Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Fort Dix Terror Plot Stopper Not A "Hero"

Electronics Store Clerk Who Alerted Police To Alleged Plot Against Soldiers Downplays His Role


(AP) An electronics store clerk credited with providing the tip that broke up an alleged plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey went public Tuesday, saying he spent a day pondering his suspicions before going to authorities last year.

Speaking on CNN's "American Morning," Brian Morganstern described how two men brought him a videotape to transfer to a DVD in late January 2006.

He said he went home from his Circuit City store that night and told his family what he had seen on the video: Ten men at a firing range with handguns, rifles and what he thought were fully automatic rifles. Authorities later said they were chanting "God is Great" in Arabic.

He said he did not know if he should breach the privacy of the customers, who seemed like ordinary guys.

"It was more of a moral dilemma at that point," Morganstern told CNN.

The next day, he said, he talked to his managers at the Mount Laurel store, then called police, sparking a 15-month investigation that led to the arrests on May 7 of six men accused of plotting the attack on the Army installation being used largely to train reservists bound for Iraq.

First, Mount Laurel police visited the Circuit City to see the video. They asked Morganstern to make a copy, which was passed on to state Homeland Security investigators, then the FBI.

In about a month, an FBI informant had infiltrated the alleged plot.

Authorities said they made the arrests just as the suspects were trying to purchase fully automatic weapons in a buy facilitated by an FBI informant.

The suspects are all foreign-born men in their 20s who had spent many years living in Philadelphia's southern New Jersey suburbs. Five are charged with conspiring to kill military personnel and could face life in prison if convicted. The sixth faces up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted of weapons charges. Four of the suspects are ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia, one is from Turkey, and one from Jordan.

After the arrests three weeks ago, authorities praised the electronics clerk who had given them the initial tip. But, citing safety concerns and the integrity of the investigation, neither they nor store officials would reveal the employee's identity.

A Circuit City spokeswoman, Jackie Foreman, confirmed Tuesday that Morganstern was the tipster. Law enforcement authorities did not immediately return telephone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Circuit City has said there were actually two employees who made the tip. The other has not been named publicly, and officials have not detailed what role that person played.

Morganstern told CNN the U.S. Attorney's Office had asked him not to divulge certain details from the video.

The clerk, who remained anonymous until his interview Tuesday, was celebrated as a hero by officials and in the media across the country. He received a proclamation of thanks from the Mount Laurel Police Department.

But that is not how Morganstern sees his action:

"I don't feel like a hero," he said. "I feel like I did the right thing, but I think the real heroes are the men and women overseas and the people in our law enforcement who handled the situation."

Drive down any country road in the South on a Sunday afternoon and you will see that ... except it will be in english .

Barely.

You see, by taking on terrorists in Iraq, we won't have any terrorists here......

See how that works?

we will always have terrorists (or at least terrorist want to be's) in america. and i don't think anyone would try to say otherwise. i think that's true in almost all countries.

That's not what bitch boy Bush sold all the suckers on.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nr4N8tBwA2Q

not true. ever read the Patriot Act?

That has been his mantra since day one. Just as he said in the video I posted.

What are you going to do next? Tell me that Bush didn't try to tie 9-11 to Iraq as well? That he never said a thing about WMD?

You guys are something else.

the message is that fighting them overseas is PREVENTION. but just like living a healthy lifestyle doesn't guarantee a clean bill of health, fighting terrorism on foreign soil doesn't guarantee there will be no terror attacks in the states. you'd have to be brain-dead to think america has no terrorist living here, and that we are free of any threat.


this is right from bush's website...

"it is important to defeat them overseas so we never have to face them here. Nevertheless, we recognize that we've got to be fully prepared here at the homeland.
The Patriot Act Has Accomplished Exactly What It Was Designed To Do - It Has Helped Us Detect Terrorist Cells, Disrupt Terrorist Plots, And Save American Lives."

- The Patriot Act has helped law enforcement break up terror cells in Ohio, New York, Oregon, and Virginia.
- The Patriot Act has helped in the prosecution of terrorist operatives and supporters in California, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois Washington, and North Carolina.

That just goes to show he is a double speak liar, just as I have always said he was. Your loony group of republicans did nothing but repeat "Over there and not here" when the war started, now you are pulling out the Patriot Act to back pedal, just like as your emperor with no clothes does.

What's the sound a sheep makes again?

And don't think that Bush's war has anything to do with terrorism. He is a fundamentalist creationist trying to secure his place in 'heaven'.

you can try to put words in  my mouth all you want. your arguments are weak these days.

the patriot act was passed after we invaded afghanistan (a war most favored). obviously there was a need for protection at home. and in a country with over 300 million people and porous borders, that need will always be there.

everyone can interpret bush's comments how they choose. it seems you thought the message was that fighting terrorism overseas would guarantee we don't have any terrorists here.  ::) so i really don't know what to tell you except to say i didn't interpret the message that way.   

