The JFK Pipeline Plot: Forcing the Chávez Connection


As per their nature, wingnuts have gone wild over federal prosecutors’ recent revelations about an alleged plot to blow shit up in New York. Pamela of Atlas Shrugs is representative, some might say clinically so, and her coverage of the story merits perusal. From it I’d like to draw only this lesson in geography:


[Guyana is] a small South American country between Venezuela and Suriname near the top of the continent.


Thanks. You forgot the southern border with Brazil, but no matter. Let us set aside geography for the moment and move on to The Venezuelan Connection.

As has been reported widely, one of the alleged conspirators, Guyanese citizen Abdul Kadir, was on his way from Trinidad to Venezuela to secure travel documents for a trip to Iran when he was arrested. He is currently detained in Port of Spain and awaits extradition to the United States.

Various right-wing bloggers latched onto these details and ran with them. Not very far, as there wasn’t much there, but run they did. For example, Rob Taylor of Red Alerts:

So this guy was plotting against the U.S. and coincidentally was planning to travel through Venezuela and Iran. Hmmm.

Chavez is finally being recognized by other South American countries as a threat to the entire region, as Brazil’s congress declares that Chavez is a “cheap Hitler” and throws their moral support behind the student protests. Chavez’s dreams of Latin American domination would benefit from America being distracted by a violent Jihad at home. Are Venezuelan officials allowing Jihadists to set up staging grounds in the Bolivarian republic? It isn’t the first time Venezuela has been linked to radical Islamists. The JFK bombers were supporters of Hezbollah, Hezbollah is active in Latin America, this seems like more than a coincidence to me.

And Tammy Bruce:

NY AIRPORT TERROR PLOT CONNECTS TO VENEZUELA AND IRAN

One of the more fascinating aspects of this plot is the fact that one of the terrorists was nabbed in Trinidad as he was hopping a plane to Venezuela for a visa to go to Iran.

One more. Allahpundit of Hot Air determined Kadir was seeking a Venezuelan visa to go to Iran and added this to his post title:

Feds bust terror plot at JFK airport in NYC? Update: PDF of complaint added; Update: Suspect wanted Venezuelan visa to visit Iran

No. Kadir sought an Iranian visa for travel to Iran. Iran has no diplomatic presence in either Guyana or Trinidad & Tobago. It does in Venezuela. As Pamela teaches us, Venezuela is close to Guyana, real close. Hence his trip to Caracas before attending a conference in Iran. From the Stabroek News:

Speaking with the Stabroek News yesterday, Kadir's daughter Sauda said that her father had been on his way to Iran where he had been invited to attend an Islamic conference when he was arrested. She said that Kadir had left Guyana on Thursday evening for Trinidad from where he was scheduled to travel to Venezuela to pick up his Iranian visa before proceeding to Iran.

This isn’t the first time wingnuts have pushed exaggerated claims about Venezuela’s connection to Islamic terrorist organizations, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

Now let's get back to geography and close with it. Patriot of A Soldier’s Perspective raises an important point:

Is it also coincidence that the fourth man is being sought on the island of Trinidad, which is off the coast of Venezuela - home of Hugo Chavez and live-in lover Cindy Sheehan?

Not only are Venezuela and Trinidad & Tobago neighbors, they form part of the same continental shelf. Geologically, they’re practically the same place. Cindy Sheehan has a lot of explaining to do.

Posted by J— at 7:24 PM
 http://landwithoutbread.blogspot.com/2007/06/jfk-pipeline-plot-forcing-chvez.html