In a strange, frightening and dangerous plot that was revealed last year, unknown gunmen were allegedly prepared to assassinate the leadership of the “Occupy Houston” movement. Here is the background of the plan from “Techdirt” in 2013:
“Last week, Digital Journal reported that the documents obtained by PCJF detailed how the FBI cooperated with the Department of Homeland Security, US military and private corporations to monitor and investigate Occupy Wall Street protesters as “domestic terrorists” and “criminals.” The documents prove that federal agencies are “functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall Street and corporate America,” PCJF said.
Thorough analyses of the documents has now revealed a heavily redacted file that clearly mentions a plan to use snipers to assassinate Occupy protesters. The names of the groups or individuals involved in the murderous plot have been redacted, so it is impossible to identify them at this time. What is known is that the FBI never alerted any of the potential victims of the danger to their lives.
We’re talking heavily redacted text here, which strips out a bunch of details, but here’s the text that is available.
An identified [redacted] of October planned to engage in sniper attacks against protesters in Houston, Texas, if deemed necessary. An identified [redacted] had received intelligence that indicated the protesters in New York and Seattle planned similar protests in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. [Redacted] planned to gather intelligence against the leaders of the protest groups and obtain photographs then formulate a plan to kill the leadership via suppressed sniper rifles.”
Last month a federal judge in Texas ordered the FBI to explain why they did not comply with a Freedom of Information Act request for documents about the plot, and the deadline for that information is April 9. From The Wall Street Journal:
“A federal judge has ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation to give her a better explanation for its refusal to turn over information to a student researching an alleged plot to assassinate “Occupy” protest leaders in Houston.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit brought by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student who is seeking records from the FBI related to a Houston spin-off of the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests and an alleged sniper plot. The student claims that the heavily redacted responses he got back from the government violated the Freedom of Information Act.
Information about the alleged plot first surfaced in FBI documents — released through a prior FOIA request by a civil-rights legal organization in Washington – that referenced a “plan to kill the leadership via suppressed sniper rifles,” according to court documents. It’s not known who was behind the alleged plot or whether the FBI investigated it.
In a ruling last week, Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the FBI to explain with more detail why it claims that certain information requested by the student, Ryan Noah Shapiro, is exempted under FOIA.
The law governing the public’s access to records allows the FBI to shield “information compiled for law enforcement purposes” if disclosure would interfere with an investigation, endanger life or cause other types of harm.
That exemption was repeatedly cited by FBI FOIA chief David Hardy in a filing to the court in support of an FBI motion to dismiss Mr. Shapiro’s lawsuit. Some information was redacted, according to Mr. Hardy’s filing, because it involved information shared with local law enforcement agencies related to an investigation of “potential criminal activity by protestors involved with the ‘Occupy’ movement in Houston.” He stated that the potential crimes included “domestic terrorism” and “advocating overthrow of government.”
Judge Collyer said that justification wasn’t sufficient.
“At no point does Mr. Hardy supply specific facts as to the basis for FBI’s belief that the Occupy protestors might have been engaged in terroristic or other criminal activity,” she wrote. “Neither the word ‘terrorism’ nor the phrase ‘advocating the overthrow of the government’ are talismanic, especially where FBI purports to be investigating individuals who ostensibly are engaged in protected First Amendment activity.”
She asked the the FBI to get back to her with a more specific explanation by April 9. The judge is allowing the FBI to file its response under seal.”
Over at “Washington’s Blog” there is further speculation:
“The obvious question to ask in attempting to determine the identities of the planners is this: Who has sniper training? A number of Texas law enforcement organizations received special training from Dallas-based mercenary company Craft International, which has a contract for training services with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The company was founded by a celebrated Army sniper who was killed by a combat veteran he accompanied to a shooting range.”
What this information suggests is that major banking corporations were in a panic about the generally peaceful protests by the “Occupy” movement. There is reason to believe that this scenario could have gone nation-wide, with protestors in every major city and West Coast ports shut down by protests.
Those corporations may have indeed employed private contractors of the “Blackwater”, XE, or Craft International types. Take a look at this piece by Dave Lindorff about Craft International being present at the Boston Marathon bombing:
“Craft International’s website describes the company as providing “the best security, defense and combat weapons training in the world to military, police, corporate and civilian clients.” To date, no one has come forward to say who invited or contracted with Craft to have their special forces-trained staff “on duty” at the Boston Marathon. The media should be demanding an answer to that. Why were they needed? It’s not standard operating procedure for these kinds of events.”
Lindorff provides this compilation photo of Craft International employees and alleged bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev; note the similarity in clothing and backpacks:
“The resemblance of the coat, pants, hats and even backpacks between Tarmelan Tsarnaev (left top and far lower right) and both the Craft International Security mercenaries on the scene (two center top and second-from-right on bottom), as well as federal police agents of the CST (a unit of the National Guard) is so perfect as to defy any claim it is a coincidence”.
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We should never forget that through the 1960’s-’70’s the entire progressive leadership in the country -the Kennedy’s, Martin Luther King, the American Indian Movement, the Black Panthers, and anti-war protestors at Kent State – were all killed by government agents.
Techdirt also reminds us of the FBI’s track record on terrorist plots:
“FBI Continues To Foil Its Own Devised Terrorist Plots
from the sarcastic-golf-clap dept
It seems there’s a new pattern showing itself every time I read a news report in which the FBI proudly announces it foiled a terrorist plot. That pattern goes something like this: hear that a huge explosion was averted and lives were saved, find out the plotter was an American citizen, find out he was under investigation by the FBI for several years, and then finally find out that it was the FBI that egged on the suspect and built his “bomb” for him. In other words, the only way these things could become less impressive is if the FBI actually decided to quit finding these loner folks to urge into violence and just built their own physical straw man to parade in front of the cameras.”
