Trial Nears in Sears Tower Terror Case ( The Miami 7 )

[Ghost in the Machine]

Trial Nears in Sears Tower Terror Case
Published: 9/16/07, 2:25 PM EDT
By CURT ANDERSON

MIAMI (AP) - To hear prosecutors tell it, Narseal Batiste and six followers formed a budding homegrown terrorist cell determined to rival the Sept. 11 attacks by toppling the Sears Tower in Chicago.

In the same court building where Jose Padilla was convicted last month, trial begins this week for seven men who federal prosecutors say envisioned a "full ground war" that would eventually replace the U.S. government with an Islamic regime.

"I want to fight some jihad," Batiste said in a 2006 conversation taped by the FBI. "That's all I live for."

Defense lawyers and supporters of the so-called "Liberty City Seven" say the men never sought to hurt anyone and amassed only one gun and a few knives and machetes. They say the alleged terror conspiracy was driven by a pair of paid FBI informants - one claiming to be an al-Qaida emissary.

"These guys never left the United States. They never traveled to the Middle East," said Albert Levin, attorney for defendant Patrick Abraham. "They never had any way of carrying out what was discussed. This was pure words."

http://home.bellsouth.net/s/editorial.dll?bfromind=7814&eeid=5413417&_sitecat=1522&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=-2&ck=&ch=ne

[Ghost in the Machine]

1. kick... for the forgotten story..

[nosmokes]

2. What a waste of money and courtroom space. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thanks, Ghost in the Machine. I was hoping they'd drop this, and leave these people alone.

It will help to know what's going on with these men. I hope somehow, decency will prevail, in spite of all efforts to trap some young, unworldly people in a scheme suggested by the FBI plant.

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. I'm predicting a kangaroo court, but we'll see what happens. Any decent judge

should throw the case out... imho