Youll meet the criminals and conmen spying on orders for the fbi. I was for them al qaeda. I am representing the sheik osama bashar alassad. Well brin owners osama bin laden. Concocted by the fbi part of a post9 11 mandate to thwart attacks before they even begin. It literally boils down to if you cannot find terrorists within the Muslim Community, make terrorists, create the terrorists. The fbi is not perfect in running the operations but theyre pretty damn close. Well show how some informants are accused of violating Civil Liberties and why some americans refuse to join the fbis intelligence ranks. I didnt want to be an informant for fbi for the same reasons that i think the Muslim Community should stand up to them. If i felt that there were actual terrorists running around in toledo, i might feel different about it. For the first time, a man accused of terrorist charges and back in the community. There was never no bombs never no maps never no plans, it was a bunch of hogwash. Stay down stay down an fbi informant has agreed to meet with me. I have tracked eli assad for nearly a decade, asad is a violent criminal with a history of secretly recording his conversations. We are confident he will record us at this meeting so to protect ourselves we are making sure he is not the only one with a camera. How you doing . Good to meet finally. How are you . Have a seat. Are you sure . Asad thition of himself as an secret agent. He calls me from blocked phone numbers and wont tell me where hes staying. Do you feel your life is potentially in danger because of these things . I had threats on my life. By al qaeda related affiliates . By muslims. Asad was being evasive. He was interested in talking but wary in doing a formal interview interview. I go there. Its my job. Do you think hed be interested in doing a formal sitdown . About what . You know along the lines of what i talked to you about. If you will be honest, the way how you put the interview. Yes. Okay. You know. Great meeting assignment. Yes yes. Informants often need a cover story, a lie, something to explain why theyre here in your Community Talking to you. In this investigation we reveal the secrets of three informants. Each with its own moniker. His own unique cover story. Eli asad aka the closer, the man the fbi brought in to finish a sting operation. Craig montey. Aka the body builder. His ruse was to get the gentlemen out of the mosque where they would drop their guard. Aka the trainer, a special op trainer who taught young muslim men how to fire weapons. My interest in fbi informants began years ago in miami. After 9 11, the u. S. Government set about recruiting an Intelligence Army of thousands of informants many of them in muslim communities. While working as a reporter here, i first heard about an alleged al qaeda cell that would be called the liberty city 7. This is morning edition from npr news, im linda wertheimer. The men were from a poor mostly Asian American community in miami. Odd place for the fbi to recruit. My first reaction was laughter. My name is rory mcman. I looked on the liberty 7 case. After the raid they searched the headquarters the total take of what they recovered was a ceremonial sword. So that signaled to me that these people werent much of a threat. The operation began when the fbi received a tip about a Suspicious Group of men. Agents struggled to develop the case, so they turned it over to a seasoned hand. A professional informant. The closer. I didnt work only for the fbi. I work for different agencies. I work a lot of cases. I lost count. I dont know exactly. But there were a lot. And youre good at what you do. Im good. I never lost a case. The fbi surveilled the group, taking these photographs. Asad was ordered to get to know their leader, narsil batiste, who run a construction business. Time is 4 25 p. M. This is the recording of one of the first meetings between batist and asad, asad posed as member of al qaeda, batist said his grip on reality was tenuous. I heard you were close to the war. Can have no way. Asad ordered the group to take these photos of the office in north miami beach. Using a camera asad provided. That was the plot, a group of poor men in miami with no real al qaeda connections, no bombs in their positions, wanting to attack a skyscraper more than 2,000 kilometers away. Batiste asked asad to give them 2,000. The liberty city 7 desperate for cash claimed they were running a scam. We wanted to get money from this guy, we didnt believe he was a terrorist. My name is Rothschild Augustin. Liberty 7, our mind was on the money. It was messed up, a stupid idea, didnt know how everything turned out you know but that was our mind frame at the time. As part of the operation, asad agreed to deliver a new van to replace this aging pickup truck. Filmed here by fbi agents following close by. Asad also offered to rent a larger warehouse for the group. Money was no object. Pull big trucks in here. Okay this yours, ill do my best no matter how much it will cost, no matter how much you want, you want this, i propose to bring this to you. Asad suggested the men come to the warehouse and pledge their oath to al qaeda. I pledge to osama bin laden. Prosecutors would allege this demonstrated their commitment to the plot. To commit myself. To commit myself. Was it a real al qaeda pledge or something the fbi came up with . No, i guess its i dont know. I never its so what before, this is my first time, they gave me the paper, they said you know what, read it, this is the pledge. Guys you have to be in the middle and say your name. Even on the cameras when they were saying that audio, the cameras we were all looking at each other, what the hell, i had my hand on the door, ready to get out, what the hell they talking about . Maybe were going to get the money skedaddle with the cash. But it happened like that. Three months after the oath, the fbi raided the small warehouse in liberty city and arrested the seven men. According