‘It was their plot and their plan that they pushed forward. We merely facilitated’
- Joseph M. Demarest Jr. of the FBI
Suppose that the FBI’s Riverdale sting had inadvertently stung an innocent Riverdalian.
Clearly, the four Newburgh, N.Y., men charged with plotting to blow up two Riverdale synagogues and shoot down a plane at an airport near Newburgh committed serious crimes, assuming the allegations are proven in court. They should be prosecuted and sentenced to long prison terms if convicted. Maybe the 110 law-enforcement employees who investigated them should be charged with conspiracy and reckless endangerment.
This plot could be described as a manufactured crime, aided and abetted by our government. It was overkill, and it could have become overkill in a literal sense.
Let’s get this straight: These four suspects never possessed the resources necessary to execute such a plot until they partnered with a conspicuous FBI informant, and the FBI made certain to supply them with a harmless arsenal of bombs and a missile launcher. In other words, the Riverdale Jewish Center and Riverdale Temple were never endangered.
The FBI’s sting could have ended with harm to innocent people. If any suspect had a weapon and decided to resist arrest, perhaps an unknowing passerby could have been shot by a stray bullet. No matter how thorough the planning, every operation carries risks, which means that innocent people were endangered…however remote the possibility.
The time, cost and personnel expended on this case seemed to be an outsized utilization of resources that could have been employed for more pressing needs. New York media reported that 110 law enforcement employees, including those from the FBI and city police, participated in the investigation. Such effort might be justified if these defendants were already organized as a terror cell, but they relied on the FBI informant named Shahed Hussain for almost all their weapons and other resources.
The New York Post quoted unnamed sources who said the FBI supplied them with military-grade C4 explosives, which they intended to place near the synagogues, and whose deadly features had been nullified through a chemical process. The FBI also provided them with an actual Stinger missile launcher which they allegedly planned to use for blowing up a large C5 Galaxy cargo plane as it took off from an airport 60 miles north, the Post reported. The FBI had disabled the firing mechanism.
The suspects also bought an illegal handgun from a Bloods gang member in Brooklyn, but the informant was able to get hold of the weapon and pass it on to the FBI, who made the gun inoperable, according to the Post’s sources. Suppose one suspect brought along a workable gun of which the informant was not aware?
Imam Salahuddin Mustafa Muhammad, spiritual leader of Newburgh’s Masjid al-Ikhlas mosque, and other mosque members told The New York Times that Hussain often visited the mosque to recruit younger black males. Hussain even asked an official at another mosque for its list of members, the Times reported. Members of the Newburgh mosque swiftly pegged him as a government informant.
It would have been reasonable if authorities arrested the suspects, all ex-cons, when they traveled to Stamford, Conn., to pick up the pseudo bombs and missile launcher at a warehouse. Authorities indeed could have arrested them then and there. The News reported that authorities wanted to catch them in the midst of attempting to execute the plot.
Their lawyers could present an entrapment defense, and the suspects should not be excused because of the FBI’s astonishing involvement. But we are talking proportions here. These guys had big ideas, but it is not clear if they were capable of a crime of this scale until they joined Hussain. It is also unclear if the defendants devised the plot exclusively among themselves or if Hussain and law enforcement authorities contributed to the planning.
A Times reporter asked Joseph M. Demarest Jr., head of the FBI’s New York office, if he thought the suspects were a serious security threat before they met Hussain, and he said, “It was their plot and their plan that they pushed forward. We merely facilitated. They asked for the explosives. They asked for the Stingers, or rockets, I think is the way they described it. They did leave the packages of what they believed to be real explosives, the bags, in front of two temples in the Bronx.”
If anyone was inadvertently killed or injured, perhaps “we merely facilitated” could be equated as conspiracy, a legal term for a criminal offense. There have been police officers who were criminally charged after making split-second decisions. In this case, the prospect of a split-second decision was never necessary. The FBI could have wrapped up the case when the suspects retrieved their arsenal at the warehouse in Stamford.
That would not have been so dramatic as catching them in the act of attempting to blow up two synagogues in a popular, heavily traversed New York neighborhood.
