The Jersey Jihadists were convicted today of plotting to murder American soldiers at Fort Dix.

Just a reminder that this would not have been possible without the bravery of Brian Morgenstern, the Circuit City employee who blew the whistle on the terror plotters after seeing one of their training videos, which they had dropped off at the store for DVD conversion.

Thank you, Brian.

Your courage has not been forgotten.

***

Also not forgotten (via Allah): How federal immigration officials’ lax enforcement and endless backlogs allowed several of the Fort Dix jihadists to stay in the country illegally.

Related flashback: Jersey Jihadists, open borders, and the thanks we get

A man who admitted letting a group of accused terror-plotters shoot his guns at a firing range was sentenced to 20 months in prison on Monday.

U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler said Agron Abdullahu deserved more than the 10 to 16 months that sentencing guidelines call for because he knew the men were talking about violence against Americans.

“I am convinced that he is not as innocent as he’d like us to believe,” Kugler said before handing down his sentence. “This is not a common, ordinary, technical violation of the law.”

The judge took the FBI-bashing sketches into account, but also had a little heart-bleeding for Abdullahu:

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hammer said it was clear that Abdullahu knew that the other men were talking about committing violence _ even if he was not aware of a specific terrorist plot.

Judge Kugler agreed, but dismissed the government’s contention that Abdullahu knew enough that higher sentencing guidelines should be used.

Kugler said his sentence was harsher than it could have been partly because of drawings found etched into the door of Abdullahu’s cell at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia. One had a gun pointed at the words, “FBI.”

While the judge was disturbed by that behavior, as well as Abdullahu’s interest in making bombs, he seemed to struggle with finding an appropriate sentence.

“There’s too much good in this man,” Kugler said, to give him the maximum sentence the government sought.

Coughlin said Abdullahu was grateful that the judge considered the good traits in him along with his mistakes.

Federal authorities say one of the men accused of planning an attack on soldiers at the Fort Dix army base gave another inmate in a federal detention center an Al Qaeda recruitment video and another wrote a note referring to the fight “we weren’t able to finish.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office made the allegations in a brief filed in U.S. District Court late Tuesday to oppose the suspects’ request to be granted bail.

A lawyer for one of the men said the government is misrepresenting an incident in the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia.

“Misrepresenting?” You decide:

In the legal filing, the government said Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer gave another inmate a copy of an Al Qaeda-produced DVD last month. Guards found the disc in a book in the detention center’s law library.

Government lawyers said in the filing that “the fact the defendant Shnewer and, perhaps, his co-conspirators may be spreading jihadist recruitment videos to other inmates clearly raises grave security concerns for the warden, and, again, supports the reasonableness of continued administrative detention for these defendants.”

Shnewer’s lawyer, Rocco Cipparone, said Shnewer told him 10 days or so ago about the incident. But Cipparone said Shnewer did not give the other inmate the video. Rather, he said, Shnewer was upset that the man somehow got hold of evidence that only the defendants in the case were supposed to see.

The government also said that suspect Eljvir Duka and another inmate were passing notes.

In one note, the government said, Duka wrote, “Now you see why we were going to sacrifice all for the sake of Allah in jihad” and referred to the fight “we weren’t able to finish.”

Hat tip: Jihad Watch.

A Monroe Township supermarket worker accused of arming a band of immigrant Muslims intent on attacking Fort Dix will plead guilty today to weapons charges, his attorney said.

Agron Abdullahu of Collings Lakes in Atlantic County will admit to conspiring to help illegal immigrants obtain or possess weapons, federal public defender Richard Coughlin said. The crime carries a maximum term of five years, but his attorneys previously have said the federal guidelines for the crime suggest a sentence of less than two years.

Abdullahu’s decision to plead guilty is not expected to drastically alter the case. Since his arrest with the others in May, prosecutors have emphasized Abdullahu was not accused of participating in the overarching plot to kill U.S. soldiers. And, his attorney said, he is not cooperating with investigators.

A 24-year-old ethnic Albanian who fled Kosovo in 1999, Abdullahu settled with his family in Buena Vista and worked at a local ShopRite. As a legal U.S. resident, he was the only defendant capable of buying guns. Prosecutors say he helped train the others at a firing range in northeast Pennsylvania in 2006 and 2007.

