MSN & CNN Wire & Israel National News & The Inquisitr.com & The Age & The Daily Telegraph – 2012-08-29 00:44:20
http://news.uk.msn.com/world/us-troops-plotted-to-kill-obama
US Troops Plotted to Kill Obama
MSN
(August 28, 2012) — Four US soldiers plotted to assassinate Barack Obama and overthrow the government, a court has heard. Prosecutors in Georgia said they formed an anarchist militia within the military.
One, private Michael Burnett, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and gang charges in the killings last December of former soldier Michael Roark and his girlfriend, 17-year-old Tiffany York. Burnett said that Roark, who had just left the army, knew of the militia.
Prosecutor Isabel Pauley said the group bought 87,000 dollars (£55,000) of guns and bomb-making materials and plotted to take over Fort Stewart, bomb targets in Savannah and Washington State, as well as assassinate the president.
‘Anarchists’ Accused of Murder; Broader Plot Against Government
CNN Wire Staff
FORT STEWART, home to the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (August 28, 2012) — This much is clear: Four U.S. Army soldiers based in Georgia are accused of killing two people. Beyond that, a Georgia prosecutor and federal authorities are offering differing responses to a possible plot by the group to overthrow the government and assassinate President Barack Obama.
“As far as the evidence has shown, the motive for the murders was the overthrow of the government,” District Attorney Tom Durden said. “This wasn’t barroom talk,” Durden said, describing the men as part of an anarchist militia. “They amassed a good bit of weapons and explosive materials.”
A law enforcement official said the men had legally purchased at least 18 rifles and handguns in Washington and Georgia. The official said uncompleted pipe bombs were also found, and were comprised of store-bought materials. No sophisticated military grade-explosives were involved in their construction.
However, several agencies called into the investigation because of the accumulation of weapons — including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — made scant mention of any alleged assassination plot or government overthrow attempt. One official described it as a murder case and said no federal charges had been filed.
On Monday, Pfc. Michael Burnett laid out the elaborate plot, telling a southeast Georgia court that he was part of what prosecutors called “an anarchist group and militia.”
Dressed in his Army uniform, he spoke in a Long County court about the group of Army soldiers and its role in the December deaths of former soldier Michael Roark and his teenage girlfriend, Tiffany York. Roark, he said, was killed because he took money from the group and planned to leave.
“I don’t know how it got to the point where two people got murdered,” Burnett said in court. He talked about how he and three others accused — Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, Sgt. Anthony Peden and Pvt. Christopher Salmon — had begun getting together, “just going out shooting guns, just guy stuff.”
“And then Aguigui introduced me to ‘the manuscript,’ that’s what he called it, a book about true patriots,” the soldier said.
The four men became part of a group that aimed “to give the government back to the people,” according to Burnett, who said that revolution was its goal. They called it FEAR — Forever Enduring Always Ready — and spent thousands of dollars buying guns and bomb parts. The government needed a change, Burnett told the court. “I thought we were the people who would be able to change it.”
It is not clear how capable the group was of carrying out the goals Burnett laid out. Assistant District Attorney Isabel Pauley said it was “unknown” how many others belonged to the group. She identified Aguigui as the leader of what she described as “an anarchist group and militia” that included active and former troops. “Defendant Aguigui actively recruited new members at Fort Stewart (in southeast Georgia) and targeted soldiers who were in trouble or disillusioned,” she said.
At the time of their arrest, group members had plotted a number of “acts of domestic terror,” the prosecutor said. These included “forcibly taking over the ammo control point of Fort Stewart to take the post, bombing vehicles of local and state judicial and political figureheads and federal representatives to include the local department of homeland security, (and plotting) to bomb the fountain at Forsyth Park in Savannah.”
Days before he died, Roark had been discharged from the army, according to Pauley. Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend were killed because Aguigui felt the couple was “a loose end,” Burnett said.
“Sir, if I could have stopped this from happening, I would have,” the soldier told the judge about the couple’s killings.
Burnett admitted being at the scene of the crime, including watching as a soldier “checked (York’s) pulse and then shot her again.” York’s sister, Tiffany, told CNN affiliate WTOC that she hoped York “didn’t have to beg, or suffer.”
As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Burnett pleaded guilty to manslaughter — instead of murder, thus avoiding a possible death sentence — and other charges. He also agreed to testify against the three other soldiers accused in the case.
All four soldiers had also been charged by the military in connection with the two killings. But as their case proceeded through civilian courts, the Army dismissed its charges, according to Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson.
The military’s Criminal Investigative Division (CID) probe is ongoing, though it is not believed there are any “unknown subjects” — or people besides those four men — tied to these crimes, Larson said.
In a statement Monday, Larson insisted that Fort Stewart and its affiliated Hunter Army Airfield do not have “a gang or militia problem.”
“Any suspicions of gang activity are actively investigated by CID, (which) recognizes the obvious concerns with the combination of gangs and military-type training,” he said. “That is why CID monitors and investigates gang and extremist group association with criminal acts in the Army so closely. We believe the reason we are able to maintain a low gang criminal threat status is because of the awareness of and focus on the threat.”
