Cleveland FBI Bomb Plot Tied To Occupy Cleveland

Fellixe · **Permalink | Posted:** Thu May 03, 2012 7:30 pm

Quote:

CLEVELAND, Ohio --
Occupy Cleveland had Tuesday circled on the calendar.
After months of low visibility, leaders of the protest organization formed during last fall's anti-Wall Street movement hoped to recapture the public's attention with a peaceful weekend festival leading up to a May Day demonstration.
By noon, they were back in the spotlight -- but not for the reasons they intended.
Five men involved in Occupy Cleveland stand accused of plotting to blow up a bridge over Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Sagamore Hills. The organization itself has not been implicated, but the arrests prompted organizers to cancel their May Day protest and instead spend the day distancing themselves from what they characterized as a fringe element.
"While the group arrested Monday evening by the FBI [was] associated with Occupy Cleveland, they were in no way representing or acting on behalf of Occupy Cleveland or the event that was planned for later today," the organization said in an email. "Occupy Cleveland has affirmed principles of nonviolence since its inception on Oct. 6, 2011."
Brandon Baxter, Anthony Hayne, Joshua Stafford, Connor Stevens and Douglas Wright are "self-described anarchists," federal officials said Tuesday. And according to a half-dozen Occupy Cleveland leaders and supporters interviewed by The Plain Dealer, they found a home under the organization's tent on downtown's Public Square.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ss ... _were.html

Fellixe · **Permalink | Posted:** Thu May 03, 2012 7:38 pm

From the same, this puts the suspects' role in Occupy Cleveland into perspective.

(Snip)"There was tension from the get-go in terms of the strategy," said Cleveland City Councilman Brian Cummins, a Green Party member and Occupy supporter who has helped the local organization secure its required city permits.

Occupy Cleveland leaders said most of their members have embraced the organization's "nonviolent training" programs. But Cummins recalled Baxter, Hayne, Stafford and Wright as members of a small but vocal faction that "found little use for peaceful demonstration." They participated in public events, but ultimately weren't a core part, he said.

"Frankly," Cummins added, "I think they disdained the leadership."

The councilman was not the only one who downplayed the suspects' influence within the Occupy orbit. "They're like an offshoot, and they're not part of this -- especially now that we know what they were up to," said Robin Adelmann, who has held the organization's Public Square tent permit for the last five months.

Participation dwindled over the winter and activity slowed to crawl.

"Lately it's been very nonexistent," Adelmann said. "The public is a bit bored with us."

Seeker1 · **Permalink | Posted:** Thu May 03, 2012 8:14 pm

Oddly, the five young gentlemen in question all listed their "occupation" as "Occupy Cleveland" on Facebook. Isn't that a bit odd? (OK, they may have been unemployed, and marginally connected to the group, but ... to list that as your "job"?)
http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-hea ... ge-bombers

Meet the FBI informant/snitch who orchestrated the 'plot':
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/ ... zir-756123

This has some strange resonances with the 7 Miami Haitian immigrants Bush rounded up in the War on Terra in 2006 or so for "buying boots" and supposedly planning to blow up the Sears Tower.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_City_Seven

I've seen this story played everywhere, but close to virtual silence about a right-wing militia nut in Arizona going on a killing spree.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/0 ... 75985.html

And let's bear in mind, these guys killed nobody and blew up nothing; but neo-Nazi and anti-immigrant activist J.T. Ready (with ties to the state's Republican party) killed 4 people.

I'm not too sure about their political beliefs: one of the five described himself as "anarcho communist" but the rest strike me as more Ron Paul rightist types than anarcho-leftists. I'm betting once people dig deeper they will find ties for these folks more to patriot/militias like the Hutaree than to left-wing activism.

Motor City · **Joined:** Wed Jul 07, 2010 4:25 pm **Posts:** 2449

Seeker1 » Thu May 03, 2012 8:14 pm wrote:

Oddly, the five young gentlemen in question all listed their "occupation" as "Occupy Cleveland" on Facebook. Isn't that a bit odd? (OK, they may have been unemployed, and marginally connected to the group, but ... to list that as your "job"?)
http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-hea ... ge-bombers

Meet the FBI informant/snitch who orchestrated the 'plot':
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/ ... zir-756123

This has some strange resonances with the 7 Miami Haitian immigrants Bush rounded up in the War on Terra in 2006 or so for "buying boots" and supposedly planning to blow up the Sears Tower.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_City_Seven

I've seen this story played everywhere, but close to virtual silence about a right-wing militia nut in Arizona going on a killing spree.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/0 ... 75985.html

And let's bear in mind, these guys killed nobody and blew up nothing; but neo-Nazi and anti-immigrant activist J.T. Ready (with ties to the state's Republican party) killed 4 people.