This sounds like the kind of scheme contrived by Bush administration flunkies, and President Obama’s people might have thought it seemed weird but consented to it because the operation was too far along. The government should have managed it differently, if at all.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
DRAMA OVER SHABBAT
They gathered to advocate for Shabbat on the day after Shabbat.
Shabbat has been the Jewish day of the week for rest and worship for centuries, perhaps 2,500 or 3,000 years. Shabbat is in no visible danger of elimination in North America and, more specifically, Owings Mills in suburban Baltimore. So what’s their problem?
The unofficial agenda of Baltimore’s Orthodox Jews was the prevention of Saturday hours at the Jewish Community Center in Owings Mills, which would bring yet another major Jewish facility into the 20th century.
I do mean the 20th century…at least the latter half. Closure of Jewish centers on Saturdays was no doubt a deal breaker for Jews who considered becoming a member to avail oneself of the fitness, cultural and educational programs by the Jewish centers. Most people who work weekdays will seek to benefit fully from the gym, swimming pool and other facilities during the weekend. Perhaps Jews will use the community center on Saturday afternoon after attending synagogue services in the morning, or they will avoid services altogether.
The board of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore voted 41-4 to open the Owings Mills center on Saturday afternoons starting June 6. However, the board of Baltimore’s central Jewish philanthropic organization, called the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, was scheduled to vote to either override or endorse the JCC vote.
A large crowd of mostly Orthodox Jews rallied to promote the Sabbath, as they billed the event, on Sunday, May 17, at Northwestern High School in Baltimore’s Park Heights section, which evolved into an Orthodox enclave over the years after non-Orthodox Jews moved out.
As reported in The Baltimore Sun, Rabbi Aharon Feldman asked, “What one idea expresses our identity? What one concept expresses our heritage? We are giving up our identity, everything we stand for, by compromising shabbos.” Rabbi Feldman is dean of Ner Israel Rabbinical College.
Their concerns merit respect. Shabbos is viewed as part of the glue that keeps the Jewish people together. I enjoyed my periodic experiences observing Shabbat and hoped to explore it further. Overall, I plan to participate more in religious traditions.
Many Jews see it differently than Rabbi Feldman. This society produces stresses and obligations that toughen our ability to abide by religious traditions, and the vast majority of Jews do not identify as Jews in the same religious context as those who are strictly observant. We all have freedom to worship as we choose, and our political system protects our choices. Under a different set of laws, those who are observant could be prohibited from practicing Judaism as they do.
The JCC system is responsible for meeting the needs of all dues-paying members, not just one segment. In Philadelphia, Jewish service providers are partly funded by the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania. In addition, the landmark Gershman JCC in downtown Philadelphia, where I live, served many non-Jews before it ceased operating athletic facilities.
Exercising on some Saturdays, as I often do, is no luxury for those out of shape because it is difficult to reach the gym on weekdays. Bear in mind that under Judaism a person’s health takes priority above all other religious requirements.
Besides, the JCC board oversees two centers, Owings Mills and an older one five miles south in Park Heights. The Park Heights center will remain closed on Saturdays and the Owings Mills facility is not even in their neighborhood.
Demonstrators did not mind using public property to conduct their rally. Northwestern High School is funded by Baltimore and Maryland taxpayers, and probably a small share of federal money. If they were true to their cause, should they have been promoting a private religious practice on public grounds?
Shabbat has been the Jewish day of the week for rest and worship for centuries, perhaps 2,500 or 3,000 years. Shabbat is in no visible danger of elimination in North America and, more specifically, Owings Mills in suburban Baltimore. So what’s their problem?
The unofficial agenda of Baltimore’s Orthodox Jews was the prevention of Saturday hours at the Jewish Community Center in Owings Mills, which would bring yet another major Jewish facility into the 20th century.
I do mean the 20th century…at least the latter half. Closure of Jewish centers on Saturdays was no doubt a deal breaker for Jews who considered becoming a member to avail oneself of the fitness, cultural and educational programs by the Jewish centers. Most people who work weekdays will seek to benefit fully from the gym, swimming pool and other facilities during the weekend. Perhaps Jews will use the community center on Saturday afternoon after attending synagogue services in the morning, or they will avoid services altogether.
