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TERRORISM

Oakland Bomb Suspect Hoped to Pin Blame on Anti-Government Right

Taliban-sympathizer foiled in an FBI Sting said he wanted 'civil war'

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by Dain Fitzgerald

Staff Writer t +

Image: Google

A would-be terrorist foiled in a plot to blow up an Oakland bank was ultimately targeting "the anti-government right," reports the Oakland Tribune.

Unsuspecting 28-year-old Matthew Aaron Llaneza, who believed he'd been working with a Taliban member since last year who was in fact an undercover FBI agent, was arrested Thursday after allegedly attempting to blow up a Bank of America building with a cell-phone trigger device. The device, provided by the FBI, was of course inoperative.

Llaneza "wanted the bank bombing to be blamed on anti-U.S. government militias, trigger a governmental crackdown, which he expected would trigger a right-wing counter-response against the government followed by civil war," according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Llaneza made an appearance in federal court Friday and brought up on charges of "attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against property in an activity that affects interstate or foreign commerce." If convicted, the report states, Llaneza faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Via the Oakland Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle.
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Could Llaneza's plan to trigger a 'government crackdown' via a terrorist act actually work?

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134 Comments (view in Forum)

  • Fishbone345
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    We got a wee bit more than the TSA, we also got Homeland Defense, the Patriot Act (all versions), NDAA 12, wire tapping, email scanning all without warrants.
    9/11 brought us closer to our Government.
  • Fishbone345
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    @GmanGSW That was my thought when I was reading the story too. Apparently he didn't realize there is a difference between the Taliban and Al Qaeda. I suppose the Taliban might want vengeance for what we did in Afghanistan, but I'm pretty sure their first idea wouldn't be a Civil War between political factions in the US. The idea is absurd at best, which really shows how off his rocker this guy is.
  • scotta
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    @GmanGSW Obama said we didn't have to worry about them they were dead. Oh I for got Bush cut the funding for the Taliban so they are still active.

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  • Fishbone345
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    Attempt to blow up a bank and its a life sentence with likely every year served, kill a human being and its fifteen or so?
    Makes sense.
    Its like the old adage, if you rob a bank make sure and shoot someone.
  • frigginhell
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    Depends on how you rob the bank. If you do it from your office in New York while sitting on it's board you'll get even less time than someone does for jaywalking.
  • frigginhell
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    @Fishbone345 There is no dispartiy in sentencing in this country. You get exactly the amount of justice you can afford to buy. Its true of pretty much every case. You get the outcome based on your ability to pay for that outcome to come to fruition.
  • jessejaymes
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    The problem with starting a war between the right wing wackos and the govt is that the right wing wackos would start shooting civilians not just like them and lots of innocent people would be dead. Otherwise it would seem to be a plan.
  • NTBFW
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    Funny thing. There is a left wing whacko actually DOING that very thing. In fact most of the whackos that have been doing the mass shootings have been left wingers. Then you give us crap for wanting to defend ourselves? Go blow smoke up somebody else's backside.
  • stepped_in_it
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    @NTBFW "In fact most of the whackos that have been doing the mass shootings have been left wingers".......links convince better than words (so I've been told.....too many times)
  • NTBFW
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    @stepped_in_it I will get around to it later. But since I was particularly talking about what's happening today. With the left wing whacko that is doing exactly what JJ was talking about I didn't think it would be a stretch for someone to get the point. Just table the last few mass shooters for now and I will get the links later when I get to my lap top.

