Thursday, December 09, 2010

Just add agents provacateur and stir!

When the government went on about the dangers of home-grown terrorists, I didn't realize they meant that they were the ones actually growing them.

The FBI is beginning to remind me of a guy I used to know who would mutter "I just saved your life!" every time he drove past a pedestrian in the street.

15 comments:

Bob said...

Not too sure that I agree with you on this one, Tam. These wannabe jihadis are trying to find legit Al Qaeda contacts by going on the internet. Better that the Feebs do the recruiting than a real AQ type. Otherwise you can end up with another John Walkder Lind or Adam Gadahn. Or Times Square bomber, if you exclude American coverts. I think you're just snarking here because the Feebs have been rather clumsy in their recently-publicized efforts.

George said...

They taught us in criminal law that entrapment is completely based on the concept IN WHOM DID THE CRIMINAL IDEA ORIGINATE?
If he's just a stupid kid, spouting off rhetoric, that's one thing, but, if he's the one who brought up the idea of the crime, AND commited the first overt act...
then, the onus is on him. Of course, the feds are famous (infamous) for pursuing fringe types to commit something (think Randy Weaver), rather than going after active bad guys. That could be dangerous!

Joanna said...

I'm just reminded of the 14-year-old pothead hippy my sister ran into once who was convinced the FBI was tapping his phone.

I wonder how long it'll be before the FBI gets played and the bomb goes off for realsies?

Unknown said...

1995?

Drang said...

That's what I wonder about every time one of these "It wasn't really a bomb" things come up.

The Feebs apparently spent a lot of time trying to convince Mohammud Mohammud Mohammud, the wannabe Portland, Orygun, Fesitvus Tree bomber, that Violent Jihad was not, in fact, his best option.

Or so the Seattle Slimes said; they said it was "the standard script"

Stretch said...

The Assistant U.S. Attorney took great pains to mention the wanna-be bomber asked 4 friends to join him in the plot and all 4 turned him down. And ONE actually called the police. So why is the AUSA so happy that 3 would allow this to proceed via their inaction?

Newbius said...

If they are trying to get you to blow something up, they are Feds. If they are trying to get you to sell something illegal, they are Feds. If they are trying to get you to conspire against the government, they are Feds. If anybody is spouting off about how somebody should DO SOMETHING about those nasty feebs, THEY ARE FEDS.

Face it, all agents are provocateurs. :)

If you really want to fear somebody, fear the lone wolf actor. It is the guy who DOESN'T talk about it that you need to worry about.

theirritablearchitect said...

This security kabuki reminds me of a certain line out of Pulp Fiction, spoken by Winston Wolfe.

Anonymous said...

"If they are trying to get you to blow something up, they are Feds. If they are trying to get you to sell something illegal, they are Feds."

A good friend's relative was busted in Alaska for "conspiracy" after a conservation with an undercover fed in a bar over how to smuggle dope. Turns out the guy had a plane (the means) and that's all they needed.
So watch your mouth guys, especially when it comes to the O' guy and what you really think of him.

Old NFO said...

Well, they can't catch the real ones... just sayin...

NotClauswitz said...

They're doing what they always do, it's a pathway laid down based on what works for the prosecutors. There's a certain amount of pressure to succeed, they get in trouble if the I in FBI comes to Nothing.

Tam said...

alath,

"But when the FBI hauls a sociopathic loser out of his mother's basement and parades him around as a terrorist mastermind, what we have is not law enforment or even war on terrorists, but simply another act in the performance art known as Security Theater of the Absurd."

Wisht I'd wrote that.

Drang said...

Here's the link to the Seattle Slimes story (which I also posted in comments to a SayUncle post about Mohammud Mohammud Mohammud in Portland):
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2013555462_apusterrorismstings.html

Anonymous said...

They just do this kind of stuff so they can point to all the "terrorists" they stopped when a real terrorist succeeds.

Mark said...

When your funding's in doubt, manufacture a criminal.