Update 2: Six Arrested in Terror Plot

What war on terror?
Open thread:

If there is no Global War on Terror as Democrat presidential candidates Biden, Edwards, Gravel, and Kucinich believe (MSNBC; The Politico; Time), perhaps someone should clue the terrorists that they shouldn't be at war with us. Ah, but this is just an inconvenient detail that obscures the truth. And then there are the six men from New Jersey who have been charged in an alleged terror plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

UPDATE 2:

The Website adnki.com reports the arrest of four ethnic Albanians, a Jordanian and a Turk in the United States on Tuesday on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack at the United States army base in Fort Dix, New Jersey, confirms the existence of a "white Al-Qaeda", Balkan terrorism expert Darko Trifunovic told Adnkronos International (AKI) on Wednesday. Trifunovic said the arrests showed "white Al-Qaeda at work." He compared the Fort Dix plot to a February attack in Salt Lake City when a Bosnian Muslim youth, Sulejman Talovic went on a shopping mall shooting rampage. Six people including Talovic were killed another four were injured in the attack.

Serb immigrants’ web sites noted that US officials carefully avoided identifying the four ethnic Albanians as such, calling them only "Islamic militants from former Yugoslavia." A commentator on the SerbBlog said that Washington, which backs independence for Kosovo, is embarrassed by the discovery of the Fort Dix plot, "because the truth might mess up the PR for Kosovo Albanians getting to rip off a piece of Serbia to create their own country - a move that has the full support of the US State Department."

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Belgrade military analyst Zoran Dragisic said the Fort Dix plot “once again shows that Islamist terrorism is highly organised - from Kosovo to America - and the US intelligence services know this very well." Dragsic expressed doubt, however, that the latest incident would change the American stance on Kosovo, “because Washington doesn’t change its positions easily."

AUDIO: NPR's Eric Westervelt reports on the Kosovar refugees that arrived at Fort Dix, New Jersey in May, 1999.

The U.S. Army Quartemaster Corps Web site details Former President Clinton's 1999 National Security Strategy that led to the resettlement of the 4,025 Kosovar Albanian refugees at Fort Dix. The relocation center at Fort Dix was renamed the Village after Former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's book titled "It Takes A Village." About this, radio host Rush Limbaugh said, "Mrs. Bill Clinton had a zeal for taking out Slobodan Milosevic and 'helping people' in Kosovo, where we had no national interest, that is sadly missing in Iraq: the front line of the Global War on Terror."

Andrew McCarthy, writing at the National Review, says when it comes to the Fort Dix jihad, the media misses the point.

The mainstream media is atwitter this morning over the six Muslim men arrested in south Jersey for conspiring “to kill as many soldiers as possible” at the Fort Dix U.S. army base. The case, they tell us, reflects the new terrorism: inept, atomized cells, disconnected from al Qaeda or any other regimented international terrorist organization.

Here’s the template setter, the New York Times: “The authorities described the suspects as Islamic extremists and said they represented the newest breed of threat: loosely organized domestic militants unconnected to — but inspired by — al Qaeda or other international terror groups.”

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My friend Bill Bennett likes to quote Hanna Arendt’s aphorism, “Nothing so inoculates a person against reality than the hold of ideology.” If we want to understand why we are at risk from cells in places like Cherry Hill which have no ties to known foreign terror groups, and if we want to learn what authentic, moderate Muslim reformers are up against, we need to open our eyes to what motivates jihadists. It is powerful, enduring and frightening because it is a doctrine, not an organization.

The three brothers being charged as part of the alleged terror plot may have been smuggled across the border, FOX News has learned.

Dritan "Anthony" or "Tony" Duka, 28; Shain Duka, 26; and Eljvir "Elvis" Duka, 23, were in the United States illegally. Federal investigators were exploring whether they were smuggled into the country or entered as stowaways.

Because the three men entered the United States without inspection, there is no legal record of their entry.

UPDATE 1:

For a fully detailed report, read this American Forces Press Service article. Also see additional updates from The Associated Press.

Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, bottom center, is seen in an artist's drawing during a court appearance before Magistrate Joel Schneider, right, at the U.S. District Courthouse in Camden, N.J., Tuesday, May 8, 2007. Shnewer is one of six foreign-born Muslims who were arrested and accused Tuesday of plotting to attack the Army's Fort Dix and massacre scores of U.S. soldiers.

Super Mario's Italian Cuisine & Steak House in Cookstown, N.J., not far from Fort Dix Army Base is seen Tuesday May 8, 2007. Six men described by federal prosecutors as 'Islamic militants' have been arrested on charges they plotted to attack the Fort Dix Army base and 'kill as many soldiers as possible,' federal authorities said Tuesday. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith said U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie told him one of the suspects arrested had a job delivering pizzas from the restaurant to the base and used that opportunity to scout out the possible attacks on the base.

A vehicle entry gate is shown at Fort Dix, New Jersey May 8,

The home of Dritan "Tony" Duka is seen in Cherry Hill N.J., Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Brothers Eljvir Duka, left, and Shain Duka are seen in an artist's drawing during a court appearance at the U.S. District Courthouse in Camden, N.J., Tuesday, May 8, 2007.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, at microphones left, surrounded by federal and state police officials, holds a news conference on the steps of the U.S. District Courthouse in Camden, N.J., Tuesday, May 8, 2007, to announce the arrests of six foreign-born Muslims who are accused of plotting to attack the Army's Fort Dix in New Jersey and massacre scores of U.S. soldiers

ORIGINAL POST:

WNBC reports investigators said the men planned to use automatic rifles to enter Fort Dix and kill as many soldiers as they could at the military base. Fort Dix was just one of several military and security locations allegedly scouted by this group, authorities said.

Philly.com reports Greg Reinert, a Justice Department spokesman in Camden, described the six as "Islamic radicals . . . who were involved in a plot to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey."

The six men allegedly plotted for 17 months, according to The Washington Post.

ABC News reports the men thought they would have easy access to the base by pretending to deliver pizzas.

"What we are witnessing here is kind of a brand new form of terrorism," said Jody Weis, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Philadelphia field office, at an afternoon press conference. "They operate under the radar...they strike when they feel it is right whenever that might be."

The six were arrested Monday night trying to buy AK-47 assault weapons, M-16s and other weapons from an FBI informant, reports AP.

The Smoking Gun has a copy of the FBI affidavit that describes the terror suspects as comitted and deadly serious.

The men appeared in federal court Tuesday in Camden, N.J. and were ordered held without bail for a hearing Friday. Five were charged with conspiracy to kill U.S. military personnel; the sixth was charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigrants in obtaining weapons.

Backstory from The Associated Press.

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