I wasn’t sure which forum this belonged to, if you feel it belongs somewhere else, feel free to move it. I just feel more comfortable in the General lobby than in the land-mine laden pit of WA.
Ok, here’s the thing, the agent who contacted him, who claimed to be Al-Qaeda, and who he tried to deal with was… a woman named Lisa Balwin.
How many of you out there would believe a woman is an agent of Al-Qaeda? Mind you an American woman?
hmmm, trust FBI to go around pouncing on unsuspecting pensioners. How much do you bet he made some anti-american comments to some over- patriotic neighbour, an the git(i.e confidential source) went an got the FBI on the poor sod.
Well, I read the first 5,6 pages before losing interest, he did volunteer and made it clear that he wanted to get back at America by setting off a bomb, even gave a demo. At the same time as saying to the people "I don't like how ya'll are killing Americans, but AMERICA has asked for it.."
in that case it prolly was stupidity. however, i dont think its got much to do with al qaeda as it is to sell his product. He cudnt careless. Id be more worried the nutcase wants to murder his ex. prolly cuz she took his kids from him.
edit; this thread belongs in WA. i cannae c & p, but WA guppies should check out last para, page 10 & 1st para. pg. 11, in the link. many guppies have said the same thing over here.
Sounds like a bored retiree trying to get some action. Ordinary citizens are very angry with the way things are being handled, most of these guys are law abiding ppl who are resentful of the Bush administartions violation of all international norms and agreements. If they are angry doesnt mean they will go out and blow up ppl, more likely to blow their fuse than anything else. Its the guys like Timothy McVeigh who do what they believe in and really dont care talkin about it to anyone they meet. I wud say, let the old man go for godsake...
Minah: You are incorrect about it being a woman who contacted the guy. The woman was the person who signed the affidavit and explained the surveillance and operation. After obtaining information from a confidential source who knew this guy for awhile, a male undercover officer portyraying himself as a Russian named Vanya was the main contact. Vanya was the middleman who introduced the guy to the Al Qaida representative.
So the chain of events was the guy asking his friend to set him up with someone who wanted a bomb. (The friend -- who was the confidential source to the FBI-- may very well have been some foreign born dude with such connections). So the friend "introduces" the Russian and the Russian introduces the Al Qaida rep.
This certainly is not the case of the FBI trying to set up some poor innocent pensioner as suggested by Ma Mooli. The FBI reacted to information it was given. It first verified the accuracy of the information supplied by the confidential source which led the FBI to conclude that the guy did, in fact, have the background and ability to create the bomb.
Nor was the guy a bored retiree looking for some action. His prior prison record and his belief that the government was somehow responsible for his divorce and the loss of custody of his kids instilled in him a general antipathy for the government. He wanted his ex-wife killed.
That the guy is part nuts I certainly would not argue. But some nuts really shouldn't be on the street. I hope they lock this guy up for a good long while.
