Group planned Islamic regime to govern U.S.

ATLANTA (AP) -- The leader of a group accused of plotting to destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago and other buildings viewed the attacks as a prelude to the overthrow of the U.S. government and its replacement by an Islamic regime, prosecutors said at a hearing Thursday.
Prosecutors also said they have video of the group's members swearing allegiance to Osama bin Laden in a March meeting, and that they had pledged to support a plan to bomb FBI buildings in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Washington. The plan came from an FBI informant posing as an al-Qaida operative.
The details were revealed at a hearing in which one suspect, Lyglenson Lemorin, was denied bond and ordered transferred to Miami, where his six co-defendants were arrested last week at a Miami warehouse that allegedly served as their hide-out. Lemorin, a permanent U.S. resident from Haiti, was arrested in Atlanta.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Getchell said that the alleged ringleader, Narseal Batiste, told an FBI informant as early as October 2005 that his mission was to take over the U.S. government in the name of Allah. He added that although Batiste said he was aware some people would consider that "crazy," he believed that all was possible with Allah's help.
When he was pressed by one of the informants about his plans after the Sears Tower attack, Batiste allegedly said it would be "all over, period."
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