Jihadis Text Message the Wife of a Marine They Just Beheaded

Now this is just lovely, and by lovely, I mean horrible. Don’t forget, this is the mindset of the people we are dealing with.

I’m sure this asshole is laughing and eating popcorn.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Killers swapped messages with wife of marine

AFTER her husband Marine Private First Class Reuben S. Doronio Jr. was killed in an ambush in Basilan last July 10, Jomarie Doronio received several text messages from her husband’s killers.

One of them asked if he could befriend her. The others inquired about her well-being.

Either way, she could only feel disgust at their attempt to add insult to injury.

The communication began on the day her husband was killed, Jomarie said.

“Pasensya ka na. Nabalitaan naming napatay na ang mister nyo (We’re sorry. We heard that your husband has been killed),” was the text message she received from her husband’s cellular phone number.

“Bastos”

She and her sister-in-law Honeylee called the number but nobody answered.

The next day, the military camp in Basilan confirmed that Reuben was among the 14 marines killed in the encounter with Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels. They had been scouring the jungles for the kidnapped Italian priest, Fr. Giancarlo Bossi, when they were attacked.

Ten of them were beheaded, including her husband, while some of the soldiers had their genitals cut off.

The mutilations spark-ed outrage across the country.

The two women called the acts “bastos” (barbaric).

Honeylee said the rebels again sent 10 more text messages to Jomarie, still using her brother’s number.

One of them was, “Puwede ba makigpag-kaibigan (Can we be friends)?”

Honeylee said the sender might have fallen for Jomarie after he saw her picture on her husband’s phone.

“Naibog gyud na nimo (He must like you),” Honeylee told Jomarie.

The messages only stopped when Honeylee told them, through text message, “One day, you will also suffer the pain we have at present.”

The two, united in grief, vowed never to forgive Reuben’s killers.

The rest of the family is also seeking justice for his death.

His father Doronio Sr. described him as a brave and compassionate person.

Appeal

“It was unfortunate that he died young,” was the sentiment shared by the victim’s brothers and other relatives.

Reuben’s body lies in state at the Cebu Rolling Hills Memorial Chapels in Banilad, Cebu City.

He will be buried on Saturday.

Doronio Sr. told Sun.Star Cebu that despite the pain they are feeling right now, he is appealing to the Muslim rebels responsible for their deaths to free Fr. Bossi and return to the fold of the law.

Reuben graduated with a degree in science and education at the Cebu State College of Science and Technology at the age of 19.

He might have chosen the field of education because of his mother, who is a Department of Education supervisor in their hometown of Borbon, said his father.

But instead of practicing his profession, he joined the Marines at the age of 20, so he could serve his country.

Reuben turned 25 last Feb. 10.

Surprise visit

He married Jomarie on May 25, 2006. The couple has a five-month-old son Lexben Gabriel who was born last Feb. 12.
Doronio Sr. said his son flew to Manila last week to visit a friend who was in the hospital.

He suddenly showed up in Borbon to visit his family, but he did not stay long.

According to his father, Reuben asked him to buy a plane ticket for his trip to the Basilan military camp so he could join his group in the search for the missing priest.

“The last thing I can remember (of him) is that he smiled while bidding goodbye to us,” Doronio Sr. said. (EOB)

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The Need for More Moderate Muslims

Muslim on Muslim violence does not divert the hypocritical gaze of the jihadist. Only imagined conflict pitting the west and modernity against Islam and tradition draws their ire.

While our foreign policy–that being the west in general–does play a role in stoking the naked hatred and aggression of terror groups such as al-Qaida, Abu Sayyaf, Hezbollah, and Hamas, it by no means consists as the primary make-up of the whole, and to claim as much is disingenuous. It is the Islamist ideology that stands at the center of their philosophical, religious, and political ideologies that exists as their principal rationalization behind their actions; all stemming from the Qur’an and the Hadith and a desire to emulate in all things their prophet, Muhammad.

Whether it be lying (taqqiya), plural marriage, spousal abuse, pedophilia, or murder, all is justifiable in the pages of the Muslim holy text with Muhammad setting the proper example for all good followers of Islam.

