Russell Defreitas, the elderly and hapless patsy ensnared by the FBI for the crime of dreaming up a fantastical plot to blow up Kennedy Airport, “may have been inspired by Osama bin Laden,” however “was not an al-Qaida wannabe, according to authorities. He told an FBI informant that he and other non-Arab Muslims in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana wanted to do their part in the global jihad,” Newsday reports. These “other non-Arab Muslims in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana” are allegedly members of Jamaat al-Muslimeen, a Muslim group headed up by Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, who led members in an attempted coup d’état against the government of Trinidad and Tobago in July 1990. Bakr is a former policeman who converted to Islam while a student in Canada.

“U.S. and Trinidadian authorities have kept a close eye on the Jammat’s activities since the 9/11 attacks, but there is no hard evidence tying the group to international terrorism, let alone al-Qaeda,” writes Chris Zambelis for Global Terrorism Analysis, a Jamestown Foundation publication (the foundation is linked to CIA asset Richard Mellon Scaife and PNAC; members include James Woolsey and Zbigniew Brzezinski). “However, Abu Bakr did maintain links with Libya’s Muammar Qadhafi in the 1980s and 90s and considers him a close friend to this day. The Jammat reportedly received funds through Libya’s World Islamic Call Society (WICS) to finance the construction of its main mosque, schools, and a medical center, but there is no evidence linking Tripoli with the failed 1990 coup attempt. Abu Bakr’s most recent publicized links with controversial international figures include Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.”

No, Russell Defreitas, according to the corporate media, is “not an al-Qaida wannabe,” however he may prove to be a convenient link to Jamaat al-Muslimeen and Hugo Chávez, as the former is basically insignificant beyond the realm of kidnapping and drug smuggling, while the latter is a big fish with a lot of oil at his disposal and the neocons would love to demonize him as a terrorist, thus working toward his overthrow.

Recall, back in February of 2003, a Venezuelan man, Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan, was arrested at Gatwick Airport in Britain, “allegedly carrying a live grenade in his baggage,” according to the BBC. Naturally, the neocons over at the Daily Standard wasted precious little time attempting to link Rahaham-Alan to Hugo Chávez and al-Qaeda, the database. “The British Mail reported that al Qaeda operates a training camp on the Venezuelan island of Margarita,” claimed Thor Halvorssen.

Venezuela, however, does not take kindly to baseless accusations and corporate media propaganda linking Chávez to the aforementioned database. “Venezuela levied charges against US cable network CNN for linking Chavez to Al-Qaeda, and against Venezuelan TV network Globovision for encouraging the president’s assassination,” Agence France Presse reported earlier this week. Not surprising considering the documented fact military personnel from the Fourth Psychological Operations Group based at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, worked at CNN headquarters in Atlanta.

But never mind. I’ll bet a dollar to a donut the corporate media eventually gets around to linking Russell Defreitas and his hapless patsies to Hugo Chávez, who is targeted for extinction by the neocons and their kissing cousins, the neolibs.