No-one has ever read the Patriot Act, unless they happen to have every other piece of relevant legislation ever written on hand for reference. It's like the world's largest collection of footnotes.

My arguments have all been correct to this day, where yours have been wrong.

My argument today was posting a video in which Bush said exactly what I claimed he did, don't need much more than that to prove my point. Go ahead wiggle around and find something else pathetic  to spew out, nobody gives a shit anymore.

It never did.

the domestic war on terror should have nothing to do with the military and 99% to do with local police/crime fighthing.  the fort dix plot wasn't spoiled due to the patriot act or "the surge", it was a heads up call by a kid and solid local police work (with the help of the FBI later on).

And as soon as local policing has met it's traffic ticket quotas for the month it'll be right behind you on that.

That and the fact that the "terrorists" were fucking idiots.

Give them enough yellow ribbon and they'll hang themselves.




First you right stooges told us the Shiites "would greet us as liberators". Now that it turns out they hate us as much as Saddam, they are "terrorists".

Take your interpretations and shove it.

another thread hijacked into bush-hating. you guys are so original.  :hihi:

the patriot act...

"dramatically expanded the authority of U.S. law enforcement agencies for the stated purpose of fighting terrorism in the United States and abroad."

therefore it has always been pretty obvious to me that alot of people realized there was a need to fight terrorism here in the States.

There's no point hating him part time.

just curious, could you provide details of the "solid local police work" you mentioned?

no can do --- its classified.  Sorry brah.

classified = made up  :hihi:

Step by step, Fort Dix suspects snared
By John Shiffman and Jennifer Moroz
Inquirer Staff Writers

There were two signals.

If the suspected jihadists bit and tried to buy automatic weapons from the informant, this would trigger an antiterror dragnet across South Jersey and Philadelphia. "A symmetrical strike," FBI supervisor Robert Downey said.

But if something went wrong - if the guys with crew-cuts and flowing beards didn't show, or didn't take the bait - then "we had to be prepared to back away and not tip our hand," the supervisor said.

Also lingering in many minds Monday evening: the recent death of FBI agent Barry Bush during a North Jersey shootout.

Two signals. Go or stand down.

With a call at 9:07 p.m. Monday, agents moved forward - climaxing a 16-month terrorism investigation that included thousands of hours of human and electronic surveillance, some of it using provisions of the controversial Patriot Act.

For the FBI, it was a high-profile takedown. Even the case agent had a Hollywood name: Jack Ryan.

Things didn't go precisely as planned. Such raids rarely do. Yet 48 minutes after it all began, the six targets were under arrest. Two others were detained.

"We had been watching them for a long time and knew their patterns better than their families," said Downey, who directed the raid from a trailer parked at a Cherry Hill fire station. "It's like this: The Eagles practice all week and know what their roles are and what the game plan is, but you never know what your opponent's going to do. So you have to be ready for anything."

Five of the six arrested are charged with plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix. The FBI was tipped to their plan after they tried to copy a video of a training exercise in the Poconos. Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said agents made the arrests once it became clear the group appeared ready to act.

"Our view was, they had pretty much gotten to concluding the planning phase of this and were looking to obtain heavy weaponry - and if not from us, they were going to try to obtain it elsewhere," U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said.

If convicted, the men each face about eight years in prison, under advisory sentencing guidelines. The sixth man is charged with helping them find the weapons to attack the base. Each is scheduled to appear at a bail hearing before a federal magistrate in Camden today.

Monday's raids at six locations were conducted by the FBI, the New Jersey State Police, the Philadelphia Police, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, the Delaware River Port Authority Police, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The authorities used two helicopters, more than 100 officers, bomb squads, hostage negotiators, dogs, submachine guns, anti-surveillance equipment, an armored vehicle, hazardous-material crews, and several SWAT teams.

"They never had a chance to really resist," said New Jersey State Police Capt. Al Della Fave.

According to an affidavit filed by Ryan, the FBI informant set up a sting Monday night, luring two of the six men to a Cherry Hill apartment to buy AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles.

The meeting was set for 9 p.m. in Apartment 6B at the Hampshire House apartments.

Agents, troopers and police arrived hours earlier to prepare - and presumably to wire - the apartment. Other teams set up staging areas, and waited.

"It was an intricate puzzle, and everyone contributed a critical piece," said ICE agent-in-charge John Kelleghan.

9 p.m. A red Chevrolet pickup truck pulled into the apartment building parking lot. Right on time.

