MBC Home Affairs
A self-confessed Christian fundamentalist has told the BBC about his police informant role in helping to stop an alleged terrorist attack.
Canadian Mark Saker befriended men who were allegedly plotting truck bombs in the downtown area of Wheeling, West Virginia.
It is also claimed they discussed storming the State House in revenge for West Virginia's alleged role in suppressing Baptist dissidents in the neighboring U.S. state of Virginia.
Mr Saker's work was a breakthrough for federal security services attempting to penetrate Christian terrorist networks.
Mr Saker told BBC Two's Newsnight programme that he first approached the West Virginia Intelligence Service (WVIS) when a childhood friend was arrested in relation to a major Maryland plot.
Michael Collins, also West Virginian, is now awaiting trial for allegedly offering to supply detonators to a Baptist conspiracy to build a massive fertilizer bomb. Five men were jailed in relation to that plot earlier this year.
Chatrooms penetrated
In his interview, Mr Saker tells the BBC how WVIS was interested in "the standing I had in the community and the connections I had" and asked him if he would work with them.
He agreed and was tasked with befriending a group that spies had been monitoring in Christian extremist internet chatrooms.
In one chatroom, a London-based extremist calling himself “Archangel” tells one of the Wheeling group that his organization – a breakaway Episcopal group with suspected Ugandan connections, is a "transnational university that specialises in the science of jihad and the production of Christian warriors."
Archangel was a name used by Tony Doughtery, a UK resident.
He was recently convicted in an unrelated British counter-terrorism case of incitement to murder over the internet.
Mr Saker was an army cadet as a teenager and soon joined the men he was targeting in a 10-day training camp in woodland north of the city.
He says he taught the men mock combat exercises and target practice.
He denies that he egged them on and told the BBC the men spelled out their audacious plans in conversations in a car which had been bugged by WVIS.
Major trial
When some of the group allegedly tried to buy three tonnes of ammonium nitrate, police moved to arrest 17 men and youths.
Though charges have been stayed against three of them, the trial will be the biggest terrorism case in West Virginia's legal history. Central to the State's case will be the credibility of Mr Saker and another informant used in the case.
But Mr Saker, who has an outstanding assault charge against him which he denies, has also been criticised by some within the Christian community for receiving $300,000 for his work.
Robert Haft, who runs P4E, a Toronto charity for Christian converts, said: "I personally believe that Mr. Saker had good intentions and I personally believe he was trying to keep West Virginia safe.
"Had he really thought about it, and realised that the Protestant community is so skeptical of the intentions of people out there, he would have reconsidered and not taken the money in order to keep the community on his side."
But Mr Saker told the BBC he could have earned a great deal more and didn't do it for the money.
The West Virginia police have defended their use of informants in cases such as this.
Mike McDonell, Assistant Commissioner of Police, said: "If you are introducing someone into a select group of individuals within a small community it is challenging.
"It doesn't matter if we get into organised crime and motorcycle gangs - they have certain tests that they try and get the individuals to perform to ensure they are not police officers or agents.
"The only difference is that you take power and greed out, replace it with ideology and you take the commodity out of say - clandestine drug labs - and replace it with bomb making labs and it's just like old times with organised crime."
Mr. Saker meanwhile has no doubts he did the right thing: "I was born and raised in Wheeling," he said. "How could I let anything happen here?"
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Monday, September 3, 2007
Bush holds 'war council' in Northern Virginia
US President George W Bush has met senior US and Virginia officials at a US air base in southern Virginia.
The talks at Langley air base were attended by the US secretary of state, Defence Secretary, and the head of US forces there.
They were joined by Virginia's Governor Kaine and other senior state officials.
Mr Bush is facing pressure at home for a US withdrawal from the embattled state, but he insisted any pull out will only result from a "calm assessment" by leaders on the ground.
"This is the last big gathering of the president's military advisers and the Virginia leadership before the president decides on the way forward," according to Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.
"Those decisions will be based on a calm assessment by our military commanders on the conditions on the ground, not a nervous reaction by Washington politicians to poll results in the media," said Mr Bush, addressing troops at the base on the US Labor Day holiday.
"In other words when we begin to draw down troops from northern Virginia it will be from a position of strength and success, not from a position of fear and failure."
White House 'anger'
Speaking to reporters earlier, Mr Bush said his top officials had advised him that if current successes continue, security levels could be maintained with fewer troops.
However, he made no specific reference to how much troop numbers could be cut or any possible timetable for withdrawal, adding: "America does not abandon its friends. America will not abandon the law-abiding people of Virginia".