The board of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore voted 41-4 to open the Owings Mills center on Saturday afternoons starting June 6. However, the board of Baltimore’s central Jewish philanthropic organization, called the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, was scheduled to vote to either override or endorse the JCC vote.
A large crowd of mostly Orthodox Jews rallied to promote the Sabbath, as they billed the event, on Sunday, May 17, at Northwestern High School in Baltimore’s Park Heights section, which evolved into an Orthodox enclave over the years after non-Orthodox Jews moved out.
As reported in The Baltimore Sun, Rabbi Aharon Feldman asked, “What one idea expresses our identity? What one concept expresses our heritage? We are giving up our identity, everything we stand for, by compromising shabbos.” Rabbi Feldman is dean of Ner Israel Rabbinical College.
Their concerns merit respect. Shabbos is viewed as part of the glue that keeps the Jewish people together. I enjoyed my periodic experiences observing Shabbat and hoped to explore it further. Overall, I plan to participate more in religious traditions.
Many Jews see it differently than Rabbi Feldman. This society produces stresses and obligations that toughen our ability to abide by religious traditions, and the vast majority of Jews do not identify as Jews in the same religious context as those who are strictly observant. We all have freedom to worship as we choose, and our political system protects our choices. Under a different set of laws, those who are observant could be prohibited from practicing Judaism as they do.
The JCC system is responsible for meeting the needs of all dues-paying members, not just one segment. In Philadelphia, Jewish service providers are partly funded by the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania. In addition, the landmark Gershman JCC in downtown Philadelphia, where I live, served many non-Jews before it ceased operating athletic facilities.
Exercising on some Saturdays, as I often do, is no luxury for those out of shape because it is difficult to reach the gym on weekdays. Bear in mind that under Judaism a person’s health takes priority above all other religious requirements.
Besides, the JCC board oversees two centers, Owings Mills and an older one five miles south in Park Heights. The Park Heights center will remain closed on Saturdays and the Owings Mills facility is not even in their neighborhood.
Demonstrators did not mind using public property to conduct their rally. Northwestern High School is funded by Baltimore and Maryland taxpayers, and probably a small share of federal money. If they were true to their cause, should they have been promoting a private religious practice on public grounds?
Saturday, May 9, 2009
A KOSHER RAIL NETWORK
Joe Biden had reached the end of the line.
Nothing to do with his swine flu gaffe, but our Vice President was more or less positioned literally at the southern edge of a unique rail network. He focused on a more prominent train system, namely Amtrak, but from where he stood - at Wilmington’s station - he could have traveled far more cheaply to Philadelphia, through New Jersey to Manhattan, and even to Montauk and Port Jervis, and indirectly to New Haven and Poughkeepsie.
We know of Amtrak’s reach, but not mentioned in news reports of the event is the inter-connected commuter rail network that runs parallel to the Amtrak trains in the Northeast at a lower cost. In the process, the network helps to keep Jewish communities connected, though not connected enough.
Consider that Jewish communities dominate throughout the Northeast. A contiguous network of Jewish communities threads from New Haven, Conn., south to, well, Wilmington, along with numerous branches through Long Island and North Jersey. In combination with Amtrak, large Jewish communities north to Boston and south to Baltimore and Washington, D.C., are accessible.
With all the available connections, a University of Pennsylvania student from Suffern in Rockland County, N.Y., can return home by picking up the SEPTA train at 30th Street to Trenton, switch to a New Jersey Transit train and transfer to a Suffern-bound train at Secaucus Junction where nine NJT lines converge. When he courted Hadassah, Joe Lieberman could have traveled 70 miles from New Haven to 125th Street in Harlem and switched to a Hudson line train to a station near Riverdale, where the Connecticut senator’s future wife lived at the time.
This inadvertent network coordinates among six separate transit systems through some of the heaviest Jewish populations in the country. From Wilmington, a passenger can board a SEPTA train - the system serving Philadelphia and its suburbs - for 30 miles to downtown Philly and switch to a second train for another 30 miles to Trenton. Next step: Ride NJT another 60 miles to Penn Station in Manhattan. One can yet travel from there to Great Neck, Long Beach, Huntington and even the Hamptons via the Long Island Rail Road.
