War with the U.S. government was at the heart of a terrorist plot to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI (web) offices, a prosecutor said Wednesday during closing arguments in the retrial for six Miami men accused of conspiring with al-Qaida (web|news) . Alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste and the others in the "Liberty City Seven" conspired with an FBI informant who pretended he was from al-Qaida with the hope of starting an anti-government war, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie said.

"Narseal Batiste had a mission. His mission was to destroy the United States," Gregorie said.

Defense attorneys were expected to present their closing arguments later Wednesday in the second trial in the case. The first trial ended in December with a hung jury for six of the defendants and the acquittal of a seventh.

Batiste testified that he was never serious and only went along with the terrorism talk in hopes of conning the informant out of $50,000. His lawyers also claim he was entrapped by two FBI informants who orchestrated the entire plot.

But Gregorie said Batiste and the others would have pursued a terrorism attack no matter what, noting that they were captured on FBI videotapes taking an oath to al-Qaida in March 2006.

"All you have to say is no - walk away, don't do it," Gregorie told jurors.

Each of the men faces up to 70 years in prison if convicted. The group was arrested in June 2006 and has been in custody ever since, enduring a pair of two-month trials before U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard.

The suspect who was acquitted, Lyglenson Lemorin, remains in immigration custody pending possible deportation to Haiti on the same terrorism allegations.

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