Look for the CAIR types to downplay or ignore this guilty plea. They’ll seize on Abdullahu’s lawyers’ spin that he had nothing to do with the jihadi designs.

I remind you of Abdullahu’s lovely sentiments about our FBI:

Drawings found in the prison cell of a man suspected of plotting to attack Fort Dix suggest that he wants to seek revenge against FBI agents and should remain in custody, prosecutors said Monday.

The drawings—include one with the letters “FBI” and a gun pointing to them—are another reason that Agron Abdullahu should not be released from custody as he awaits trial, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in legal documents filed Monday.

Abdullahu seemed to be thinking about “seeking revenge against the FBI agents who caused him to be imprisoned in the first place,” they wrote. “Releasing Abdullahu now would not only endanger the community at large, but also the agents who investigated this case.”

Guards at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia found the FBI drawing and another in the one-person cell where Abdullahu is being held.

The other drawing was of the phrase—”Rainca Kosava UCK.” Prosecutors contend that it refers to the Kosovo Liberation Army, which they say has links to some terrorist groups. Authorities said Abdullahu admitted to drawing the graffiti and explained that “Rainca” was the town where he was born.

The government said the drawings were etched with the screw from a light switch plate onto the door of Abdullahu’s cell.

Just a poor, oppressed, misunderstood soul…

“They must have been crazy. They shouldn’t dare throw a stone at America,” said Rrahmi Duka, 70, a distant relative of the brothers, as a loudspeaker blared Muslim prayers in Debar’s main square.

“Who saved us? America,” he said. “We are in America’s hands.”

Julia Gorin has a must-read on Balkan Muslim blowback:

This is Balkan blowback, and it’s been happening since we stuck our nose where it didn’t belong throughout the 1990s and, for good measure, bombed the wrong side. Maybe one day we’ll finally start talking about it. This morning, Balkan experts Jim Jatras, director of the American Council for Kosovo, and Dr. Serge Trifkovic alerted all major on-air media of their availability to discuss this development and were told, “We have our usual terror experts.”

Those would be the same terror experts who, in their daily opining on the War on Terror, haven’t touched the Balkans — a key region in the War on Terror, as it was the site of al-Qaeda’s proliferation into a truly global network and now serves as the organization’s European base and entryway for attacks on that continent and others. (Note to Fox News: “Balkans” includes Kosovo, Bosnia, Albania and others.)

So, we’re in for yet another round of terror “experts” painting terrorism in and from the Balkans as a unique thing, suspended in a vacuum of context, lest Americans start piecing things together and surmising that perhaps what happened to the Serbs is in some way related to what’s happening everywhere else on the globe.

Just so no one has to look too far, here’s an excerpt from a New York Times article that was written before we decided that, in the Balkans, the terrorists are the good guys:

A young Army conscript of ethnic Albanian origin shot up his barracks, killing four sleeping Slavic bunkmates and wounding six others.

The army says it has uncovered hundreds of subversive ethnic Albanian cells in its ranks. Some arsenals have been raided.

But watch the Fort Dix story go away faster than the one about the Bosnian Muslim who killed five Americans and injured another four in Salt Lake City for Valentine’s Day three months ago. Who even knows that at least two of the 9/11 hijackers were veterans of the Bosnian jihad, as Muslim sources now openly call it?

Flashback: A Balkan Base for Al Qaeda?

Flashback: Terrorist Cells Find Foothold in Balkans

Flashback: Al-Qaida’s Jihad in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnian Network

I said it yesterday. I repeat it today: Thank you, whistleblower. Now, we know a bit more. He works at Circuit City:

A male employee who works at Circuit City behind the Moorestown
Mall is the unsung hero that first enabled authorities to foil the Fort Dix terror plot.

Circuit City corporate spokesman Jim Babb confirmed this morning that a current employee was asked by one of the alleged terrorists to dub a Jihadist training VHS cassette into a DVD…

…At the office for Rep. Jim Saxton, R-Mount Holly, spokesman Jeff Sagnip Hollendonner said the congressman had not spoken to the clerk but that the office was considering sending a thank you note.

“He is obviously someone who is alert and acted in a very responsible way and he very likely saved lives, there’s no question about that,” Sagnip Hollendonner said. “So he’s a hero because of that.”

Indeed.

From the Philly Inquirer:

“This person did what we want all citizens to do,” said U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie.