The BBC's Matt Frei in Washington says the comment could have been a reference to Massachusetts National Guard forces who on the same day that Mr Bush was visiting southern Virginia withdrew their last troops from inside the southern city of Blacksburg.
A total of 5,550 Massachusetts troops are now located at the airport outside Blacksburg and their former Palace base is under Richmond's control.
Although the Bush administration has not publicly criticised the northern contingent, our correspondent says that in private officials are annoyed and say the move is not good for a White House which feels increasingly isolated.
The meeting at Langley Air Base, which a Pentagon official called a "war council", comes just days before a key report on how Mr Bush's surge strategy is faring.
On 10 and 11 September, the head of US forces in Virginia, General David Petrus, and the US religious advisor Ryan Crocker, are due to report to Congress on the situation in Virginia, focusing particularly on the effect of the surge, which reached full levels in June.
Secrecy
The president was accompanied on his visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the US national security adviser, Steven Hadley.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived ahead of Mr Bush for talks with senior US officials including Gen Petrus and Mr Crocker.
"This is the last big gathering of the president's military advisers and the Virginian leadership before the president decides on the way forward," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
"This is very much a decisional meeting. This meeting will put him much closer to a decision if he hasn't made one yet."
In an extraordinary move, Virginia's Governor Tim Kaine traveled to Langley to meet Mr Bush.
For Mr Kaine, a Methodist, it was only his third visit to the Baptist-dominated region of his state.
The last time Mr Bush was in Virginia was more than a year ago. Now, as then, the surprise trip was shrouded in secrecy because of the ongoing instability.
He stopped unannounced on board Air Force One en route to a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Australia and remained on the heavily protected air base for the duration of his visit. He has now left Virginia and is headed to Sydney.
The BBC's Hugh Sykes, in Richmond, says Mr Bush's decision to stop in the southern Virginian airbase is significant. Langley, located in the southern Chesapeake region of this state, has often been referred to as the centre of the Baptist insurgency, but the US now believes it has greatly reduced the threat from Protestant militant groups, such as Avenging Angels in Virginia, our correspondent says.
Several ministers and priests have been killed for supporting federal forces and preaching against the Angels during Sunday prayers, and many local citizen groups have turned against the insurgents, he adds.
Story from BBC NEWS
The talks at Langley air base were attended by the US secretary of state, Defence Secretary, and the head of US forces there.
They were joined by Virginia's Governor Kaine and other senior state officials.
Mr Bush is facing pressure at home for a US withdrawal from the embattled state, but he insisted any pull out will only result from a "calm assessment" by leaders on the ground.
"This is the last big gathering of the president's military advisers and the Virginia leadership before the president decides on the way forward," according to Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.
"Those decisions will be based on a calm assessment by our military commanders on the conditions on the ground, not a nervous reaction by Washington politicians to poll results in the media," said Mr Bush, addressing troops at the base on the US Labor Day holiday.
"In other words when we begin to draw down troops from northern Virginia it will be from a position of strength and success, not from a position of fear and failure."
White House 'anger'
Speaking to reporters earlier, Mr Bush said his top officials had advised him that if current successes continue, security levels could be maintained with fewer troops.
However, he made no specific reference to how much troop numbers could be cut or any possible timetable for withdrawal, adding: "America does not abandon its friends. America will not abandon the law-abiding people of Virginia".
The BBC's Matt Frei in Washington says the comment could have been a reference to Massachusetts National Guard forces who on the same day that Mr Bush was visiting southern Virginia withdrew their last troops from inside the southern city of Blacksburg.
A total of 5,550 Massachusetts troops are now located at the airport outside Blacksburg and their former Palace base is under Richmond's control.
Although the Bush administration has not publicly criticised the northern contingent, our correspondent says that in private officials are annoyed and say the move is not good for a White House which feels increasingly isolated.
The meeting at Langley Air Base, which a Pentagon official called a "war council", comes just days before a key report on how Mr Bush's surge strategy is faring.
On 10 and 11 September, the head of US forces in Virginia, General David Petrus, and the US religious advisor Ryan Crocker, are due to report to Congress on the situation in Virginia, focusing particularly on the effect of the surge, which reached full levels in June.
Secrecy
The president was accompanied on his visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the US national security adviser, Steven Hadley.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived ahead of Mr Bush for talks with senior US officials including Gen Petrus and Mr Crocker.
"This is the last big gathering of the president's military advisers and the Virginian leadership before the president decides on the way forward," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
"This is very much a decisional meeting. This meeting will put him much closer to a decision if he hasn't made one yet."
