Here We Go Again

Breaking news is that terror suspect Najibullah Zazi of Denver, CO, has been charged with one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. Yes, the boys in the FBI building must be high-fiving themselves right now... Oh, but wait. Let's look at the details of the arrest.

Terror suspect Najibullah Zazi plotted for more than a year to detonate homemade bombs in the United States, had recently bought bomb-making supplies from beauty supply stores and was looking for "urgent" help in the past two weeks to make explosives, an indictment charged Thursday.

Zazi, 24, has been under arrest with his father in Denver since Saturday on charges of lying to government officials about a suspected attack.

But on Wednesday, a grand jury in Eastern District of New York handed Zazi the more serious one-count indictment for conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. The government has also asked the court for permanent detention, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.
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In court documents released Thursday, the Justice Department says Zazi and unnamed others purchased "large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and acetone products from beauty supply stores in the Denver metropolitan area," reports Orr. The government says evidence including surveillance videos will prove Zazi and the others made repeated purchases of the chemicals over the last three months.

Hydrogen peroxide and acetone are key ingredients for making homemade explosives, reports Orr. Those chemicals have been used in the past for various terrorist attacks and attempts including the London transit in 2005 and the ill-fated Richard Reid shoe-bomb plot in 2001.

Last time that I looked, hydrogen peroxide and acetone were not on the precursors list for chemical warfare agents. No, this is the long-standing bullshit FBI overreach of Title 18, section 2332a and 921 that defines any explosive device - from an M80 to pipebombs to ammonia nitrate fertilizer - as a WMD. It's such a disengenous and unacademic effort to show the agency as some awesome guardian against terrorist WMD incidents, when the case is clearly anything but a WMD incident in the planning stage.

He was looking for hydrogen peroxide in beauty stores? Here's a better solution, let's have the DOJ call on the Army's WMD experts, the 20th Support Command (CBRNE), to conduct WMD elimination missions in all the NYC beauty stores. That should dry up a big source of concern to the FBI. Once again, I will voice my hearty recommendations to the FBI to stop using this ridiculously phrased federal law and to make its case based on more applicable statues. 

UPDATE: George Smith has more on failed "WMDs."

Comments

[KSR]

I agree with you that WMD charges for IED construction (or conspiracy thereof)is stupid, but I think it's part of a general effort by government prosecutors to convict would-be terrorists. Because WMD charges carry such stiff sentences, they get the defendants to plea to lesser charges (conspiracy, possession, etc.) and get to avoid going to court. It's happened before (see Lackawanna 6 and the Fort Dix plot). I also suspect that if these cases were to go to court, a significant amount of them would have flaws and some of the suspects would get off. Bad news for the agencies that trumpeted their victory in the GWOT.

So the relevant government agencies get their coveted anti-terrorism efforts and success stories, and the defendants get long sentences. Not exactly the best solution.

[J.]

Yeah, I realize that, and NVH or ry is going to come here and say the same thing. Not being a law enforcement guy, maybe I don't recognize the value of plea-bargaining, but as an academic exercise and for the value of having a consistent definition across the federal govt, it fails.

[scathsealgaire]

Maybe if he stole a LNG tanker and did a McVeigh I could consider it a WMD.
Otherwise at best we are looking at an IED.
I do think the term WMD, is stupid in general.
Weapon of Mass Destruction. That encompasses IED's if you want to get really pedantic.

They need to go back to NBC weapons. Or Strategic NBC weapons, thus saying they have a minimum kill count ie a large town or small city.

But calling a bomb that might kill 100 people a WMD is sad.
Anyone with a 105 howitzer and a crowd and you'd have WMD.

[USAFEOD]

WMD is NOT an FBI or DHS thing, it is an Attorney General thing... As mentioned, the law was written by/for prosecutors, not academics or intellectuals. As an afterthought (or lack thereof), the Agencies can then pile on the "threat porn" to garner bigger budgets and greater authorities. We are, in fact, becoming more of a police state every day. By using "threat porn", it is easy to use Orwellian logic that safety for the masses is freedom from fear!

And I doubt 20th SUPCOM would be able to think their way out of this paper bag. Wanna talk police state? That would really be a fun combination of Keystone Kops and Gestapo! Have yet to meet a real "WMD Expert" in uniform these days... Are there any senior field graders in operational units with advanced degrees in a hard science left?

[J.]

WMD is an arms control thing that DoJ and DoD twisted into political Gordian knots aimed at meaning whatever they want it to mean. No way to run a business.

[NVH]

Sorry, J, was in Disneyworld with the kids last few days. It was nice, thanks for asking. And that KSR guy is right.

LEOs don't care about your 90 lb brain thinking about global / national WMD strategy and terrorist definitions, you and Al Mauroni, while correct, can sit on the fencepost by yourselves...