But remember: Not everyone welcomes John Doe heroism.

Looks like Circuit City might want to hand out some of these:

Meanwhile, CAIR trolls for Islamophobia victims:

The council asked mosques and Islamic institutions in New Jersey and nationwide to report any incidents of anti-Muslim backlash.

***

Previous:

John Doe at Dallas Love Field
The John Doe manifesto
House GOP strikes back
AIFD; Powerline
I’m John Doe buttons
Protect John Doe
Katherine Kersten reports
Becket Fund

The Jersey Jihadists–and more on the John Doe hero; another John Doe tipped off authorities separately; Gaffney: Congress must protect John Does

Terrorist plot in Cherry Hill, NJ; illegal aliens among alleged plotters;
a John Doe turned them in; press conference at 2:30pm Eastern;
Fort Dix has been a refuge for ethnic Albanians; details from the complaint;
Dix responds

A trained sniper during the war in Kosovo, Abdullahu and his family were among thousands given safe haven in the U.S. under the Clinton administration to protect them from the Serbs. For months, they would be housed in refugee camps at Ft. Dix, a circumstance which now points to a terribly ironic twist.

Terribly ironic? Or sadly predictable?

WPVI interviewed one of Abdullahu’s co-workers:

“He never really came out and said he had a hatred towards Americans and I told him many times, ‘look, you would have been left there if it wasn’t for us helping you out.’ If Clinton didn’t bring them in, he never would have had the chance that he had. This is how he repays us,” [Bob] Watts said.

Indeed. That’s the theme of my syndicated column today. Here you go:

Well, here is the thanks we get. Eight years ago, America opened its arms to tens of thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo. The first planeload landed at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Military leaders worked day and night to turn the base into a child-friendly village. They coordinated medical and security checkups, mental health and trauma counseling and ethnic food preparations.

Soldiers from Fort Bragg traveled up from North Carolina to assist in refugee operations at Fort Dix. Then-U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mitchell M. Zais also assembled a team of about 80 soldiers from the U.S. Army Reserve Command in Atlanta. The New Jersey National Guard and American Red Cross teamed up to coordinate charity relief. The military also supported the relief effort’s interagency task force, headed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

In addition to food and shelter, we provided translators, welfare consultants and Muslim chaplains. The base constructed prayer rooms and handed out Muslim “sensitivity” cards to the troops. Said Gen. Zais: “We want to welcome these people to America the way we might wish our grandparents and great-grandparents had been welcomed to Ellis Island.”

Fast-forward from 1999 to yesterday’s headline news: “Fort Dix Plot Aimed At Soldiers; Authorities Say 6 Islamic Militants Arrested, Were Plotting Attack At N.J. Base.” Three of the alleged plotters were illegal alien brothers from the former Yugoslavia. Another was a legal permanent resident from the former Yugoslavia. Another hailed from Jordan, and the sixth was a naturalized American citizen originally from Turkey.

According to the criminal complaint against Dritan Duka, one of the illegal alien brothers accused of knowingly and willfully conspiring with the jihadi gang to kill U.S. soldiers, the plotters have schemed for more than a year to murder our troops. They scoped out Dover Air Force Base and Fort Monmouth, as well as the port of Philadelphia, before settling on Fort Dix. One of the participants used to deliver pizza to the base — used to supply food to our men and women in uniform giving him business — and knew the military facility “like the palm of his hand.”

You think all our hospitality and charity bred good will in these young men — all in their 20s and enjoying the fruits of the American Dream? Forget about it. The criminal complaint describes the plotters, along with a confidential informant, gathering at a rental house to train with Mujahadin video games:

“Members of the group pointed out that United States military vehicles were shown being destroyed in various attacks. [Illegal alien] Shain Duka pointed out that a United States Marine’s arm had been blown off, at which point laughter erupted from the group.”

Just hard-working, “undocumented citizens” plotting the plots and laughing at the anti-American atrocities ordinary Americans wouldn’t laugh at, yeah? If they had only laid low a few extra months, they might have gotten that illegal alien amnesty President Bush and Congress are so eager to hand out.

According to the criminal complaint, they laughed at our troops getting maimed and killed. They soaked up Osama bin Laden’s evil rants. They studied the 9/11 hijackers’ last wills and testaments. They contemplated infiltrating our armed forces to frag soldiers from the inside. They relished the thought of spilling American blood on American soil. Is yours boiling yet?

