We begin with some new and chilling details about a terror plot — a group of young Muslim immigrants —
hatched the terrorist plot at a local mosque — ring leaders of a homegrown terror cell
were arrested as they tried to buy ak-47 and m16 assault weapons.
Since the September 11th attacks there have been over 500 people prosecuted for terrorism related offenses
and this is a number that sounds really big
and it makes it sound like Americans are being kept safe from terrorism attacks
but we found that in a lot of these cases people were prosecuted
who never would have committed a terrorist act in the first place
if it weren't for the involvement of the FBI.
While doubt is charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction
it was a plot largely engineered by the FBI
during which the teenager is accused of taking the bait.
The theory behind some of these cases is that these people are terrorists in waiting.
If the FBI hadn't shown up and taken them down the path
of committing this terrorist act, al-Qaeda would instead.
But we don't have evidence of that actually happening.
What this means is that American Muslim communities are being treated as suspect
that law enforcement approached them not just as partners in countering terrorism
or providing information about potential terrorist attacks, but as places where terrorism could be bred.
Ferdaus was arrested Wednesday after undercover federal agents posing as al-Qaeda members
delivered materials he allegedly requested.
One interesting case is case of a man named Rezwan Ferdaus.
His mental health was deteriorating significantly during the time that the FBI was investigating him.
It deteriorated to the point that his father had to quit work to look after him.
That didn't stop the FBI from pursuing a case by sending an informant in to work with Ferdaus
and eventually help him develop a plot to attack the US Capitol building.
These were not individuals who were ever planning on their own to actually conduct terrorist activities.
They were individuals who were vulnerable to being recruited.
They're young men; an 18 year old. They're people with mental illness, schizophrenia,
they're people who were susceptible because they want money and they could be bribed.
The prosecution of four men from Newburgh New York is really emblematic
of a lot of the human rights violations we've seen
in federal terrorism prosecutions around the country.
These men were vulnerable, they needed money, and they were lured in.
Their plan was they were going to create two backpacks of bombs
and then they have two stinger anti-aircraft missiles.
Hussein was gonna provide all the materials and the money whatever they wanted.
Automatically I knew, this whole thing was manufactured.
The Newburgh String was an example of what the FBI is up to these days.
The FBI sent an informant named Shahid Hussein
to hang out in mosques in upstate New York and look for terrorists.
The informants in a lot of the cases that we looked at are people who are in trouble
and law enforcement gives them the option: "do you want to help us nab someone else
or do you yourself want to be put in prison?"
and so they need to find a terrorist they need to turn these people
The idea that there is a terrorist group that would have found criminals so incompetent as these to become terrorists is is ridiculous.
In the Newburgh Four case the informant is saying
"why don't you do a terrorist attack?" James Cromedy says "I'm not that interested essentially."
What changes is when the informant offers money, $250,000,
and James Cromedy is desperate he's lost his job at Walmart so that offer of money changes things for him
and he's able to loop in three other men who are similarly desperate.
You're taking four people who have never committed an act of terrorism before
who have no political aspirations, no means to commit the crime,
no access to terrorists to help them commit the crime, no access to the money to buy the weapons,
not even access to cars to get to the sites of potential attack.
Because these individuals are being convicted of terrorism offenses
their sentences are dramatically increased, at least 17 years added sometimes 20 years added
and in some of the cases that means a lifetime of solitary confinement
or a lifetime of restrictions on their ability to communicate with their families.
The idea that law enforcement should do anything and everything
to prevent the risk of a terrorist attack means that there are people locked up
in federal prisons right now who probably shouldn't be,
people who are serving very long sentences who probably shouldn't be.
Families that have been torn apart.
And communities around this country who live in fear.