NYT in Denial: 'Unclear What Role, If Any, Religion Played' in Fort Dix Six Terror Plot

New York Times reporter Alan Feuer, seen on Times Watch last May giving respectable coverage to a convention of "Bush-caused-9-11" conspiracy nuts, went to enormous (and erroneous) pains on Monday to soft-pedal the Muslim beliefs of the Fort Dix terrorist plotters in "Two Mosques Are Shaken by Ties to a Terror Plot."

"It is unclear what role, if any, religion played in the attack Mr. Shnewer and the five other men are charged with planning. (The sixth suspect, Agron Abdullahu, had no apparent connection with Al-Aqsa or the South Jersey Islamic Center.) The authorities have described the suspects as Islamic extremists, but the lengthy criminal complaint summarizing the F.B.I.'s 15-month undercover investigation of the group does not mention where -- or how often -- they prayed. Certainly there is no evidence that they picked up radical ideas at either mosque."

In contrast to the Times' uninformative, politically correct take, the New York Post filed a complete story, with details on the suspects' radical Islamic beliefs.

"When the teen and another employee went into a back room and began the conversion of the tape, they saw a group of bearded men wearing 'fundamentalist attire' and shooting 'big, f-ing guns,' the teen later told co-workers.

"Throughout the 90-minute-long tape, above the booming gunfire at a Pennsylvania target range, the jihadists could be heard screaming 'God is great!'"

[…]

"That call to authorities set in motion a 16-month undercover investigation in which six of the men caught on tape chillingly discussing killing soldiers 'in the name of Allah.'"

In a related story, the Times entered a familiar plea for sympathy on Saturday's front page, a predictable story by Richard Jones on the plight of a father of one of the "Fort Dix Six" terror suspects -- "Fort Dix Case Empties Pizzeria Where a Father's Pain Is Double."

The paper shows while it does not put terror threats against the U.S. at the top of its priority list, it at least remains sleepless in its dedication to stomping out the hint of a possibility of a shadow of a backlash against Muslims in America.

"After the third death threat of the day, Muslim Tatar decided on Thursday to telephone a sign maker. He had an assistant dictate precisely how he wanted the big new banners to read: 'Under New Management.'

"Not that Mr. Tatar was certain he would be able to sell his beloved and suddenly beleaguered pizzeria here, Super Mario's. Not that he was even sure he wanted to. But he had to do something about the empty tables, the car honks, the nasty taunts.

"'Now, I am target,' Mr. Tatar said, standing in the deserted restaurant on Thursday afternoon. 'How do I know some kid won’t come and. ...' Instead of finishing the sentence, he raised the thumb of his right hand and jabbed his forefinger, riddling the air with invisible bullets.

[...]

"Federal prosecutors said there were no indications that the elder Mr. Tatar had any idea about the plot, and the father said he and his son had grown largely estranged in recent years as Serdar’s religious zealotry increased."

Jones didn't add the quote Tatar gave the Newark Star-Ledger about the terror charges against his son, which may have made Tatar appear less sympathetic: "It's persecution, religious persecution. Nothing more.''

For more New York Times bias, visit Times Watch.