Irony Warped Into a Cruel Joke-- FBI-Entrapped "Terror" Suspect Plotted Airplane Drone Attack on Capitol, Pentagon

WaPo:

A 26-year-old physics graduate and model hobbyist from Massachusetts was arrested Wednesday in an FBI undercover operation and accused of planning to build small, explosive-laden drones to attack the Pentagon and the Capitol, according to an FBI affidavit and law enforcement officials.

Rezwan Ferdaus, a U.S.-born citizen of South Asian background, traveled to Washington last May to conduct surveillance and intended to launch three small GPS-guided aircraft from East Potomac Park — two against the Pentagon and one against the Capitol, according to a detailed plan he gave to the FBI.

The alleged attack would have represented a rare attempt to strike the United States with a technology that successive administrations have deployed against suspected terrorists and insurgents in a half-dozen countries, ranging from Afghanistan to Yemen, over the past decade.

When he was arrested in Framingham, Mass., Ferdaus had already acquired one remote-controlled aircraft, a small-scale model of the F-86 Sabre, a Cold War-era U.S. fighter jet, the FBI affidavit said. He was also planning to expand his attack to include an immediate follow-on assault at both sites with two three-man teams wielding automatic weapons, the FBI said.

In recent years, the FBI has increasingly relied on undercover operatives to build cases against suspected terrorists, an approach that officials say has been effective in preventing attacks. Undercover law enforcement operatives have secretly befriended those suspected of plotting terrorist attacks and, in some case, made available the means to carry them out. These methods have drawn criticism from some Muslims who accuse the government of unfairly targeting their community, and from defense lawyers who say such tactics can constitute entrapment.

The FBI undercover agents provided Ferdaus with the money to buy the drones, but law enforcement officials said Ferdaus came up with the idea for the attack. Prosecutors said Ferdaus “was presented with multiple opportunities to back out of his plan, including being told that his attack would likely kill women and children,” but that he “never wavered in his desire to carry out the attacks.”

Gotta love the Wonkette headline on this: "HAPPY 9/11 MONTH; Drone Terror Attack Thwarted Because Only Pentagon Is Allowed To Do That"

Infowars headline is good too: "FBI Plot to Blow Up Pentagon and Capitol with Model Planes"

Glenn Greenwald has his usual cynical take on the case.

TPM: Rezwan Ferdaus: The Drummer Accused Of Plotting 'Drone' Attack On D.C. and FBI Arrests Man For Plotting To Attack Capitol, Pentagon With C-4 Loaded Remote Controlled Planes

The Guardian.
---
Follows on the heels of this story-- "Secret Service Simulated Crashing Planes into the White House Before 9/11"