Month: October 2016

Kansas Terrorist Plot Foiled Targeting Muslims, Mosque, Churches

On October 14, 2016, three men from Kansas were arrested as suspected terrorists, for a terrorist plot in southwestern Kansas in Garden City, Kansas. The accused terrorists are charged with planning to target a Garden City, Kansas apartment complex that houses a Muslim mosque and a large number of members of the Somali community. After their arrest on October 14, they appeared in court to face charges on appeared in federal court to face a charge of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction (explosives). This would be a violation of Arson/Explosives and Weapons of Mass Destruction statutes (18 U.S.C. §§ 844 and 2332a). Per the federal complaint, the accused terrorists plotted a series of attacks on Muslims, including “murder, kidnapping, rape, and arson,” indicated plans to shoot Muslims in the head, and showed no remorse at plots against even the death of children, “even if it’s a one-year old.” According to the federal complaint, the terrorist plot including efforts to manufacture Hexamethylene Triperoxide Diamine (HMTD) to be used in Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in terrorist acts.

They are charged with planning a terrorist attack to target a Muslim mosque with a bomb, and to plant four bombs in automobiles around an apartment building. The apartment building held a number of Somali immigrants. The suspected terrorists were named in a federal complaint for their arrest as Curtis Allen and Gavin Wright of Liberal, Kansas, and Patrick Eugene Stein of Wright, Kansas. The terrorist suspects claimed to be members of a Christian extremist “Crusader” terrorist group, which according to the federal complaint, “whose members support and espouse sovereign citizen, anti-government, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant extremist beliefs.” The complaint states that the accused terrorists “routinely expressed a hatred for Muslims, individuals of Somali descent, and immigrants.”

Per the federal complaint, the accused terrorists also reportedly discussed plans for attacking Christian churches that supported refugees. There is limited information in the federal complaint on the accused plot for attacking Christian churches that supported refugees. But the complaint addresses their primary focus to attack mosques, Muslims, and Somali immigrants.

All three men are currently in the Sedgwick County jail on one count of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. If convicted, all three could face life in prison.

The federal complaint alleges that since February the FBI has been investigating the defendants’ activities, including their plans to carry out a violent attack against Muslims in southwestern Kansas. A confidential human source (CHS) attended meetings of the group, wearing a body recorder, and provided the FBI with information and recordings about the defendants’ activities. In addition, the girlfriend of Curtis Allen went to the police with information about their explosives and plots.

The federal criminal complaint alleges that the men conducted surveillance to identify potential targets, stockpiled firearms, ammunition and explosive components, and planned to issue a manifesto in conjunction with the planned bombing. Reports are stating that the planned terrorist attack was to take place on November 9, the day after the 2016 U.S. elections. The attack, the defendants said, would be intended to “wake people up.”

The accused terrorists also used a telephone application called “Zello” that allows the user to communicate with other Zello users as if their cellular telephones were push-to-talk walkie-talkies.

According to the federal criminal complaint filed October 14, 2016, the accused terrorist had been “regularly meeting and planning to carry out a violent attack against Muslims in their community and have taken steps in furtherance of accomplishing this, including identifying a target location.”

The investigation stated that the accused terrorists conducted several surveillances “on a mall frequented by members of the Somali community, and a mosque located in an apartment complex, as well as on various vehicles believed to be occupied by individuals of Somali descent or Muslims.” This terrorist plot surveillance activities were conducted by accused terrorist Patrick Stein, and they appeared to begin in February 2016. Per the complaint, “During the surveillance, STEIN had with him a pistol, an assault rifle with several magazines, a ballistic vest, and a night vision scope. He also mentioned to the CHS that he had done several surveillances like this on his own in the past and that he always made sure he was armed. STEIN also discussed Oklahoma City and the bomb used (referring to the fuel oil and ammonium nitrate device used by Timothy McVeigh to destroy the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City). He was looking for any more explosives or things he could use to blow things up.”

The Confidential Human Source (CHS) recorded a telephone conversation in April 2016 between Patrick Stein and other terrorist conspirators, where he reportedly stated: “Make sure if you start using your bow on them cockroaches, make sure you dip them in pig’s blood before you shoot them.”

