JFK plots fuels concern about spread of extremism

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Caribbean and Latin American links of people charged in an alleged plot to blow up New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport underscore the spread of global extremism, analysts said on Sunday.

But they warned about overstating the threat from America's southern neighbors, and said the case showed that U.S. counterterrorism efforts were working to avert another attack like that of September 11, 2001.

U.S. officials on Saturday said they had charged four people, including a former member of Guyana's parliament, with planning to blow up the Kennedy airport's jet fuel tanks and part of the 40-mile (64-km) pipeline feeding them.

Three of the four suspects, who included a former airline cargo handler, have been arrested, federal law enforcement officials said. The fourth was being sought in the Caribbean.

There was no connection to al Qaeda, officials said, but at least two of the suspects were linked to Jamaat Al Muslimeen, an Islamist extremist group in Trinidad that was behind a 1990 coup attempt on the island.

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the plot was "different in its distinct ties to the Caribbean, a region that is rarely thought of in terms of terrorism but of increasing concern to us as a crucible in the foment of Islamic radicalism."

Kelly told the CBS program "Face the Nation" the suspects were trying to get funding from the Trinidad group.

"We see no direct connection to core al Qaeda. But clearly ... it's a movement, it's a philosophy. And they're motivated by the same hatred that motivates al Qaeda," he said.

University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias said the incident "may be a wake-up call" about the Caribbean and Latin America, areas not high on U.S. radar screens for Islamic extremism.

"It does seem like much is in flux there," he added, citing anti-U.S. rhetoric by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

NO HISTORY OF U.S. OPERATIONS

Helmut Sonnenfeldt, a former senior U.S. official and scholar at the Brookings Institution, said the incident showed U.S. law enforcement was doing its job, but vigilance was key.

"It looks as though the system that tries to get a hold of those kind of threats has worked quite well ... but it also means we've got to continue to pay close attention," he said.

Sonnenfeldt said lingering concerns about the treatment of detainees at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanano Bay, Cuba, may have been used by extremists to fan anti-American sentiments in the region. "It's very hard to wipe it away," he said.

U.S. officials say about 95 percent of the 380 suspected militants held at the camp are connected to al Qaeda, the Taliban or their associates.

Chris Zambelis, an analyst with the nonprofit Jamestown Foundation, was surprised by the alleged link to the Trinidad Muslim group, which had focused on island politics to date.

"They have absolutely no history of operating outside of Trinidad, let alone planning something like this," he said. He said he saw no evidence of a rising Islamic threat in Guyana.

U.S. officials are seeking the extradition of two suspects in custody in Trinidad and Tobago -- Abdul Kadir, a citizen of Guyana and former member of its parliament, and Kareem Ibrahim, a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.

Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen and native of Guyana, was arrested in New York. Authorities said he was a former airport employee who conducted surveillance for the group, using his knowledge of the site to identify targets and escape routes.

The fourth suspect, Abdel Nur, a citizen of Guyana, was believed to be at large in Trinidad.