Caribbean terrorists: too broke and stupid to blow up JFK Airport?

Since last Friday, when Caribbean Net News published my commentary on the plot by men from Guyana and Trinidad to blow up JFK Airport, I have received many e-mails from Caribbean nationals asking me to feature it here as an instructive article for American (immigration) officials and ordinary citizens alike. Indeed, as one concerned islander wrote: “it’s them Americans who need to read this”. And, especially in light of PM Jagdeo’s plaintive woe quoted above, I am happy to oblige.

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I have been only mildly irritated by reports on the alleged plot to blow up JFK Airport which suggest that the unusual suspects in this case were simply too broke and stupid to pull it off. But I’ve been positively incensed by the fact that some of those reports were written by Caribbean natives who posited this condescending notion in misguided attempts to express the shame and mitigate the guilt they presume we all feel.

The Caribbean-American community in New York is understandably upset, embarrassed and miffed over the weekend revelations that four immigrants from the Caribbean, one of them a naturalized American citizen, conspired to blow up the fuel farm and pipelines at John F. Kennedy International Airport…. [T]his “Keystone Kops” terror bungle – no matter what the facts are – embarrasses the Caribbean, makes immigration reform more difficult and places the tourism product of the region under a cloud.

[“Features” report by Michael D. Roberts in Caribbean Net News dated 7 June 2007]

Of course, I can relate to the full gamut of emotions that were incited in both Caribbean immigrants in America and natives throughout the region when Caribbean nationals were arrested for this alleged plot. (The suspects pictured here, clockwise, are putative “mastermind” Russell Defreitas, Abdul Kadir and Abdel Nur all of Guyana and Kareem Ibrahiim of Trinidad & Tobago.) But I’m incredulous that so many regional politicians and columnists have reacted so defensively to this revelation – with some of them even insinuating that it would be our just deserts if US authorities decided to punish the lot of us for the alleged misdeeds of a few bad men.

Nevertheless, I entreat all you to not only reject any attempt by others to impose guilt by regional heritage upon you, but also defy anyone to show how this sorry episode reflects badly on the rest of us or jeopardizes our economic welfare.

After all, I know of no American who was “upset, embarrassed and miffed” when American Lori Berenson was arrested in Perú for unlawful collaboration with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement – a communist guerrilla group which had committed numerous terrorist attacks in a vain attempt to overthrow that country’s democratically-elected government.

I know of no American who was upset, embarrassed and miffed when American John Walker Lindh was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan – in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 – where he was fighting with the Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorist against fellow Americans.

I know of no American who was upset, embarrassed and miffed when American Adam Gadahn was exposed as the most celebrated al-Qaeda spokesman in the Muslim world – who spouts propaganda not only about killing fellow Americans, but all “infidels”; i.e. non-Muslims. (Recall how many innocent Africans were killed when fanatics heeding al-Qaeda’s propaganda bombed American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania….)

Enough?!

Now, just as few, if any, Americans heeded the bombastic and spiteful calls to boycott Aruba over the Natalee Holloway tragedy, I have no doubt that even fewer will boycott the Caribbean over this harebrained scheme by these wannabe terrorists. Moreover, it borders on pathological delusion to think that the criminal threats of four nincompoops from the Caribbean could possibly make “immigration reform more difficult”. (Immigration reform in America will fail because of partisan-political reasons having everything to do with scapegoating Mexicans.) Therefore, it is ignorant and only foments hysteria amongst our people to suggest otherwise.

Meanwhile, it is utterly irrelevant that these men may not have been financially, intellectually or temperamentally able, or duly established as a bona fide terrorist organization to execute this conspiracy to blow up JFK Airport –

…to kill the man twice [and] put the whole country in mourning.

(Incidentally, they planned to execute it by setting ablaze a jet-fuel artery that runs through residential neighborhoods nearby and leads to a field of storage tanks at the airport.)

Because if – as the FBI proffers – they have been caught on surveillance tapes boasting about their evil intent and meeting with undercover agents to discuss the logistics of furthering their conspiracy, then these tapes alone would have provided sufficient probable cause for them to be arrested under anti-terrorism laws (even in some Caribbean countries). Moreover, I have no doubt that surveillance tapes will constitute the damning “smoking gun” that will convict them at trial.

In which case I would say: lock ’em up and throw away the key!

NOTE: Of course, if you have a Muslim-sounding name and happen to be from Guyana or Trinidad & Tobago, then you should expect US immigration officers to cast a more suspicious eye upon you. But I urge all Caribbean natives who might be profiled as a result of this plot to (try your best to) appreciate the American (border-control) perspective, understand that it’s not personal and shun foolish pride that would cause you to avoid traveling to the United States….

JFK Airport bomb plot