“My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers,” Jordanian-born naturalized U.S. citizen Mohamad Shnewer is quoted telling the plotters. “You hit four, five, six humvees and light the whole place [up] and retreat completely without any losses.”

Eight years ago, at the Clinton administration’s behest, this nation welcomed refugees escaping a genocidal regime whose military spread fear and brutalized its people. Eight years later, we have a homegrown jihad plot targeting a base that symbolizes the best, the brightest and the most compassionate our military has to offer.

And what is the Muslim community doing to condemn the accused traitors in our midst? Carping about the government’s actions to stop jihad in its tracks:

“If these people did something, then they deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” said Muslim lawyer Sohail Mohammed. “But when the government says ‘Islamic militants,’ it sends a message to the public that Islam and militancy are synonymous.’”

The thanks we get, huh?

***

The NYPost editorial board weighs in: And the war goes on.

Andy McCarthy’s message to the MSM: It’s the ideology, not the organization, stupid.

***

Previous:

The Jersey Jihadists–and more on the John Doe hero; another John Doe tipped off authorities separately; Gaffney: Congress must protect John Does

Terrorist plot in Cherry Hill, NJ; illegal aliens among alleged plotters;
a John Doe turned them in; press conference at 2:30pm Eastern;
Fort Dix has been a refuge for ethnic Albanians; details from the complaint;
Dix responds

Update: Clayton Cramer examines the gun law aspects of the case.

As mentioned this morning, the criminal complaint states that jihadi suspect Serdar Tatar delivered pizza to Fort Dix and that his family owned a pizza place near the base.

But Dan Riehl notes that one of the other suspects–or someone sharing the same name–also was a host at a pizza and pasta place in the area:

Update: A reader near Glassboro notes that the Dukas place, run by Muslim proprietors, closed down a few years ago.

My old hometown paper, the Atlantic City Press, has fresh details–including praise for the John Doe video store owner who called the feds:

Six men authorities described as radical Islamic terrorists arrested Monday night in Cherry Hill for planning to attack Fort Dix had also looked at Fort Monmouth, a federal building and a U.S. Coast Guard base in Philadelphia, and Dover Air Force base in Delaware.

Fort Dix may have chosen simply because one of the terrorists knew the base from delivering pizzas there.

“He delivered pizza to the base at Fort Dix regularly. He said he knew Fort Dix like the back of his hand. He drew a detailed map of Fort Dix from memory,” U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said at a speech Tuesday to the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce here at the Flanders Hotel…

…Christie called the camera shop owner that alerted federal authorities an American hero. The suspected terrorists had gone to the shop about 16 months ago to transfer training videos from video tape to DVD’s.

“The camera store owner saw Muslim men in military garb toting weapons in the woods. He heard them talking about jihad and how Allah was great. He called the FBI and became a hero,” Christie said.

If you see something, say something:

Christie used the camera shop owner to convince the 50 local merchants at the Tuesday luncheon to report suspicious activity. He said people have become too complacent about terrorism.

“If you see something suspicious pick up the phone and call local police or the FBI. The only stupid call is the call you don’t make. Imagine if the camera store owner didn’t call the FBI,” Christie said.

The A.C. Press has photos of the raid last night at the home of Jersey Jihadi suspect Agron Abdullahu at 218 Cains Mill Road in Buena Vista Township. Click for more:

***

Bio info on the Jersey Jihadists compiled by feds:

NAME: Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer.
AGE: 22; Born in Jordan.
HOME: Cherry Hill, N.J.
OCCUPATION: Drives a cab in Philadelphia.
IMMIGRATION STATUS: U.S. citizen.

NAME: Dritan Duka.
AGE: 28; Born in the former Yugoslavia. Ethnic Albanian.
HOME: Cherry Hill, N.J.
IMMIGRATION STATUS: In United States illegally.
OCCUPATION: Operates Colonial Roofing and National Roofing, which list business address at the home of his brothers, Eljvir and Shain Duka.

NAME: Shain Duka.
AGE: 26; Born January 1981 in the former Yugoslavia. Ethnic Albanian.
LIVES: Cherry Hill, N.J.
IMMIGRATION STATUS: In United States illegally.
OCCUPATION: Operates roofing businesses with his brothers.

