EFL:
Two leaders of a mosque in Albany, N.Y., were arrested on charges stemming from an alleged plot to purchase a shoulder-fired missile that would be used to assassinate the Pakistani ambassador in New York, according to court papers filed Thursday. The men have ties to a group called Ansar al-Islam, which has been linked to al-Qaida, according to two federal law enforcement authorities speaking on condition of anonymity. U.S. officials have said that Ansar's members are thought to be affiliated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant whose network is blamed for attacks on U.S. forces and their allies in Iraq.
| That's a fairly mushy statement of fact. Zarqawi and Ansar are one — we've accepted that as a given for quite a while now. Surely the officials must have had some other reason to preserve their anonymity than to avoid having somebody come back and argue that statement with them? For that matter, the writer could have looked it up and avoided having to bring them into it at all... |
The arrests came as FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agents executed search warrants at the Masjid As-Salam mosque and two Albany-area residences late Wednesday and early Thursday. The men were identified as Yassin Aref, 34, the imam of the mosque, and Mohammed Hossain, 49, one of the mosque's founders. Hossain also owns the Little Italy Pizzeria in Albany, court documents said.
| He moonlights as somebody named Giuseppe? |
A Justice Department news conference with Deputy Attorney General James Comey and an FBI official was scheduled in Washington to discuss the case. According to law enforcement officials, the two are being charged with providing material support to terrorism by participating in a conspiracy to help someone they believed was a terrorist purchase a shoulder-fired missile. The person was in fact a convicted felon working undercover for the government to reduce his prison sentence.
| I can hear the cries of "Entrapment!" now. |
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