Official: 7 arrested in Sears Tower plot

MIAMI - Seven people were arrested Thursday in connection with the early stages of a plot to attack Chicago's Sears Tower and other buildings in the U.S., including the
FBI office here, a federal law enforcement official said.

As part of the raids tied to the arrests, FBI agents swarmed a warehouse in Miami's Liberty City area, using a blowtorch to take off a metal door. One neighbor said the suspects had been sleeping in the warehouse while running what seemed to be a "military boot camp."

The official told The Associated Press the alleged plotters were mainly Americans with no apparent ties to al-Qaida or other foreign terrorist organizations. He spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt news conferences planned for Friday in Washington and Miami.

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Managers of the Sears Tower, the nation's tallest building, said in a statement that they speak regularly with the FBI and local law enforcement about terror threats and that Thursday "was no exception."

"Law enforcement continues to tell us that they have never found evidence of a credible terrorism threat against Sears Tower that has gone beyond criminal discussions," the statement said.

Residents living near the warehouse said the men taken into custody described themselves as Muslims and had tried to recruit young people to join their apparently militaristic group.

The residents said FBI agents spent several hours in the neighborhood showing photos of the suspects and seeking information. They said the men, who appeared to be in their teens or 20s, had lived in the area about a year.

The men slept in the warehouse, said Tashawn Rose, 29. "They would come out late at night and exercise. It seemed like a military boot camp that they were working on there. They would come out and stand guard."

She talked to one of the men about a month ago: "They seemed brainwashed. They said they had given their lives to Allah."

Rose said the men tried to recruit her younger brother and nephew for a karate class. "It was weird," she said.

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A spokesman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Illinois officials had been in contact with the FBI about the arrests. He would not comment further, referring additional questions to the FBI.

The FBI's headquarters in Miami sits near a residential neighborhood just east of Interstate 95.

A huge crowd — up to 250,000 people — was expected downtown Friday for a parade to honor the NBA champion Miami Heat. Security measures consistent with such an event were in place, city officials said, and the raids were not expected to affect it.

Several terrorism investigations have had south Florida links. Several of the Sept. 11 hijackers lived and trained in the area, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, and several plots by Cuban-Americans against
Fidel Castro's government have been based in Miami.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060623/ap_on_re_us/terrorism_investigation

Not many details as of yet, but I wonder what the plot was. They believe at the moment that the group was not working with al-Qaida.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. Were these people actively engaged in planning a terror attack before the FBI operative, under cover as an agent of al Qaeda, talked to them? Did the agent prod them into taking pictures? Was this just an ordinary group of people who p!ss and moan about everything getting manipulated by the FBI? At this point, nobody knows, although all the reports are calling them the gang that couldnt shoot straight.

It is readily apparent that these were not professional terrorists. So my question is this - If they were talked by law enforcement into taking pictures, and making plans, when this is not something they would have done otherwise, are they guilty? If so, then Ann Coulter could also be guilty. After all, she talked about wanting to see the New York Times blown up.

Of course, at this point, everything is hypothetical. We will know more as more information becomes available. If they were making plans and taking pictures BEFORE the FBI undercover operative joined them, then of course, they are guilty as hell. If, on the other hand, they began those activities as the result of FBI coersion, then there is a problem. We will just have to wait and see. There is a news conference in progress, so we are about to be made aware of more details.

Looks like another victory for the Bush administration, the dept of homeland security, and the justice department in the war on terror........


Thank you for President Bush for keeping us safe........

This is certainly good news to me, as I look out my window at this beautiful building everyday, I now have a different understanding for those who must truly miss the twin towers in NY.

Great news. Neighboors said these men were running a sort of boot camp. I watched the report on my roadrunner homepage. Looks to be Al-Qaeda sympathizers to me. One of these 7 is here illegally, another reason why we need to secure our borders.

Will the Miami 7 enjoy the same level of publicity the Chicago 7 had back in their day?

More hype from the Bush administration and more fuel to the climate of fear thats keeping him in power. Funny how 24 hours after, the facts show a very different thing.