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Would-Be Bomber Arrested In Kansas; Planned Suicide Attack on Ft. Riley

The Associated Press (as carried by the Boston Herald) reports that a 20-year old Topeka man has been arrested as he attempted to arm what he believed to be a thousand-pound bomb outside Ft. Riley, Kansas. John T. Booker Jr. is alleged to have planned an attack in conspiracy with others who were actually FBI agents; Booker's postings to Facebook in March 2014 about his desire to die as a martyr brought him to the FBI's attention, and the FBI sting operation which ended in his arrest began after these posts. Booker had been recruited by the U.S. Army in February of last year, but his enlistment was cancelled shortly thereafter.

4 of 297 comments (clear)

  1. Re:masdf by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Did you not notice the stories about how random people have breached security at airports many times over the last few years? If there were any serious terrorists, there would have been attacks at airports. The fact that teenagers were able to get on planes while we haven't had any terrorist attacks shows that the threats are wildly over-stated.

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  2. Re:masdf by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Actually, stings like this may prevent actual attacks from occurring by providing a deterrent.

    Alternatively, they may make actual terrorist cells more difficult to penetrate, since they will be less trusting of outsiders. This guy just arrested appears to be another crazy homeless person, who would never have been able to organize any sort of attack without FBI help. It is nice that he will have a warm place to sleep and three meals a day, but is this really a smart way to use FBI resources? If they really have nothing better to do, then perhaps we have too many FBI agents.

  3. Re:masdf by circletimessquare · · Score: 2, Interesting

    you don't know what entrapment means

    entrapment is getting you to do something you would not have otherwise done

    if the guy expresses his desire to bomb, and proceeds to go through with it, all of his own choice, he's not entrapped

    the involvement of the fbi is manipulating all of his material to be harmless, and allowing him to proceed. they are not telling him what to do, he's choosing to do it

    they let him go forward so they can see if he is an isolated wackjob or if there are conspirators. it also means they get to stick him with serious charges rather than a slap on the wrist

    or would you prefer a guy who fervently desires to bomb people to be out there?

    there is no entrapment here. none. zero. you simply do not understand the concept

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  4. Re:masdf by Etzos · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And on what grounds are they going to force him to get help? He expressed a desire to make a bomb and detonate it, but anyone could express that desire and not actually act on it. That seems like pretty poor grounds to force someone to get help.

    Could they have done it when he attempted to buy the goods to make the bomb? Possibly. But I still think those are pretty shaky grounds.

    What if they swapped out the potentiality dangerous elements he buys and then waiting until he actually attempts to go through with what he originally proposed? In that case no one would get hurt because the materials he used are rendered inoperative and now they have an actual case to get him help.

    I would also like to point out that the OP never actually said anything about getting him help. Only that the FBI should have stopped the attack (Which they did, at the very least, by rendering the materials useless).