NAME: Eljvir Duka.
ALIASES: Elvis Duka, Sulayman.
AGE: 23; Born in the former Yugoslavia. Ethnic Albanian.
LIVES: Cherry Hill, N.J.
IMMIGRATION STATUS: In United States illegally.
OCCUPATION: Operates roofing businesses with his brothers.

NAME: Serdar Tatar.
AGE: 23; Born in Turkey.
HOME: Philadelphia.
IMMIGRATION STATUS: Legal U.S. resident.
OCCUPATION: Works at a 7-Eleven store in Philadelphia.

NAME: Agron Abdullahu.
AGE: 24; Born September 1982 in the former Yugoslavia. Ethnic Albanian.
LIVES: Buena Vista Township, N.J.
IMMIGRATION STATUS: Legal U.S. resident.
OCCUPATION: Works at a Shop-Rite supermarket.

Laura Mansfield goes beyond the standard “Are they tied to al Qaeda or not?” talking head blather:

News media reports describe this morning’s terrorist suspects, who planned an attack on Ft. Dix, NJ, as homegrown with no ties to al Qaeda or any other international terrorist organization.

This isn’t surprising in the least.

It is very likely that this cell, like numerous others that have been uncovered in the past year, falls into the category of “Individual or Small Group Terrorism,” as espoused by the Al Qaeda ideologue Abu Mus-ab al Suri in his book “Call to Global Islamic Resistance”…

Read the whole thing.

Hat tip to Howie at My Pet Jawa, where they dub the phenomenon “al Qaeda 3.0.”

***

The Courier Post has an interview with someone who worked at Tatar’s father’s restaurant:

From Courier-Post reporter Carol Comegno at the Super Mario’s Italian Cuisine and Steakhouse, Wrightstown-Cookstown Road, Wrightstown.

Super Mario’s chef Joseph Hosslinger, 35, of Browns Mills, said that in the eight months he has worked at the restaurant, he never saw Serdar Tatar, one of the men arrested in the alleged terrorist plot, deliver a pizza.

Tatar is the son of the restaurant’s owner, Muslim Tatar.

He said the son didn’t work at the restaurant and would only occasionally stop by.

Hosslinger said the father is from Turkey and is very westernized…

Related: Frank Gaffney reports on the movement to intimidate John Doe heroes:

On the Amtrak train to New York a few minutes ago, the conductor announced, “If you see anything suspicious, please report it to the authorities immediately.” If Islamist-front organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its friends in Congress have their way, however, this sensible, prudential announcement will have to be amended: “Be advised: If you do make such a report, you may be sued.”

Could it really come to this? It could, if the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives gets away with an effort to deep-six legislation approved last month with the support of 109 of their caucus’ members.

According to a Republican memo circulated before the vote, that legislation is designed to ensure that “any person that voluntarily reports suspicious activity — anything that could be a threat to transportation security” will be granted immunity from civil liability for the disclosure.” It “authorizes courts to award attorneys’ fees to defendants with immunity” and would apply retroactively to activities that took place on or after November 20, 2006.

That date is significant, of course, since it was the day when six Arizona-based Muslim clerics were removed in Minneapolis from an aircraft operated by US Air. The deplaning occurred after fellow passengers did what my conductor urged those on his train to do: They reported suspicious behavior…

… it serves CAIR’s purposes to portray Muslims as victims. Imams who behave suspiciously are victims. And other Muslims who fail to report their victimhood are undermining the efforts CAIR and its ilk are making to secure not just equal treatment under the law but special rights (e.g., designated prayer rooms, cleansing facilities, Muslim-only hours for school gyms, etc.) In the process, they are inuring this democracy to the encroachment of a religious code known as shari’a law and the parallel society the Islamists seek to establish here, as elsewhere, enroute to the creation of Islamic states.

It is against this backdrop that Congress must enact legislation to protect “John Does” and, thereby, to protect us all. It is unacceptable that the Democratic leadership is seeking to prevent such an outcome through parliamentary sleight-of-hand – by keeping the public in the dark about the make-up and timing of the conference committee that will hammer out differences between the House-passed legislation, which includes such protection, and the Senate bill that does not.

Every effort should be made to encourage our countrymen to report suspicious activities – which may prove to be the difference between life and death for large numbers of us. And every effort at odds with that duty must be exposed to the harshest scrutiny and most vigorous opposition.

