Ft. Dix 5 Guilty!

This article shows another conviction against domestic terror plots. See also http://brianleesblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/media-snoozes-while-jihadi-terrorists.html


Fort Dix 5 Found Guilty Of Plot To Kill GIs
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/fort-dix-5-found-guilty-of-plot-to-kill-gis
From the New Jersey Star-Ledger:
Fort Dix five guilty of conspiracy to kill soldiers
by John P. Martin/The Star-Ledger
Monday December 22, 2008
Five Muslim immigrants from South Jersey were convicted today of plotting to kill American soldiers, a crime that prosecutors said demonstrated how Al Qaeda was using the Internet to recruit, train and incite supporters for attacks in the United States and around the world.
Jurors at federal district court in Camden deliberated into a sixth day before declaring the men guilty of conspiracy. The jurors, however, acquitted the men of an additional charge of attempted murder…
The Fort Dix five include brothers Eljvir, Dritan and Shain Duka, ethnic Albanians who worked at a family roofing business; Mohamad Shnewer, a Jordanian who drove a cab and worked at his family’s market in Pennsauken, and Serdar Tatar, a native of Turkey who was an assistant manager at a Philadelphia 7-Eleven.
Each faces up to life in prison on the conspiracy charge. Sentencing was set for April 22 and 23..
The Fort Dix probe began in January 2006 when an electronics store clerk in South Jersey gave police a copy of a customer’s videotape that showed the men firing rifles and shouting Islamic battle cries. FBI agents and two paid cooperators then spent 15 months shadowing the suspects, recording their conversations and examining their computers.
The evidence indicated that the men gathered weekly at a Palmyra mosque and regularly watched and discussed Al Qaeda videos extolling jihads and depicting deadly attacks against U.S. forces. In January 2006 and February 2007, they rented a house in the Pocono Mountains, where investigators said they trained for an attack by riding horses, shooting weapons at a rifle range and playing war games with paintball.
Prosecutors conceded the men had not settled on a target or a timetable for their strike, but called them "radical Islamists" with a shared goal: a jihad to kill American troops. They played for jurors hidden videos of the lead defendant, Shnewer, traveling with an FBI informant to Fort Dix, Dover Air Force Base and other sites in August 2006.
"This is exactly what we are looking for," Shnewer told the informant, Mahmoud Omar, as they passed the Burlington County base, a staging point for troops headed to Iraq. "You hit four, five or six Humvees and light the whole place (up) and retreat completely without any losses."
In other conversations, Shnewer proposed commandeering a gasoline tanker for a suicide mission at a military installation or firing a rocket into the Philadelphia Naval Base around the time of the annual Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia.
Agents enlisted a second informant to ingratiate himself with three other suspects, brothers Dritan, Shain and Eljvir Duka of Cherry Hill, like him ethnic Albanians who snuck in the country. They planted that informant at a Dunkin Donuts in Cinnaminson where the brothers gathered each Friday after mosque services.
Prosecutors said the fifth defendant, Serdar Tatar, whose father owned a pizzeria that delivered to Fort Dix, aided the plot by giving the informant a map of the base interior.
Defense attorneys insisted there was no conspiracy. They portrayed Shnewer, a Jordanian and the only naturalized U.S. citizen among the defendants, as a pathetic loner, encouraged and emboldened by an FBI informant who showered him with attention and advice like an older brother. They acknowledged Shnewer talked a lot and collected jihadist videos - particularly after meeting the informant — but said he speaking without the knowledge or approval of the others…
Eljvir Duka declared he wanted to "train sniper" and wondered how far he would have to stand from the White House to shoot the president.
In addition to the terror conspiracy, authorities indicted them on charges of illegal weapons possession. The Dukas are illegal immigrants; Tatar is a legal permanent resident.
Also arrested with them in May 2007 was a sixth suspect, an ethnic Albanian named Agron Abdullahu, whom authorities said provided guns but wasn’t part of the terror conspiracy. Abdullahu pleaded guilty later that year to weapons charges and was sentenced to 20 months in prison…
How long before we hear the cries of “Free The Fort Dix 5”?
Related Articles:
WaPo: Ft Dix Plot "Shatters" Terrorist Stereotypes
Six "Islamic Militants" Arrested For Fort Dix Plot