So while suicide and car bomb attacks will likely persist for decades, while the west continues to embrace such concepts as political correctness, multiculturalism, one-world governments, and unbridled, reckless equality, those who wish us harm will continue to exploit those weaknesses until, under our very noses, sharia law rules the land–overly dramatic yes, but a point that cries out for continued repetition rather than an absurd impossibility. Until our leaders can fully understand a concept of life within Dar al-Islam, we will only trudge ever on toward that possibility.

The Islamic world needs more moderate Muslim voices like M. Zuhdi Jasser and Asim Siddiqui below.

Not in our name

Blaming UK foreign policy is not the answer. Where are the Muslim marches in revulsion against acts of terror in Islam’s name?

July 3, 2007 12:00 PM

Asim Siddiqui

The events of the last few days have been sobering for us all. The response from some UK Muslim groups (influenced by Islamist thinking) is still largely to blame foreign policy (undoubtedly an exacerbating influence but not the cause), rather than marching “not in my name” in revulsion against terrorist acts committed in Islam’s name. By blaming foreign policy they try to divert pressure off themselves from the real need to tackle extremism being peddled within. Diverting attention away from the problems within Muslim communities and blaming others – especially the west – is always more popular than the difficult task of self-scrutiny. And what part of foreign policy do the Islamists want us to change to tackle terrorism? Withdrawal from Iraq?

The UK presence on the ground in Iraq is minuscule compared to the US. We currently have 5,500 troops from 40,000 at the start of the invasion. We will reduce them further to 5,000 by the end of the summer. The bulk of which will be located near Basra airport in a supporting role. Next year will likely see the numbers dwindle even further. Our troop presence is far more symbolic than military. It provides the Americans with their “coalition of the willing”. The US, by contrast, is the only serious occupier in the country with over 160,000 troops. The government will not (and cannot) admit it, but we have been in withdrawal mode since the end of the war.

And once we’ve left Iraq, will they be satisfied? Of course not. Their list of grievances is endless: Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kashmir, Palestine, Burma … so long as the world is presented as one where the west is forever at war with Islam and Muslims there is nothing we can do to appease the terrorists and those who share their world view. Instead it is this extremist world view that must change.

Take for example the idea that radical Islamists are concerned about Muslim life (let’s ignore human life in general for a moment). Where is their outrage at the 400,000 Muslims slaughtered in Darfur? Where are the marches and calls for action against this ongoing genocide? Where is the “Muslim anger” boiling up amongst British Islamists? It is nowhere to be seen because the Darfurians have been massacred by fellow Muslims, not by the west. Hence it does not appear on the Islamist radar screen as a “grievance”. Such is the moral bankruptcy of this ideology.

No, it’s not foreign policy that’s the main driver in combating the terrorists; it is their mindset. The radical Islamist ideology needs to be exposed to young Muslims for what it really is. A tool for the introduction of a medieval form of governance that describes itself as an “Islamic state” that is violent, retrogressive, discriminatory, a perversion of the sacred texts and a totalitarian dictatorship.

When the IRA was busy blowing up London, there would have been little point in Irish “community leaders” urging “all” citizens to cooperate with the police equally when it was obvious the problem lay specifically within Irish communities. Likewise for Muslim “community leaders” to condemn terrorism is a no-brainer. What is required is for those that claim to represent and have influence among young British Muslims to proactively counter the extremist Islamist narrative. That is the biggest challenge for British Muslim leadership over the next five to 10 years. It is because they are failing to rise to this challenge that the government feels it needs to act by further eroding our civil liberties with anti-terror legislation to get the state to do what Muslims should be doing themselves. If British Muslim groups focus on grassroots de-radicalisation then this will provide civil liberty groups the space they need to argue against any further anti-terror legislation.

Of course I would like to see changes in our foreign policy and have marched on the streets (with thousands of non-Muslims) in protest on many occasions. But blaming foreign policy in the face of suicide attacks is not only tactless but a cop-out that fails to tackle extremism, fails to promote an ethical foreign policy and fails to protect our civil liberties.

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The Taliban Suicide Flower Vest–Fits Children Only

When nutroot pundits can’t see the forest for the trees, it comes as no surprise when left-wing dilettante’s frantically politicize tragic events for their own ignominious ends. Indeed, it is tragic when seven oblivious children acting as human sacrifices are strategically placed to assure their deaths in order to demonstrate the supposed barbarity of U.S. led forces. Unfortunately, once the children have been killed, the grim incident becomes a soapbox upon which al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the far-left can beat their chests and accuse Bush (again, can’t stand the man) of child murder, shamefully glamorizing it as a reason to unilaterally pull-out of the Middle East.

