The Sting

--The Evil Midnight Bomber

I coulda been a contender
--On the Waterfront (1954)
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Amine el Khalifi is the latest in a string of pathetic, untrained, unfocused individuals pulled into sting operations euphemistically called "Counterterrorism". If wannabes like Khalifi are the threat, then why are we spending so much money in the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©)?

The Wall Street Journal reports, "Mr. Khalifi is a Moroccan national living illegally in the U.S. since shortly after he entered on a tourist visa in 1999, the FBI said in an affidavit filed in U.S. district court in Alexandria, Va" (Suspected Terrorist Arrested Near Capitol). Why wasn't Khalifi simply deported as an illegal? Put a sombrero on him and send him to Mexico.

Since Mr. Khalifi is not a U.S. citizen, why not just kill him extra-judiciously as we did with al Awlaki? If you can drop a bomb on them, why not bust a cap on their ass while they are watching NCIS? Why spend millions setting up an ineffectual loser?

"Amine el Khalifi was arrested as he walked from a parking garage near the Capitol building carrying what the Federal Bureau of Investigation said was a MAC-10 automatic pistol and a bomb vest, both rendered inoperable by agents." [per WSJ]

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"Amine El Khalifi of Alexandria, Va., was taken into custody with a gun that didn't work and inert explosives, according to a counterterrorism official. He arrived near the Capitol in a van with the two undercover operatives, and walked toward the building, according to court papers. He was arrested before he left the parking garage."

"During the investigation, El Khalifi went with undercover operatives in January to a quarry in West Virginia to practice detonating explosives, according to court documents" (Terror Suspect Arrested Near Capitol in FBI Sting).

What a clown this dupe happened to be, so clueless he didn't even test fire his MAC-10. Who but an idiot would not familiarize himself with a new weapon?" (Terror Suspect Arrested Near Capitol in FBI Sting).

This sting netted a suspect in an alleged bombing plan which Federal authorities said "never posed a danger to the public." Yet if El Khalifi is convicted, he faces life in prison.

We wonder at the phantasmagorical nature of U.S. thinking. We are more than a couple of Trillion dollars into the PWOT © and the best threat we can scare up is a miserable defective like El Khalafi -- do you feel safer?

Why didn't they just blast him into oblivion out there in a West Virginia quarry? If he is such a threat, we would all applaud.

Ranger's not clapping.