Kansas Airport worker arrested for bomb plot

[Sdiver]

While the country's attention was focused on the shooting at Arapahoe H.S., this story almost went unnoticed.

Kansas Airport Worker Arrested in Car Bomb Plot

A Kansas man who prosecutors say sympathized with violent terrorists was arrested Friday as part of an FBI sting after he drove a vehicle loaded with what he thought were explosives to a Wichita airport.

Investigators allege that Terry Lee Loewen planned to attack Wichita's Mid-Continent Regional airport in a plot aimed at supporting al-Qaida.

Loewen, a 58-year-old avionics technician who worked at the airport for Hawker Beechcraft, was arrested before dawn as he tried to drive onto the tarmac. The materials in the car were inert, and no one at the airport was in any immediate danger, authorities said.

Loewen, who lives in Wichita, had been under investigation for about six months after making online statements about wanting to commit "violent jihad" against the United States, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said. An undercover FBI agent befriended Loewen, striking up conversations about terrorism and Loewen's admiration for those who plotted against American interests.

Authorities said Loewen spent months studying the layout of the airport, its flight patterns and other details to maximize fatalities and damage in an attack. During that time, he developed a plan with other conspirators to use his employee access card to pull off the attack. The conspirators were actually undercover FBI agents.

Loewen planned to die in the explosion, a fate that he said was inevitable in his quest to become a martyr in a jihad against America, according to court documents.

"Since early summer, he was resolved to take an act of violent jihad against U.S.," Grissom said.

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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/m...1210130?page=2

[Pete]

"....Loewen planned to die in the explosion, a fate that he said was inevitable in his quest to become a martyr in a jihad against America, according to court documents...."

Good thing our border security is so tight otherwise a real one might sneak through with some real explosives.

[frostfire]

http://www.jamestown.org/programs/ho...59bd1bf86787be


“America has employed her stunning technological superiority, and used it for her strategy of decisive air strikes and complete control over space and the electronic world.” Al-Suri ends by arguing that young Muslim men need to forget the false nationalism of this age and fight for the universal community of Muslims. The author concludes that the only alternative is the “school of individual jihad and small cells”

There will more of this for sure. Great job FBI. It reminds me of the "trainer" a few years back who foiled similar plot. Perhaps also kudos to the "national resources" program."

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by frostfire

http://www.jamestown.org/programs/ho...59bd1bf86787be


“America has employed her stunning technological superiority, and used it for her strategy of decisive air strikes and complete control over space and the electronic world.” Al-Suri ends by arguing that young Muslim men need to forget the false nationalism of this age and fight for the universal community of Muslims. The author concludes that the only alternative is the “school of individual jihad and small cells”

There will more of this for sure. Great job FBI. It reminds me of the "trainer" a few years back who foiled similar plot. Perhaps also kudos to the "national resources" program."

Don't you mean another FBI fabricated and FBI foiled plot?

Seems to me that the FBI is actively recruiting stupid people it can sell fake explosives to so they can then foil the "terrorist" plot. An FBI recurring theme if you ask me.

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by Team Sergeant

Don't you mean another FBI fabricated and FBI foiled plot?

Seems to me that the FBI is actively recruiting stupid people it can sell fake explosives to so they can then foil the "terrorist" plot. An FBI recurring theme if you ask me.

No truth to the rumor that ATF used this as their template for their well-executed straw purchase incentive programs.