While I have heard much from the left on the above incident that transpired last week in eastern Afghanistan–a grievous misfortune for which our military officials should be held accountable–I have seen little mention of the abhorrent story reproduced below. To me it often seems liberals, with forethought, ignore palpable and real-life nightmares (intentionally and deceptively placed at the feet of children in this instance) by those the left feels the need to humanize–namely Islamic jihadists who are doing nothing more than following in the footsteps of the prophet, Muhammad.

The below Associated Press story is potent enough to bring a tear to your eye, unless perhaps it does nothing to foment disgust in the United States military. If that’s the case, then there is no hope for you and your own humanity. Way to be a good dhimmi.

Afghan boy Juma Gul, 6, sits on a table surrounded by elders during a gathering at a joint U.S.-Afghan military command center in Andar district of Ghazni province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, June 23, 2007. The story of Juma Gul, who says he thwarted an effort by Taliban militants to trick him into carrying out a suicide bombing against U.S. troops provoked tears and anger at a weekend meeting of tribal leaders. Though the Taliban dismissed the story as propaganda, at a time when U.S. and NATO forces are under increasing criticism over civilian casualties, both Afghan tribal elders and U.S. military officers said they were convinced by his dramatic account. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Boy: Taliban recruited me to bomb troops

By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer

FORWARD OPERATING BASE THUNDER, Afghanistan – The story of a 6-year-old Afghan boy who says he thwarted an effort by Taliban militants to trick him into being a suicide bomber provoked tears and anger at a meeting of tribal leaders.

The account from Juma Gul, a dirt-caked child who collects scrap metal for money, left American soldiers dumbfounded that a youngster could be sent on such a mission. Afghan troops crowded around the boy to call him a hero.

Though the Taliban dismissed the story as propaganda, at a time when U.S. and NATO forces are under increasing criticism over civilian casualties, both Afghan tribal elders and U.S. military officers said they were convinced by his dramatic account.

Juma said that sometime last month Taliban fighters forced him to wear a vest they said would spray out flowers when he touched a button. He said they told him that when he saw American soldiers, “throw your body at them.”

The militants cornered Juma in a Taliban-controlled district in southern Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. Their target was an impoverished youngster being raised by an older sister — but also one who proved too street-smart for their plan.

“When they first put the vest on my body I didn’t know what to think, but then I felt the bomb,” Juma told The Associated Press as he ate lamb and rice after being introduced to the elders at this joint U.S.-Afghan base in Ghazni. “After I figured out it was a bomb, I went to the Afghan soldiers for help.”

While Juma’s story could not be independently verified, local government leaders backed his account and the U.S. and NATO military missions said they believed his story.

Abdul Rahim Deciwal, the chief administrator for Juma’s village of Athul, brought the boy and an older brother, Dad Gul, to a weekend meeting between Afghan elders and U.S. Army Col. Martin P. Schweitzer.

Schweitzer called the Taliban’s attempt “a cowardly act.”

As Deciwal told Juma’s story, 20 Afghan elders repeatedly clicked their tongues in sadness and disapproval. When the boy and his brother were brought in, several of the turban-wearing men welled up, wiping their eyes with handkerchiefs.

“If anybody has a heart, then how can you control yourself (before) these kids?” Deciwal said in broken English.

Wallets quickly opened, and the boys were handed $60 in American and Afghan currency — a good chunk of money in a country where teachers and police earn $70 a month.

Afghan officials described the boys as extremely poor, and Juma said he is being raised by his sister because his father works in a bakery in Pakistan and his mother lives and does domestic work in another village.

“I think the boy is intelligent,” Deciwal said. “When he comes from the enemy he found a checkpoint of the ANA (Afghan National Army), and he asked the ANA: ‘Hey, can you help me? Somebody gave me this jacket and I don’t know what’s inside but maybe something bad.'”

Lt. Col. George Graff, a father of five who attended the meeting, also teared up.

