JFK Pipeline Bomb Plot Was Not a Serious Threat

Over the week-end, people in the New York City area were told that they had been saved from a dastardly plot to blow up the aviation fuel pipeline that serves John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, New York. The media alleged that thousands would have died, making it worse than September 11, 2001. Diner waitresses and neighbors had reporters all over them trying to unmask the souls would-be evil-doers. In truth, this was another baggy-pants, seltzer squirting bunch of idiots who brought to jihad all the competence and effectiveness that the Three Stooges brought to plumbing projects.

On the face of it, blowing up a 40-mile long pipeline filled with aviation fuel that snakes through much of New York City sounds like a spectacular plan. Unfortunately for the would-be terrorists, they didn’t have the money or the explosives to pull it off. And when a pipeline is attacked with explosives, it doesn’t really incinerate everything from one end to the other due to insufficient oxygen. So, if one discounts the lack of money, weapons and an understanding of basic science, then, the four men involved were a danger (mostly to themselves).

Further proof that these yahoos weren’t up to much was their contact with Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical Islamic group that tried to take over Trinidad in 1990; they took the prime minister and his Cabinet hostage, but failed to cement control. Jamaat al Muslimeen is a serious bunch who could have provided the wherewithal that the plotters needed to succeed. New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, the plotters “tried to get money, and they tried to get explosives . . . Did they have explosives in their possession? No. But clearly, there were explosives available in Guyana.” So, why didn’t Jamaat help them? The obvious answer is the real troublemakers didn’t want these morons’ help.

Another bit of proof as to the general incompetence of the plotters was the informant the FBI had in their midst. A twice-convicted drug dealer started working for the Feds back in 2004. He met with the “mastermind” (there’s a tortured use of the word) Russell Defreitas in 2006. That means the cell had been compromised months ago. The informant was recruited with a question “Would you like to die as a martyr?” Subtle it was not.

According to the FBI, there have been 13 homegrown terror plots it has busted up since September 11, 2001. Not sleeper cells of jihadis trained by Usama bin Laden, but local malcontents in the US for years who have decided take their inexperience and naiveté and make war on the US from within. There are street gangs that pose a bigger problem to America’s national security, and one alienated student with a rifle can cause more death and destruction.

That is not to say that Jamaat al Muslimeen isn’t a problem or that the threat it poses from the Caribbean is to be taken lightly. Rather, one must distinguish between those with real training and know-how from those who think life is like a movie and they have a starring role. Usama bin Laden spent years with the mujahideen fighting the Soviets. He learned military tactics, strategic planning and proper mission security the hard way. He is a threat. Russell Defreitas is a 63-year-old a retired JFK airport cargo worker. And an idiot. He is not much of a threat.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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