(Adds defense closing)

By Jim Loney

MIAMI, Nov 29 (Reuters) - A band of domestic terrorists tried to forge an alliance with al Qaeda to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower and overthrow the U.S. government, a federal prosecutor said on Thursday in closing arguments at a Miami terrorism trial.

A defense attorney countered by telling jurors her client was not a terrorist but a victim of U.S. government "conmen" who scripted the alleged plot.

The Liberty City Seven, named for the poor part of Miami where they gathered in a rundown warehouse, were arrested in 2006 on charges of conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government, blow up the 110-story Sears Tower -- the tallest U.S. skyscraper -- along with several FBI offices and the Miami federal court complex where they are being tried.

They each face up to 70 years in prison if convicted on all four conspiracy counts in a case government officials have touted as an important battle in the war against terrorism.

Federal agents said when the men were arrested that the plans were "aspirational rather than operational" and posed no real threat because they had neither al Qaeda contacts nor the means of carrying out attacks.

In her final arguments to a 12-member jury in Miami, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Arango said the seven took oaths of allegiance to al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden's Islamist militant organization, in a plan to form an "unholy alliance" to sow chaos and wage war against the U.S. government.

"They had the same goal and that's the destruction of the United States," she said.

Alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste testified he never asked al Qaeda for money and made up stories of plotting to bring down the Sears Tower in order to con government informants who posed as Middle Eastern contacts out of $50,000.

'AS GOOD OR GREATER THAN 9/11'

He wanted the money, he said, to build a nonprofit religious organization and community outreach program in depressed Liberty City.

"There is no intent on the part of Mr. Batiste to commit any terrorist acts," his lawyer, Ana Jhones, told jurors in her final argument. "His was an act of desperation and extremely, extremely poor judgment."

But Arango said Batiste began thinking about the vulnerability of the Sears Tower to an attack when he worked as a FedEx delivery man in Chicago's Loop area.

She said Batiste plotted with government informants to obtain machine guns, a rocket launcher, military uniforms, bullet-proof vests and other gear to build an army.

"They wanted to join al Qaeda on a mission that would be just as good or greater than 9/11," she said, referring to comments allegedly made by Batiste of al Qaeda's attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

Jhones, who referred to the government informants as "Conman number one" and "Conman number two," conceded Batiste made inappropriate comments on recordings made by the government, but argued that he had the right to say what he did under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, which protects free speech.

"We're living in tough times. What happened on September 11th was tragic. But you cannot let the First Amendment go out the door because of what people who shouldn't live among us did on September 11th."

In addition to Batiste, the group included defendants Patrick Abraham, Stanley Grant Phanor, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin, Lyglenson Lemorin and Rotschild Augustine. (Editing by Michael Christie and Philip Barbara)

AlertNet news is provided by