Chris Christie: 'These Folks Have Not Lost Their Resolve to Want to Commit Jihad and to Hurt and Kill Americans'

Unlike the cowardly Eric Holder, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie isn't afraid to tell an obvious truth. We having enemies living among us who want us dead.

A detailed 17-page criminal complaint lays out a chilling story of two homegrown American jihadists who taught themselves to prepare for battle and steeled themselves with the teachings and videos of radical clerics who preach via the internet.

Authorities allege Alessa and Almonte trained for combat by playing paint ball, lifting weights, traveling to the Mideast and saving thousands of dollars for a second journey they hoped would end with them in the ranks of Somalia’s al Shabaab, designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group in 2008.

Alessa and Almonte, both U.S. citizens, are scheduled to appear today in federal court in Newark on charges of conspiring to commit acts of terror outside of the United States. Their plotting, officials were quick to say, is a reminder of the threat posed by would-be terrorists both at home and abroad.

"We live in difficult times. We live in times that we know — and I hope we haven’t forgotten — there are people out there who want to do harm to us," Gov. Chris Christie, a former U.S. attorney, told reporters yesterday. "It’s almost nine years since 9/11. These folks have not lost their resolve to want to commit jihad and to hurt and kill Americans."

Like the five men convicted of plotting to attack Fort Dix in 2007, Alessa and Almonte were undone after being infiltrated by an undercover operative who authorities said secretly recorded them talking about their violent aspirations. And like the Fort Dix defendants, they were allegedly inspired by the sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki, an eloquent American-born Muslim cleric who uses the Internet to recruit converts to extremism.