FBI plant doesn't go as expected

[Krisken]

The FBI have taken an old play and planted an informant within a Muslim community. Unfortunately, they also had that informant attempt to incite violence rather than report on potential violence.

The members of that community were so alarmed by the informant's violent speech they put a restraining order on him and reported him to the FBI

 

[Chibibar]

The story is very sketchy IMO. Isn't the law enforcement can't "incite" or "initiate" anything that lead to a crime right? I thought they can facilitate if they are contacted first.

 

[Krisken]

Right. That's why some of the cases involving this informant are being thrown out of court.

 

[makare]

I wonder how reliable this guys testimony about FBI practices really is? He isn't the most trustworthy guy anyway and like it said he is disgruntled. The FBI really bet on the wrong horse in that case and it is going to bite them in the ass. It'll be interesting to see how they distance themselves.

 

[strawman]

The FBI have taken an old play and planted an informant within a Muslim community. Unfortunately, they also had that informant attempt to incite violence rather than report on potential violence.

The members of that community were so alarmed by the informant's violent speech they put a restraining order on him and reported him to the FBI

I don't see evidence that they instructed the informant to incite violence. They may have trained him to speak as though he'd be willing to participate in such activities, but I expect that he may have taken matters further than they desired. But perhaps they told him, "Hey, see if you can get a few people to agree to blowing stuff up with you." rather than "Speak in a manner that others will interpret you as sympathetic and ready to act, so they will approach you with their plans."

Either way, unless this informant provides evidence that the FBI instructed him to perform illegal acts, including entrapment, then there's not much of a story here other than the tale of an informant burned by the people they were informing on, or by the people they were informing to.

 

[Krisken]

It was this

He had helped build a terrorism-related case against a mosque member, but that also collapsed. The Justice Department recently took the extraordinary step of dropping charges against the worshiper, who Monteilh had caught on tape agreeing to blow up buildings, law enforcement officials said. Prosecutors had portrayed the man as a dire threat.

...that makes me think that perhaps there is already some evidence the FBI isn't as innocent as they imply.

 

[strawman]

It was this

He had helped build a terrorism-related case against a mosque member, but that also collapsed. The Justice Department recently took the extraordinary step of dropping charges against the worshiper, who Monteilh had caught on tape agreeing to blow up buildings, law enforcement officials said. Prosecutors had portrayed the man as a dire threat.

...that makes me think that perhaps there is already some evidence the FBI isn't as innocent as they imply.

It doesn't show whether it was the fbi's instructions, or this guy going off track that doomed the evidence collection methods. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough though, the informant is suing the fbi.

 

[Krisken]

I'm not saying it did show it, FLP. What I'm saying is the courts dropped the charges because they didn't think it would hold up.

As you say, though, we have no recourse but a "wait and see".

 

[Dubyamn]

The story is very sketchy IMO. Isn't the law enforcement can't "incite" or "initiate" anything that lead to a crime right? I thought they can facilitate if they are contacted first.

COINTELPRO - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The FBI has been known to use illegal tactics like this in the past. It's called using Agent provocateur.

Honestly this case doesn't sound too different from the usual FBI terrorism "bust" where the FBI informant is the heart of the "conspiracy" and the people arrested are a couple idiots who just got in over their head.

 

[AshburnerX]

Didn't the NYPD do stuff like this in the 60's and 70's?

 

[Officer_Charon]

If your agent gets discredited, any work he's done becomes discredited. It doesn't matter how bad the person - this chucklehead bought into his role too much, and now these guys are getting mistrials like its cool.