***

In addition to the video store owner, another John Doe called authorities after observing the Jersey Jihadists shooting in the Poconos:

A local marksman remembers the guys with the AK-47s as “bad shots.”

Randy Swiden, 59, said he remembers the Russian-speaking men were shooting with 20-round clips rather than the typical three-round clips. They were shooting at 50-yard targets, packs of paper plates and milk jugs, and were missing.

Suspicious activity at a public shooting range in Monroe County led an official from the state game commission to tip authorities on what turned out to be an alleged terror plot to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey.

“(The men arrested Monday) allegedly used our rifle range in the Gouldsboro area to train in some tactics,” said Tim Conway of the game commission in a phone interview today. “We did recognize a few things awhile back and reported that to the appropriate authorities.”

Flashback: “I am John Doe.”

***
Previous:

Terrorist plot in Cherry Hill, NJ; illegal aliens among alleged plotters;
a John Doe turned them in; press conference at 2:30pm Eastern;
Fort Dix has been a refuge for ethnic Albanians; details from the complaint;
Dix responds

Update: The names of the suspects via one of the filed complaints:

Dritan Duka (illegal alien); Eliver Duka (illegal alien); Shain Duka (illegal alien)
Serdar Tatar (the pizza deliverer…his family owns a pizzeria near Ft. Dix)
Mohamad Shnewer; Agron Abdullahu

Via Allahpundit: According to CBS News, Shnewer is from Jordan and is the lone (naturalized) U.S. citizen of the six; Tatar, from Turkey, and Abdallahu, from the former Yugoslavia, are legal permanent residents. The illegal alien Duka brothers are also from the former Yugoslavia.

From the FBI affidavit, here’s the John Doe moment:

The plotters watched videos of armed attacks on US soldiers, studied the last will and testament of at least two of the 9/11 hijackers, and watched bin Laden exhortations to jihad. They plotted with an FBI informant:

Here’s a glimpse at their surveillance trips:

They trained, stocked up on weapons, and plotted for the next six months. By February, they were up to this:

At one point, they contemplated joining the military to wage jihad from the inside:

Update: Fort Dix responds:

FORT DIX SECURITY REMAINS STRINGENT

“Security at Fort Dix remains stringent in the wake of arrests Monday of six men who were allegedly plotting a terrorist attack on the post. This alleged attack is a reminder that we are a nation at war, and that each of us must be vigilant and aware of our surroundings.

“On a positive note, the Fort Dix and McGuire AFB law enforcement community has partnered with the FBI and local communities during this lengthy investigation to ensure the safety of our joint installations.

“Mobilization and training continue as scheduled at Fort Dix, which has mobilized and demobilized more than 95,000 Soldiers since September 11.

“Those passing through checkpoints onto Fort Dix will notice more frequent vehicle searches and strict adherence to a 100 percent ID check, which may slow traffic. “

***

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on a thwarted terrorist plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix: (hat tip- reader David B.)

The FBI arrested five people in Cherry Hill and one in Pennsylvania last night for an alleged plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix, a federal official said. Some of the six men, who are Algerian [Albanian] citizens, tried to purchase automatic weapons from a local gun dealer, the source said. Carolee Nisbet, a public information officer at Fort Dix, said: “I understand that they weren’t just targeting Fort Dix, that it was a multiple-base plan to attack several bases in the Northeast.” She declined to elaborate. At the base this morning, Nisbet said: “They are going to make the security procedures more stringent, but we’re not going to increase the threat level. We are just going to make people more aware of their surroundings. WNBC-TV in New York reports that three of the men are brothers and followers of Islam, and have lived in the United States for several years. Five of the men are expected to be arraigned in federal court in Camden today.

Updates galore here and here.

PJM notes that a press conference is scheduled for 2:30pm Eastern.

This won’t be a surprise to many of you. Not to me:

Federal investigators last night arrested six Islamic radicals who were planning a heavily-armed attack against soldiers at Fort Dix as part of a jihad against America, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In a statement released this morning to confirm a report on The Star-Ledger’s Web site, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the men planned to “kill as many soldiers as possible.”

Officials would not comment beyond the brief statement. But two law enforcement sources said the men had conducted surveillance of the Army base and were caught allegedly attempting to purchase AK-47s to carry out their plan.

