FBI arrests 2 local men for alleged terrorist plot

[Raine1967]

Source: www.news10.com (ABC Albany news station)

ALBANY, N.Y. - The Federal Bureau of Investigation out of Albany has charged two area men, including one General Electric employee, with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, by allegedly scheming to create a radiation emitting device to kill targeted people.

The FBI has charged 49-year-old Glendon Scott Crawford of Galway and 54-year-old Eric Feight of Hudson have been arrested and charged after a lengthy undercover investigation that began in April 2012.

At that time, authorities received information that Crawford had approached local Jewish organizations seeking out individuals who might offer assistance in helping him with a type of technology that could be used against people he perceived as enemies of Israel.

The complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Albany states that their scheme was to create a mobile, remotely operated, radiation emitting device "capable of killing targeted individuals silently with lethal doses of X-ray radiation."


Read more: http://www.news10.com/story/22633665/fbi-charges-2-local-men-with-terrorist-plot

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Galway is a suburb of Schenectady NY and Hudson is about 40 minutes south of Albany NY. This is very disturbing to me.

[mike_c]

1. gee, is every conspiracy to commit murder now "terrorism?"

Sheesh.

[geek tragedy]

2. When you offer it to the KKK, yes nt

[Xipe Totec]

3. I'm with you how can it be terrorism if you keep it a secret?

Dr. Strangelove: Mr. President, it is not only possible, it is essential. That is the whole idea of this machine, you know. Deterrence is the art of producing in the mind of the enemy... the FEAR to attack. And so, because of the automated and irrevocable decision-making process which rules out human meddling, the Doomsday machine is terrifying and simple to understand... and completely credible and convincing.

Dr. Strangelove: Of course, the whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost, if you *keep* it a *secret*! Why didn't you tell the world, EH?

Ambassador de Sadesky: It was to be announced at the Party Congress on Monday. As you know, the Premier loves surprises.

[OKNancy]

4. read this longer article and then comment

this was a Klan member
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Terrorism-radiation-plot-uncovered-in-Albany-4609567.php

[Xipe Totec]

5. Klan or no, if you attack and nobody knows you attacked, who's going to be terrfied?

Nobody.

[mike_c]

6. lots of people were KKK members 30, 40, 50 years ago....

We didn't label them "terrorists," the modern day boogyman. We called them racists, bigots, and if they committed crimes, criminals. Keystone XL protesters are terrorists, too. Pretty soon shoplifting and jaywalking will be the latest weapons in the terrorist arsenal.

[geek tragedy]

8. The KKK was founded as a terrorist organization, and they were terrorists 40, 50 years ago

What do you think the point of the burning cross and lynchings were?

[mike_c]

11. I think you missed the point...

...although I should probably be happy that no one has yet accused me of supporting the Klan.

[okaawhatever]

10. How can you think this isn't terrorism?

The device was intended to be a truck-mounted radiation particle weapon that could be remotely controlled and capable of silently aiming a lethal beam of radioactivity at its human targets. The concept was that victims would eventually die from radiation sickness.

He referred to Muslims and enemies of the United States as "medical waste," according to court records

"Crawford also told the (source) that the target of his radiation emitting device would be the Muslim community," the complaint states. "Crawford described the device's capabilities as 'Hiroshima on a light switch' and that 'everything with respiration would be dead by the morning.'

Crawford ended the meeting by stating "how much sweeter could there be than a big stack of smelly bodies?"

[mike_c]

13. I am utterly sick of the constant drone of "terrorism, terrorism, terrorism...."

Sometimes crime is just crime. This sounds like conspiracy to commit hate crimes. Is the hate motive the defining feature of terrorism? Is the targeting of one specific community automatically terrorism, even if the targets are unaware that they've been targeted (using this device would have to be done in secret, if for no other reason than that the victims could simply hide from the radiation beam if they knew it was focused on them)?

[LanternWaste]

18. It begs the question-- what then do you believe terrorism to be defined as?

It begs the question-- what then do you believe terrorism to be defined as?

[mike_c]

19. I suppose, like Potter Stewart's definition of pornography...

...it has an element of being hard to define, but easy to recognize. All threat of violence or similar unpleasantness creates what someone will always say is "terror" in its victims, so the creation of fear, no matter how extreme, isn't itself sufficient for "terrorism." In my mind, terrorism has at least three components.

First, it is public and conspicuous. It is meant to create a visceral reaction, often fear but just as likely resignation or anger, and must therefore not be hidden. The more widely known it becomes, the more successful its perpetrators are at delivering their message.

Second, it sends a message, as the first attribute implied. Further, the message is meant for the survivors, not for the victims. This attribute aligns well with the definition up thread that speaks of intent to influence or coerce societies or governments.

Third, it specifically targets (more-or-less) random non-combatants, usually because the resulting notoriety facilitates spreading its message. The general objective is to do great harm to as many innocent victims as possible within the scope and means of the attack.

[LanternWaste]

21. On what specifically do you base the statement, "it has an element of being hard to define

On what specifically do you base the statement, "it has an element of being hard to define, but easy to recognize". And why is it hard for you to define, and yet easy to recognize?

Seems your personal definition is much more vague the classic definition, and much more open to the very excesses of gvernment you appear to be against.

[Raine1967]

15. Thank you, Nancy.

This is freaky stuff. This hits very close to home. I grew up in Columbia county -- where Hudson NY is located.

[okaawhatever]

7. From the free dictionary:

The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.

Seems to fit

[mike_c]

9. so we were terrorists in WW2?

Fits those actions, too. Come on. "terrorist" is the new boogyman, the next iteration of "pinko" and "communist."

In the OP, the conspirator's aim seems to be to kill people who they perceive as "enemies of Israel." That sounds like plain old conspiracy to commit murder to me-- just with an ideological motive instead of, say, conspiring to kill blonde prostitutes or appliance deliverymen. How would this be intended to "intimidate or coerce societies or governments... for ideological or political reasons?"

[geek tragedy]

12. Hiroshima was an act of state terror. nt

[mike_c]

14. so was Dresden....

eom

[magellan]

16. Agreed

Even though the definition fits, we didn't call the likes of Capone "terrorists" back in the day...or now. They were organized crime or crime syndicates or just plain mobs and their bosses. Yet I'm pretty sure their victims would say they were terrorized...those who lived to tell about it.

And while Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden might now be called terrorist acts, so could Pearl Harbor and the bombing of London, Hull, Coventry, etc. All war is terror and atrocity. Might as well just call each one from the beginning of recorded history a terrorist act.

The word "terrorist" is overused, intentionally, to strike irrational fear and prejudice in the hearts of anyone listening, and stop the discussion. Witness the Keystone Pipeline protesters and their labeling by the government as terrorists. I wonder how many who've just learned of them assume they've blown something up or otherwise acted out in violence?

[Sunlei]

17. this nut is the same as someone who would set a booby trap and should be charged by local police

May be as much as a hate crime but we shouldn't be using terrorist laws against citizens who plan a targeted murder.

The FBI or whoever spend to much time ($$$) on these nuts, why wait a year and follow him around, sting him with some agent for months? Who knows how many people he approached that didn't say anything? Authorities should not let that cancer spead for months like they did.

[Dash87]

20. They were going to X-Ray people to death?

This is too dumb to be taken seriously. What did they think, it would work like a death ray?

[DeSwiss]

22. They should have checked with the federal government surplus warehouse.

- I'm sure the TSA have a few surplus devices that emit deadly amounts of radiation. And the beauty of it all? It's legal as hell!