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South Florida Sun-Sentinel – June 24, 2006
Don't link terror suspects to us, Muslim leaders say
By Ruth Morris
Miami · Minutes after U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta announced indictments on Friday against an alleged terror cell, a Muslim leader took to the steps of the city's federal courthouse and said the suspects "were not known" at either of two mosques near the warehouse in the Liberty City neighborhood where authorities arrested them. Ahmed Bedier, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he and other Muslims feared some would try to connect Islam and the men's alleged plot to blow up a slew of federal buildings and the Sears Tower in Chicago.
"This seems like some kind of cult group that shares nothing with our community," Bedier told reporters of the suspects. He asked the press news media not to refer to the suspects as Muslims. "Muslims don't worship at warehouses," Bedier said. "They don't sleep in warehouses."
Concerned the case might lead some to paint defaming graffiti, damage mosques or homes, CAIR's legal director in Florida, Areeb Naseer, asked police to be vigilant. "We are concerned about a backlash against the Muslim community as a result of these arrests," Naseer said.
Incidents of vandalism against Muslim shops, mosques and community centers increased after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., which also prompted authorities to search Arab-Americans at airport security checkpoints, community leaders said.
Law enforcement officials sought to preempt any negative, generalized reactions.
"Today's indictment is against individuals. It's not against a particular group or a particular faith," U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta said.
The grand jury's indictment said the group's alleged ringleader, Narseal Batiste, told a confidential informant he meant to build an "Islamic Army" to wage a holy war. But in Liberty City, where camera crews set up shop outside the suspects' warehouse headquarters, residents questioned that connection.
Families of two suspects said the men were involved in Bible studies.
The mother of one, Stanley Grant Phanor, said he went to church every Sunday. "He loves to read the Bible," said Phanor's mother, Elizene Phanor.
Minister Rasul Muhammad, of the Muhammad Mosque No. 29, criticized journalists for initially reporting the suspects were "black Muslim radicals." He said such portrayals unfairly linked a faith and an ethnicity to crime.
"We didn't ask what church Timothy McVeigh came from," he said, of the Oklahoma City bomber.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-0624muslims,0,584506.story
MSNBC – June 23, 2006
FBI: Plot to blow up Sears Tower
‘more aspirational than operational’
MIAMI - A plan hatched by seven men to blow up Chicago’s Sears Tower and other buildings was “more aspirational than operational,” FBI officials said.
The group of men, who were arrested Thursday when authorities busted their alleged hideout in a Miami warehouse, had no explosives and lacked adequate funding. Their only link to al-Qaida was through an FBI informant fronting as a member of the terrorist group, authorities said Friday.
But U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said it was exactly the right time to dismantle the group, before it was able to execute a plan that one member said he hoped would be “as good or greater than 9/11.”
“You want to go and disrupt cells like this before they acquire the means to accomplish their goals,” Acosta said.
Investigators said all members of the alleged plot were in custody on conspiracy charges.
Five of the defendants, including alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste, appeared in federal court in Miami on Friday under heavy security. They were brought in and out in single file, chained together at the wrists and wearing ankle chains.
“This group was more aspirational than operational,” FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said. But Attorney General Alberto Gonzales described the men as “homegrown terrorists” who “view their home country as the enemy.”
The FBI learned of the plot from someone the defendants tried to recruit, authorities said.
In February, Batiste told the informant that he and his five soldiers wanted to attend al-Qaida training and planned a “full ground war” against the United States in order to “kill all the devils we can,” according to the indictment.
Batiste and a co-defendant provided the informant with photographs of the FBI building in North Miami Beach, as well as video footage of other Miami government buildings, and discussed a plot to bomb the FBI building, the indictment said.
Neighbors who watched the men’s vigorous exercise regime said the group appeared to be training for something. One of its members was always standing guard outside the small, windowless warehouse in the blighted Liberty City neighborhood.
Relatives described the defendants as deeply religious people who studied the Bible and took classes in Islam. Joseph Phanor, the father of defendant Stanley Grant Phanor, said his son went to classes on Islam with a friend but that he read the Bible at his father’s house.
Phanor’s brother Michael said his brother owned a construction company and had been friends with this group for about a year. He said they were trying to do community service in the area where they grew up, studying martial arts to keep in shape and setting a good example for neighborhood kids.
A sixth defendant, Lyglenson Lemorin, was arrested in Atlanta and made a court appearance there. Phanor did not appear in court. He was in custody on what authorities said was an unrelated state charge.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13524120/
Arab American Institute
FBI reaches out to Arab American Institute on Miami arrests
AAI Commends Official’s Disclaimer:
‘This is Not an Indictment Against Any Religion’
WASHINGTON, D.C. June 23, 2006 – According to the FBI, seven individuals were arrested Thursday by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Miami as part of an ongoing investigation into an alleged plot to attack the Sears Tower in Chicago and other federal buildings.
The FBI made proactive efforts to reach out to Arab, Muslim and South Asian American communities including a conference call with the Arab American Institute (AAI) and other leading community organizations. AAI appreciates FBI’s initiative in contacting community leaders as well as efforts to remind the public that these individuals are not representative of a religion, race or ethnicity. At a press conference announcing the indictments, US Attorney Alex Acosta pointed out “today’s action is taken against individuals and not against a particular group or faith.”
“Too often when such arrests have been made government officials and the media have used broad-brush language that negatively portrays entire communities,” said AAI President James Zogby. “The comments by U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta and others represent a positive step in law enforcement official’s growing understanding, knowledge and engagement of Arab Americans in our nation’s fight against potential terrorists.”
