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.

Comments

masdf

[Anonymous Coward]

So once again, the FBI entraps someone by convincing them to carry out an attack so that they can stop it and pretend to be heroes. How about actually stopping attacks that you haven't yourself created? Oh, right. That count is still at zero. And I guess you need to justify all your bullshit somehow.

Re:masdf

[BitterOak]

So once again, the FBI entraps someone by convincing them to carry out an attack so that they can stop it and pretend to be heroes. How about actually stopping attacks that you haven't yourself created? Oh, right. That count is still at zero. And I guess you need to justify all your bullshit somehow.

Actually, stings like this may prevent actual attacks from occurring by providing a deterrent. Would you join such a conspiracy if your co-conspirators might be FBI agents? Operations like these send a message out to would-be terrorists: you're not safe planning attacks in this country.

Re:masdf

[Anonymous Coward]

This does *not* make us safer. Quite the opposite, really. They use people like him to promote their own agenda. That is, they want to "prove" that everyone is a terrorist and they need more money and approval to stomp all over our rights, and you shouldn't complain about it.

What happens when one of their sting operations don't go according to plan? Maybe their guy goes a little nuts and decides to do things his own way, ends up killing or hurting a lot of innocent people. The FBI in this case could have stopped it by behaving appropriately instead of pressuring and reassuring him that doing evil was the way to go. Maybe without the FBI egging him on, he wouldn't have done anything.

Here, they found someone that was exhibiting some obvious mental problems. Instead of getting him the help he clearly needed, they decided to make a show out of it for their own propaganda machine.

Re:masdf

[whoever57]

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.

Re:masdf

[ShanghaiBill]

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.

Re:masdf

[Darinbob]

"Dude, I got this bomb I ordered from in the mail just like you told me to, but then I noticed it was just a fake. Your contact was trying to cheat us. I decided to take the initiative and get a real bomb instead. Hope you guys with the fake beards don't mind. Now where are those drugs you promised me?"

Re:masdf

[Etzos]

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).

Re:masdf

[Gadget_Guy]

What is your evidence that he had mental problems?

Apparently you didn't comprehend the story either. According the TFA, he was "mentally ill and was acting strangely only days before his arrest, according to a Muslim cleric who said he was counseling him at the request of the FBI.". The cleric went on to say that "the agents told him that Booker suffered from bipolar disorder, characterized by unusual mood swings that can affect functioning."

So he had mental problems according to the FBI and the person that was counselling him.

Re:masdf

[bkmoore]

You apparently didn't comprehend the story. That guy was committed to make an attack and die in the process before he came into contact with the FBI. Where is your evidence that the FBI was "pressuring" and "reassuring him"?

Quick google, the FBI has charged over 150 suspected 'terrorists' since 9-11 based on evidence from sting operations. Did they really prevent 150 people from committing terrorist acts? The FBI is either very good at catching terrorists before they even plan their attacks, or they are going out and setting people up. The Tsarnaev brothers kind of disprove the first possibility.

Re:masdf

[Anonymous Coward]

> Apparently you didn't comprehend the story either.

Dude, its Cold Fjord, he has a mental illness where he only sees the most extremist right-wing version of anything he reads. His visual cortex is physical incapable of processing any words that might even hint at a more sane interpretation.

Re:masdf

[cold fjord]

Apparently you didn't comprehend the story either. According the TFA ...

I am amused to inform you that you aren't quoting from TFA. If you follow the link in the story summary it brings you to a story that doesn't contain the paragraph you quote, or even a number of the key words. You are quoting from a different story at the same source. Since you didn't provide a link, allow me:

Man charged with plotting bombing at Kansas military base

So, it turns out that I comprehended the story, and you didn't. What you did do was bring in new facts in a different story from a reputable source, and helpful ones for the discussion.

So yes, it appears he may be mentally ill. That doesn't make him less dangerous.

Imam Omar Hazim of the Islamic Center of Topeka told The Associated Press that two FBI agents brought Booker to him early in 2014 for counseling, hoping to turn the young man away from radical beliefs. Hazim said the agents told him that Booker suffered from bipolar disorder, characterized by unusual mood swings that can affect functioning.

