The House permanent Select Committee on Intelligence heard testimony in May 2005 in which terrorist organizations' Internet presence was described as "a critical component of their strategies to engage in propaganda, recruit, raise funds, operationally communicate, in cultured pearl jewelry essence, to perform the necessary support functions of terror."

The government's case falls somewhere in the middle of recent terrorism cases in terms of its seriousness, experts say. Najibulla Zazi, an immigrant from Afghanistan arrested last month in Colorado, has been charged with attempting to conduct an attack in New York around the anniversary of 9/11. Other cases include more serious preparation.

Daniel Boyd of North Carolina and six other men, including his two sons, were charged with collecting automatic weapons, and they had traveled overseas for terror training.

Mehanna did not get nearly that far but appears, rather, to be a "terrorist wannabe" who was rejected when he went looking for training camps abroad, says Christopher Brown, a terrorism expert at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in Arlington, Va.

Even so, he says, the case points to a troubling class of pearl necklace style individuals: those who have no organizational guidance and who can be difficult to track because they lack any large support structure.

"With all that motivation, eventually he could probably have pulled something off and really hurt someone," Mr. Brown says. "Someone else with  inflatable castles more skill, who goes about it a little smarter, could be a real problem."

Mehanna had posted bail from a November 2008 arrest for lying to the FBI after agents interviewed him in December 2005, according to news reports. The FBI says he lied when questioned about Daniel Maldonado, a former resident of gemstone jewelry Methuen, Mass., suspected of traveling to Somalia to train in an Al Qaeda training camp.

Mr. Maldonado is now serving a 10-year sentence for training with Al Qaeda in Somalia. Mr. Abousamra fled the US in late 2006 after being interviewed by the FBI and is now living with his wife in Syria, the complaint says.

But Mehanna, too, was taking steps to become a terrorist by, among other things, traveling to try to find a terrorist training camp, the complaint says. Failing that, he returned home.

There were brief discussions among the wholesale pearl earrings group – which at one point included Maldonado and Abousamra. After the mall massacre plan fell through, Mehanna turned to the idea of becoming the "media wing" for Al Qaeda in Iraq. He established a website and became a blogger and disseminator of jihadist videos and other material, an affidavit in support of an FBI search warrant alleges.

Among other things, Mehanna translated and published online an English translation of "39 Ways to Serve and Participate in Jihad" – such activities as fundraising or "electronic jihad" by participating in online chat rooms and cyber attacks on enemy websites, the affidavit alleges.

A copy of "39 Ways" was found on Mehanna's laptop computer along with files showing he had "translated and distributed materials which promoted Jihad," including Al Qaeda propaganda. One video alleged to be distributed by Mehanna in pearl bracelet July 2006 depicts the remains of US personnel in Iraq being mutilated; it included a preface by Osama bin Laden.

Boston - Frustrated at failing in his travels overseas to locate a terrorist training camp, a Massachusetts man returned home in 2003 to begin plotting a domestic terror attack. Thrilled by the 9/11 attacks and impressed by the success of the Washington, D.C., snipers in terrorizing the public in late 2002, Tarek Mehanna and several friends began planning an freshwater pearl attack on a shopping mall, a Federal Bureau of Investigation complaint alleges.

In "multiple conversations, discussions, and preparation," Tarek Mehanna, a student living at home with his parents in Sudbury, Mass., discussed with three other men how to "obtain automatic weapons, go to a shopping mall, and randomly shoot people," according to the federal criminal complaint filed in a US district court Wednesday.

The trio – Mehanna, Ahmad Abousamra, and an unnamed informant – debated logistics, types of weapons needed, the number of attackers needed, how to coordinate the attack, and how to attack emergency responders, the FBI says.

But like others' attempts to fight alongside terrorists against the United States, Mehanna's purported scheme ran into a problem. One of the group traveled to sterling silver jewelry New Hampshire to acquire automatic weapons but could not get them – and so the plan was abandoned, the complaint says.

Mehanna, who graduated from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in May 2008, has been charged with conspiring to "provide material support and resources" for terrorists.

Authorities have been building a case for inflatable castles some time.

About 40,000 NATO and non-NATO troops are currently in Afghanistan, in addition to about 68,000 US forces.

McChrystal flew to the meeting from Afghanistan to inflatable tent make a 15-minute pitch to 40 NATO and non-NATO ministers. During his remarks, he discussed the number of troops he believes are needed to conduct a proper counterinsurgency, but received no feedback from any of the defense ministers, according to a senior defense official who listened in on the meeting.

McChrystal is thought to be asking for as many as 80,000 additional troops for Afghanistan, but a number of about half that seems more likely to be considered.

The White House's decision on Afghanistan may be as many as three weeks away, according to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has been reticent to speak about his own thinking on the way ahead in Afghanistan.

Despite its contributions in Afghanistan, the pearl jewelry sets NATO alliance has been criticized by the US over the years for not doing enough. For years, American officials have pressured individual countries to send more troops and other resources to Afghanistan, or to loosen caveats that restrict some militaries, like that of Germany's, from conducting certain kinds of operations.

The US decision on whether to send many more troops is critical. It could sway allied nations that struggle politically with the unpopularity of the war to pearl jewelry wholesale send more forces or at least to provide more financial resources for the war.

Bratislava, Slovakia - NATO defense ministers Friday gave "broad support" to the counterinsurgency strategy proposed by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, but sidestepped the difficult question of how many forces would be required to implement that plan.

The top UN special envoy for sterling silver jewelry Afghanistan also backed McChrystal's strategy at the NATO meeting.

"We have come to a point where I believe McChrystal is right," said Kai Eide here Friday, adding bluntly, "If we continue the way we've done so far, both with regard to the military effort, the civilian effort, and the behavior of the Afghan government, this project will not work."

Taken together, the comments suggest that American allies are leaning toward a more troop-intensive, counterinsurgency approach that opens the political door for President Obama to direct deployments of tens of thousands of additional troops.

The Obama administration is deliberating over what strategy to pursue in Afghanistan – a counterinsurgency approach that focuses on wish pearl securing the country and winning over the population and that would require many more troops, or a more targeted approach that focuses on taking out Al Qaeda leaders with air strikes.

While signaling support for more troops, NATO minsters did not address the tougher issue of how many more troops to send and stopped short of making additional resource commitments themselves.

"The purpose of today's meeting was not to make any decision on figures," said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen during a freshwater pearl bracelet  press event here. "I have noted broad support of all ministers … but without discussing resource implications."