Understanding Homegrown Terrorism
BOSTON (CBS) – An Ashland man accused of plotting a terror attack had real explosives.
Court documents show federal agents gave Rezwan Ferdaus genuine C-4 moments before they arrested him.
Raised and educated in America, yet America, according to court documents, was his enemy and he was committed to killing men, women and children.
But how did this happen and why?
WBZ-TV's Jonathan Elias reports
"Ferdaus was radicalized on the Internet as many people in the current environment are," says author Jim Berger.
Berger wrote the book "Jihad Joe", a book all about homegrown terrorists in America. He found 300 cases but he says there are hundreds more.
READ: Timeline Of Alleged Terror Plot
"There's no single profile, no single reason to explain why they act the way they do," says Berger. "The one thing they do have in common is the perception that the U.S. is at war with Islam."
Today we found out that Rezwan Ferdaus got what he was looking for.
Moments before his arrest, undercover agents gave him 25 pounds of C-4 explosives including approximately 1.25 pounds of actual C-4 explosives.
Agents say, "While inspecting the C-4 explosives while in his storage unit, Ferdaus placed some of these explosives inside a remote controlled aircraft that he had ordered and obtained for his attack plan."
That was his plan to use these remote control planes filled with explosives to attack the Pentagon and Capitol.
J.M. Berger says Ferdaus' plan fits the al Qaida playbook. Kill as many people as you can.
Berger says, "We have been lucky in some cases and in some cases we have prevented some attacks through good police work but sooner or later someone is going to get through it's impossible to stop everything."
