Phony
Terror And Black America
By Margaret Kimberley
13 June, 2007
Black
Agenda Report
Ever since September 11, 2001
Americans have had a legitimate fear of terrorist attacks, yet the government
has done little to ease those fears. Color coded terror alerts were
announced on a consistently convenient basis. They were meant to make
the public more supportive of war, or fearful of changing political
horses midstream. Miraculously, none have been issued since the November
2004 presidential election.
Despite the Bush pledge to
catch bin Laden "dead or alive," Osama is still at large and
there have been no terror convictions of any substance. There has been
plenty of publicity about dubious cases that don't pass the smell test.
Those cases are always built around the entrapment of Muslims, immigrants
and African-Americans.
The most recent case to make
headlines involved Guyanese and Trinidadian immigrants. They followed
through on an informant-inspired plan to blow up JFK airport in New
York. The informant was a convicted
drug dealer looking at the possibility of a life sentence.
It is an understatement to say that he had an incentive to create a
terror plot. Criminals weaseling out of their own legal troubles are
at the heart of many of these cases.
The "plot" ringleader,
Russell deFreitas, was unemployed at the time of his arrest, and had
been homeless on more than one occasion. He had no money, weapons, explosives
or plot that could possibly have been carried out.
At least there was a plot,
however flimsy, to speak of. Other well publicized cases consisted only
of tape recorded loyalty oaths supposedly made to al-Qaeda. Such was
the case of Tarik Shah, an African-American convert to Islam and a renowned
jazz musician. He and a friend, Dr. Rafiq Sabir, were recorded taking
an oath to fight for Islam. Neither man had guns, explosives or a plan
to harm anyone. Yet they were charged with supplying material support
to al-Qaeda. Shah pled guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Sabir took his chances with a not guilty plea, was convicted, and may
face a maximum sentence of 30
years in jail.
Shah and Sabir are not alone
in being victimized by government plots to create phony terror attacks.
The FBI modus operandi is clear: use criminals to create new ones. All
of the suspects in these cases were vulnerable individuals. Vulnerable
because they belong to groups of people who are automatically suspect,
black Americans, immigrants, and Muslims.
The members of the Seas of
David group in Miami aren't even Muslims. They were a group of Haitian
immigrants and local activists who practiced a religion that blended
both Christianity and Islam. They were accused of plotting to blow up
the Sears Tower in Chicago. None had the means to do so.
In the much hyped pizza
delivery plot in New Jersey, one of the suspects called
police to report that an individual had "pressured him to acquire
maps of Fort Dix." The alleged y terrorists were caught after they
filmed themselves firing guns and then brought the DVD to a local Circuit
City in order to have it copied. It is difficult to imagine Mohammed
Atta being so clumsy.
While black Americans, Muslims
and immigrants are being targeted as terror suspects without terror
plots, white Christians bomb abortion clinics, plan cyanide attacks
and openly advocate murder. The media bring little attention to these
cases.
Demetrius Crocker is a white
Tennesseean. Far from merely claiming to hate the government, Crocker
wanted to kill every black person he could find, members of Congress,
and ordinary citizens. Crocker was an admirer of Timothy
McVeigh and a long time member of neo-Nazi and white supremacist
groups. Crocker channeled his idol Adolf Hitler by making his own canisters
of zyklon-b gas.
Crocker was captured the
old fashioned, pre-Bush era way. He bragged about his plot to commit
mass murder and an investigation ensued. His conviction isn't tainted
by the involvement of self-interested informants. Crocker is one of
the usual suspects, a white supremacist with a long standing commitment
to violence.
Muslims should probably not
mention hating America or Israel to a new friend. That friend may need
to create a terrorist to keep himself out of jail. Also, stay clear
of taking oaths in Arabic. The next oath you take may be in a court
room. It doesn't matter if you are charged with crimes instigated by
others. Bush needs notches on his gun. He didn't get Osama, dead or
alive. Someone else has to take the fall.
Margaret Kimberley's Freedom
Rider column appears weekly in BAR. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York
City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.Com.
Ms. Kimberley' maintains an edifying and frequently updated blog at
freedomrider.blogspot.com.
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.