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  • MIDutch
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    The Taliban, the group Llaneza thought he was working with, is a fundamentalist ultra- conservative RIGHT wing group. Perhaps you didn't understand that part of the article.
  • MIDutch
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    @Vance1 Did he or did he not think he was dealing with the Taliban? Strict religious theocracy. Society based on a strict interpretation of a holy book. No world views other than the accepted religious one allowed. Women and minorities with few or NO civil rights. No mixing of believers with unbelievers. Most crimes punishable by death. Etc.. Do tell, does this sound more like a conservative right or liberal left position? Why, exactly, would Llaneza want to deal with what he thought were people like this if he was a liberal? Then again, my guess is that you wished the US were more like the list I gave above.
  • Vance1
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    @MIDutch
    If he believed that he was dealing with the Taliban, Then indeed he was a liberal.
    The so called people on the RIGHT, wouldnt ever deal with Muslim terrorists.
    But liberals adore them.
  • Comment removed for Engagement Etiquette violation. Replies may also be deleted.
  • mudpike
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    Without a doubt . He likely got the idea from from the gov't.'s black ops that creates these scenarios to alter world & stateside affairs. Do'ya think it hasn't been going on for years ? Watch , it's gonna get worse over the next few years.
  • Fishbone345
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    So you really think that blowing up a bank in Oakland would have triggered what 9/11 failed to, that being Martial Law or something equivalent? McVeigh blew up a federal building for crying out loud and we didn't get Martial Law.
    I'm not happy with Patriot, TSA, Homeland Defense or the other lovely by products of 9/11 either, but I'm relatively sure that blowing up a bank would have done the trick.
    I'd be willing to bet he got the idea from the "Taliban" agent he was working with. What a PR coup huh? "Look what we foiled! Money well spent America!". Think its convenient? I don't.
  • mudpike
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    @Fishbone345 - But back then BO wasn't president . Isn't anyone concerned about his overuse of executive orders & extra millions$ spent to enhance his ' homeland security' militia ? Why do we need them & the huge expense ? What do we have the National Guard for ?
  • Fishbone345
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    @mudpike If Dubyah didn't I highly doubt Obama will. Mind you, this guy is not my candidate. I'm just as stuck with him as you are, but I prefer to argue his merit based on reality. He hasn't used Executive Order any more than the previous several Presidents and surely not nearly as much as FDR did.
    I'm more concerned that Congress came up with a bill that strengthens Patriot and furthers the Governments powers against its citizens. How come no one said anything about that? Or the fact Obama questioned it, then sat down and signed the damn thing without so much as a pause?
    The expense comes as a result of piggy backing bills. If you want to point fingers, look no further than the House and Senate.
    Mind you Congressman Ron Paul voted against these things. Part of his plan if elected president would be to reduce Government, get rid of several branches, and reel in the TSA and Homeland Defense.
    You know what really annoys me? Right wingers that all of a sudden have grown an awareness of bills like Patriot and NDAA now that Obama is president. Where were these concerned citizens when the bills were originally introduced? By GOP Congressmen mind you! Oh I remember where they were, yelling at people like me for being "Un-Patriotic" and not supporting President Bush's actions to weed out Terrorism wherever it dwells. You'll have to pardon me if I don't buy it nowadays.
  • jessejaymes
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    @Fishbone345 Anyone who blames Obama for the Patriot act is a right winger. Anyone who blames Bush for the Patriot act is a left winger. Bush put it in, obama campaigned first time he would kill it and in fact extended it. There is no excuse for the STUPIDITY of the American people just sitting back and blaming "the other party" for all these loss of freedoms.

    RE-ELECT NOBODY 2014
  • Fishbone345
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    @jessejaymes Actually it was Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. a Republican Congressman from Wisconsin. An assclown that is still in office, but I get your point. You wanna see true Patriotism?
    http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/107-200...
    http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/107-200...
    Between those two links there are 66 House members and 1 Senator that are true Patriots. Because they were the only ones that didn't get swept up in the rhetoric and panic that 9/11 brought on. They voted for the American People. They truly represented their constituents. And their voices though tiny, will be remembered.
    1 Senator. 1!!!!
    Its fucking ludicrous. I tell you what though, Senator Russell Feingold is my hero. Can you imagine being the only Senator to vote Nay on this? During that time period America was so caught up in what "Patriotism was, they forgot what it really looked like.

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  • stepped_in_it
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    HMMM......I live in the south. Going out tomorrow to get the best Jim Billy Bob costume money can buy (just in case someone else tries this to success and the right-wing crazies decide to declare civil war). Might be my best chance to escape since I'm stuck behind enemy lines! <grinning>
  • Fishbone345
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    I just hope if we are going to have another Civil War that we get the retro uniforms again. Say what you will, but the Blues and Greys were pretty nifty looking.