CAIR Bulletin June 23, 2006
Media asked not to call Miami terror suspects 'Muslims'
Sect trains 'through the bible,' worships in 'temple,' not mosque
WASHINGTON, DC, June 23, 2006 - The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, today called on media professionals not to refer to seven terror suspects arrested in Miami as "Muslims."
The Washington-based CAIR said media reports indicate that the suspects are part of a sect called "Seas of
David."
When asked by CNN why group members refer to themselves as "soldiers," "Brother Corey" said: "Because we study and we train through the bible, not only physical -- not only physical, but mentally." Group members also worship in a "temple," not in an Islamic mosque.
The group bears some resemblance to the cult of Yahweh ben Yahweh, which operated in the same part of Miami, Liberty City, in the 1980's.
"Given that the reported beliefs of this bizarre group have nothing to do with Islam, we ask members of the media to refrain from calling them 'Muslims,'" said CAIR spokesperson Ahmed Bedier. He thanked U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta for noting that "today's indictment. . .is not against a particular group or a particular faith."
Bedier urged the government to avoid confusing the public by using Arabic terminology in referring to the case. In a briefing today in Miami, government officials did not call the suspects "Muslims," but did refer to allegations of plans for "violent jihad."
At a news conference earlier today in Miami, CAIR called on police departments nationwide to protect mosques and other Islamic institutions from any possible backlash prompted by the mistaken linkage of this case to the American Muslim community.
Cleveland Plain Dealer - June 24, 2006
FBI chief warns of domestic terrorists
in city club speech
By Mike Tobin
Domestic terrorism cells like the one broken up in Miami pose a threat potentially bigger than al-Qaida, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Friday in a speech at the City Club of Cleveland.
"The seven individuals involved appear to be another homegrown terrorist cell. The leader is a United States citizen living in Miami," Mueller said. "These extremists are self-recruited, self-trained and self-executing."
Mueller declined to answer questions about the arrests in Miami of seven people accused of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and a federal building in Miami.
Leaders of Cleveland's Muslim community attended Mueller's speech, and local Muslims made up a sizable contingent of the 250 people at the sold-out speech.
Mueller was careful to stress that the war against terror is not a war against Islam. But he asked members of the Muslim community to help law enforcement stop future attacks.
"There are those who view the FBI with suspicion and we must build bridges to bridge that gap," he said. "That said, we must reach the point where you are willing to come forward and say, 'We have seen something that you need to know.'
"Radicalization can only be broken if we stand together."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations bought five tables for the speech, and organized a prayer service at the City Club following the speech, which coincided with traditional Friday prayers.
CAIR Chairman M. Isam Zaiem said Mueller's speech did not say anything new.
Zaiem said that if American Muslims who have been charged with plotting terror attacks are guilty, they should be punished. But Zaiem is skeptical that those arrested are guilty.
"To me, the government has not yet proven its case in any of these cases," Zaiem said.
http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1151137953251370.xml?ncounty_cuyahoga&coll=2
The Seattle Times – June 24, 2006
A blend of faiths, a dash of martial arts
By Charles Rabin and Alexandra Alter
MIAMI — The seven men accused of plotting terrorism claim to follow teachings of the Moorish Science Temple of America, a religion that blends aspects of Christianity, Judaism and Islam and stresses self-discipline through martial arts, a close friend of one of the arrested men said Friday.
Sylvain Plantin, 30, a distant cousin and friend of indicted group member Stanley Grant Phanor, said the group's leader, Narseal Batiste, followed the religious teachings of the Prophet Noble Drew Ali, who founded the Moorish Science Temple.
"I never joined the group, but I went to a couple of Bible studies" at the warehouse that was raided by federal agents, Plantin said. "I never heard him [Batiste] talk about explosives or guns. He only talked about defending themselves. If I'd have heard that, believe me, I'd have been the first to call 911."
Batiste, a martial-arts enthusiast, referred to his group members as "soldiers" in an "Islamic Army" that would wage a "full ground war" against the United States, according to the indictment.
Members of the movement say terrorist acts are inconsistent with their religious beliefs.
"We teach and practice love, truth, peace freedom and justice," said Clark El, a member of the Moorish Science Temple of America in Chicago, who said the only official Moorish Temple in Florida is in Tampa. "You have splinter groups that claim to be part of the Moorish Science Temple of America but are not."
The Moorish Science Temple of America was founded in 1913 as a sect of Islam but incorporates teachings from Judaism and Christianity, said Aminah Beverly McCloud, a professor of religious studies at DePaul University in Chicago who has written about the group.
Moorish Temple members say they trace their ancestry to Morocco and often wear fezzes and use the titles "Bey" or "El." According to the indictment, suspect Lyglenson Lemorin used the alias "Brother Levi-El."
The Moorish movement is small, but not obscure, said McCloud. There are 15 to 20 Moorish Temples across the country and two main branches. A search of phone and Internet records failed to find a temple listed in South Florida, however.
The movement emphasizes peace and justice, McCloud said. Adherents pray two or three times a day facing east and follow prayers and religious instructions from a book titled Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America, she said.
They also call themselves "soldiers" and incorporate "quasi-military physical training" into their spiritual program, McCloud said, stressing that traditionally, the group uses martial arts as a mental discipline, not to wage war.
"They're soldiers for God in the same way that the Salvation Army is an army," McCloud said.
Leaders of South Florida's Muslim community said Friday that the seven suspects had no connection to area mosques. "As far as we're concerned, they have no relation to our community," said Ahmed Bedier, spokesman for the Council for American Islamic Relations in South Florida….
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003082533_plotside24.html
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