Antonio Martinez, Terrorist

Antonio Martinez, U.S. citizen, recent convert to Islam, and wannabe terrorist, plotted to kill Americans by blowing up a military recruitment office in Catonsville, Maryland. This morning, Martinez, who called himself Muhammed Hussain, thought he was detonating a car bomb. He didn't know the explosives were phony.

Instead of engaging in violent jihad, he was arrested by the FBI. Like Mohamed Osman Mohamud and his plot to kill adults and children at a Christmas tree-lighting in Portland, Martinez was caught in an FBI undercover operation.

Thank God.

From the Baltimore Sun:

The criminal complaint against Mr. Martinez says that an FBI informant spotted disturbing postings on his Facebook page in September and struck up an association with him. The complaint alleges that Mr. Martinez said he wanted to harm military personnel and had targeted the Catonsville recruiting station. The informant went on to have a string of recorded conversations with the suspect over the next several weeks.

The transcripts included in the complaint come across as crazed rants and childish revenge fantasies that he could wage a one-man war against the entire U.S. military. The FBI says Mr. Martinez had elaborate plans to climb into the recruiting center from the roof and, after killing all inside and making his escape, to set up a clandestine camp in the woods where he could make his last stand. The transcripts say that he joked about blowing up Andrews Air Force Base and killing all American soldiers he saw anywhere. It sounds ridiculous.

But the description of the plot that unfolded after the FBI's informant got him in touch with another agent posing as an Afghan jihadist is heart-stopping. Just this morning, a few miles from downtown Baltimore, FBI agents observed Mr. Martinez meet with his supposed co-conspirators, inspect and arm what he believed to be a bomb in the back of an SUV, drive it in front of the recruiting center and then retreat to a vantage point, where he pushed a button that he had been told would make the bomb explode. Those last paragraphs of the criminal complaint are simply terrifying. It takes a moment, after reading them, to remember that the suspect was in the FBI's hands the whole time, that no one was in danger.

But what about next time? What about the next wannabe terrorist who can figure out how to build a bomb without anyone's help, or who hatches a plot with someone who's not recording the whole thing for the FBI?

If there is anything comforting about this episode, it is not the FBI's skill in reeling its suspect in. After all, their success here and in Portland may make it that much more difficult for agents to gain the trust of would-be jihadists (in fact, Mr. Martinez nearly backed out after reading about the case in Oregon). What is comforting is the reluctance of everyone else Mr. Martinez approaches to participate in his plot. He allegedly tried to recruit others, and they turned him down. One told him that what he wanted to do was wrong and would be harmful to Muslims. When he posted on Facebook that we "were born in order to die," someone replied to remind him of the "balance in Islam." Similarly, agents first began tracking the Portland bomb suspect after someone grew concerned about him and tipped them off.

Some will no doubt use these attempted attacks to reinforce their prejudice against Islam. But ultimately, it is the nation's Muslims who have the greatest power to protect us from homegrown terrorists. As much as we rely on the daring of the FBI to keep us safe, we may owe the most to peace-loving Muslims who will not tolerate the radicals in their midst.

That's a good point.

Peace-loving Muslims are a potent weapon in protecting us from radicals like Martinez.

Video.



The FBI tapped the phone calls of Martinez, recording numerous conversations he had with an informant.

I wonder if the FBI had a warrant. Oh, that's right. The Obama administration kept the Bush administration policies on warrantless wiretapping in place. No problem.
______________________

UPDATE: Mom of US bomb suspect opposed conversion to Islam