Editing Lackawanna, New York (section)

===The Lackawanna Six===
The [[Buffalo Six|Lackawanna Six]] (also known as the Buffalo Six) are a group of [[Yemeni Americans]] convicted of providing "material support" to [[Al-Qaeda]]. The group was accused of traveling to [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]] in the spring of 2001 to attend terrorist training camps.<ref>{{cite news |last = Purdy |first = Matthew |author2=Lowell Bergman  |title = WHERE THE TRAIL LED Unclear Danger: Inside the Lackawanna Terror Case |work = The New York Times |date = October 12, 2003 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/nyregion/12LACK.html?position=&ei=5007&en=6c72ae19117871d4&ex=1381291200&adxnnl=1&partner=USERLAND&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1130180644-8piERM4UI408SpeT7oO5EA |access-date = 2007-09-08}}</ref> The men had claimed that their travel was to Pakistan only, and for the purpose of religious instruction.

The group was arrested in Lackawanna on September 13, 2002, by the FBI. A member of the Lackawanna Cell, [[Jaber A. Elbaneh]], never returned to the U.S. after his trip to Afghanistan. In September 2003 the FBI announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. Captured by [[Yemen]] police, he was convicted and sentenced to a prison in Yemen for involvement in the 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker ''Limburg'' off the coast of Yemen. The remaining members of the group pleaded guilty in December 2003 and were given various sentences in federal prison.<ref>{{cite web| last = Aziz| first = Roya|author2=Monica Lam | title = Profiles: The Lackawanna Cell| work = Chasing the Sleeper Cell| url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sleeper/inside/profiles.html
| access-date =July 3, 2009 }}</ref>

Jaber Elbaneh escaped from a Yemeni prison in 2006 after joining a successful group prison break. He was identified as one of 23 people, 12 of them Al-Qaeda members, who escaped on February 3, 2006. On February 23, 2006, the FBI confirmed the escape, as they issued a national press release naming Elbaneh to the [[FBI Most Wanted Terrorists]] list.<ref name="fbi">{{cite web| title=Recent Escapees from Yemen Prison Added to Most Wanted Terrorists and Seeking Information - War on Terrorism Lists| date=February 23, 2006| publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation| url=https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/recent-escapees-from-yemen-prison-added-to-most-wanted-terrorists-and-seeking-information-war-on-terrorism-lists| access-date=1 January 2011}}</ref> On May 20, 2007, Elbaneh turned himself in to Yemen authorities on the condition that his prison sentence would not be extended. The incident of the Lackawanna Six has tarnished the city's reputation, but it is recovering.<ref>{{cite news |last = Vezner |first = Tad |title = The lessons of Lackawanna: Terror case leaves lasting mark on New York town |work = The Toledo Blade |date = February 26, 2006 |url = http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS08/602260378 |access-date = 2007-09-08}}</ref>

In July 2009, it was reported that prior to authorities sending in 130 federal and local members of the Western New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, there were suggestions that [[United States Army|federal troops]] be used to capture the suspects.<ref name="buffalo">{{cite news | last = Michel| first = Lou| title = Lackawanna officials say troops in city was bad idea| work = The Buffalo News| date = July 26, 2009| url =http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/744712.html| access-date =27 July 2009 }}</ref> At the time, Vice President [[Dick Cheney]] and Defense Secretary [[Donald Rumsfeld]] believed that the Yemeni men should be declared [[enemy combatant]]s and could have been tried by a [[Guantanamo military commission|military tribunal]]. [[George W. Bush|President Bush]] rejected this proposal, and the arrests proceeded without incident.<ref name="buffalo" />