I'm not too sure about their political beliefs: one of the five described himself as "anarcho communist" but the rest strike me as more Ron Paul rightist types than anarcho-leftists. I'm betting once people dig deeper they will find ties for these folks more to patriot/militias like the Hutaree than to left-wing activism.

Arent these things are to be expected nowdays though, as FBI is very skilled at planning and coercing people into such things that would otherwise never be able to possibly accomplish a thing by themselves? Its a pre-made story that is played on us over and over again.

Fellixe · **Permalink | Posted:** Thu May 03, 2012 8:39 pm

That's part of the defense being used for Mohamad Mohamud in Oregon. As well as a whole lot of other suspicious FBI activity that illustrates an effort to create a 'win' like the Christmas Tree Bomb Plot.

BUSHWA · **Permalink | Posted:** Thu May 03, 2012 8:42 pm

In the report I read yesterday the FBI and the local police actually went to terrific pains to specifically explain that, while some of the members of this group participated in a local Occupy event, they also documented how those under arrest repeatedly urged the Occupy "leaders" to undertake some violent activities and at the very least add rioting to the Occupy event. And when the Occupy folk repeatedly and adamantly refused, the guys left in disgust and with harsh words for the "pussies."

I remember it so well because of my surprise that it was law enforcement making it clear that the association to Occupy was brief, and that the folks with Occupy acquitted themselves very well.

Of course, as I read it I knew that, the facts not withstanding, on certain boards and cable news networks, this development would help expand "Occupy" from those who advocate rape and robbery, and being given things for free, to now also include serving as a base for domestic terrorism.

Motor City · **Joined:** Wed Jul 07, 2010 4:25 pm **Posts:** 2449

Fellixe » Thu May 03, 2012 8:39 pm wrote:

That's part of the defense being used for Mohamad Mohamud in Oregon. As well as a whole lot of other suspicious FBI activity that illustrates an effort to create a 'win' like the Christmas Tree Bomb Plot.

yea and just imagine the disparity between the average person and an orginiztion with unlimited resources and knowledge and techniques. way outmatched.

BUSHWA · **Permalink | Posted:** Thu May 03, 2012 8:52 pm

What I initially read came from the criminal complaint, and I'm looking for a link to that now - I obviously had it yesterday, but I found an AP story that addresses the point:

...
The men had been associated with the anti-corporate Occupy Cleveland movement but don't share its non-violent views, organizer Debbie Kline said.

"They were in no way representing or acting on behalf of Occupy Cleveland," Kline said in an email canceling the group's May Day protest at a GE Lighting plant in view of the arrests of the "autonomous group" of five.

The alleged plotters were frustrated that other anti-corporate protesters opposed violence, according to Dettelbach, citing the criminal complaint filed in the case.

"It talks about the anger and frustration that these five individuals felt that other people would not support their violent aims," Dettelbach said.
...

LINK TO THE ARTICLE

Fellixe · **Permalink | Posted:** Thu May 03, 2012 8:54 pm

Motor City » Thu May 03, 2012 5:47 pm wrote:

Fellixe » Thu May 03, 2012 8:39 pm wrote:

That's part of the defense being used for Mohamad Mohamud in Oregon. As well as a whole lot of other suspicious FBI activity that illustrates an effort to create a 'win' like the Christmas Tree Bomb Plot.

yea and just imagine the disparity between the average person and an orginiztion with unlimited resources and knowledge and techniques. way outmatched.

'Average person' might even be generous given these cases. FL-dumb as dirt, OR-underachieving high-school-age malcontent, OH-the bottom of the barrel at an Occupation just before you get to the drug dealers and pedophiles. There is a pretty clear pattern of below-average people turning up under arrest by the FBI for attempting one of the most complicated of actions, a bombing in the United States.

Fellixe · **Permalink | Posted:** Mon May 07, 2012 6:24 pm

(Snip)As (Joshua) Stafford was led out of the court by U.S. marshals, he repeatedly asked the judge, "Why did a federal informant approach me to do this act of terror?" His attorney has said Stafford has a history of mental illness.

The undercover operation was the latest sting conducted by the FBI and the Justice Department in an effort to head off attacks by alleged domestic and foreign militants. In this case, the FBI paid more than $5,000 to an informant during an investigation that began in October after he met the five suspects at an Occupy Cleveland rally.

According to an FBI affidavit, the informant was on probation for passing bad checks and has a record of drug and robbery convictions.

Stevens, Baxter, Stafford and Hayne have previous juvenile and adult criminal records in Ohio, court records show.

The FBI said the suspects have no ties to any terrorist organizations and that the public was never in danger because the explosives were inert.
http://us.m.yahoo.com/w/news_america/fi ... s&.lang=en

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Cleveland FBI Bomb Plot Tied To Occupy Cleveland

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