Suspect planned violent 'jihad' against US, federal prosecutors say
Boston - A Massachusetts man was arrested and charged Wednesday with plotting to attack the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol with a remote-controlled aircraft filled with plastic explosives, federal officials said.
Rezwan Ferdaus, 26, of Ashland, was also charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to al-Qaida in order to carry out attacks on U.S. soldiers stationed overseas.
Ferdaus was arrested Wednesday in Framingham when undercover federal agents delivered materials he had requested for his alleged plan, including grenades, six machine guns and what Ferdaus believed was C-4 explosive.
According to a federal affidavit, Ferdaus said he wanted to deal a psychological blow to Americans, the "enemies of Allah," by hitting the Pentagon, which he called "head and heart of the snake."
In a conversation with a federal informant, Ferdaus allegedly explained how in ancient times, God uses natural disasters to punish evil civilizations, and he would use them today. "For us, we've gotta do that," he said, according to the affidavit. "Allah has given us the privilege ... he punishes them by our hand. We're the ones."
Ferdaus is a U.S. citizen who graduated from Northeastern University graduate with a degree in physics, according to the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts.
Comment: Remote controlled aircraft. Lets see, common logic would say these things are hollow, lightweight and barely able to lift themselves off the ground. They're not rocket or jet propelled and have great difficulty air lifting a G.I. Joe (toy) with them. "[F]illed with plastic explosives", these things will barely taxi down the street. While I do understand that the average reader is likely to believe such fantasies as this guy (with the remote aircraft) doing all of this, how would he do it? You can't sit at home and get your remote controlled plain to fly from Massachusetts to the Pentagon, the remote won't work at such distances. So you have to expose yourself as flying the (non-flyable anyway) devices.
Once there out on the "
Amazing Pentalawn", exposing yourself, how are your non-flyable planes going to do anything to a steel-kevlar reinforced concrete building? It would be like fly's attempting to take out an electric bug zapper!
Comment: Remote controlled aircraft. Lets see, common logic would say these things are hollow, lightweight and barely able to lift themselves off the ground. They're not rocket or jet propelled and have great difficulty air lifting a G.I. Joe (toy) with them. "[F]illed with plastic explosives", these things will barely taxi down the street. While I do understand that the average reader is likely to believe such fantasies as this guy (with the remote aircraft) doing all of this, how would he do it? You can't sit at home and get your remote controlled plain to fly from Massachusetts to the Pentagon, the remote won't work at such distances. So you have to expose yourself as flying the (non-flyable anyway) devices.
Once there out on the "Amazing Pentalawn", exposing yourself, how are your non-flyable planes going to do anything to a steel-kevlar reinforced concrete building? It would be like fly's attempting to take out an electric bug zapper!