Feds: Skyscraper Terror Plot Foiled

Seven young men arrested in an alleged plot to bomb the tallest building in the United States were part of a group of "homegrown terrorists" who sought to work with al Qaeda but ended up conspiring with an informant, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Friday.

Outlining an alleged plot against the 110-floor Sears Tower in Chicago and a federal building in Miami, Gonzales told a Justice Department news conference: "They were persons who for whatever reason came to view their home country as the enemy."

The informant was described in a Justice Department release as "an individual cooperating with law enforcement, who posed as a member of al Qaeda."

Five of the suspects arrested Thursday — including the alleged ringleader — made initial court appearances in Miami. They entered the courtroom under heavy security, in single file, chained together at the wrists and wearing ankle chains.

But questions are already being raised about the gravity of the charges against the men. CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen calls the indictment of the men "extraordinary for what it does not contain."

"It does not contain allegations that the men ever met with a genuine al Qaeda operative ... it does not contain allegations that the men ever purchased any munitions or went anywhere near Chicago to case the building. It does not contain allegations that the men had any sort of a specific plan or detailed plot to take down the Sears Tower," Cohen said.

See the 11-page federal indictment.

"Read (the indictment) yourself and decide whether the feds have broken up al Qaeda Lite or just the Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight," Cohen said.

The seven individuals indicted by a federal grand jury were taken into custody Thursday when authorities swarmed the warehouse in the Liberty City area, removing a metal door with a blow torch. The indictment also alleges plans to blow a federal building in Miami in conjunction with the al Qaeda terrorist network.

According to the indictment, a young man identified as Narseal Batiste, beginning in November 2005, recruited and trained the others "for a mission to wage war against the United States government," including a plot to destroy the Sears Tower.

To obtain money and support for their mission, the conspirators sought help from al Qaeda, pledged an oath to the terrorist organization and supported an al Qaeda plot to destroy FBI buildings, the four-count indictment charged.

Batiste met several times in December 2005 with a person purporting to be an al Qaeda member and asked for boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios, vehicles and $50,000 in cash to help him build an "'Islamic Army' to wage jihad,'" the indictment said. It said that Batiste said he would use his "soldiers" to destroy the Sears Tower.

In February 2006, it said, Batiste told the "al Qaeda representative" that he and his five soldiers wanted to attend al Qaeda training and planned a "full ground war" against the United States in order to "kill all the devils we can." His mission would "be just as good or greater than 9/11," the indictment accused Batiste of boasting.

What the plotters didn't know is that they were discussing their plans with an informant who had infiltrated the group posing as an al Qaeda operative, reports CBS News correspondent Jim Acosta.

"In actuality [the informant] was working with the South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force," said Gonzales.

Law enforcement officials say their plans were "pretty much all talk" and that agents "were on top of them." No weapons or explosive devices were found in the warehouse and federal officials say the men posed "no immediate threat."

"I think this is really a success story and people need to point that out," CBS News terrorism analyst Christopher Whitcomb said on CBS News' The Early Show. "The FBI and law enforcement in general found this plot in its very, very early stages."

Narseal Batiste comes from a family of preachers, his brother Buford Batiste told CBS News in an interview. He said the family is absolutely shocked and can't believe the allegations against their brother are true.