“Relating to them as a father and trying to fathom somebody using one of my children for that kind of a purpose, jeez, it just tore me up,” said Graff, a National Guard soldier from St. George, Utah. “The depths that these people will go to get what they want, which is power for themselves — it’s just disgusting.”

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, denied the militant group uses child fighters, saying it has hundreds of adults ready for suicide missions.

“We don’t need to use a child,” Ahmadi told the AP by satellite phone. “It’s against Islamic law, it’s against humanitarian law. This is just propaganda against the Taliban.”

However, a gory Taliban video that surfaced in April showed militants instructing a boy of about 12 as he beheaded an alleged traitor with a large knife. U.N. officials condemned the act as a war crime.

Fidgety but smiling during all the attention, Juma told the AP that he had been scared when he was surrounded by Taliban fighters. He cupped his hands together to show the size of the bomb, then ran his hands along his waist to show where it was on his body.

A fan of soccer, Juma said his favorite subject in school is Pashto, his native language, but he also showed off a little English, shyly counting “1, 2, 3” before breaking out in an oversize smile.

Raised in a country where birthdays are not always carefully tracked, Juma said he is 4. But he looks older and Afghan officials said he is about 6. His brother appears to be a year or so older.

Their village lies in Ghazni province’s Andar district, a Taliban stronghold targeted this month in a joint Afghan-U.S. operation. The region remains dangerous and Afghan elders worry for Juma’s safety.

Maj. John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO‘s International Security Assistance Force, said he was “a bit skeptical” about Juma’s story at first, “but everything I’ve heard makes me more and more comfortable.”

Thomas said the case would force soldiers to think twice before assuming children are safe.

“This is one incident. We hope it doesn’t repeat itself. But it gives us reason to pause, to be extra careful,” he said. “We want to publicize this as much as we can to the Afghan people so that they can protect their children from these killers.”

Col. Sayed Waqef Shah, a religious and cultural affairs officer for the Afghan army, wiped away tears after seeing Juma. “Whenever I see this kind of action from the Taliban, if I am able to arrest them, I’ll kill them on the spot,” he said.

Haji Niaz Mohammad, one of the elders at the gathering, said he hoped “God makes the Afghan government strong” so it can defeat the Taliban.

“They are the enemy of Muslims and the enemy of the children,” he said, shaking his fists in anger.

Afghan boy Juma Gul 6, drinks during lunch at a joint US-Afghan military command center in Andar district of Ghazni province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, June 23, 2007. The story of Juma Gul, who says he thwarted an effort by Taliban militants to trick him into carrying out a suicide bombing against U.S. troops provoked tears and anger at a weekend meeting of tribal leaders. Though the Taliban dismissed the story as propaganda, at a time when U.S. and NATO forces are under increasing criticism over civilian casualties, both Afghan tribal elders and U.S. military officers said they were convinced by his dramatic account. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

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CAIR: Criminals In League With Hamas

Here’s something those familiar with the dubitable nature that is the Council on American-Islamic Relations will likely find unsurprising: CAIR has been named in a terrorist funding plot. Who have they been funding one might ask? Among others, no less than Palestinian Islamic resistant movement (i.e. terrorist organization) and quasi-political entity, Hamas.

If anything, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has existed as nothing more than a divisive thorn in the side to actual American-Islamic Relations. At nearly every turn CAIR has squandered real opportunities to foment genuine understanding of the Islamic faith to infidels such as myself by bridging the much needed gap between Islamic fanatics and Islamic moderates. Instead, since the inception of CAIR back in 1994, their leadership has time and again opted to litigiously decry openly outward views that, from their perspective, have demonized, even in the most intangible sense, the Islamic faith and the Muslim faithful while persistently refusing to censure peoples (such as Osama bin Laden) and groups (such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood) who actively use violent means in the name of Allah, and in emulation of Muhammad, to achieve their ends. The US Airways Flight 300 fiasco and subsequent suit of that airlines (and innocent passengers as well) was only their latest despicable tactic to silence dissenters of Islam in their desire to squelch perceived discrimination against Muslims.