The bust came after several of them were lured to a meeting with an arms-seller who turned out to be a secret FBI informant, said both sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the arrests.

Some of the would-be attackers have been illegally in the United States, while others are illegal immigrants, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Four are ethnic Albanians, one was born in Turkey, and a sixth was born in Jordan, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

And it looks like we have an alert John Doe to thank for helping to turn the plotters in:

“They were prepared to die,” said the law enforcement source. “We became increasingly convinced this was for real and these guys were ready to roll.”

The FBI had the group under surveillance for more than a year, the source said. The men had scouted out Dover Air Force Base and Fort Monmouth before settling on Fort Dix, a base that is used to mobilize troops to Iraq, said the source.

The men – several of whom were in the same family – had videotaped their practice sessions in the Poconos, the source said. That videotape, in which they railed against America, led to their arrests.

The men made the mistake of bringing it to a retail store, seeking to get a copy burned to a DVD, according to one of the sources. A store employee who later watched the tape called the FBI who began immediately investigating.

Store employee, whoever you are: thank you. Watch your back. The CAIR-mongers may be on their way.

***

What a way to show their gratitude. Flashback June 1999:

The sounds of Islamic calls to prayer echo across Fort Dix, temporary host to thousands of ethnic Albanians who fled war-ravaged Kosovo. But the U.S. Army base will soon play final taps for the refugee resettlement program that should end this month.

“I feel like I’m in a paradise,” one Kosovar explained, as she described the base that has been a haven for about 4,000 refugees.

With nationwide settlement efforts in full swing, the military has no plans to bring other refugees to the makeshift village.

So far, 500 Kosovars have been relocated; about 100 are scheduled to leave daily. All the refugees should know by mid-June where they will be going, officials said.

“This was always intended to be a temporary facility,” said Michael Kharfen, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

After arriving at Fort Dix from camps in Macedonia, the refugees received medical checkups, security clearances and U.S. government documents.

More on how our military welcomed the refugees:

FORT DIX, N.J., June 15, 1999 – For those meeting planes and buses bearing Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians, welcoming war-weary refugees to the United States was like stepping into America’s past.

“We want to welcome these people to America the way we might wish our grandparents and great-grandparents had been welcomed to Ellis Island,” U.S. Army Gen. Mitchell M. Zais, said he had told troops assigned to Operation Provide Refuge…The general, head of Joint Task Force Provide Refuge, said he recalled his own family history as the first planeload of about 450 refugees came down the ramp May 5 at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J. “The babushka-covered ladies looked as I imagined my grandmother looked when she came across the gangplank at Ellis Island — an illiterate peasant refugee from Central Europe, driven out of Kiev by the pogroms,” he said…

…Fort Dix was the place to go for the more than 4,000 Kosovar refugees who arrived here in May. Landing at McGuire after a 13- hour trans-Atlantic charter flight, they boarded buses for a quick ride to this quiet, tree-lined Army Reserve post. A former basic training center, Fort Dix offered a temporary safe haven, and a host of service members, civilians and volunteers worked to make the refugees comfortable.

…Zais gathered a team of about 80 soldiers from the U.S. Army Reserve Command in Atlanta and about 200 soldiers from the airborne corps and other units from Fort Bragg, N.C. The New Jersey National Guard assumed the lead in partnership with the American Red Cross in coordinating charitable donations from private individuals, U.S. corporations, church groups and other organizations.

With the help of Fort Dix officials, the military went to work to support the refugee camp named “The Village.” The military also supported the relief effort’s interagency task force, headed by the Health and Human Services Department and including federal agencies, nongovernment resettlement organizations and volunteer groups.

…Shortly after the first Albanians arrived, Zais said, a foreign reporter asked if it was appropriate to bring these refugees to a military installation after they had been traumatized by Serb soldiers in Kosovo. The general replied that only the Yugoslav army uniform would strike terror in their hearts.

“It’s been my experience in Vietnam, in Korea, in the Middle East, and everywhere else I’ve traveled through Central and South America, that the American soldier is loved around the world for his compassion and generosity,” he said. “The only people who fear American soldiers are those who have a good reason to.”

More on Fort Dix’s Operation Provide Refuge.

Flashback 1999: American soldiers welcome ethnic Albanian refugees to Ft. Dix