Hazim said he expressed concerns to the FBI about allowing him to move freely in the community after their first encounter.

If he is in fact mentally ill that potentially raises new difficultes involved with involuntary commitment or possible criminal defenses. In either case the state's position is much stronger since he attempted an attack rather than simply writing about it. There isn't much room for doubt that he is a danger to himself (suicide bomber) and the community.

But there is more to it than that. It appears that there are more people involved in this plot. I doubt they will all be mentally ill. What will you have to say if it turns out to be 2 sane guys with different values and 1 mentally ill guy with different values? Even if this one individual is mentally ill, that doesn't necessarily mean that this plot wouldn't have been of interest to him if he wasn't.

Re:masdf

[amiga3D]

They've been doing this same stuff for decades. Before the Islamic nutcases it was other groups like the so called home grown "militia" groups. They infiltrated one local group of idiots here that just got together to shoot guns, drink beer and bitch about the government. Impatient with the fact that the pussies weren't ever going to do shit they got their inside guy to show them how to make a bomb, then he helped them get the stuff to make one and then after that he helped them make it. Since they were too big a bunch of pussies (or just not really that crazy) to use the thing they only got to prosecute for "conspiracy." I didn't feel much pity for them as they were a sad group of morons but what a waste of money.

Re:masdf

[mellon]

17.3.

Dumb question. The job of the FBI is to arrest people who commit crimes. They should arrest exactly those people, and no other people. Of course it's an imperfect science, and they will miss some criminals and arrest some innocent people. But a key demographic they should avoid is arresting people who wouldn't have committed crimes without their help, because it is explicitly not their job to instigate criminal activity.

Re:masdf

[mellon]

Terrorists are interested in instigating terror. If they were as big a danger as they are said to be, they would already have let off a bomb in an airport security line and killed a hundred people waiting to be screened. The fact that this hasn't happened either means that the government has a machine that watches our every move and knows who is going to set off bombs, in which case they don't need these stings, or else it means that there really aren't that many people who are interested in committing mass murder who are able to get into the United States and act on that wish.

Re:masdf

[Pseudonym]

That doesn't make him less dangerous.

What makes him dangerous is filling his head with dangerous thoughts. The vast majority, if not all, of the people whom the FBI have entrapped in the past are some of the more vulnerable members of society: people without a strong social support structure, part of a marginalised community, often poor, often unemployed, and so on.

It's a fundamental axiom of modern policing that the best way to stop crime is to stop people from becoming criminals in the first place. If someone is at risk of becoming a criminal, the best thing you can do is divert them away from that as early as possible. For the FBI to turn a non-criminal into a criminal is not just a failure, it's sociopathic.

Re:masdf

[Mr D from 63]

You are right, don't blame religion. But also don't overlook the fact that a known religious structure is a key element in the widespread recruiting and development of terrorists. Be it an end or a means depends on where you stand in that structure. But if you don't talk about that structure and call it what it is, you can not hope to dismantle it.

Re:masdf

[Livius]

let's remove all security with respect to airplanes. Care to fly now?

Yes. Since it's reduced my airfare, and massively reduced inconvenience, personal indignity, and time wasted at airports, and only marginally compromised air travel security.

Re:masdf

[Pseudonym]

Unfortunately, these are the same people that are easily exploited and swayed into terrorist acts.

If they're that malleable, then they should be able to be steered into being a productive member of society instead of being a criminal. The FBI had a choice about which they could do. They chose the one which would give them a headline and a story on Slashdot.

Alternative title

[whoever57]

FBI sets up naive person and then arrests him when he follows instructions from his FBI handlers.

Re:Alternative title

[whoever57]

it's not entrapment

Just because it doesn't fit the legal definition of entrapment doesn't mean that it isn't morally entrapment.

In this case, yes, the guy had the desire to do something. However, he did not and would never have had the capability to do anything. There was no public safety justificaton for this FBI operation.