I’ve said this before, but it seems necessary to retread old and familiar ground–the only thing Muslims of Middle Eastern descent need do in order to prevent recognizably questionable behavior is refrain from participating in such questionable behavior–behavior such as the type committed by the flying imams on US Airways Flight 300 for example, or the audacious behavior of the Muslim “musical group” on a Northwest flight back in 2004. In other words, don’t act like a moron and you’ll be fine. I promise. No one will care about you if you simply relax and enjoy your trip. Suspicions are rarely raised against persons, regardless of their ethnic background, if they’re just sitting quietly in their seats. I am a big advocate of that policy and guarantee it will work.

So, while CAIR continues its reckless public relations policies, more and more American citizens are becoming aware of their shameless tactics and shameful funding policies. Let’s hope today’s revelation indicates another solid nail in the coffin for this detestable organization.

Feds name CAIR in plot to fund Hamas
Prominent U.S. Islamic group designated ‘unindicted co-conspirator’

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Posted: June 4, 2007
2:24 p.m. Eastern © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

FBI agents arrest CAIR Texas founder Ghassan Elashi and brothers in 2002.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which brands itself as a mainstream promoter of civil rights, has been named with two other prominent U.S. Islamic groups as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in a plot to fund the terrorist group Hamas.

Federal prosecutors also cited the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust as participants in a plot with five officials of the defunct Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, who go on trial July 16 in Dallas, the New York Sun reported.

CAIR is a spinoff of the defunct Islamic Association for Palestine, launched by Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook and former university professor Sami al-Arian, who pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to provide services to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Several CAIR staffers have been convicted on terrorism-related charges, and CAIR founder Omar Ahmad allegedly told a group of Muslims they are in America not to assimilate but to help assert Islam’s rule over the country.

The officials on trial in Dallas include Ghassan Elashi, who founded CAIR’s Texas chapter. The Holy Land Foundation also gave $5,000 in seed money to set up CAIR’s Washington office, according to congressional testimony by counter-terrorism researcher Steven Emerson.

As WND reported in October, Elashi already has been sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for financial ties to a high-ranking Hamas terrorist and for making illegal computer exports to countries that back terrorism.

The other officials on trial in Dallas are Shukri Abu-Baker, Mohammad El-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulraham Odeh.

The court filing listed the three Islamic groups among about 300 individuals or entities named as co-conspirators, the Sun reported. While few details were given, the prosecutors described CAIR as a present or past member of “the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee and/or its organizations.”

The Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, has spawned many of the leading terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, with its aim to restore the Muslim Caliphate and establish Islamic rule over the world.

The Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust were listed as “entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.”

Prosecutors apply the designation “unindicted co-conspirator” because they believe the person or entity was part of the conspiracy. It allows prosecution witnesses to testify of statements the alleged conspirators made outside of court, which normally is forbidden as hearsay.

The secretary-general of the Islamic Society of North America, Muneer Fareed, expressed surprise to the New York paper at being named in the case and said he was not aware of any connection between his group and the foundation.

The Sun said spokesmen for CAIR did not respond to requests for comment, and efforts to contact the North American Islamic Trust were unsuccessful.

In March, the House Republican Conference urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to cancel an event hosted on Capitol Hill by CAIR, calling the group “terrorist apologists.”

The group’s regular meetings with the Justice Department and FBI have prompted complaints from case agents, who say the bureau rarely can make a move in the Muslim community without first consulting with CAIR, which sits on its advisory board.

CAIR has conducted “sensitivity” and cultural training with federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and with the military. In June, a senior Department of Homeland Security official from Washington guided CAIR officials on a behind-the-scenes tour of Customs screening operations at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in response to CAIR complaints that Muslim travelers were being unfairly delayed as they entered the U.S. from abroad.

Last year, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., withdrew an award she gave to a local CAIR official, saying she was concerned about some statements by CAIR leaders.

CAIR says its aim is “to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.”

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Muslim Plot Against Fort Dix: Keith Olbermann is the Worst Person in the World

After my praise of Keith Olbermann in this previous post, this armchair quarterback of leftism on MSNBC has interminably and axiomatically persisted in his diligent effort to annoy me by making a molehill out of a fairly sizable mountain.

Yesterday saw the announcement of criminal charges brought against six men–all Muslims, all foreign born, three of whom were illegal-aliens–accused of plotting attacks against U.S. military personnel at Fort Dix army base in New Jersey. Almost immediately, the politically correct commonwealth, including CAIR, MPAC, and other Muslim American propaganda automatons, rose up in unison to warn the ignorant and infantile public not to jump to conclusions about Islam as a violence-based faith, while at the same time talking out of the other side of their mouths in praise of the police action.