At a May 2016 meeting, the complaint states that accused terorist Curtis Allen stated: “We need to get some signs made up…hundreds of them, kind of like the redneck deal, ‘here’s your sign’ and just put right there on it: I SUPPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, I GO AGAINST THE CONSTITUTION ON A DAILY BASIS, I DO NOT HAVE ANY CARE FOR MY FELLOW CITIZENS IN THE STATE OR IN THE TOWN THAT I REPRESENT…and then for every one of them that we blow the top of their head off we just put that around their neck.”

During a June 2016 conference call recorded by the FBI, the complaint states that accused terrorist Patrick Stein identified Garden City as a target and he stated: “I mean I wouldn’t be against if I could get a hold of some RPG’s (rocket propelled grenades), I’ll run some RPG’s right through…” and during another June 2016 conference call recorded by the FBI, Patrick Stein stated: “the only fucking way this country’s ever going to get turned around is it will be a bloodbath and it will be a nasty, messy (expletive)….we might be too late, if they do wake up…I think we can get it done. But it ain’t going to be nothing nice about it.”

In June 2016, the complaint states that the accused terrorists stated on a recorded conference call between Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright, Curtis Allen, and reportedly “with a larger group,” “discussed targeting churches in Garden City that have supported refugees. While discussing a particular church STEIN said, ‘That (expletive) needs burnt to the ground.’ When the discussion turned to burning mosques, WRIGHT stated, ‘Yeah, during prayer time.’ ”

The complaint states that: “[i]n July 2016, STEIN, ALLEN, WRIGHT, and the CHS met in person at G&G Mobile Home Center (‘G&G’), a business in Liberal, Kansas owned by WRIGHT, and at which ALLEN works. During the meeting, STEIN and ALLEN proposed and discussed a wide range of potential targets, including Muslim-occupied apartment complexes, residences, and places of worship, city/county commission meetings, local public officials, landlords who rent property to Muslim refugees, and organizations providing assistance to Muslim refugees. While they were discussing these plans, WRIGHT pulled up Google Maps on the computer at his business and began dropping pins on the map at these various locations using the label ‘cockroaches.’ Prior to the meeting WRIGHT researched guides for making explosives and printed off a substantial number of pages of this material. The group brainstormed various methods of attack, including murder, kidnapping, rape, and arson. They decided to pick a specific target at their next meeting. At one point, ALLEN stated: ‘We’re going to talk about killing people and going to prison for life. Less than sixty days, maybe forty days until something major happens. We need to be preemptive before something happens.’ STEIN responded: ‘The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.’ At another point in the conversation, STEIN said: ‘If you’re a Muslim I’m going to enjoy shooting you in the head.’ Then he told the group, ‘When we go on operations there’s no leaving anyone behind, even if it’s a one-year old, I’m serious. I guarantee if I go on a mission those little (expletive) are going bye-bye.’ ”

The complaint states that: “On August 14, 2016, STEIN, ALLEN, WRIGHT, and the CHS met at G&G. During this meeting, the group ultimately decided on a particular apartment complex in Garden City, Kansas, as the target location of their attack due to the number of members of the Somali community that live there and the fact that one of the apartments is used as a mosque. They decided that they would obtain four vehicles, fill them with explosives, and park them at the four corners of the apartment complex to create a big explosion. ALLEN stated that he could make the explosives and mentioned aluminum powder and ammonium nitrate, among other components. Later he said he already had the materials needed to make the explosives. Once he had assembled the explosives, ALLEN said the group would need to test them prior to the execution of the plan to make sure they worked. He also mentioned that he could detonate the bombs with a cell phone, and they discussed having militia members in different states purchase prepaid cell phones for them so that they could not be traced. The group researched mosque prayer times online to determine when the most people would be around. WRIGHT was tasked with ordering glassware in order to make the bombs. STEIN was instructed to get a rock tumbler to crush cans into aluminum powder. The CHS was told to do reconnaissance at the complex to look for security cameras and take pictures and such. ALLEN decided he would work on the group’s manifesto to release in conjunction with the attack. They discussed not wanting to get caught and wanting for this to be the first of several things they do. This meeting was recorded by the CHS via consensual monitoring.”

