juddling Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 Man charged in shopping mall jihad plot By MIKE ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer 6 minutes ago CHICAGO - A Muslim convert who talked about his desire to wage jihad against civilians was charged Friday in a plot to set off hand grenades at a shopping mall during the Christmas rush, authorities said. Investigators said Derrick Shareef, 22, of Rockford, was acting alone and never actually obtained any grenades. "He fixed on a day of December 22nd on Friday ... because it was the Friday before Christmas and thought that would be the highest concentration of shoppers that he could kill and injure," said Robert Grant, the agent in charge of the Chicago FBI office. Authorities said Shareef had been under investigation since September, when he told an acquaintance that "he wanted to commit acts of violent jihad against targets in the United States as well as commit other crimes." The acquaintance immediately informed the FBI, officials said. Federal officials said Shareef planned to set off four hand grenades in garbage cans at the CherryVale shopping mall in Rockford, about 90 miles northwest of Chicago. He was charged with one count of attempting to damage or destroy a building by fire or explosion and one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. "While these are very serious charges, at no time was the public in any imminent peril," U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a news release. Other potential targets that Shareef allegedly discussed included government facilities such as courthouses and city hall, authorities said. Shareef and his acquaintance cased the mall on Nov. 30, discussing the layout and spots where they might set off several grenades simultaneously to create more pandemonium, according to an FBI affidavit. A spokeswoman for the mall said officials were cooperating with the investigation but referred all other questions to the U.S. attorney's office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Tizzle Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 (edited) It's freightening how simple these plans are. If any terrorist cell within the United States wanted to, they could easily mimmick something such as this. While not on the destructive level as a 9/11, it would certaintly strike more fear within our country. Such a threat would be more localized to American citizens. No longer are high population centers targets. Your local mall, where you shop every weekend, may be next. This how I imagine many would feel. Edited December 8, 2006 by Flash Tizzle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapkomet Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 Yea, it is. Just ask people in Israel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mplssoxfan Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 I think I may have mentioned it in a different thread a while back, but I've always thought that if a dedicated group of terrorists wanted to signifigantly disrupt the economy of the US, they would do something akin to this, only in about 20 mid-size cities simultaneously. My conclusion is that terror organizations in the US don't have the people or money (or both) to do small things, so they resort to the big targets. Can you imagine if bombs were detonated in malls in 20 different states this Saturday afternoon? People wouldn't shop for months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Dec 8, 2006 -> 01:54 PM) My conclusion is that terror organizations in the US don't have the people or money (or both) to do small things, so they resort to the big targets. Can you imagine if bombs were detonated in malls in 20 different states this Saturday afternoon? People wouldn't shop for months. My conclusion is somewhat different, because I can't imagine how it would be difficult for a person to actually cause such an incident. You don't even need a bomb, just go to a gun shop and buy an assault rifle. It really would be shockingly easy if Al Qaeda or someone else really wanted to. Couple hundred dollars, and a person who can get into the U.S. My conclusion from the fact that this hasn't happened yet is that Al Qaeda et al. so far have just been interested in the big sort of attack for ideological reasons. They don't think about wasting time on smaller attacks to actually wage an economic war, they want to go for the big, gigantic, massive attack against a major U.S. symbol. That's why they hit the Cole (we can hurt your military), that's why they hit the Trade Center. They want to launch the big, apocalyptic attack that will bring the U.S. to its knees all in one blow and force it to submit to the leadership of their God. If they ever really do realize that they could wage an effective economic war in this smaller manner, and decide that may be a more valuable method, we'll be in real trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mplssoxfan Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 (edited) QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 8, 2006 -> 05:00 PM) If they ever really do realize that they could wage an effective economic war in this smaller manner, and decide that may be a more valuable method, we'll be in real trouble. Agreed. Edited December 9, 2006 by Mplssoxfan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinnesotaSoxFan Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 Thank god I moved out of that town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_genius Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 (edited) a main reason they don't use small attacks, in my opinion, is many terror cells in the U.S. have been successfully disrupted. someone with no ties to the groups, but feels the terrorist campaign is just and a fight for muslim freedom, would have an easy time pulling off an attack such as the one mentioned in the article. it's fortunate that most Americans agree that surveillance of radical terror groups isn't "racism", but logical and necessary. Edited December 9, 2006 by mr_genius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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