Too bad none of this was mentioned, at least in news reports, when the Vice President returned to his old stomping grounds in Wilmington on Monday, May 4, to herald the administration’s $1.3 billion allocation for Amtrak capital projects, including $21 million to rehab his home state’s station. Biden passed through the station countless times to commute to Washington on Amtrak when he repped Delaware as a senator.
Interestingly, the Wilmington announcement was followed on Saturday, May 9, by National Train Day, which marks the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.
Wilmington is actually SEPTA’s third most southernmost station, but the two beyond it are barely used. The region also covers a sizable if not so visible Jewish community estimated at 15,000. Jewish residents are supportive enough to have renovated and expanded the local Jewish Community Center a few years ago.
This commuter rail network has plenty of flaws. Its most prevalent drawback is being too short. Or, Amtrak is not financially accessible even to the middle class. Amtrak is too expensive, which leaves riders no options where a commuter system does not exist.
From Philadelphia to New York, a round-trip package combining rides on SEPTA and NJT costs $37.50, one-third the cost of riding Amtrak. There are even other cheap alternatives to Amtrak.
There is no viable alternative to Amtrak if one’s destination is Baltimore or Washington. The round-trip costs from Philadelphia to Baltimore and Washington are, respectively, in the range of $100 and $140. Washington is, naturally, an important city to visit for many reasons, but specifically it is a wonderful opportunity for Jews to tour the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Middle-class visitors can barely afford the cost.
Credit President Obama and Congress for increasing expenses for Amtrak, but passenger prices are too high. I often ride commuter rail to New York, but I could not afford to ride to Washington so frequently. A round-trip cost of $50 would be reasonable. For that matter, commuter costs have gotten too steep.
What could be dubbed The Times Square Gap is the second most serious flaw in the system because Metro-North, which serves Connecticut and Westchester County, does not hook up with the other systems. A train from New Haven or White Plains ends at Grand Central, 1 ½ miles from Penn Station.
To reach Grand Central, a passenger who arrives at Penn must spend $2 for the #1 subway train one stop north to Times Square and transfer to the Grand Central shuttle train. Actual riding time is two minutes on each train, but the entire trip takes 20 minutes.
One would think that New York commuter lines would be physically integrated, as are those in Philadelphia and Washington. Unlike Philadelphia, the NYC region had no rail links to any of its three airports until a few years ago. Now special trains link the LIRR to Kennedy and the NJT to Newark.
Another great stride was construction of the Secaucus junction where nine NJT lines come together, just a mile or so before the tunnel under the Hudson. Previously, trains from near Teaneck, Morristown, Rockland County and western Essex County towns ended in Hoboken and passengers had to transfer to another rail system to cross into Manhattan. With Secaucus, those passengers can get off there and switch to other NJT trains heading straight to Penn Station.
On the books are plans for another Hudson tunnel, expanded rail service in Bergen County and an LIRR stop at Grand Central.
Nifty network, one that can only enhance Jewish community.
Oh, yes, Atlantic City Jews have available to them a long-running NJT line to Philadelphia, which of course connects them to the rest of the system; this is separate from a new, more expensive line directly linking AC to NYC. The only risk with the older line is that Philadelphians still traveling to the casinos better be sure they have $8 left for the return trip.
Nothing to do with his swine flu gaffe, but our Vice President was more or less positioned literally at the southern edge of a unique rail network. He focused on a more prominent train system, namely Amtrak, but from where he stood - at Wilmington’s station - he could have traveled far more cheaply to Philadelphia, through New Jersey to Manhattan, and even to Montauk and Port Jervis, and indirectly to New Haven and Poughkeepsie.
We know of Amtrak’s reach, but not mentioned in news reports of the event is the inter-connected commuter rail network that runs parallel to the Amtrak trains in the Northeast at a lower cost. In the process, the network helps to keep Jewish communities connected, though not connected enough.
Consider that Jewish communities dominate throughout the Northeast. A contiguous network of Jewish communities threads from New Haven, Conn., south to, well, Wilmington, along with numerous branches through Long Island and North Jersey. In combination with Amtrak, large Jewish communities north to Boston and south to Baltimore and Washington, D.C., are accessible.