The complaint states that: “On September 13, 2016, STEIN and the CHS spoke over Zello during which STEIN stated they would need a 35-gallon container (trash can) if not a 55-gallon container in which to store explosive material. STEIN suggested the group would need 4 – 6 trash cans in order to avoid suspicion. STEIN believes the trash cans should be in place at a mosque no earlier than three (3) hours prior to detonation in order to avoid suspicion.”

The federal complaint also states that an FBI Undercover Covert Employee (UCE) was used in the investigation. The complaint states that: “During the course of the investigation, agents had the CHS introduce an FBI Undercover Covert Employee (UCE) to STEIN, under the ruse that the CHS worked for the UCE delivering money and contraband and that the UCE could provide automatic weapons and components for explosive devices to STEIN and the others. On October 12, 2016, STEIN met with the UCE at a rural location in Finney County, Kansas. The FBI UCE (and other FBI UCEs who were present in a support capacity) were holding automatic weapons that were provided from the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia. STEIN asked the UCE if he could shoot the weapons. STEIN was given the opportunity to shoot the weapons and shot both a 5.56 fully automatic rifle and a 7.62X39 fully automatic rifle.”

The complaint states that: “After STEIN shot the rifles during this meeting, he spoke to the UCE regarding the price of the rifles as well as the location of the apartment complex. STEIN agreed to go to Garden City and show the UCE the apartment complex that houses the mosque. While in the vehicle with the UCE, STEIN discussed trading drugs for explosives. STEIN also told the UCE that WRIGHT and ALLEN have previously mixed explosives at G&G in Liberal, Kansas. STEIN stated that he has fertilizer (Ammonium Nitrate) for the device and the fertilizer is located about sixty miles away. (Both STEIN’s residence and G&G are located approximately 60 miles away from where this meeting took place.) STEIN directed the UCE to the apartment complex in Garden City. This apartment complex houses a mosque and a large number of members of the Somali community. When the UCE drove by the apartment complex, STEIN told the UCE that the apartment complex is ‘full of goddamn cockroaches.'” “At the same meeting, STEIN and the UCE discussed making a device for which STEIN will deliver the Ammonium Nitrate. STEIN told the UCE about the recent arrest of ALLEN (ALLEN had been arrested by local authorities the previous day) and stated that ALLEN’s girlfriend ‘needs to disappear’ because she is a concern. STEIN stated he believes that ALLEN’s girlfriend is giving information to local law enforcement. STEIN also told the UCE that he can come up with $200-$300 along with Ammonium Nitrate for the explosive device. The UCE agreed to this arrangement and promised to contact STEIN in the near future to finalize the plan.”

The complaint states that: “On October 11, 2016 at 1633 hours, Liberal Police Department (LPD) was contacted by a female who identified herself as ALLEN’s girlfriend at a residence she shares with ALLEN, in Liberal, Kansas, regarding a domestic battery. This female advised the LPD dispatcher that she was battered by ALLEN during an argument over money and her leaving their residence. She also advised the LPD dispatcher that ALLEN had access to firearms and had already fled the scene. Finally, she showed LPD officers a room in the residence containing a large amount of ammunition, brass casings, components and tools for use in the manufacture of ammunition and firearms.”

The complaint states that: “At approximately 1710 hours, officers located a maroon 1999 GMC Yukon, bearing a Kansas tag at G&G. ALLEN was believed to be inside. As LPD officers were planning on making contact with ALLEN, WRIGHT and ALLEN left the business and traveled south on Highway 83 from Tucker Road in separate vehicles. LPD officers stopped both vehicles and ALLEN was taken into custody. A search of ALLEN’s vehicle revealed a large amount of ammunition, multiple AR-15 magazines, an AK47 magazine, and a Glock handgun magazine, all loaded with ammunition. Also located was a tool used to create baffles for firearm silencers or suppressors.”