Fort Stewart, about 40 miles southwest of Savannah, is home to the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division.
Tens of thousands of troops, their dependents, civilian personnel and contractors live and work on the base, which encompasses 280,000 acres and includes parts of five counties, including Long County, which has about 14,500 residents. Hunter Army Airfield is in Savannah but is officially part of the larger Fort Stewart complex.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks what it characterizes as “hate groups” nationwide, spoke to Aguigui’s father Monday night. “I served my country for 20 years and I honor that, take pride in that,” Ed Aguigui told the center, according to the center’s Hatewatch blog. “I don’t know what my son’s views are, and where they came from.”
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US Troops Plotted To Kill Obama, Developing Story Indicates
The Inquisitr.com
LUDOWIC, GA (August 27, 2012) — Four US troops plotted to kill President Obama, going so far as to kill another two people who were aware of the plot in a story for which only scant details have been provided for thus far.
Armed with $87,000 worth of weapons, the troops that plotted to kill Obama were said to have been planning a large set of terrorist activities, including assassinating the President as well as bombing major targets and overthrowing the federal government.
Pfc. Michael Burnett pled guilty today to manslaughter as well as gang-related activity in the December killings of former soldier Michael Roark and Roark’s girlfriend, 17-year-old Tiffany York. In the case against Burnett, Roark and York were referred to as “loose ends,†killed because of their knowledge of the assassination plot.
The initial report on the plot to kill Obama by the US troops refers to an “anarchist militia within the U.S. military with plans to overthrow the federal government,†and details what we know so far, disclosed earlier today:
“Prosecutor Isabel Pauley says the group bought $87,000 worth of guns and bomb-making materials and plotted to take over Fort Stewart, bomb targets in nearby Savannah and Washington state, as well as assassinate the president.â€
Little else is known about the alleged plot to kill Obama, and the names of the other soldiers thought to be involved in the treasonous plans were not disclosed in the initial report. For instance, it is not known if Roark is one of the four accused of planning to kill the president, or if the plot involved others.
Former US Soldier Plotted to Kill Obama
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu / Israel National News
(August 28, 2012) — An anarchist’s terrorist cell plotted to kill President Barack Obama, while serving in the U.S. Army, prosecutors said in his murder trial of another anarchist and his girlfriend.
Isaac Aguigui also planned to seize an ammunition control site and take over Fort Stewart, Georgia and bomb a location in the city of Savannah – all of this prior to assassinating the president.
Aguigui and three cell comrades, also former soldiers, are on trial for the murder of a fellow soldier and his girlfriend, whom the suspect feared had betrayed the anarchist group called Forever Enduring Always Ready, whose acronym is FEAR.
He found funds for his private militia thanks to half a million dollars in insurance benefits following the death of his pregnant wife last year. Aguigui bought $87,000 worth of assault rifles, guns and materials for bombs, all of which investigators found in the homes of cell members.
The murder suspect also managed to work as a page on the floor of the Republican party 2008 convention, where he was identified in a photograph published by Reuters.
US Soldiers ‘Plotted to Kill Obama’
Nick Allen / The Age (Australia) & The Daily Telegraph (UK)
LOS ANGELES (August 29, 2012) — A group of American soldiers formed an anarchist militia and spent $US87,000 ($83,922) on weapons in an elaborate plot to overthrow the government and ultimately assassinate the president, a court heard. The soldiers allegedly made themselves into a group called FEAR, standing for Forever Enduring Always Ready, and bought land in Washington State from which to launch attacks.
They were said to have planned to blow up a dam and poison apple crops in Washington state, bomb a park in Savannah, Georgia, attack vehicles belonging to Department of Homeland Security employees, and take over an ammunition control point at the sprawling Fort Stewart army base in Georgia.
Prosecutors said its long-term goal was revolution; bringing down the US government and killing President Barack Obama. It is not known over what period of time this alleged plot would have taken place. Details of the militia emerged during civilian court proceedings in Georgia in which three soldiers have been charged with murder.
Pte Isaac Aguigui, who was identified as the founder and leader of FEAR, Sgt Anthony Peden, and Pte Christopher Salmon, are charged over the deaths of a former soldier, Michael Roark, 19, and his girlfriend Tiffany York, 17. The victims were allegedly killed in woodland in Georgia last December, to keep the militia’s existence secret.
A fourth defendant in the case, Pte Michael Burnett, 26, admitted two counts of manslaughter on Monday. He is co-operating with prosecutors in a deal which will see him avoid a possible death sentence. Burnett told the court Pte Aguigui introduced him to “the manuscript”, which was “a book about true patriots”, and that the militia aimed “to give the government back to the people”.
Prosecutors said militia members wore anarchist tattoos and it was unknown how many members there were. The court heard that Pte Aguigui funded the group using $US500,000 in insurance money and benefit payments he received after the death of his pregnant wife a year ago. He was said to have recruited members through the US army.
Prosecutor Isabel Pauley said the militia “possessed the knowledge, means and motive to carry out their plans”.
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