to the government, a major plot was foiled. These individuals wished to wage a, quote, full ground war against the United States, that quote is from the investigation of these individuals who also allegedly stated the desire to, quote, kill all the devils we can. In a press conference he said you guys were going to declare ground war on the United States. Yes, thats just ridiculous. Thats just reretarded. Retarded. How the heck we going to stage a ground war . They got tanks they got guns they got missiles. We are three tbroak dudes. Broke dudes. Augustin was sentenced to conspiracy to produce weapons of mass destruction. The closure, elie asad, or tony montana, as he liked to refer to himself, hes been doing this for a long time. Rory mcmanwas hiremann was hy the defense to investigate asad. Could have disqualified him from being an informant but the fbi kept him on. Eli asad is a professional informant. He is the one im talking about, he knows how to gain the system, to make eye livelihood out of providing information to the government that the government wants to hear. Not necessarily truthful information. The truth is negotiable. Again, what he does for a living, this guy . Hes a private investigator. He should suggest for him to retire. Because he doesnt know what hes talking about. The liberty city 7 case was the first historic one where it got a lot of national attention. They were able to ultimately succeed. So that emboldened them. Now they can manufacture cases and then announce to the world we just saved you from this group. Years after the sting in miami the closer would find himself behind bars as well. We will get to that later. Im ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. We are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. We are ment to be your first choice for the news. America votes 2014 on Al Jazeera America focusing on what matters to you what are the issues that americans need to know about . Everybody needs healthcare. Lower taxes. Job opportunities. Reporting from the Battle Ground states. Alaska. Kentucky. Iowa. Local elections with National Impact were visiting with the people making the decisions. Covering what it all means for you. The mine shut down, it hurts everything. I just keep puttin one foot in front of the other. Were fighting for the future of our state for straight forward unbiassed political coverage. Stay with Al Jazeera America the fbi began to insert informants like eli asad in communities, across california there was craig montey, the body builder. The fbi use methods to turn a person to become informant, that method is mice, it is an acronym. M stands for money. Using money to bribe them to become an informant. I, use their ideology, to turn them. Meaning in this case it would be religion. C, compromise. Meaning, some kind of information that makes that person vulnerable. E, is ego. I wake up at around 4 00. I walk over to the car, i put on audioslave. I play as loud as i possibly can. Theres a reason for that. The audioslave sound guard ozzie osborn, and van heal halen was to keep myself somewhat be sane. Craig montey didnt exist anymore. He worked the counterterrorism beat. It had nothing to do with my country tis of thee. It was, i wanted to be in on the big game and to be paid top dollar for it. Thats it. Operation flex was the code name for monteys under cover assignment. As a personal trainer hed wear people down to get them to open up. He claims an fbi agent encouraged him to portray himself as extremely devout. He would say okay, when you pray, when you take your right side of your head, i want you to rub it on the carpet so it leaves a sore on your head. And do not put a bandaid on it. Let id bleed. Just constant dont led it heal, let i. T. Bleed. And that scab, that meant im so devout that i dont care about my appearance. The more blood dripped on my robe the more serious i was. And the more serious i was, the more people who gravitated towards me, they would be more of a person of interest. So there was a method to all this madness that was going on. Southern california is home to one of americas largest muslim communities. Monteys assignment was to troll the mosques, looking at anyone the fbi might be interested in. I would have a conversation in the mosque with a group of muslims. As were talking about these this conversation, this subject i would have my recording device just right by the wall, where were talking. Id get up, use the restroom and start another conversation somewhere else. With another device that was on. I maybe had about four of those on in the mosque at any given time. This video from 2006 shows an fbi outreach meeting in orange county. Members of the Muslim Community were upset after a local paper quoted and fbi agent saying Muslim Students in the area were being monitored. Stephen titwell then the assistant fbi director tried to convince the community it wasnt true. Let me talk, we do not, cannot, do not and i think the Muslim Community really was just getting the runaround from stephen tidwell. My name is yassir fact of the ir fitaga. Im the muslim imam in the mosque. I got up and i had the paper on me that day and i pointed to the quote and i said mr. Tidwell one of your agents has made that statement and you are telling us different. We are not being monitored, evolution is not my first line. The fbi refused to be actively studying Muslim Student groups at ucla as part of an intense program to direct to muslims. To come and tell us you are not being monitored, he is saying to many people, we dont trust that. I remember, he looked at me and saying, do you are you saying that im a liar . I said i dont call anybody a liar. But i have a direct quote and i dont know how to reconcile the quote with what you are telling us. Steven tidwell now working for a private security firm, declined al jazeeras request for an interview. Also on surveillance programs in orange county. It was mr. Fizaga who stood up and