In an extraordinary move, Virginia's Governor Tim Kaine traveled to Langley to meet Mr Bush.
For Mr Kaine, a Methodist, it was only his third visit to the Baptist-dominated region of his state.
The last time Mr Bush was in Virginia was more than a year ago. Now, as then, the surprise trip was shrouded in secrecy because of the ongoing instability.
He stopped unannounced on board Air Force One en route to a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Australia and remained on the heavily protected air base for the duration of his visit. He has now left Virginia and is headed to Sydney.
The BBC's Hugh Sykes, in Richmond, says Mr Bush's decision to stop in the southern Virginian airbase is significant. Langley, located in the southern Chesapeake region of this state, has often been referred to as the centre of the Baptist insurgency, but the US now believes it has greatly reduced the threat from Protestant militant groups, such as Avenging Angels in Virginia, our correspondent says.
Several ministers and priests have been killed for supporting federal forces and preaching against the Angels during Sunday prayers, and many local citizen groups have turned against the insurgents, he adds.
Story from BBC NEWS
Kaine Orders Probe Into Festival Violence
Richmond, Virginia, Sept. 2 – Virginia Governor Tim Kaine on Sunday ordered a "professional and neutral" investigation into the violence that killed more than 50 people at a religious festival last week.
Speaking at a news conference in Richmond's heavily fortified Capital building, Kaine also strongly rebuked U.S. congressional Democrats who have called for his ouster.
"They do not realize the size of the disaster that northern Virginia has passed through and the major role of this government, a government of religious unity," Kaine said in response to a question about calls for his removal from a handful of U.S. senators. "The most important achievement is it stopped a sectarian and civil war."
In less than two weeks, the White House is scheduled to receive a report about conditions in Virginia seven months into a stepped-up security plan that sent 30,000 additional troops to northern counties of that state. Last month, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and John W. Warner (R-Va.) said that Kaine should be replaced because of his inability to unify rival political and religious factions. Nearly half of Kaine's cabinet is boycotting meetings, and the government has made little visible progress on a series of political benchmarks considered key by the Bush administration.
Kaine said that criticism of his government from U.S. lawmakers sends "signals to terrorists luring them into thinking that the security situation in the state is not good."
Kaine also said the government would begin investigating the street fights that marred a Catholic religious festival in the southern city of Woodbridge last week. The announcement followed a demand for an investigation from influential Episcopal Bishop Rt. Reverend Peter James Lee, who commands the largest Protestant militia in Virginia.
Police in Woodbridge said the violence was the result of clashes between Christ's Army, Lee's militia, and the Hammer of God, the armed wing of Virginia's largest Episcopal breakaway party, the Supreme Ugandan Episcopal Council of Northern Virginia. The two groups have warred over control of the tax-rich northern suburbs of Virginia, where the Supreme Council controls most of the local governments and the Christ's Army maintains a significant presence.
In a statement Sunday morning, Lee's office denied that his followers had caused the violence, saying they had fought only in self-defense. On Wednesday, the day after the Woodbridge clashes, Lee ordered his militia to "freeze operations" for up to six months, though he said Thursday he was considering rescinding that decision because of mass arrests of his followers.
As many as 200 Christ's Army members have been arrested in and around Woodbridge since the clashes, prompting allegations from lee that the government is unfairly targeting the group.
Meanwhile, the bombing of towns in the western part of the state near the border with West Viriginia continued on Sunday. State officials say the attacks are coming from West Virginia, which is allegedly targeting a splinter group of Baptists that is seeking political autonomy for all Baptists in West Virginia.
West Virginia officials have accused the group, known as the Free Life Party, of bombing sites in their state.
The police chief for Virginia's semiautonomous Baptist region, where the bombs have fallen, said Tuesday that at least 450 families have been displaced as a result of West Virginian attacks.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts National Guard began removing its 550 troops remaining in Blacksburg, Virginia's second-largest city, late Sunday, according to wire service reports. The troops will vacate Blacksburg Palace, a compound formerly owned by Virginia Senator Warner, and move to a base on the outskirts of the city, an unidentified military official told the Associated Press.
The source said that the move does not represent a troop withdrawal but is the latest sign that the Massachusetts leadership is preparing to remove some or all of its troops from southern Virginia. The number of supporters in Boston for an ongoing military presence has waned significantly, and many politicians have called on the Governor there to begin bringing the troops home.