“Later in the day on October 11, 2016, ALLEN’s girlfriend provided the following information to the FBI: Within the last two weeks she had witnessed a white powdery substance being produced on the counter at G&G in a manner consistent with YouTube videos she observed with ALLEN depicting the process of manufacturing explosives. She also observed glassware and a long glass stirring stick being used to manufacture the explosives while at G&G. She saw hydrogen peroxide, fuel tablets and cheesecloth being used for the manufacture of explosives. In addition, she describes the substance being cooled in an ice bath (she stated the substance was so unstable it needs to be produced in a climate controlled environment).”

“Kansas Highway Patrol Technical Trooper Bomb Technician BRODI GOSCH has reviewed statements made by ALLEN’s girlfriend and, based on his training and experience, believes them to be consistent with the manufacturing of a homemade explosive known as Hexamethylene Triperoxide Diamine (HMTD). This is known as a primary explosive, very sensitive to heat, shock and friction. This primary explosive presents a significant public safety hazard and is usually used to create homemade blasting caps to initiate a larger explosive.”

“On October 12, 2016 search warrants were conducted at ALLEN’s residence and G&G. A possible detonator was found inside G&G. The detonator was believed to be HMTD. Agents also found a black thermometer, bamboo chopsticks with a white substance, Hydrogen Peroxide 3%, Hydrogen Peroxide 35% (food grade), possible urea, and possible urea fertilizer. All of the substances can be used in the production of improvised explosives. Agents used a chemical testing tool to test the white substance on the bamboo chopsticks. The white substance tested positive for Hexamine, an ingredient in HMTD. A yellow binder and paperwork labeled ‘The Anarchist Cookbook,’ was also found inside G&G.”

“Inside ALLEN’s residence, agents found a Sharps .22 caliber handgun and a Glock 19 handgun. Agents also found at least four ‘ammo cans’ full of ammunition, at least 13 boxes of ammunition and countless loose ammunition. LPD officers estimated that they found and seized close to a metric ton of ammunition in ALLEN’s residence.”

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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) calls for all Americans and our fellow human beings to respect the human rights, human dignity, and safety of all people, including all rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). R.E.A.L. views that terrorist plots and terrorist acts are an attack such shared human rights for all people and we urge all to do everything they can to prevent and discourage such atrocities against our fellow human beings.

The Forgotten Americans and Mr. Osteen’s Gift of Hope and Courage

To those of who are young, prosperous, healthy, I urge you to remember that your good fortune is not shared by all those around the nation and the world. In the United States of America alone, there are millions of elderly, impoverished, and sick Americans. Many think they understand America, but they understand the fortunate and the healthy in America. They do not understand the forgotten and those that have been left behind – forgotten and abandoned.

Some believe they understand the struggle of poverty for Americans. But they have seen the prosperous corners of America, not the financially impoverished areas. While the privileged make their plans and “angst” over the smallest of issues, they do not understand the desperation of millions of Americans. They do not understand that for many, how they will make it through to the next day, is their top priority. Their real concern is keeping a roof over their head, obtain food to eat. Their goal is to keep their families safe in crime-ridden areas. I know this first-hand, as this is exactly how I grew up as a child, and I know how many continue to suffer in such desperate conditions. Many of the desperate are forgotten, abandoned, left in broken-down areas, struggling in areas distant from prosperity and from the conditions of the privileged. For many, desperation is not a word, it is their life. Desperation is in the air. It permeates entire communities, family after family, town after town. Desperation strangles their voice, their hopes, and it even colors their vision as to the world itself. Desperate people need hope.

Some believe they you understand the meaning of despair. I feel for your suffering. But for too many struggling in nursing homes and in home-bound individuals lives (called “shut-ins” by many), despair is not just a fleeting feeling. Too many are sick and physically disabled or weak. The things that the young and the healthy take for granted, being able to walk, being able to go to relieve themselves, being able to eat, being able to read, these things are increasingly stolen by the failure to fight cognitive diseases and the physical illness of many of different ages, including a particular denial of such human necessities to the elderly, the frail. For too many, despair is not a feeling, but despair is a way of life. Despair is tangible. You can see the despair painted on the walls, on their abandoned rooms, and on the struggling human beings.

Let us remember too, that those suffocating with desperation and those abandoned in the desert of despair are our fellow human beings. For those in America, they are our fellow Americans.

