Fort Dix terror suspects were reluctant, informant says
By George Anastasia
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Philly police officer tells of being tipped off by Fort Dix terror suspect
PHILADELPHIA — The chief FBI informant in the Fort Dix terrorism investigation said yesterday that at least one of the defendants in the case considered him "the brains" and the leader of the plot to attack the military complex.
And, in a comment that seemed to support the defense theory of the case, he said that two other defendants, brothers Dritan and Shain Duka, "wanted nothing to do with the matter" when he first alluded to it during a fishing trip in August 2006.
By that point, according to earlier testimony and evidence, informant Mahmoud Omar, 39, had held several in-depth discussions with defendant Mohamad Shnewer, 23, about the plan and had been assured by Shnewer that the Dukas, including a third brother, Eljvir, were committed.
"I was surprised of [the Dukas'] lack of knowledge of anything we had discussed," Omar said in recounting the reaction of Dritan and Shain Duka to comments he made during the fishing trip.
And, he said, he reported that to the FBI.
Shnewer, the three Duka brothers and Serdar Tatar are on trial for plotting a jihad-inspired attack on the South Jersey military base.
The five foreign-born Muslims, who all were raised in the Cherry Hill area, could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
Omar, a convicted felon and paid FBI informant who recorded more than 200 conversations during the 16-month Fort Dix investigation, was on the witness stand for the seventh straight day yesterday as the case continued to unfold in U.S. District Court in Camden.
Responding to questions from Shnewer's defense attorney, Rocco Cipparone Jr., Omar said that on several occasions, Shnewer encouraged him to lead the conspiracy.
"I am older and I have more experience, that's what he himself told me," Omar, speaking through an Arabic interpreter, said in explaining that Shnewer urged him to be the "emir," or leader.
Cipparone and the other defense attorneys have argued that Omar, who has been paid nearly $240,000 in salary, expenses and living costs by the FBI, created the conspiracy by manipulating Shnewer and the others.
Omar has said that his comments and suggestions in taped conversations that have been played for the jury were designed to find out what Shnewer and the others were thinking.
Cipparone, going back over many of those comments with transcripts of the English translation shown on large screens around the courtroom, argued that Omar's words created and fueled "the alleged conspiracy."
"If you appoint me as the emir, I should be able to tell you which plan can be done, what can be executed ... this operation should not be done in ignorance," Omar told Shnewer during the August fishing trip.
Later, he added, "This is not children's talk. This is a project where we get away for life or enter prison for life, or we die and we are done."
Cipparone's cross-examination, which is expected to continue when the trial resumes tomorrow, focused on the fishing trip and two trips Omar and Shnewer made later in August 2006 to conduct surveillance at Fort Dix and at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
The defense attorney pointed out several instances where the two discussed plots and plans - attacking the CIA or FBI buildings in New York or Washington, driving a gas tanker truck in a suicide mission, obtaining a rocket-propelled grenade launcher - that never got past the talking stage.
"That never happened, did it?" Cipparone asked again and again, to which Omar replied, "No."
The jury also saw comments made by Dritan Duka during the fishing trip that painted him as extremely cautious and aware that Muslims living in America had to be careful about what they said.
"We are going to end up in jail for 30 years, 40 years, for just talking," Duka, 29, said. "It's not worth it."
Muslims in post-9/11 America, he added, had to be careful about what they said and whom they said it to.
"You can't talk to nobody, man," he said to Omar, who was driving a car equipped with FBI recording devices. "Even if you're having a regular conversation, [someone will say], uh, this guy is an extremist."
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