Unqualified Offerings

Wild speculation: You don’t suppose the Seas of David Cell was just trying to scam their “al-Qaeda contact” (FBI informant) out of a lot of cool shit, do you? Reading the indictment (pdf) is suggestive. We’re told that at their first meeting on December 16, the conspirators tell their “al Qaeda contact” that they want to build an “Islamic Army,” and would he please provide “boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios and vehicles” among other things. On December 22, Narseal Batiste sketches a grand vision of “wag[ing] war on the United States from within” – and then gives the “al Qaeda representative” everybody’s shoe sizes.

On December 29, Batiste’s “Islamic Army” take delivery of their cool new military boots.

Also on the 29th, they again “detail[] their plot to take down the United States, destroy the Sears Tower,” and submit another wish list of “necessary materials and equipment which included radios, binoculars, bullet proof vests, firearms, vehicles and $50,000 cash.”

Have you noticed that if explosives appeared on either wish list, the indictment hasn’t considered it worth mentioning? Have you noticed that $50,000 is a lot of money, vehicles you can drive and that you could probably find buyers for bullet proof vests and firearms in Liberty City without too much trouble?

“On or about January 28,” everyone drives to Islamorada, Florida (presumably because the hotels in Jihadiville, Florida were booked) for a meeting with the “al Qaeda representative.” The indictment does not vouchsafe the topics discussed.

Of the February 19 meeting, however, we know more. Batiste declares his desire to wage “full ground war” against the United States and to attend “al Qaeda training, along with five of his soldiers, during the second week in April.” It’s at this meeting that he professes his desire to “kill all the deviles he can.” It’s also at this meeting that he asks for . . .

. . . a digital video camera. For a trip to Chicago. Which he invites the al Qaeda representative to join. And, I strongly suspect, though it is not detailed in the indictment, to pay for.

On or about March 10, Batiste swears his “oath of loyalty to al Qaeda” in another meeting.

On or about March 16, the whole Gang of Seven meets with the “al Qaeda representative” to discuss a plan to “bomb Federal Bureau of Investigation buildings in five cities. The other six guys “each sw[ear] an oath of loyalty to al Qaeda” and . . .

They get the video camera.

Batiste promises “good footage” of the FBI building in North Miami Beach within a week.

Exactly a week later, he asks the “al Qaeda representative” for a rental van so he can get that footage. A day later, indictee Patrick Abraham drives Batiste and “AQR” past the FBI building in a car. Uncle Sugar appears to have drawn the line at springing for a van. Also, you’ll note that the taxpayers didn’t pony up for a trip to Chicago either. Coincidentally, all talk of bombing the Sears Tower seems to have ceased too. Now it’s all about bombing buildings in South Florida.

On the same day, “AQR” takes them to a store to get a memory chip for that new digital camera of theirs. “AQR” is rewarded with photos and video footage of several official buildings two days later, at which Batiste “further discuss[es] with ['AQR'] the plot to bomb the FBI building. On April 6, Batiste, Phanor and Augustin meet with “AQR” to “review and discuss the photographs and video footage.”

Then comes the final meeting the indictment finds worth mentioning. It does not say whether it is the final meeting before the arrests.

On or about May 24, 2006, Narseal Batiste told the “al Qaeda representative” that he was experiencing delays because of various problems within his organization but that he wanted to continue the mission and maintain his relationship with al Qaeda.

With the who gave his bros the boots and video camera.

The indictment is stamped 30 days later, June 22. That is a longer gap between meetings than any other time in the relationship. It gave the FBI just enough time to arrest the Seas of David group “as FBI Director Robert Mueller was being interviewed on Larry King Live and the department announced details of the arrests Friday at dual press conferences in Washington, D.C. and Miami.” And just in time for Administration figures to use the case as justification for its extraordinary expansions of domestic and international surveillance, even though, from everything we know so far, the FBI made such case as exists the old fashioned way: tipster notifies law enforcement and law enforcement sends in an undercover guy for a sting.

The thing about this indictment is, it gives no hint as to which side provides the motive force in the relationship. Who initiated the meetings between Batiste’s group and “AQR?” Who suggested bombing federal buildings instead of the Sears Tower? Who instigated the swearing of oaths? Did “AQR” make oath-swearing a prerequisite for the video camera? Who contacted whom on April 23, the day that Batiste said he needed a rental van to get that video footage? Did Batiste’s group get to keep the video camera? What were the tone of the conversations? Was Batiste promising to “kill all the devils we can” because he hates Whitey or because he figured it was what an “al Qaeda representative” with spare cash wanted to hear?

Why does the indictment make no mention of Batiste’s group asking for explosives to carry out these bombings he’s talking about?

Most interestingly, just how were things left at that May 24 meeting? Who contacted whom? Was “I want to continue our relationship” Batiste’s way of saying, Yeah, I’ll call you, baby? Was it his way of stringing along the mark? Or was it, after all, what the government says it was, a fringe character wanting to wage jihad while trying to keep the holy warriors who couldn’t shoot straight in line?

Might be. Maybe these were the dangerous guys the government says they were. Maybe their hearts were willing but their brains were weak. But even in 2006, no sensible libertarian puts much faith in the FBI, or takes an indictment as the last word in a matter, especially one as cagey as this one. Even hawkish libertarians tend to justify their support for “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here” in terms of not trusting the FBI to do a competent job of counterterrorism.

I don’t know that Batiste fell victim to his own con here. We’ll have to see what evidence the prosecution and defense come up with in any actual trial. Nor do I think it’s okay to play footsie with someone you really believe represents a terrorist organization, though the whole case reads like a bunch of Elmore Leonard Reenactors, and there would be a certain characteristically American beauty in taking jihadists for a ride. But there’s never any reason to take federal agents and prosecutors at their word, especially these days.

PS. A correspondent who prefers to remain anonymous e-mails:

From what I can gather from friends at the US Atty’s Office, the “terrorists” arrested were running much more a clown college than a jihadi bootcamp. The actual danger posed by these folks was apparently vanishingly small, hence the “they had the intent and were searching for the ability” angle from the government. Well yes, and I have the intent to be a rock and roll guitarist, but that doesn’t mean Neil Young should feel scared….not they shouldn’t be arrested or prosecuted, but neither should they be hyped as only steps away from wiping cities off the map.

The strike me as sort of similiar to that other semi famous Miami religious cult, the Black Hebrews led by Yahwah Ben Yahwah, but of course the Black Hebrews did manage to kill 14 people, whic is again a long way from 9/11, but still.