois and Texas earlier this week, each of whom allegedly attempted to detonate explosives in buildings. In both cases, they were dummy explosives provided by government informants, much like in the case of Newburgh Four back in May.

The new cases also show how different most of these stings are from the Zazi case, which had federal agents so spooked because he allegedly had not only the intent to commit a terrorist act but the training and means as well.

Michael C. Finton, aka "Talib Islam", seems like the type who might have been an able foot soldier in a plot organized by non-morons. But left to his own devices his lack of operational secrecy somewhat undermined his endeavors.

According to the FBI release, after the Bureau learned of Finton's apparent interest in becoming a jihadi, the Bureau learned he was on parole and contacted his parole officer to find a parole violation that would allow them to search his home.

Agents found what seems to have amounted to a small literary shrine to John Walker Lindh. And then after Finton was released from jail, in a January 2008 interview with the FBI, Finton explained that he idolized Lindh. Faced with this evidence that Finton not only had an interest in becoming a terrorist but was also an easy mark, agents preceded to draw him into his own private terrorist plot that led this week to his arrest.

The case of Hosam Maher Husein Smadi in Texas has very different facts but a similar feel. From the FBI release ...

It makes perfect sense for the FBI to look for and try to roll up people looking to blow up buildings in the US. But these anti-terrorism cases are certainly more comforting when the would-be terrorists turn out to have been in league -- pretty much from the word go -- with government informants rather actual operatives the government has never heard of.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/09/apples_oranges_and_jihad.php#more?ref=fpblg

 

It's a lot easier to attack the US in the US than it is in Jordan.

 

Plus we have t*tties, beer, and football.

So for him its his wet dream... jihad on us plus higher standard of living.

 

I don't understand the ins and outs of how entrapment but I find it troubling that law enforcement can provide the temptation and the means and methods to conduct a crime to entice someone to commit a crime. To me this almost seems like the idea of prosecuting pre-crime where you are aren't seeking to catch people based on possible criminal tendencies who otherwise might not commit a crime until given the means and methods.

 

Means? Yes. Methods? Yes. Temptation? I don't think so. At least not in this case.

From what I've read about this case, the guy was on an extremist website looking for ways to help the "cause" and that's how they found him. I'm pretty sure he wasn't there just trying to find pics of Jennifer Renya.

If the FBI set up the website, it may be entrapment, but from what I understand, that's not the case here. Plus, you would think the FBI would want to have all their ducks in a row so that the case has a good chance of standing up in a court of law.

 

Rest assured, this stuff is on tape.

 

I haven't followed this case very much so I would be curious to look into exactly what he was looking for. Consider for instance there are several posters here on CF.net who have said they don't like our government. Now if I contacted them by email and said "You want to do something about our government call me?" and told them to scout out the Minneapolis Federal Reserve and provided them with a dummy OKC style truck bomb to me that would seem like basically abbetting their crime. I don't know about this case but a few years ago a couple of terrorists in Miami were arrested for plotting to blow up the Sears Tower when the idea to do it and material support to undertake it were set up by the FBI. I don't know if that is the case here but that strikes me as troubling.

 

You should google Jennifer Renya. I did.

And it was worth it.

 

I don't know about the entrapment, to me this seems to be a waste of time and resources to arrest a 19 year old kid. Seriously, what's the likelyhood of him pulling it off if he wasn't fooled by the FBI?

I remember texxx starting another thread a couple of years ago where the FBI arrested a group of guys for plotting terrorism, and in the story the FBI would have to buy the guys food sometimes because they had so little money.