Their problems would not be entirely insurmountable in a compassionate society. But please, let us not deceive ourselves in America that we live in a compassionate society. We have some people who are compassionate, and we have some groups that do good things. But a compassionate society would not turn its back the way most of our nation has on the desperate and those engulfed by despair. Those in desperation and despair have become among the too many “forgotten Americans,” which the privileged do not see, understand, or care about for one moment.

To the spiritual, you may think that many can find spiritual strength in their local house of worship. But many do not have access to the local house of worship, and many of the elderly, especially the cognitive impaired, do not have access to spiritual guidance and encouragement. You would think that of the many verbose religious leaders, some of them could find a moment to spend to the helpless and the forgotten. You would think that someone among the pious would find a way to have some form of worship or at least prayer with the weakest and least privileged among us. You would think that these leaders of moral rectitude would have a moment for those who cannot help themselves.

Instead we see the arrogant and self-righteous who ignore the forgotten in their own communities, condemning those who spread religious messages of hope and encouragement over television, such as Mr. Joel Osteen. They refuse to acknowledge that television is one of the few readily available mediums for many in the public, though certainly not to all, and not across all of America. They refuse to acknowledge the incredible contributions of a drop of hope that such television evangelists, such Joel Osteen, bring to the forgotten all of the country, partly due to their arrogance and partly because these self-righteous have no grasp of the depth and breadth of the forgotten in this country. They live in comfortable and privileged communities and lives, where they have the ability, the time, and luxury to attack those who would offer a few drops of hope to those dying of spiritual thirst.

But the ultra-pious Christians will tell you to urge the abandoned to “go to the Internet” or to “read their Bible.” It never occurs to them that millions have no access to the Internet, millions cannot read the small letter Bibles given by the chest-thumping self-righteous, and millions have such cognitive or reading skills that they are disconnected from such options altogether. The ultra-pious think they should attack the “orthodoxy” of those who use the medium of television to connect to those, for many different reasons, who are forgotten. These self-described righteous individuals attack the last message in a bottle of hope, tossed into an ocean of the forgotten and abandoned, whose communities, houses of worship, and families, have left them alone with nothing but desperation and despair.

It is the self-righteous, privileged man’s version of the message to the starving of “let them eat cake.” And they write it and say it without a single drop of shame.

Too often, we see self-righteous “religious leaders” who use their brief time of Earth, not to uplift, encourage, and strengthen, but to attack and condemn those whose “orthodoxy” does not conform with the self-righteous among such “religious” individuals. These ultra-pious and self-righteous need to get out from their privileged lives and see how the rest of America lives. I won’t share the circumstances in my own family’s life for the cowards and degenerates to mock. But I have seen too many struggling individuals try to lead their own worship services, as their community leaders have no time for those who need religious support. I have seen family after family abandoned by our so-called “organized religion” and houses of worship in what they view as their “community,” which only seems to include the privileged, the young, and the healthy. When things are really difficult, I have seen too many of our religious leaders find excuses not to have to work to give hope and faith to those who are the most desperate and in the most despair. Certainly, if you think this is any different in the Nation’s Capital as it is in the hamlets of the rest of the nation, I can tell your from personal experience, it is not – even in the shadow of our capital – our forgotten and abandoned are ignored by those who are so convinced of their pious and self-righteous privilege.

I am not here to argue with those believe faith is a college debating class. If you believe that is faith, I will tell you that you do not understand faith at all. Those with faith are not judged by their prose and arguments, but by their deeds, especially their deeds to the forgotten and the vulnerable in their communities, let us remember that God will “render to every man according to his deeds.”

I will simply tell you what I have seen with my own eyes. I wish I had not seen all of the poverty, hunger, despair, and desperation that I have seen in this country. But I can tell you that it is real, and those who ignore it, ignore a large part of the reality in America. The bubble of privilege that the privileged live in is not the reality of the lives of many millions of their fellow Americans.

I have seen those sick in hospitals watching quietly as Mr. Osteen has lifted up their spirits and their souls.

I have seen those in poverty as they huddle around the television and listen to a few words of hope from Mr. Osteen.

