Friday, 11 September 2015

Florida man plotted Sept. 11 attack in Kansas City, FBI says

Almost a decade-and-a-half after the Sept. 11 attacks, the anniversary has receded in the minds of many.
Not so for one man in Florida, authorities say. A criminal complaint filed in federal court alleges that Joshua Ryne Goldberg, a 20-year-old living with his parents in Jacksonville, posed as an Australian jihadist and encouraged an attack in Kansas City on Friday — the 14th anniversary of Sept. 11. He was charged with distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction.
“Hopefully there will be some jihad on the anniversary of 9/11,” Goldberg reportedly told an FBI informant in a direct message.
How Goldberg allegedly came to be radicalized — and adopt the personality of an extremist on the other side of the world — is not clear. But the complaint includes quite disturbing,lengthy exchanges between Goldberg, who authorities said went online under variations of the handle “AusWitness,” and the informant, identified only as “CHS.”
The FBI became interested in AusWitness after someone using that name claimed responsibility for the attack at a “prophet Muhammad cartoon contest” in Garland, Tex., in May on a Web site.
“You might know me for inspiring the attacks in Garland … where two