Agents recognized the men who got out: Shain Duka, 26, a strawberry blond with blue eyes, and Dritan Duka, 28, brown eyes, brown hair. Both brothers were born in the city of Debar when it was part of the former Yugoslavia. They had arrived in America in 1984 as young children but were now considered illegal immigrants. They worked for their father's roofing company.

Agents didn't know the third man, the driver, who waited in the pickup.

9:02 p.m. The Duka brothers entered Apartment 6B.

Within minutes, the FBI informant gave an arranged signal, a code phrase to agents listening, that the deal was done. "The Dukas never got control of the weapons," Downey said.

Agents rushed in, and Cherry Hill police officers stopped the driver, though they later released the man because he had nothing to do with the case. Ryan radioed the command post: "It just went down."

9:07 p.m. An FBI agent passed the news to the other teams.

9:08 p.m. Agents, troopers and police began simultaneous raids on two Cherry Hill homes, a Philadelphia apartment, and a stone bungalow in a South Jersey Pinelands community called Collings Lakes.

At the Cherry Hill apartment, Dritan Duka's home on Park Boulevard, troopers removed his wife and started to search the place.

At the Cherry Hill house, the Duka brothers' parents' home on Mimosa Drive, ICE agents arrested the father, Ferik Duka, detaining him as an illegal immigrant.

In Collings Lakes, meanwhile, agents and police moved along the fence surrounding the bungalow, past a dirt driveway and a couple of boats, toward the door, and a sign that said: "Free Weeds. Just Take."

This was the Atlantic County home of Agron Abdullahu, a baker for a Gloucester County grocery, who had arrived legally in the country in 1999 from Kosovo. There, he served as a sniper during its civil war. So this arrest made troopers nervous.

Abdullahu, though, didn't resist.

Inside, troopers seized an assault weapon, a handgun, a shotgun and 200 rounds of ammunition. Troopers also discovered what they thought was a bomb - something with "wire protruding from it," said New Jersey State Police Maj. John Hunt, and "a symbol etched on it that warned it was radioactive."

The bomb squad tested the object, which turned out to be nothing more than a piece of junk.

Neighbors said Abdullahu, wearing only his boxers, was hustled away in an armored vehicle.

9:12 p.m. Agents and troopers stormed the home of Mohamad Shnewer on East Tampa Avenue in Cherry Hill, where a bike with training wheels stood in the overgrown front lawn.

Shnewer, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Jordan, is big - 270 pounds. The 22-year-old was a Philadelphia cabdriver. The FBI had already copied the hard drive of his laptop, where agents allegedly discovered jihadist images. Shnewer had told the informant, according to a secret recording: "My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers. . . . I assure you that I can hit an American base very easily."

As agents searched the home, neighbor Steve Bender said, a woman emerged and shouted: "My son don't do that! He is a hard-working guy."

Shnewer wasn't home, but a surveillance team was watching him: He was driving his cab, a white All City van, toward Philadelphia International Airport.

9:17 p.m. Agents and police arrived at the Philadelphia apartment of Serdar Tatar, a 23-year-old convenience store clerk born in Ankara, Turkey. He was the alleged inside connection - the guy whose family's pizza business had a pass to enter Fort Dix, and who allegedly provided the others with a map of the base.

Tatar wasn't home, either - and agents didn't know where he was.

A neighbor, Stacie Gandlina, said that when agents couldn't find a key to the apartment, she gave them a hammer they used to break in.

9:27 p.m. The team searching Dritan Duka's apartment got a surprise. Two troopers standing outside the home, Rodney Logan and George Gallagher, saw a gray Chevy Silverado pull into the parking lot. It was Eljvir Duka, the third Duka brother. Troopers recognized his car from photos they'd seen at a briefing.

They stopped the car and ordered Duka out. The 23-year-old put his hands up and lay on the pavement.

9:38 p.m. Shnewer's white van pulled into the airport queue to pick up a passenger, and agents decided to pounce. They wanted to grab him before he got too close to the busy terminal.

Agent Rich Macko, who had once been wounded on a raid, moved toward the driver's door, gun drawn. Agent Dave May, recently returned from a second tour as an Army Reservist in Afghanistan, came around the passenger side. He gripped an MP-5 submachine gun.

Macko identified himself and, according to a federal official, "the guy froze - a deer in the headlights look."

9:55 p.m. Across town, agents searching Tatar's apartment caught a break.

The final suspect came home.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20070511_Step_by_step__Fort_Dix_suspects_snared.html

just in case you missed this from the article posted above....

"With a call at 9:07 p.m. Monday, agents moved forward - climaxing a 16-month terrorism investigation that included thousands of hours of human and electronic surveillance, some of it using provisions of the controversial Patriot Act."