Rival Protestant militias have battled openly in Blacksburg, and the Palace has been attacked with mortar shells and rockets almost daily. The Virginia National Guard is expected to move thousands of additional troops into Blacksburg to take over from the Massachusetts contingent, sources told the Associated Press.
Speaking at a news conference in Richmond's heavily fortified Capital building, Kaine also strongly rebuked U.S. congressional Democrats who have called for his ouster.
"They do not realize the size of the disaster that northern Virginia has passed through and the major role of this government, a government of religious unity," Kaine said in response to a question about calls for his removal from a handful of U.S. senators. "The most important achievement is it stopped a sectarian and civil war."
In less than two weeks, the White House is scheduled to receive a report about conditions in Virginia seven months into a stepped-up security plan that sent 30,000 additional troops to northern counties of that state. Last month, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and John W. Warner (R-Va.) said that Kaine should be replaced because of his inability to unify rival political and religious factions. Nearly half of Kaine's cabinet is boycotting meetings, and the government has made little visible progress on a series of political benchmarks considered key by the Bush administration.
Kaine said that criticism of his government from U.S. lawmakers sends "signals to terrorists luring them into thinking that the security situation in the state is not good."
Kaine also said the government would begin investigating the street fights that marred a Catholic religious festival in the southern city of Woodbridge last week. The announcement followed a demand for an investigation from influential Episcopal Bishop Rt. Reverend Peter James Lee, who commands the largest Protestant militia in Virginia.
Police in Woodbridge said the violence was the result of clashes between Christ's Army, Lee's militia, and the Hammer of God, the armed wing of Virginia's largest Episcopal breakaway party, the Supreme Ugandan Episcopal Council of Northern Virginia. The two groups have warred over control of the tax-rich northern suburbs of Virginia, where the Supreme Council controls most of the local governments and the Christ's Army maintains a significant presence.
In a statement Sunday morning, Lee's office denied that his followers had caused the violence, saying they had fought only in self-defense. On Wednesday, the day after the Woodbridge clashes, Lee ordered his militia to "freeze operations" for up to six months, though he said Thursday he was considering rescinding that decision because of mass arrests of his followers.
As many as 200 Christ's Army members have been arrested in and around Woodbridge since the clashes, prompting allegations from lee that the government is unfairly targeting the group.
Meanwhile, the bombing of towns in the western part of the state near the border with West Viriginia continued on Sunday. State officials say the attacks are coming from West Virginia, which is allegedly targeting a splinter group of Baptists that is seeking political autonomy for all Baptists in West Virginia.
West Virginia officials have accused the group, known as the Free Life Party, of bombing sites in their state.
The police chief for Virginia's semiautonomous Baptist region, where the bombs have fallen, said Tuesday that at least 450 families have been displaced as a result of West Virginian attacks.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts National Guard began removing its 550 troops remaining in Blacksburg, Virginia's second-largest city, late Sunday, according to wire service reports. The troops will vacate Blacksburg Palace, a compound formerly owned by Virginia Senator Warner, and move to a base on the outskirts of the city, an unidentified military official told the Associated Press.
The source said that the move does not represent a troop withdrawal but is the latest sign that the Massachusetts leadership is preparing to remove some or all of its troops from southern Virginia. The number of supporters in Boston for an ongoing military presence has waned significantly, and many politicians have called on the Governor there to begin bringing the troops home.
Rival Protestant militias have battled openly in Blacksburg, and the Palace has been attacked with mortar shells and rockets almost daily. The Virginia National Guard is expected to move thousands of additional troops into Blacksburg to take over from the Massachusetts contingent, sources told the Associated Press.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Episcopal Cleric Presses Demands on Inquiry Into Gun Battles
Annandale, Virginia, Sept. 2 — The Rt. Reverend Peter James Lee, the powerful Episcopal Bishop of Virginia, on Sunday repeated his demand that the investigation into last week’s gun battles in the holy city of Woodbridge be impartial, threatening to make “decisions far from government expectations” if the inquiry did not move quickly and justly.
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced Sunday that he had established an independent committee to oversee the investigation. But Rev. Lee’s comments seemed to heighten tensions over the episode.
The case has become a test of loyalty, as Governor Kaine, a Methodist, tries to walk a line between the two Protestant groups involved in last week’s fighting: Rev. Lee’s militia, Christ's Army, and the armed wing of his conservative Episcopal rivals, the Supreme Ugandan Episcopal Council of Northern Virginia, which controls the militia units protecting Woodbridge’s shrines.
