(MintPress)—In the midst of worldwide May Day protests, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a press release May 1 regarding an alleged plot by Occupy Cleveland protesters to blow up a Cleveland bridge — a scheme which included undercover FBI involvement.
The incident adds to a list of planned terrorist events unveiled by undercover FBI agents involved in the planning process, which has critics questioning the legitimacy and effectiveness of tactics which make examples of those who perhaps would not have carried out plans for terrorist attacks without FBI involvement.
While complying with terroristic activities is no doubt illegal, those opposed to the methods question whether FBI manpower would best be utilized monitoring those who have planned to carry out such attacks without help from informants and undercover FBI agents.
Would plan have gone on without FBI involvement?
On April 30, Douglas Wright, Brandon Baxter and Anthony Haynes were arrested on charges of conspiracy and attempts to use explosive materials to carry out attacks on a Cleveland bridge. Connor Stevens and Joshua Stafford were also arrested in the scheme on pending charges. All men were in their 20s.
The FBI plot to infiltrate the self proclaimed group of five anarchists began in October, when Shaquille Azir was approached by the FBI and asked to monitor a Cleveland protest on the grounds that the organization received information of potential criminal activity to be carried out by an anarchist group.
According to court documents, Azir noticed a group of men at the protests carrying anarchist flags and expressing frustration over the crowd’s lack of interest in violent protest. Azir then approached Douglas Wright, 26, one of the self-proclaimed anarchist men, with whom he exchanged phone numbers.
After a series of phone calls and emails, Azir began to spend time with Wright, in which Azir reported to the FBI that Wright and fellow anarchists were discussing plans to take down bank signs from buildings in downtown Cleveland, using smoke grenades on the Veterans Memorial Bridge as a distraction for police. Court documents state that Wright specifically planned to target the signs “to make sure everyone knows that the action was against corporate America and the financial system, and not just some random acts.”
Throughout a series of months, Azir continued to meet with the group, although primarily with Wright, during which time they discussed how to make smoke bombs and explosives using directions from the Anarchist Cookbook. According to court documents, Azir recommended on March 23 that he knew of someone who could provide the group with explosives. On March 28, a recorded conversation among Azir, Wright and Baxter led to consideration of blowing up a bridge in order to cause “financial damage.”
“Baxter and Wright stated they don’t want people to think they are terrorists, so they would want to blow up the bridge at night or possibly pretend to be a construction crew and drop orange cones off at each end of the bridge to stop traffic before blowing up the bridge … ,” court documents state.
Later on March 28, two undercover FBI agents met with Azir, Wright and Baxter to take a look at protest gear, including batons and gas marks, along with photos of explosive materials. A deal was eventually made amongst the undercover agents and Azir, Wright and Baxter, in which the agents said that, if Azir, Wright and Baxter agreed to buy eight blocks of W4, they would sell the explosives for $50 a piece.
After much discussion over what to use the explosives on, including a Ku Klux Klan headquarters and a Federal Reserve building, Baxter admitted in a recording on April 10 that he had never considered blowing up anything before and did not know what to do with the explosives. As the plot evolved, Anthony Hayne and Joshua Strafford were brought into the mix and solid plans were made to blow up the Cuyahoga Valley National Park bridge, connecting two affluent suburbs.
On April 30, Wright, Baxter and Hayne were arrested by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force for conspiracy and attempts to use explosives to damage property affecting interstate commerce. Stevens and Stafford were also arrested, although charges were pending at the time of apprehension, according to a press release issued by the FBI.
“The complaint in this case alleges that the defendants took specific and defined actions to further a terrorist plot,” U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach said in the press release. “The defendants stand charged based not upon any words or beliefs they might espouse, but based upon their own plans and actions.”
The explosives sold by FBI agents were defected, posing no real threat to the bridge or nearby residents.
Azir, who has a criminal history including drug and theft charges, was paid roughly $6,000 for his work over seven months.
Occupy clears the air
Immediately casting a negative cloud over the Occupy movement, leaders addressed the issue fast and furiously, admitting the suspects were associated with Occupy Cleveland, but were not representing the Occupy cause with the alleged bomb plot.
On Fox News, Peter Johnson, Jr., a conservative legal analyst said conversation should begin over whether or not Occupy Wall Street poses as a terrorist threat.
In an email statement to the Associated Press, Occupy Cleveland organizer Debbie Kline announced the cancellation of May Day protests at a GE plant, insinuating again that Occupy did not support the bridge plot.
“They (anarchists) were in no way representing or acting on behalf of Occupy Cleveland,” she said.
The black eye on Occupy was exacerbated by ‘black bloc’ protesters who vandalized buildings and attacked police officers during May Day protests — moves Occupiers denounced and claimed as acts to delegitimize the movement.
Claiming entrapment near impossible
Similar cases of FBI involvement in attempted terror plots have taken place recently throughout the nation. The method of aiding fake terrorist acts is seen by the FBI as a way to set an example and expose those with a propensity to carry out terrorist activities. Those opposed to the methods question whether such “busts” by the FBI have made the country any safer.
In November, a Somali born U.S. citizen was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a plan to execute a vehicle bomb at a Christmas tree lighting festival in Portland, Ore. Having been contacted by an undercover FBI agent claiming to be in connection with a suspected terrorist, undercover agents aided 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud in a plan to cause widespread destruction at the lighting ceremony. The FBI, which provided defunct material for the attack, heralded Mohamud’s arrest as a victory in the fight against terror.
In the case of Mohamud — and in the pending cases related to the Cleveland bridge plot — claiming entrapment as a method of defense in court isn’t going to work.
The entrapment case didn’t work in 2011 for the “Newburgh Four,” who claimed they wouldn’t have planned to blow up a synagogue in the Bronx or shoot missiles at a military plane if they weren’t encouraged and paid by undercover FBI agents. Planning a terror attack with the help of an undercover government official overrides any entrapment defense, leaving those caught in the mix out of luck.