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'Plot to kill Obama'

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Aphrodite	Posted: Aug 28 2008, 04:02 PM
Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 307 Member No.: 1 Joined: 25-July 08	Source-The Age 'Plot to kill Obama' US police have arrested four people - one allegedly a white supremacist - in connection with a possible plot to kill Barack Obama on Thursday night during his acceptance speech in Denver. One of the suspects reportedly told authorities they were "going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a ... rifle sighted at 750 yards", according to Denver TV station CBS4. The four - believed to be three men and one woman - were now being held on drugs or weapons charges, CBS4 said. According to the TV station, one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama ... [and] he responded in the affirmative." The plot began to unravel on Sunday morning after police arrested a 28-year-old man for driving his truck erratically. Police found two high-powered, scoped rifles in the car along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, a bulletproof vest, a spotting scope, licences in the names of other people and methamphetamine, CBS4 said. One of the rifles was stolen from Kansas. Police then traced a friend of the arrested man to the Cherry Creek Hotel, Denver, CBS4 said. The man, wanted on numerous warrants, jumped out of a hotel window when police arrived. He broke his ankle in the fall and was caught by police. The man was found wearing a ring with a swastika, and was thought to have ties to white supremacist organisations, CBS4 said. Police later arrested a third man, and a woman. The US Secret Service, FBI, and joint terrorism task force were investigating the alleged plot, CBS4 said. The US Attorney has also scheduled a press conference for Tuesday afternoon, US time. Mr Obama will accept the Democratic presidential nomination in Denver on Thursday.

sapphyre

Posted: Aug 29 2008, 07:33 AM

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QUOTE

A group of suspected drug users arrested in Denver with methamphetamine, guns and bulletproof vests made racist threats against Barack Obama but posed no true danger to the presidential candidate who arrives in the city later this week to accept the Democratic presidential nomination, federal authorities said.

The three men - all said to be high on methamphetamine when arrested - are the subject of an assassination investigation, but so far, authorities say, it appears they had no capacity to carry out any attack on Obama.

"The law recognises a difference between a true threat - one that can be carried out - and the reported racist rantings of a drug addict," US Attorney Troy Eid said.

He said the men's plans were "more aspirational, perhaps, than operational".

The three have been charged with drug and weapons offences but not with threatening to assassinate Obama or with other national security-related crimes.

Obama will become the first black nominee for president by a major US political party at this week's convention.

Eid insisted that the vague racist threats from the men would continue to be investigated. He said he did not know whether Obama had been briefed on the arrests or whether security plans would change for Obama's acceptance speech on Friday (AEST).

An affidavit released by Eid's office showed the investigation into alleged threats intensified with an unnamed female who was with the men - Tharin Gartrell, 28; Shawn Robert Adolf, 33; and Nathan Johnson, 32 - while they were doing drugs in a Denver hotel room last weekend.

The woman told police the men were using a racial epithet to refer to Obama and saying he should not live in the White House.

Johnson later told a federal agent that the men talked about assassinating Obama only because he was black, according to a federal arrest affidavit. Johnson said he also heard Adolf say that he wanted to kill Obama "on the day of his inauguration" and that he would "find high ground to set up and shoot Obama," the affidavit said.

Eid said authorities determined there was no firm plot to harm Obama. Asked what else they could plan to do with the weapons, Eid said, "I don't know what they were for."

"A bunch of meth heads get together, we don't know why they do what they do ... People do lots of stupid things on meth," Eid said. "If you're talking about a true threat, there has to be some evidence they're not just talking about it or thinking about it, especially in a drug-induced state."

Homeland Security officials say the biggest domestic terrorism threat to the presidential conventions would be a "lone wolf" - someone who sympathises with white supremacists and is inspired by racist beliefs, according to an August 22 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press.

In an AP interview last week, the head of the Secret Service's Protective division said the white supremacist threat to Obama has been exaggerated.

"I think that it's something that, at times, the media tried to make more of," Nick Trotta said. "We've always watched them, as we watch all the other groups."

Gartrell was arrested after police in the Denver suburb of Aurora stopped a truck that was swerving erratically around 1.30am Sunday. He had a suspended driver's licence and the truck was rented under someone else's name, said Aurora police Detective Marcus Dudley.

Aurora police Lieutenant Bob Stef said police found two scoped rifles, two wigs, camouflage clothing, a bulletproof vest and two walkie-talkies in the truck. A search also revealed 4.4 grams of what police believed to be methamphetamine and three IDs in other people's names, Stef said.

Johnson and Adolf were arrested at area hotels after police interviewed Gartrell. Adolf jumped out a sixth-storey window when police arrived. He broke his ankle but tried to run before police found him a short distance away.

Adolf was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of body armour by a violent felon and possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, according to a criminal complaint filed in US District Court in Denver. Gartrell and Johnson were charged with simple possession of meth, meaning the amount involved was less than 5 grams, and Johnson also was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Three senior FBI officials said that at least two of the men may have had white supremacist ties.

A fourth federal official familiar with the investigation said an assassination attempt was unlikely.

"The capability and their opportunity and what they had for their weaponry - I don't see that they would have been able to carry it out," the official said.

Adolf was hospitalised and held on $US1 million ($A1.2 million) bond for several outstanding warrants involving drug charges. He was on the "Most Wanted" list of the Weld County, Colorado, sheriff's department for burglary, larceny, aggravated motor vehicle theft and other charges.

Gartrell, who has no known address, was being held at the Arapahoe County jail on $US50,000 ($A60,000) bail on drug and weapons charges. The jail said he was due in court on Friday (AEST).

Eid would not describe the woman who was allegedly doing drugs with the men or say whether she was charged with a crime.

Law enforcers were also investigating whether the men were linked to vandalism shootings that targeted at least two federal buildings in Denver over the past two weeks. Windows were shot at the US Custom House and the US Military Entrance Processing Station on the same street in Denver's Federal District.

Additionally, a bullet was recovered from a Hertz rental car that was hit on August 15, and authorities are now looking to see whether it could have matched the guns seized from the men.

http://news.theage.com.au/world/denver-men...80827-43hf.html

Aphrodite	Posted: Aug 29 2008, 10:08 AM
Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 307 Member No.: 1 Joined: 25-July 08	I think i remember mentioning elsewhere... that Obama better watch his back... never know what Hillary could do ... People tend to end up dead being associated with the Clintons.

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