I have seen the changes in the faces, even those with impaired memories, of too many elderly as they are uplifted by Mr. Osteen’s efforts to reach out to their hearts and their despair-darkened souls.

Mr. Osteen’s words of comfort, encouragement, and hope are oxygen in the vacuum of their forgotten lives. The self-righteous cannot see the good that he has done and continues to do every week, just as Billy Graham, and other television evangelists have done before him. Hope is essential in the lives not only of our fellow Americans, but also in the lives of our fellow human beings.

I would like to believe that the privileged and the self-righteous could feel a drop of shame, if they could see what I see.

To the privileged, I will tell you this. The America you know and the America I know would appear to be too different countries. However, there is no question, they are the same nation, which is supposed to be indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Yet the privileged have divided this country, and for too many, liberty and justice are just words. This divided America cannot last forever. At some point, the bubble of privilege will burst and the blinders to suffering of your fellow Americans will be seen to all. For now, though, the forgotten still need hope. Even if you don’t see them, I know they are there.

Our nation may be divided. Millions may have given up on liberty and justice as applying to another “class.” They may be forgotten, abandoned, and they may live painful, brutal, and difficult lives.

But they have a right to HOPE. “For in thee, O Lord, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.”

The importance of HOPE is beyond measure. What do we have if we succeed in cutting away the thin cords of HOPE that so many among the forgotten need so much? Of all the basic human rights that we struggle for, what could be more essential than hope itself?

So I urge the very pious John Elles of Arlington, Virginia, to reconsider his callous remarks on Mr. Osteen. Mr. Elles, who writes in a popular conservative blog, to call Mr. Osteen a “wolf” because he provides a form of television evangelism to help the forgotten Americans, while Mr. Elles says nothing about what he is doing for such communities whose existence he conveniently ignores. In addition, those who face religious persecution should also understand exactly what it feels like to be forgotten and abandoned. I urge the Ahmadiyya Times, and editor Imran Jattala, who seems to think such attacks on those who seek to inspire abandoned Americans are somehow worthy messages to share with the public, with no sense of rejection of such hurtful comments. I have seen many in the Ahmadiyya community to be compassionate individuals, and I urge them contact Mr. Imran Jattala on this issue.

To the ultra-pious and those who seek to denounce Mr. Osteen for using television programs (which of course cost a lot of money to produce) to reach the abandoned and forgotten in America, I urge you to please share your own efforts at outrage to these abandoned communities across this nation. Mr. Elles, I live in the Washington DC area, so I am quite well-aware of the disgraceful next-to-nothing spiritual support to the greater Washington DC area’s forgotten and abandoned. If it is this bad in your community, imagine what it is like in the rest of the nation.

Mr. Jattala, we have human rights individuals working to promote religious freedom for the Ahmadi community across the world. Since you consider Mr. Elles’ comments so worthy, perhaps you can take some time to let us what you are also doing for these abandoned communities, who do not have the access to spiritual support.

Whatever your faith may be, let us be clear, those who believe they are spreading a religious faith that abandons and ignores the weakest, most vulnerable, most helpless among us, may claim to be self-righteous and pious. But the reality of such abandoned communities will not go away. If you do not know of the abandoned and forgotten, you do not know your nation, you do not know your community, and certainly you do not know your fellow human beings. The world does not revolve simply around us and our petty arrogance. Let us remember those who need help – every single day.

As for me, I am just a poor sinner, who has to tried to do the best I can to help my fellow human beings. When someone like Mr. Osteen is attacked for helping to relieve the suffering of these abandoned and forgotten communities, those of us with eyes, ears, and a conscience, have a responsibility to defend those who spread words of HOPE.

To Mr. Osteen, I know you do not need these words of defense. But I have seen the good that you have done, with my own eyes, in so many communities of desperation and despair. Over the years, you have given a gift of hope to so many in dark and difficult circumstances, which I have witnessed with my own eyes. I could not, in good conscience, remain silent on this. I thank you, as an American, who has witnessed across the nation, all of the hearts and souls that you have uplifted.

Hope always matters – not just for the privileged and the powerful – but especially for those struggling to make it through every day and every hour.

Keep Hope Alive.

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