Terrorists Plotted to Bomb JFK
The FBI arrested a group plotting a bombing attempt on New York’s JFK Airport:
- Four people, including a former member of Guyana’s parliament, have been arrested in connection with a plot against New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, U.S. officials said on Saturday.
Another one of the suspects was a former cargo worker at the airport. The four were charged with conspiring to attack the airport by planting explosives to blow up the airport’s major jet fuel tanks and pipeline, the U.S. Justice Department said and other law enforcement officials said in a statement.
The attacks would result in destruction of “the whole of Kennedy,” one suspect said in a recorded conversation, according to the statement. He predicted very few survivors.
The plot was foiled well before it came to fruition and the FBI said there was no threat to the public from the plot.
“There is no threat to air safety or the public related to this plot,” FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in Washington.
The plot, which dated from January 2006 to the present, tapped into an international network of Muslim extremists from the United States, Guyana and Trinidad, the statement said.
Here’s the federal complaint [PDF].
Oddly the terrorists thought Americans have some deeply emotional connection to the airport:
“Any time you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United States. To hit John F. Kennedy, wow … they love John F. Kennedy like he’s the man … if you hit that, this whole country will be mourning. You can kill the man twice,” Defreitas said in another conversation, it said.
“Even the twin towers can’t touch it,” referring to the September 11 attacks in another comment that the law enforcement authorities said was recorded last month. “This can destroy the economy of America for some time.”
JFK Airport is hallowed ground. Someone forgot to tell me that when I used Newark’s airport. Call the JFK marketing department. “Fly to JFK or you’ll be mourning.” The La Guardia people must be ticked.
“Four Arrested in Plot on JFK Airport” [via Hot Air]
Right. And if they hit Reagan airport, it would be like he got Alzheimer’s twice.
And if they bombed the J. Edgar Hoover building, it would be as if he’d never put on a dress.
And if they got the Lincoln Memorial, we’d reinstitute slavery.
These people are supposed to be smart, creative, motivated, and well-financed. I’m not . . . disappointed, exactly. But it’s not like they’re worthy adversaries.