Crawford & Feight NY Radiation Weapon Plot

Drew

Active Member
I've been following this fascinatingly bizarre story of two men in upstate NY accused of plotting to build a weapon that would use radiation to kill "enemies of Israel".

The gist:
The FBI on Tuesday arrested Glendon Scott Crawford, 49, of Providence, and Eric J. Feight, 54, of Stockport, who are accused of developing "a radiation emitting device that could be placed in the back of a van to covertly emit ionizing radiation strong enough to bring about radiation sickness or death against Crawford's enemies," according to an FBI agent's sworn complaint.

The Albany Times Union has a good overview here and has made the FBI's criminal complaint available here (it's a long but interesting read).

It's unclear what the actual capabilities of the weapon would have been, but these people had strange intentions. Oddly, they sought financial support and collaboration from Albany-area Jewish synagogues, but they also had some KKK affiliation.

The relevant angle is that they appear to have been motivated by anti-Muslim and anti-Obama extremism, alluding to common conspiracist tropes and themes.

From an ABC story:
"Obama's policies caused this," Crawford allegedly wrote in a text message on April 15, the day a series of bombings killed three and injured scores more at the Boston marathon.

"He directed the [government] to start bringing [Muslims] here without background checks," Crawford wrote, according to the FBI. "They don't have to follow any laws, and this administration has done more to enable a government sponsored invasion than the press can cover up."

And from §78 of the complaint, Crawford is quoted as saying "I am in this for my kids. I don't want money. You know what, after this last election, the electoralprocess is dead. So now, all that is left is to make the mother fuckers pay."

It will be interesting to see how this develops and what more comes out explaining their political motivations. As it seems now, their motivations stem, in broad terms, from unfounded conspiracist beliefs about President Obama, rigged elections, and Muslim subversion.
 
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