False Heroes: Why the FBI's 'Terror Victories' Are Nothing More Than Tragic Manipulations

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Posted on 11/22/2024 1:47:11 PM PST by MtnClimber

In recent years, the FBI has become increasingly skilled not at capturing the masterminds of terror but at fabricating their own foes, preying on the vulnerable, the mentally ill, and the socially isolated. What once was a proud institution tasked with the safeguarding of the Republic now finds itself busying thousands of its agents not with countering sophisticated threats to the nation but in entrapping men who, left to their own devices, would likely never muster anything more dangerous than a misguided blog post. Instead of arresting actual dangers to society, the FBI is, with alarming frequency, manufacturing them from scratch.

Take the case of Skyler Philippi. A 24-year-old white male, Philippi was the quintessential portrait of a young man left behind by society. Picked on as a child, he drifted into adulthood as a loner. He struggled with school, and he lived at home—a trajectory seen among many young men today who have neither community nor economic opportunity. Philippi found himself in the orbit of an FBI informant, a virtual relationship that offered him something he had long yearned for: recognition. The discussions initially revolved around revenge fantasies—but nothing more. Philippi, despite his deep-rooted anger at society, was devoid of the ability or the will to make such plans real. Enter the FBI, who encouraged him to think bigger. Shoot up a YMCA? “No,” they suggested, “a power plant”—the kind of attack that would put him in the history books.

Through these interactions, Philippi experienced something new: belonging. He had “friends”—in fact, multiple agents who cheered him on and offered him validation. They bought him pizza, they listened to him, and crucially, they offered him a way to matter. When he finally prepared to carry out his attack—albeit with a dummy explosive—he did so buoyed by the fellowship of agents whose sole purpose was not to help him become a better person, but to entrap him into committing a crime. It is an indictment not of Philippi, but of the FBI, that their enticement and resources led this baby-faced loner down a path that has ruined his life. What could have been different had Skyler simply been offered job training, counseling, and real friends? He recently found a job at Ryder, but it was too little, too late—not against the gravity of an FBI-engineered plot.

Michael Sam Teekaye's story is eerily similar. Befriended by the FBI at just 16, Michael was the classic misunderstood youth. He lived in his parents' basement, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and struggled with mental retardation. Over five years, the FBI cultivated Michael, feeding his delusions, suggesting he fulfill his fantasy of joining ISIS. Michael, with no money and no courage to leave his parents’ basement, spent years talking to an FBI friend who convinced him that his dream was valid. It was not Michael’s dream that was criminal—it was the FBI’s exploitation of it. They encouraged a mentally ill child, over nearly a quarter of his young life, only to arrest him once they had finally manipulated him into buying an airline ticket purchased for him by another FBI asset. His reward for these years of fake friendship? Arrest. Years in prison. The hollow boast of ‘victory’ for the FBI. This was no victory—it was a tragedy orchestrated by those who should have protected him.

The same story repeats itself, tragically, in the case of Alexander Scott Mercurio, whose youthful anger and isolation during the Covid lockdowns led him to one outlet—the FBI posing as friends. Here was a young man, only 16, whose depression, anxiety, and sub-90 IQ left him vulnerable. During the lockdowns, his FBI friends were his only connection to the world outside his home. They convinced him that by converting to Islam and pledging loyalty to ISIS, he could find purpose and camaraderie. They encouraged him to talk about committing acts of violence. By the time he turned 18, they arrested him. This young man’s crime was not the planning of a terrorist attack—his crime was loneliness and misplaced trust in those whose only aim was his downfall....SNIP

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1 posted on 11/22/2024 1:47:11 PM PST by MtnClimber

To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 11/22/2024 1:48:01 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)

To: MtnClimber

3 posted on 11/22/2024 1:59:19 PM PST by fruser1

To: MtnClimber

4 posted on 11/22/2024 2:00:39 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))

To: MtnClimber

5 posted on 11/22/2024 2:08:40 PM PST by Sirius Lee

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