How Do You Stop Terrorists? Ask A Con-Artist!

Craig Monteilh, everybody's favorite convicted con artist and FBI mole, hit the airwaves last night in an in-depth interview with KFI AM 640 talk show host Bryan Suits. The topic of the conversation: an FBI sting operation that led to the arrest of four Muslim converts in upstate New York on Wednesday. None of the suspects were from the Middle East nor did any have any connection to Al Qaeda–there is even doubt about whether they were really Muslims– although one has widely been described as mentally challenged and schizophrenic.

In any case, the four men were befriended by an FBI informant who'd done prison time for identity theft and who convinced them he had access to bombs and Stinger missiles, the latter which were to be used to shoot down military aircraft. The bureau apparently arrested the men right outside a synagogue which they were about to attempt to blow up with a phony bomb provided by the informant. “It's hard to imagine a more chilling plot,” said Assistant US Attorney Eric Snyder, adding that the suspects were “eager to bring death to Jews.”

Despite Snyder's statement, nothing about this plot provides any evidence of Al Qaeda plotting terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Instead, it provides yet more proof that the FBI is actively engaged in infiltrating mosques with informants with questionable credibility, informants like Monteilh, for example, who claims he uncovered a massive terrorist plot, of which the only evidence is a tape recording Monteilh made of a Afghan immigrant praising Osama bin Laden. (You can read my in-depth story about Monteilh and his felonious escapades here).

In any case, KFI's Suits probed Monteilh last night for insight into the New York sting, which Monteilh described as “very successful.” Suits also asked Monteilh for details about how Monteilh exposed terrorism in Orange County mosques, starting with how Monteilh first hooked up with the FBI.

“Let's lay our cards on the table,” Suits said. “You were a con man and that's how the FBI found you?” “No, no, no,” Monteilh replied. “The con man thing came later.” He then explained that the FBI wanted him to work as a mole because of his “manipulation skills.”
That's a stunning admission, seeing as how if Monteilh was hired to manipulate Muslims into a terror plot rather than root one out through honest observation, it would mean that he was nothing more than an agent provocateur.

Speaking of manipulation, Suits asked whether Monteilh incited people to talk about terror plots or if he just pretended to go along with them. “What the FBI trains informants to do is called mirroring the suspect,” Monteilh responded. “So when the suspect talks about training for jihad, that gives the informant the room to enhance that conversation.”

Monteilh then proceeded not to describe how he uncovered terrorism plots in OC. I say not describe, because that's exactly what he did. The more he babbled on about how “if the informant is skilled enough you can actually draw certain elements of jihadist to yourself” the more confused Suits seemed.

Perhaps finally realizing his guest either wasn't interested in or wasn't capable of providing a gripping account of how he prevented terrorist attacks, Suits cut the chat short and asked Monteilh if the FBI might be hoping to avoid going to court with evidence he collected, “because if someone like you goes to trial, they will question your credibility.” Always ready with a pithy acknowledgment of his lack of credibility, Monteilh responded thusly. “Credibility will not really be an issue,” he said.