Re: FBI ‘lured dimwits’ into terror plot

[David Morris]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

Question of the Day
If a government informant gives a would-be jihadist bags and bags of
weed to entice him to join his jihad, where does he get the weed?

--Josh Marshall

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/how_a_government_mole_won_the_loyalty_of_the_newbu.php

Here's what the New York Daily News, Post, and Times reported about
how "Maqsood" (identified as a Pakistani immigrant named Shahed
Hussain) won the men's loyalty:

Kathleen Baynes, the girlfriend of James Cromitie, described as the
plot's ringleader, said Maqsood had given Cromitie cash, food,
cameras, rent money, and marijuana. "Maqsood gave him a lot of
marijuana," she said, adding: "Whenever we needed anything, Maqsood
would help -- like financially -- he gave us money to pay rent." She
also said Maqsood offered Cromitie $25,000 to join him, and promised a
black Mercedes. And she said a friend told her Cromitie had said he
was going to be getting $50,000.

Baynes also said that Maqsood aggressively kept after Cromitie.
"Maqsood would keep ringing our doorbell, and James would hide behind
the sofa." She continued: "He was very persistent, and every time he
came for James, he took him away. They said they were going out to eat
dinner." And: "He was just constantly around. It was like he was
stalking him."

Elizabeth McWilliams, the mother of another of the accused plotters,
David Wiliams, said that Maqsood had promised to help pay medical
bills for Williams' sick brother, whom he had returned to Newburgh to
help care for. "Maqsood said, 'Don't worry, brother, I am going to
help with your brother's hospital bills.' This man did nothing but set
these guys up."

Maqsood also preyed on some of the other young men at the mosque. He
asked one out for lunch, offered another a job, and offered a third
cellphones and computers. Many members of the mosque correctly
suspected that Maqsood was a government informant.