challenged mr. Tidwell. The fbi does not take that lightly. So they had me get close to mr. Fizaga, to get into his inner circle. President obama gave a speech this morning. And in the speech he was going to be addressing the nsa, been going around spying on people. And by people here i mean muslim people. Because they were the target, mainly. So people are ves disturbed, what in the world is going on, we were told we needed to do this in order to stop terrorism. So the president gave a speech this morning and people were really anticipating. People were anticipating that he was going to Say Something that is meaningful, but unfortunately, that was not the case. When i first met craig he was at our mosque. I introduced myself to him. And i made a comment about how physically fit he was. And he really was physically fit. Something i was personally trulg with. Struggling with, he extended an invitation, maybe we can work out sometimes. We never did but we spoke a few times at length with other muslim individuals around. So the fbi had several recordings of myself and mr. Fizaga speaking about Matters Regarding the koran and current events. Operation flex began to unraffle when monteys aggressive approach Alarmed Community members. I started receiving reports saying that theres this gentleman who keeps asking these strange questions, almost in a pushy way mainly about violence, by jihad. My name is houssan, director of the care. After many complaints he called tidwell. The mini said its a convert, hes in irvine, he said oh thank you, houssan, im glad you reported that well take care of it from now on. I said steve, i havent even given you the name and i could only imagine whats in his mind at that moment. That the same informant weve sent to entrap muslims is being reported by these same muslims that we suspected. At that point, mr. Aloush alerted some people from the mosque. And that began to place me in a compromised position where certain muslims didnt trust me anymore because they thought i might be working with the fbi. The body builders cover was blown. Frustrated by the fbis handling of the case he switched sides. Montey agreed to partner with fizaga in a lawsuit against the fbi. The Informant Program thats so vast, in the Muslim Community today, it is like east germany, the cold war and cuba, where people are on the Street Corner spying on neighbors and family members and its just multiplies, its actually completely just out of control. But the lawsuit was killed by the u. S. Attorney general, eric holder. The government argued that allowing it to move forward would reveal state secrets and significantly harm national security. The Justice Department declined al jazeeras request for an interview, stating there was no upside to discussing the issue. Operation flex has undermined the relationship between federal Law Enforcement and the Muslim Community in southern california. I feel very betrayed personally because i was one of the most vocal proponents of strengthening a relationship with the fbi. We expected the fbi is there to protect us, protect our community from criminals. Not to go and hire criminals to actually come into our mosques and put our youth at risk. You cant really trust the fbi anymore. I mean period. You cannot trust the fbi anymore. In my own sermons i would tell our Community Members to please cooperate with the law. However, when it comes to the fbi, the less you talk, the more you walk. Toledo, ohio has one of the oldest muslm communities in the United States. Immigrants from the middle east settled here, years ago. Toledo has its own story of an fbi informant. Darren griffin grew up in toledo and joined the u. S. Army. Court testimony would later reveal that after he left the military his life began to spiral out of control. He started abusing drugs and alcohol. Became involved in drug dealing activity. My name is edward brian. Im an assistant federal public defender for Northern District of ohio. He came to know Drug Enforcement agents when they busted him for drug related activity and began working as a drug informant in northwest ohio. While working for the dea griffin turned in other drug dealers. He continued to use and sell government. 800 per week, cash. [ chanting ] in 2002, he walked into this toledo mosque posing as a convert. Ziad abu humus was one that welcomed him. It was on a friday, the opened door for him, we felt he needed an open hand and we felt he was doing this for good faith. To the Muslim Community he was the chosen one but for the the deea he was the trainer. His cover, a disaffected american trying to make up for misdeeds in iraq. He set his sights on mohamed awai. He was a regular person who came tom mosque. He used to question the imam of certain thing. He is not mature. To see him fall down like this, you know, its a shock. Its a shock. Was he a terrorist . I dont think he was a terrorist. I think hes everything but a terrorist. Griffin tried to develop a close relationship with amawi and often came to his apartment. Is your phone on . I called like a couple of times. Amawi was angry about the war in iraq, he and griffin spent hours watching violent videos and chatted about american policy in chat rooms. He would express his opinion and he would say whatever on his mind. My name is amir amawi, i am his brother and hes spending 20 years in prison being a becausen fbi informant. When they do ieds videos they spend hours in that room. The fbi watched closely. Trying to determine whether amawis interest in war time videos and his talk against u. S. Troops in iraq would result in action. He didnt feel sorry for u. S. Soldiers dying there, theres no denying. They came from somewhere to invade another country, why would i feel bad for him . The whole focus was to verify whether it was more than just talk. My name is ted wasky, im the form he special agent in charge of the fbi in northern ohio. I wish i could go kill american soldiers, was that an offhanded comme