With all the available connections, a University of Pennsylvania student from Suffern in Rockland County, N.Y., can return home by picking up the SEPTA train at 30th Street to Trenton, switch to a New Jersey Transit train and transfer to a Suffern-bound train at Secaucus Junction where nine NJT lines converge. When he courted Hadassah, Joe Lieberman could have traveled 70 miles from New Haven to 125th Street in Harlem and switched to a Hudson line train to a station near Riverdale, where the Connecticut senator’s future wife lived at the time.
This inadvertent network coordinates among six separate transit systems through some of the heaviest Jewish populations in the country. From Wilmington, a passenger can board a SEPTA train - the system serving Philadelphia and its suburbs - for 30 miles to downtown Philly and switch to a second train for another 30 miles to Trenton. Next step: Ride NJT another 60 miles to Penn Station in Manhattan. One can yet travel from there to Great Neck, Long Beach, Huntington and even the Hamptons via the Long Island Rail Road.
Too bad none of this was mentioned, at least in news reports, when the Vice President returned to his old stomping grounds in Wilmington on Monday, May 4, to herald the administration’s $1.3 billion allocation for Amtrak capital projects, including $21 million to rehab his home state’s station. Biden passed through the station countless times to commute to Washington on Amtrak when he repped Delaware as a senator.
Interestingly, the Wilmington announcement was followed on Saturday, May 9, by National Train Day, which marks the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.
Wilmington is actually SEPTA’s third most southernmost station, but the two beyond it are barely used. The region also covers a sizable if not so visible Jewish community estimated at 15,000. Jewish residents are supportive enough to have renovated and expanded the local Jewish Community Center a few years ago.
This commuter rail network has plenty of flaws. Its most prevalent drawback is being too short. Or, Amtrak is not financially accessible even to the middle class. Amtrak is too expensive, which leaves riders no options where a commuter system does not exist.
From Philadelphia to New York, a round-trip package combining rides on SEPTA and NJT costs $37.50, one-third the cost of riding Amtrak. There are even other cheap alternatives to Amtrak.
There is no viable alternative to Amtrak if one’s destination is Baltimore or Washington. The round-trip costs from Philadelphia to Baltimore and Washington are, respectively, in the range of $100 and $140. Washington is, naturally, an important city to visit for many reasons, but specifically it is a wonderful opportunity for Jews to tour the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Middle-class visitors can barely afford the cost.
Credit President Obama and Congress for increasing expenses for Amtrak, but passenger prices are too high. I often ride commuter rail to New York, but I could not afford to ride to Washington so frequently. A round-trip cost of $50 would be reasonable. For that matter, commuter costs have gotten too steep.
What could be dubbed The Times Square Gap is the second most serious flaw in the system because Metro-North, which serves Connecticut and Westchester County, does not hook up with the other systems. A train from New Haven or White Plains ends at Grand Central, 1 ½ miles from Penn Station.
To reach Grand Central, a passenger who arrives at Penn must spend $2 for the #1 subway train one stop north to Times Square and transfer to the Grand Central shuttle train. Actual riding time is two minutes on each train, but the entire trip takes 20 minutes.
One would think that New York commuter lines would be physically integrated, as are those in Philadelphia and Washington. Unlike Philadelphia, the NYC region had no rail links to any of its three airports until a few years ago. Now special trains link the LIRR to Kennedy and the NJT to Newark.
Another great stride was construction of the Secaucus junction where nine NJT lines come together, just a mile or so before the tunnel under the Hudson. Previously, trains from near Teaneck, Morristown, Rockland County and western Essex County towns ended in Hoboken and passengers had to transfer to another rail system to cross into Manhattan. With Secaucus, those passengers can get off there and switch to other NJT trains heading straight to Penn Station.
On the books are plans for another Hudson tunnel, expanded rail service in Bergen County and an LIRR stop at Grand Central.
Nifty network, one that can only enhance Jewish community.
Oh, yes, Atlantic City Jews have available to them a long-running NJT line to Philadelphia, which of course connects them to the rest of the system; this is separate from a new, more expensive line directly linking AC to NYC. The only risk with the older line is that Philadelphians still traveling to the casinos better be sure they have $8 left for the return trip.
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