Additionally, many in public office and the press, including Bush mouthpiece Tony Snow, who encompasses both as Press Secretary, made certain to alleviate any resulting fears within the trembling masses of American citizenry by clearly stating that these six men were not affiliated with any international terror organizations up to and including Al Qaeda.

And this matters because…? To the general public: It matters not one infinitesimal grain of sand that these men had no connection to “international terror organizations” or Al Qaeda. It doesn’t matter if they failed to receive an authentic fatwa ruling from an Islamic religious leader justifying (really, in their minds they needed little justification) their jihadist ambitions by attacking Fort Dix. Does the fact the media felt the overwhelming need to quickly rush forward and explicitly point out such an inanity somehow diminished the threat of murder and destruction planned by the six Muslims? Of course not. In fact, this is actually more disturbing because of the home-grown nature of their undertaking. They had no backing or operational support from any other establishment.

While their lack of tact (and apparent intelligence) was evidenced in their need to get a duplicate copy of their home-made jihadist video thereby alerting an employee at the local photomart who, understandably alarmed by the weaponry used in the video and the cries of “Allahu Akbar” by the very dolts who took the video in for duplication, the fact remains these men would have attempted to commit the acts they set out to do regardless of the outcome.

Training, affiliation, and monetary means do nothing to promote a lack of will in those guided by an ideology, and the ideologues who accompany it, that teaches war against the infidels until subjugation and sharia law persist throughout the land and eventually the world. This is what genuinely needs routing and exposure and a lot of good was done yesterday.

Of course, as stated above, there was some bad. Notably from Keith Olbermann on MSNBC’s Countdown program. In it, Olbermann shamefully minimized the danger the accused would have instigated were they not stopped by law enforcement officials. Interestingly, Olbermann referred to the situation as “credulous” as in the American public is far too gullible in their readiness to accept the hazards these six men represented. Instead, he chose to label them simply as morons (thankfully they were) in a footnote piece just before he broke for commercial.

Keith Olbermann, you sir are today’s WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD!

This photo obtained from the Cherry Hill, N.J., West High School 2003 yearbook shows Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer. Shnewer is one of the six men who were arrested Monday, May 7, 2007, on charges they planned to kill soldiers at the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey. (AP Photo/Cherry Hill West High School Yearbook)

Store Clerk Helps Feds Bust 6 in Alleged ‘Jihad’ Plot to Kill U.S. Soldiers at Fort Dix

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. — Ever since Sept. 11, U.S. authorities have asked the public to be vigilant, urging, “If you see something, say something.”

In January 2006, a store clerk in New Jersey saw something.

A group of men had brought him a video showing them firing assault weapons and chanting, “God is Great!” in Arabic. They wanted him to transfer the footage onto a DVD.

So he said something, calling the Mount Laurel Police Department, who in turn contacted the FBI.

And thus began the downfall of one of the most thoroughly infiltrated and documented group of terrorism suspects in recent history — six men from Yugoslavia and the Middle East who were charged Tuesday with plotting to slaughter scores of American soldiers at Fort Dix and perhaps other military installations in the Northeast.

FBI agent J.P. Weis saluted the unidentified Mount Laurel store clerk as the “unsung hero” of the case.

“That’s why we’re here today — because of the courage and heroism of that individual,” the FBI agent said.

The suspects’ images and words were captured on more than 50 audio and video recordings. Their comings and goings were recorded by law enforcement agents who monitored the alleged plot for 16 months, hoping more terror ties would become apparent.

The defendants, all men in their 20s, include a pizza deliveryman suspected of using his job to scout out Fort Dix. Their goal was “to kill as many American soldiers as possible” in attacks with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and guns, prosecutors said.

“Today we dodged a bullet. In fact, when you look at the type of weapons that this group was trying to purchase, we may have dodged a lot of bullets,” Weis said. “We had a group that was forming a platoon to take on an army. They identified their target, they did their reconnaissance. They had maps. And they were in the process of buying weapons. Luckily, we were able to stop that.”

