Seven people arrested in Miami discussed attacks on the landmark Sears Tower in Chicago, the FBI building in Miami and other government buildings in a mission "just as good or greater" than September 11, US officials said on Friday.
But Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told a news conference in Washington that the plotting of the seven, who were called part of a "a home-grown terrorism cell," never went beyond the earliest planning stages.
"There was no immediate threat," Gonzales said, acknowledging the defendants never had any contact with al Qaeda and did not have any weapons. "They didn't have the materials required."
An indictment handed up against the men by a grand jury in south Florida said they pledged loyalty to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda in order to "wage war" against the US government and build an Islamic army. It said at least one of them plotted to blow up the 110-story Sears Tower, the tallest building in the United States.
But Deputy FBI Director John Pistole said at the Justice Department news conference that the discussions to attack the Sears Tower were "aspirational rather than operational."
Gonzales emphasised there was no immediate threat to the Sears Tower or the five government buildings in the Miami area. The men, named as Narseal Batiste, Patrick Abraham, Stanley Grant Phanor, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin, Lyglenson Lemorin and Rotschild Augustine, were due to appear in a Miami magistrate's court later on Friday. Justice Department officials said five were Americans and two were from Haiti, and that one of the two Haitians was in the country illegally.
WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS: The defendants thought they were discussing the attacks with a member of al Qaeda, but in reality the person was an informant co-operating with the FBI, the officials said.
They were arrested on Thursday after heavily armed FBI agents and other law enforcement agencies swooped on a warehouse in one of Miami's poorest neighbourhoods, Liberty City, a predominantly black area that has witnessed some of Miami's worst race riots.
A man identified as a member of the "Seas of David" religious group told CNN on Thursday that five of his fellow members were among those arrested and that they had no connection to terrorists. "We are not terrorists. We are members of David, Seas of David," said the man, identified as Brother Corey. He said the group had "soldiers" in Chicago, but reiterated it was peaceful movement. Miami media said the group of men sold hair grease and shampoo in the streets. Some worked on construction crews.
The indictment said all of the defendants also referred to themselves as "Brothers." It said one of the men, Batiste, told an FBI informant he believed to be an al Qaeda representative that he wanted to attend a training camp with some of his "soldiers" and wage a "full ground war" against the United States.
Their aim was to "'kill all the devils we can' in a mission that would 'be just as good or greater than 9/11,' beginning with the destruction of the Sears Tower," according to the indictment.
A parade through Miami to celebrate the victory by the Miami Heat team in the National Basketball Association championship, expected to attract about 200,000 people, was still due to go ahead on Friday and the authorities stressed that citizens were never at risk.
It was unclear what impact if any the arrests might have on public opinion ahead of mid-term congressional elections in November, and amid a deep slump in President George W. Bush's popularity and in public support for the Iraq war.
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