Cleveland Occupy arrests are the latest in FBI's pattern of manipulation

[kpete]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Rhiannon12866 (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: The Guardian

Cleveland Occupy arrests are the latest in FBI's pattern of manipulation
The FBI says the five arrested before May Day are terrorists, but friends in Cleveland say they were goaded on by informant

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The Cleveland Five – Brandon Baxter, 20; Anthony Hayne, 35; Joshua Stafford, 23; Connor Stevens, 20; and Douglas Wright, 26 – were allegedly goaded by a criminal on the FBI dime who said "I could show you" how to take down a bridge, led them to the bridge, told them taking it out "would cost the corporate big wigs a lot of money", secured inoperable C4 explosives provided by an undercover agent, and then warned them they are "on the hook" for it. The informant also provided them with jobs, money, a place to live, a friendly ear, beer, pot and the prescription stimulant Adderall.

Because the bureau announced the arrests on May 1 as Occupy protests were taking place in some 110 US cities, many observers claim they were politically motivated. Then on May 19 and 20 authorities slapped five men with terrorism charges during anti-NATO protests in Chicago. Will Potter, who analyzes FBI entrapment plots in his book Green is the New Red, says the two incidents are "a reflection of an ongoing pattern of behavior from the FBI of singling out political activists and having a direct influence in creating so-called terrorist plots for the purpose of proclaiming a victory in the war on terrorism."

In the Cleveland and Chicago cases, the FBI is so desperate to manufacture terrorists it is now netting children. In Cleveland friends and family describe the boys – which everyone calls them – as lost souls who had found hope in the Occupy movement. Lea Tolls, a 46-year-old self-described "Occu-mom," says: "They are angry. Some have mental illnesses, and there is alcoholism and abuse in their families."

Prior to the arrests, all five except Doug Wright lived at a dilapidated brick warehouse, dubbed "the Fortress," which Occupy Cleveland had leased as a crash pad. In mid-May I visited the warehouse on a dead-end street and was immediately assaulted by pungent toilets, stale cigarette smoke, soiled dishes, tinny rock music, crude political graffiti and dank youth slumbering in the mid-day heat.
It was Anarchist Romper Room.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/28/cleveland-occupy-arrests-fbi-manipulation

[may3rd]

1. ""goaded by a criminal "" well, you can't fix stupid

and lipstick on a pig is still a pig
They should enjoy their early retirement to the big house.

[JDPriestly]

2. Hmmm. Addwnerall.

Here is what I find out about that drug:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adderall

Isn't that a drug that had been prescribed to George Zimmerman?

Does anyone on DU wish to write about personal experience with this drug. Is it unwise to take it?

Has anyone been offered Adderall by someone they did not know well?

Is this some sort of meth substitute being passed around on the street?

What is it about this Adderall? Until the past few weeks, I had never heard of it.

[coalition_unwilling]

3. FBI's annual budget is close to $8 billion. That's right, $8 billion. Got

to have results to show for all that moo-la, even if it means entrapping and inducing otherwise innocent Americans.

Cue FBI and police defenders in 3 ... 2 ... 1

[Robb]

4. 20, 35, 23, 20 and 26 are not "children."

[liberal N proud]

5. Avoid disaster by stopping would-be bombers from blowing up a busy bridge? hmmm?

What if these men had connected with someone willing to supply them with real explosives?

The headlines would have asked why they were not stopped.

This is a black eye for the Occupy movement and disaster averted. I for one am glad this did NOT happen in my backyard.

[brentspeak]

6. They're not "children" or "boys"

Maybe the two 20-year-olds can be classified as something like "youths", but that's as far as that can go. Regardless, if the FBI really did incite and/or trick this group in any way to plan mayhem, we all should be legitimately frightened of our government. But it's an insult to our intelligence to classify these men as "children".

[nashville_brook]

7. we've had older "pied pipers" come into our Occupy, egging younger people on...

guys with criminal backgrounds (yeah, i checked), who ran off all the core activists, supplied intoxicants, and egged the younger people on with "insurrectionist" rhetoric. so far none of our disaffected young people have done anything this stupid...but the ONLY reason for that is b/c some much older Dem activists have stepped in to compete with the two so-called "insurrectionist anarchists."

these young people actually are "kids" in the sense that they've never been away from home, they have no life skills, they have precious little political education, and have been kicked around their whole lives. yes, some of them have mental health issues, including some of our highest profile Occupiers. most are homeless. they're naive in every way...from believing everything they hear on Alex Jones...to thinking that "the revolution" is just around the corner. they're vulnerable in every way imaginable.

this story is really sad...and really predictable. i'd be very surprised if more entrapments don't happen as the summer wears on.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. Locking, this is analysis.

Please repost in Good Reads or GD. Thanks!