Cain, your input, please...

[The Good Reverend Roger]

http://gawker.com/5938288/leader-of-army-plot-to-assassinate-obama-apparently-attended-the-2008-republican-convention-as-a-page

I am very interested in your take on this.  It's potentially so byzantine, yet so much more likely to be small-scale teabillyism, that I can't seem to unravel it.

[Cain]

Interesting, very interesting.

I'm going to have to do the proper research on this, there are so many potential threads to follow up on (Republican convention page, his wife's death, the political motives) which Gawker don't seem that inclined to do - probably because they're waiting for someone like me to "crowdsource" the research and then take the credit, like they're doing with the Bain Capital documents.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I wanna hear your analysis of this, Cain.

[Cain]

There's only one Isaac Aguigui on Facebook, but his account is private.  The only thing that can be seen is his profile image, which is a fairly common "Rave or Die" poster.

I can't find a standard definition for becoming a Republican convention page.  Goling by the 2012 Texas convention, you have to have a reference from a Republican official of some sort, which could lead to some potential embarassment if anyone could locate the form....but the Texas application also explicity makes it clear the role is for a child.

Agiugiu's wife's death is also coming under scrutiny, as it deserves to be.  The money from that was used to purchase weapons and land in Washington state.

The political motivation is unclear.  The army cell is referred to as being "anarchist", but of course, only very particular kinds of anarchists would be found working at a Republican Convention....unless the plan was to kill McCain as well as Obama, but there is no mention of the former.  On other sites, the cell has been referred to as "white supremacist", which could mean Aguigui was part of the "Sovereign Citizen Movement", which is quasi-anarchist and typically racist in orientation. 

There is some overlap between the Sovereign Citizen Movement and the far right of the Republican Party, though it's still a very extreme position and far outside the mainstream of the party.  There is some crossover between the movement and certain Tea Party groups as well, but it's at the most moderate and most extreme ends of the spectrum respectively. 

Finding out the political motivation would help understand the plot more effectively.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Finding out the political motivation would help understand the plot more effectively.

That's what bugs me, Cain.  They're long on guns and assassination plots, but short on motive.

The only thing that rings true is the lunacy involving poisoning apples.  That's the kind of thing that only a half-bright wannabe terrorist/1960s CIA operative would dream up.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

How did his wife die?

[Cain]

Finding out the political motivation would help understand the plot more effectively.

That's what bugs me, Cain.  They're long on guns and assassination plots, but short on motive.

The only thing that rings true is the lunacy involving poisoning apples.  That's the kind of thing that only a half-bright wannabe terrorist/1960s CIA operative would dream up.

So far, while the Presidential assassination plot seems to be getting the most play, that seems the most far-fetched of their plans.  Taking over the Fort Stewart armory and bombing some public locations in Savannah seem to be the most realistic of their goals.

How this was going to bring down the government and kill Obama is not exactly clear, but most terrorist plans seem to go:

1.  Bomb public place
2.  Make sinister public announcement.
3.  ?????
4.  Government collapses.

Needless to say, stage three and four rarely ever actually occur.  The smarter terrorists of the socialist left used to have a stage after two, where a government crackdown would make the population sympathetic to the terrorists cause, but those kind of terrorists tended to rely exclusively on assassination as a tactic in the first place, and often considered harming innocents anathema to their goals (the People's Will in Tsarist Russia being the prime example).  The idea was to make the heavy fist of the state lash out blindly and emotionally, showing the inherently oppressive mechanisms of hierarchical power and that only the terrorists could be trusted to protect the interests of the people and keep them from harm.

While one could disagree with their political philosophy, the 19th and early 20th century anarchists clearly had a workable strategy.  Not to mention, in comparison to the states of their time, as well as today's states and terrorists, they were practically gentlemanly in their preferred way of waging war.

Here, it's not so clear.  I'm going to get hold of some court documents though, and see what I can dig up.  I will say this - the name of the group, Forever Enduring Always Ready, either sounds like a really bad 1960s group, or like something a Sovereign Citizen militia would call itself.  I'm still divided as to which it is.