Authorities said there was no direct evidence connecting the men to any international terror organizations such as Al Qaeda. But several of them said they were ready to kill and die “in the name of Allah,” according to court papers.

The six men — five of whom lived in Cherry Hill, a Philadelphia suburb about 20 miles from Fort Dix — were arrested Monday night while trying to buy AK-47 assault weapons, M-16s and other weapons from an FBI informant, authorities said.

“This is what law enforcement is supposed to do in the post-9/11 era — stay one step ahead of those who are attempting to cause harm to innocent American citizens,” U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said.

In addition to plotting the attack on Fort Dix, the defendants spoke of attacking a Navy installation in Philadelphia during the annual Army-Navy football game and conducted surveillance at other military installations in the region, prosecutors said.

One defendant, Eljvir Duka, was recorded as saying: “In the end, when it comes to defending your religion, when someone … attacks your religion, your way of life, then you go jihad.”

“It doesn’t matter to me whether I get locked up, arrested or get taken away,” another defendant, Serdar Tatar, was alleged to have said. “Or I die, it doesn’t matter. I’m doing it in the name of Allah.”

They appeared in federal court Tuesday in Camden and were ordered held without bail for a hearing Friday. Five were charged with conspiracy to kill U.S. military personnel; the sixth was charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigrants in obtaining weapons.

Four of the men were born in the former Yugoslavia, one was born in Jordan and one came from Turkey, authorities said. All had lived in the United States for years. Three were in the United States illegally; two had green cards allowing them to stay in this country permanently; and the sixth is a U.S. citizen.

One defendant, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, spoke of using rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons to kill at least 100 soldiers, according to court documents.

“My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers,” he was quoted as saying. “You hit four, five or six Humvees and light the whole place (up) and retreat completely without any losses.”

The men trained by playing paintball in the woods in New Jersey and taking target practice at a firing range in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, where they had rented a house, authorities said.

They often watched terror training videos, clips featuring Usama bin Laden, a tape containing the last will and testament of some of the Sept. 11 hijackers, and tapes of armed attacks on U.S. military personnel, erupting in laughter when one plotter noted that a Marine’s arm was blown off in an ambush, authorities said.

Asked if those arrested had any links to Al Qaeda, White House spokesman Tony Snow said it appears “there is no direct evidence of a foreign terrorist tie.”

The FBI’s Weis said the U.S. is seeing a “brand-new form of terrorism,” involving smaller, more loosely defined groups that may not be connected to Al Qaeda but are inspired by its ideology.

“These homegrown terrorists can prove to be as dangerous as any known group, if not more so. They operate under the radar,” Weis said.

According to court documents, the video that the store clerk found disturbing depicted 10 young men in their early 20s “shooting assault weapons at a firing range … while calling for jihad and shouting in Arabic ‘Allah Akbar’ (God is great).” The 10 included six of those arrested, authorities said.

Within months, the FBI had managed to infiltrate the group with two informants, according to court documents.

One of the suspects, Tatar, worked at his father’s pizzeria and made deliveries to Fort Dix, using the opportunity to scout out the base for an attack, authorities said.

“Clearly, one of the guys had an intimate knowledge of the base from having been there delivering pizzas,” Christie said.

The men also allegedly conducted surveillance at other area military installations, including Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, and a Philadelphia Coast Guard station.

Besides Shnewer, Tatar and Duka, the other three men were identified in court papers as Dritan Duka, Shain Duka and Agron Abdullahu.

Fort Dix is used to train soldiers, particularly reservists. It also housed refugees from Kosovo in 1999.

The arrests stirred renewed worry among New Jersey’s Muslim community. Hundreds of Muslim men from New Jersey were rounded up and detained in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, but none were connected to that plot.

“If these people did something, then they deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” said Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer who represented scores of detainees after the 2001 attacks. “But when the government says `Islamic militants,’ it sends a message to the public that Islam and militancy are synonymous.”

“Don’t equate actions with religion,” he said.

This photo obtained from the Cherry Hill, N.J., West High School 1998 yearbook shows Eljvir ‘Elvis’ Duka. Duka, 23,is one of the six men who were arrested Monday, May 7, 2007, on charges they planned to kill soldiers at the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey. (AP Photo/Cherry Hill West High School Yearbook)

 

 

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