Friday, June 23, 2006

Terrorism—Sears Tower

One of the two most recognizable skyscrapers in Chicago is named as a potential target in news reports about the arrests of seven individuals in Miami.[1] According to officials, the alleged plot to destroy the Sears Tower and other US buildings, such as an FBI office in Miami,[2] was started by individuals who “were mainly Americans with no apparent ties to al-Qaida or other foreign terrorist organizations.”[3] According to some news accounts, there were five US citizens and two foreigners, including a Haitian, who were involved in the plot.[4] One of the people was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia.[5]

Late yesterday, a raid was carried out at a warehouse in Miami’s Liberty City area, where they “removed a metal door with a blowtorch and arrested [the] seven people.”[6] It seems that an undercover FBI agent had infiltrated the group by posing as “an Islamic radical.”[7]

More details about the individuals are expected to be disclosed at news conferences later today.[8]

According to neighbors, though, the individuals appeared to be in their teens and 20s, and they slept in the warehouse, “running what looked like a militaristic group. … ‘They would come out late at night and exercise,’ [said one neighbor.] ‘It seemed like a military boot camp that they were working on there. They would come out and stand guard.’”[9] Other neighbors described the men as Muslims who “had tried to recruit young people to join their group,” and others said that men “’seemed brainwashed. … They said they had given their lives to Allah.’”[10]

Another man, who calls himself Brother Corey and claims to be a member of the group, says that the warehouse was a place of worship and that they call themselves the “Seas of David.”[11] He hastens to add that the group is peaceful and “that the group studies the Bible and has ‘soldiers’ in Chicago but is not a terrorist organization.”[12] He also said that they “study Allah.”[13]

For all the drama, however, US authorities insist that neither Chicago nor Miami were at any imminent risk.[14] The alleged plot seems to have been in very early planning stages and “no weapons or explosives had been seized from the searched location.”[15] A senior federal law-enforcement source told the Chicago Tribune that “[t]he suspects had ‘aspirations’ but ‘no means’ to attack the Sears Tower or other buildings.”[16] Instead, they believed that “they ‘were doing [the attacks] in conjunction with al Qaeda’ but were really dealing with undercover law enforcement.”[17]

Due to the fact that the alleged plot never got beyond planning stages, the government is bringing charges against the individuals. If the charges include a conspiracy charge under , the government will have prove not only that the individuals conspired to commit an offense against the United States, but also that some overt act was taken to effectuate the object of the conspiracy. That may be difficult to prove because, so far, no weapons have been found. The government, however, may try to argue that the alleged paramilitary training was the required overt act.

If, however, the conspiracy charges are brought under different statutes, such as (a) (use of certain weapons of mass destruction), there is no overt act requirement. Under this statute, any person who conspires to use a weapon of mass destruction against any person in the United States can be imprisoned for any term of years or for life. A weapon of mass destruction under this statute has a more expansive definition than many people realize; as we mentioned when we discussed , the term includes bombs, grenades, and greater-than-.50-caliber firearms.[18]

Update: news about the indictment is trickling out. According to the AP, the four-count indictment states that “a young man identified as Narseal Batiste, beginning in November 2005, recruited and trained the others ‘for a mission to wage war against the United States government,’ including a plot to destroy the Sears Tower.”[19] Furthermore, Mr. Batiste allegedly “met several times in December 2005 with a person purporting to be an al-Qaida member and asked for boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios, vehicles and $50,000 in cash to help him build an ‘Islamic Army’ to wage jihad.”[20] It also said that Mr. Batiste said he would use his “soldiers” to destroy the Sears Tower.[21] Brother Corey is therefore probably going to regret mentioning that there were soldiers in Chicago.

Update 2: The indictment can be found here.




[1] Kelli Kennedy, , AP (via Yahoo!), Jun. 23, 2006.
[2] Peter Whoriskey, , Wash. Post, Jun. 23, 2006.
[3] Kennedy, supra note 1.
[4] , AFP (via Yahoo!), Jun. 23, 2006.
[5] , CNN.com, Jun. 23, 2006.
[6] Kennedy, supra note 1.
[7] AFP, supra note 3.
[8] Kennedy, supra note 1.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Sam Knight et al., , The Times (London), Jun. 23, 2006.
[14] Kennedy, supra note 1.
[15] Whoriskey, supra note 2.
[16] Michael Tackett, , Chicago Tribune, Jun. 23, 2006.
[17] David Ovalle, et al., , Jun. 23, 2006.
[18] 18 U.S.C. § 2332a(c)(2)(A).
[19] Mark Sherman, , AP (via Yahoo!), Jun. 23, 2006.
[20] Id.
[21] Id.

posted by McNabb Associates, P.C. @ 8:21 AM