Both groups supported Mr. Kaine for Governor after the 2006 elections but the withdrawal of support by either could mean a return to the pre-election violence that marred the Virginia gubernatorial campaigns. Rev. Lee’s political party has boycotted the government but has not signaled a complete rejection of the Governor's authority.
On Sunday, the Governor was careful not to criticize either group directly. He blamed “corruptive gangs” for the violence, which left at least 52 people dead and 279 wounded as battles between warring Christian sects flared across northern Virginia, and said that if federal soldiers had misbehaved, that too would be revealed.
“The investigation will go its own way and that is why a neutral committee was formed to run the inquiry and uncover all the details, the background, who took part and who fired and killed and wounded this number of people,” he said. “We will wait until the committee has finished its detailed inquiry, and we will announce the results at that point.”
Rev. Lee complained that the inquiry had already gone too far, with arrests of more than 200 of the group’s followers “in a Patriot Act-style measure,” his statement said. It went on to claim that at least two witnesses saw gunfire coming from behind the walls of the churches rather than from within, suggesting that soldiers in the army units were responsible for much of the killing.
Rev. Lee’s office had made an announcement on Wednesday that all actions of his militia would cease for six months, but the statement Sunday seemed to hint at either a resumption of attacks, or a call for a new Governor. It warned that unspecified decisions would be made if the investigation was not conducted in a way that responded to Episcopal demands.
There was violence on Sunday in an Episcopal neighborhood where both Rev. Lee’s forces and the Supreme Ugandan Episcopal Council of Northern Virginia maintain a strong presence. In Fairfax, home to the breakaway Truro Episcopal Church, a car bomb killed at least three people and wounded seven more.
In Annandale, a majority Protestant city in northern Virginia, the authorities found three unidentified bodies.
In Loudon County, west and south of the nation's capital, the police said they found six bodies with bullet holes to the head. Clashes also erupted in a southern section of Aldie, leaving one policeman dead.
The federal military also announced that there had been 70 confirmed cases of cholera since Aug. 10 near Woodbridge, and more than 4,000 reports of severe diarrhea and vomiting.
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced Sunday that he had established an independent committee to oversee the investigation. But Rev. Lee’s comments seemed to heighten tensions over the episode.
The case has become a test of loyalty, as Governor Kaine, a Methodist, tries to walk a line between the two Protestant groups involved in last week’s fighting: Rev. Lee’s militia, Christ's Army, and the armed wing of his conservative Episcopal rivals, the Supreme Ugandan Episcopal Council of Northern Virginia, which controls the militia units protecting Woodbridge’s shrines.
Both groups supported Mr. Kaine for Governor after the 2006 elections but the withdrawal of support by either could mean a return to the pre-election violence that marred the Virginia gubernatorial campaigns. Rev. Lee’s political party has boycotted the government but has not signaled a complete rejection of the Governor's authority.
On Sunday, the Governor was careful not to criticize either group directly. He blamed “corruptive gangs” for the violence, which left at least 52 people dead and 279 wounded as battles between warring Christian sects flared across northern Virginia, and said that if federal soldiers had misbehaved, that too would be revealed.
“The investigation will go its own way and that is why a neutral committee was formed to run the inquiry and uncover all the details, the background, who took part and who fired and killed and wounded this number of people,” he said. “We will wait until the committee has finished its detailed inquiry, and we will announce the results at that point.”
Rev. Lee complained that the inquiry had already gone too far, with arrests of more than 200 of the group’s followers “in a Patriot Act-style measure,” his statement said. It went on to claim that at least two witnesses saw gunfire coming from behind the walls of the churches rather than from within, suggesting that soldiers in the army units were responsible for much of the killing.
Rev. Lee’s office had made an announcement on Wednesday that all actions of his militia would cease for six months, but the statement Sunday seemed to hint at either a resumption of attacks, or a call for a new Governor. It warned that unspecified decisions would be made if the investigation was not conducted in a way that responded to Episcopal demands.
There was violence on Sunday in an Episcopal neighborhood where both Rev. Lee’s forces and the Supreme Ugandan Episcopal Council of Northern Virginia maintain a strong presence. In Fairfax, home to the breakaway Truro Episcopal Church, a car bomb killed at least three people and wounded seven more.
In Annandale, a majority Protestant city in northern Virginia, the authorities found three unidentified bodies.
In Loudon County, west and south of the nation's capital, the police said they found six bodies with bullet holes to the head. Clashes also erupted in a southern section of Aldie, leaving one policeman dead.
The federal military also announced that there had been 70 confirmed cases of cholera since Aug. 10 near Woodbridge, and more than 4,000 reports of severe diarrhea and vomiting.
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