How did his wife die?

It's not clear.  The prosecutors say her death was "highly suspicious", but, of course, they have a vested interest in saying that.  She was pregnant at the time, that much is known.  This is another reason I'm going to go find the court documents.

[Cain]

Aguigui gave other members of the group an unnamed book which talked about "true patriots" and the need for revolution.  I sure would like to know what that book is.

The Army has also made it clear it doesn't know how many members FEAR had, and this cell could therefore only be one part of a larger plot.  We do know the army has significant gang problems, but usually such gangs are more interested in combat training and stealing weapons - profitable activities, in other words.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

How did his wife die?

The only information available is the current prosecutor's statement that it was "suspicious".

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Here, it's not so clear.  I'm going to get hold of some court documents though, and see what I can dig up.  I will say this - the name of the group, Forever Enduring Always Ready, either sounds like a really bad 1960s group, or like something a Sovereign Citizen militia would call itself.  I'm still divided as to which it is.

Consider me a captive audience.

[Cain]

No luck finding documents so far.

But there has been some progress on the case.

SAVANNAH — Four former Army soldiers and a civilian have been charged in new indictments for connections to an anti-government militia that authorities say was led by Fort Stewart troops who stockpiled weapons and talked of ultimately overthrowing the U.S. government.

A Liberty County grand jury indicted the five on charges of illegal gang activity and various counts involving theft, burglary and auto break-ins. Those crimes were committed to help fund the militia group, which called itself F.E.A.R., short for Forever Enduring Always Ready, District Attorney Tom Durden said Tuesday.

"The burglaries and entering autos, they were committed in an effort to fund F.E.A.R. and what F.E.A.R. was at least advocating they wanted to accomplish," said Durden, the top prosecutor for southeast Georgia's Atlantic Judicial Circuit. Their plans included bombing a Savannah park fountain and poisoning apple crops in the state of Washington, prosecutors say.

The new indictments Monday bring to 10 the total number of people charged in connection with the militia group.

Also, note this statement from one of the plotters:

Joiner answered his cellphone Tuesday but declined to discuss the case.

"I'm a proud Republican," Joiner said. "I will not make any comments about this on the record until I am in court."

[The Good Reverend Roger]

No luck finding documents so far.

But there has been some progress on the case.

SAVANNAH — Four former Army soldiers and a civilian have been charged in new indictments for connections to an anti-government militia that authorities say was led by Fort Stewart troops who stockpiled weapons and talked of ultimately overthrowing the U.S. government.

A Liberty County grand jury indicted the five on charges of illegal gang activity and various counts involving theft, burglary and auto break-ins. Those crimes were committed to help fund the militia group, which called itself F.E.A.R., short for Forever Enduring Always Ready, District Attorney Tom Durden said Tuesday.

"The burglaries and entering autos, they were committed in an effort to fund F.E.A.R. and what F.E.A.R. was at least advocating they wanted to accomplish," said Durden, the top prosecutor for southeast Georgia's Atlantic Judicial Circuit. Their plans included bombing a Savannah park fountain and poisoning apple crops in the state of Washington, prosecutors say.

The new indictments Monday bring to 10 the total number of people charged in connection with the militia group.

Also, note this statement from one of the plotters:

Joiner answered his cellphone Tuesday but declined to discuss the case.

"I'm a proud Republican," Joiner said. "I will not make any comments about this on the record until I am in court."

Wow.   

[Cain]

Either this is the most hilarious false flag op in all of history...or the Republicans are gonna have a fair bit of 'splainin to do.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Either this is the most hilarious false flag op in all of history...or the Republicans are gonna have a fair bit of 'splainin to do.

Third option, they were assholes that identified with the GOP.  The GOP isn't responsible for them on any legal level...But you do get judged by the company you keep.

[Cain]

To be sure, they're party supporters at best.  It's not like John McCain is secretly funding them out of a secret slush fund, as amusing as that would be.

But at the same time, they are part of the ever-increasing, disturbing numbers of Republican obsessed with using terrorism, coup attempts and assassination to undo the existing regime.