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  • Dan_Tien
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    @NTBFW It seems that the Constitution has become a political football by multiple sides who ignore it or promote it as it suits their need. I have seen posts on Facebook from self-professed conservatives who are outraged by gun control proposals in one instance, while favoring a ban on those same rights for American Muslims in another. Doesn't that sound like ignoring the Constitution and punishing law-abiding citizens in order to disarm potentially real threats?
  • NTBFW
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    @Dan_Tien that's the nature of politics. But fundamentally the left is more anti constitutional. I constantly hear the left wanting to rewrite it. The leap to traitor is pretty far. But the extreme right's fear is that the left actually makes that leap.
  • crusader
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    I was thinking about them blowing up or hacking credit card companies so people could start over without that debt. Fortunately I paid off mine and cancelled the card, so that would do me no good but many Americans would love it.
  • cat2009
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    How come people that want to blow up places or hack the internet never go to places like those that have your credit status and either wipe the slate clean or give everybody an excellent rating.
  • cr8z4amerika
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    Why is it that 99.9% of these crazies & mass shooters are liberal? And yet our Govt looks at right wingers, tea partiers, conservatives, Ron Paul supporters & conspiracy theorist as the enemy or trouble makers. Doesn't make sense to me.
  • thumper11
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    It may not make sense to you and me (those capable of rational thought), but it makes perfect sense to our 'public servants' in Washington DC. The liberal left just keep nodding - like the bobble-heads they are.
  • Zazziness
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    @cr8z4amerika 99.9% of mass shooters are not liberals. Either provide documentation or admit the obvious -- you just made up your "data" on the spot.

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  • BelinKS
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    With the administration we have in place. It's plausible that if they thought right wing extremest were to blame that they would do exactly what this terrorist wannabe thought they would. One thing you have to remember that is these militias are not true republicans. They are in a group all to themselves! If they were actually to plan an attack of some sort, they would do it with a Republican in office too. I do not think they should even be considered far right. They are not. Their screwed up thinking makes them neither right or left. They are more of the anarchist frame.
  • thumper11
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    Please enlighten me as to exactly who "these militias" are. Where are they - what do they do - what is their intent - what is their "screwed up thinking"? Are you referring to individual like the Hutaree - a rural family and 3 other guys? Because I don't see how they qualify as a "militia".
  • BelinKS
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    @thumper11
    No, there are real groups of people that refer to themselves as the militia. They are not the far right as liberals want people to think, they are anarchist. They are mainly in the northern central part of our country. They are anti-government, anti-establishment people who are well armed and train as if they were the military. You can do the research yourself. Did you not read the article that went along with this discussion? Obviously not.
  • thumper11
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    @BelinKS,
    I am unaware of any such "real groups of people". Please identify one - just to give me a head start in researching and learning about them.
  • BelinKS
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    @thumper11
    If you are this ill informed and unable to do research for yourself, maybe you should not be posting. I'm not doing the research on the Internet for you. I learned about them from a news program on TV.
  • thumper11
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    @BelinKS,
    I get the distinct impression that you are just making all this up. What are you trying to accomplish? Why do you feel compelled to malign the 100 Million Americans who comprise the militia? What is your agenda?
  • SomethinsFishy
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    And yet another example of what I suggested in some of my posts. What, you don't think people like Adam Peter Lanza, James Egan Holmes, Adam Peter Lanza, and John Allen Muhammad & Lee Boyd Malvo wanted to do MORE than just take as many human lives as possible? That these Democrats didn't want to also be the reasons why the government clamped down even more on the American People? You don't think a homicidal sociopath could possibly be motivated by that? Remember Charlie Manson? His murders (in his mind) were to provoke a war between White and African-Americans (Helter Skelter). The foregoing shooters were much more educated and intelligent than Charlie Manson was.
  • Litdes
    !
    Anyone notice that this was the second instance in which a "would be bomber" who thought they were working for a terrorist organization was actually being baited by the federal government in the last week? The other was arraigned in New York for their efforts to bomb the federal reserve in NYC. Seems like if they spent as much time trying to protect us as they did soliciting bombers we might be in a better place.
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