Jersey Has A Long And Twisted Connection With Terrorists

Millennium Radio New Jersey ^ | Wednesday, May 09, 2007 | David Matthau

[Calpernia]

The six Islamic militants accused of plotting a bloody massacre at Fort Dix are the latest in a long list of terror suspects with ties to the Garden State.

In 1993, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind cleric from Jersey City - was taken into custody and charged with being the spiritual mastermind of a terror-cell that bombed the World Trade Center - and planned to blow up several Hudson River crossings.

A number of the 9/11 hijackers lived in Jersey for months, as did other Al Qaeda operatives who plotted to destroy the Prudential building in Newark. Several would-be arms dealers have also been arrested in the Garden State, and of course the anthrax attacks originated here - but that case has never been solved.

So why is all of this terror activity happening in Jersey?

Dick Canas, the Director of the State Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness says our proximity to New York City is one reason. He also points out we have tremendous ethnic diversity in Jersey, and "that makes it a smorgasbord here for people who would like to hide out- hundreds of different ethnic groups reside here."

Security expert Vincent Bove agrees, but he also stresses Jersey has plenty of its own targets, including Ports Newark and Elizabeth, Newark Liberty Airport, and a host of chemical plants along the turnpike - in a two mile area dubbed the most dangerous in America by the FBI.

"This area is just a few minutes from the GW Bridge, the Lincoln tunnel and the Holland tunnel" says Bove, "the main arteries of our nation pass right through New Jersey…we need to remain vigilant - if we let our guard down, the enemy can come from within."

[Calpernia]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1313753/posts
2 year missile sting

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/572763/posts
Freeper Research on Anthrax Perps - Updated 9/17/01

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1488806/posts
JERSEY CITY BLOODBATH (The translator for the prosecution in the Lynn Stewart trial was the Coptic Family's cousin.)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1408203/posts
Jersey City - Bret Schundler - Various Notes ("Thirteen of the men detained by federal authorities investigating the Sept 11th attacks are from northern New Jersey, some from the Jersey City neighborhood that was home to suspects from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. ... Terrorists experts and law enforcement officials said the New Jersey communities -- particularly Jersey City - are breeding grounds for terrorist activity because they are close to New York, offer affordable rents and have large immigrant populations where terrorists can blend in......) (As two of the three Jersey City men arrested in Florida last week in a federal sting operation that centered on international arms dealing and money laundering head to court today, details about who the trio are continue to emerge. One contributed to Mayor Bret Schundler's bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination while another was once considered an up-and-coming mover and shaker in the black business community. Background on the third, however, remains sketchy.)

[Calpernia]

I find this suspicious too.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj-njo—tragedystrike1205dec05,0,753217.story
Fire claims life of daughter of airline pilot killed on 9/11

Excerpt

Authorities have identified a woman who perished in a high-rise fire here early Tuesday as the daughter of an airline pilot whose plane was hijacked on 9/11 and crashed into the Pentagon.

Wendy Burlingame, 32, died of smoke inhalation when fire swept through her 10th-floor apartment in the 44-story Galaxy Towers complex, according to a preliminary report by investigators.

Burlingame was the only daughter of Charles F. Burlingame III, who was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 on Sept. 11, 2001, her uncle, Mark Burlingame, said Tuesday.

(Hudson County)

Wendy died shortly after Debra Burlingame (Wendy’s Aunt, Charles sister) Started tracking where the memorial money was going:

Excerpt:

The public has heard plenty about the “empty pit of Ground Zero,” but most do not know that the $2.8 billion allocated to Lower Manhattan in cash grants has virtually all been spent. It is difficult to trace where all the money went while being routed through the Department of Housing and Urban Development and six different city and state entities. Now, after four-and-a-half years of press conferences, ribbon-cuttings and groundbreakings (the Freedom Tower has had two), at which the lost 343 firefighters were invoked and the memorial and museum was touted as the “centerpiece” around which hundreds of millions of dollars in spending projects would turn, Gov. Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have teamed up to tell the public that it’s time to “rethink” the project where the history of those valiant firefighters will be secured. Not only does this undermine Daniel Libeskind’s master plan, which always included a museum of “memory and hope,” it also manifests a standard of fiscal responsibility that the governor and the mayor have refrained from imposing anywhere else at Ground Zero.

The Port Authority’s massive new transportation hub, designed by superstar architect Santiago Calatrava, will cost an estimated $2.2 billion. Some $2 billion of that is federal money, which means that the entire country is supporting the “awe-inspiring” makeover of a terminal that will serve a mere 40,000 commuters (a number so embarrassing the Port Authority upped it to 80,000 by including round trips). The chief executive of a construction firm involved in the building illustrates the absurdity of what insiders call a “vanity project” by pointing out that $2.2 billion is enough to build a metropolitan airport....

[Calpernia]

Just taking a walk down memory lane

[syriacus]

Another plus for living in New Jersey...if there is a terror attack on New York City, you aren’t stuck on the east side of the Hudson. You aren’t cut off from the rest of America.

[wideawake]

So why is all of this terror activity happening in Jersey?

(1) New Jersey is close to NYC, Philly and Washington DC. In NJ you are never more than an afternoon's drive from major targets.

(2) There are sizable Arab and Pakistani communities in places like Paterson, Camden, Jersey City, Iselin, etc. Good places to blend in.

(3) NJ is the most densely-populated state in the union and is basically one enormous suburb. So, many jobs cater to suburbanite needs. There are tons of easy-to-get jobs for cover - delivery man, cabbie, landscaper etc. In other words: jobs that pay cash, require no special training or experience, jobs that are not closely supervised (i.e. you're driving around all day and rarely work in the same place two days running).

Perfect environment.

[Calpernia]

(4) NJ Officials are easy to please

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1191576/posts
Jihadists in New Jersey with Senator Jon Corzine & Congressman Bill Pascrell, Democrats

 

img src=http://corzine.senate.gov/images/Hob-PR-Fest.jpg
Coleus, did you download this picture?

 Congressman Bill Pascrell, D-8, NJ  with Menendez and Corzine

Senator Corzine at the Puerto Rican parade in Hoboken.

Rep. Bill Pascrell and Senator Corzine, both Democrats of New Jersey, addressed an annual "community brunch" last month co-sponsored by 11 Muslim organizations, including a mosque that has allegedly raised funds for Hamas and another New Jersey mosque whose former imam was convicted last year for smuggling more than a half-million dollars to an Egyptian group that the American Treasury Department subsequently designated a terrorist organization. Mr. Pascrell has also received campaign contributions and fund-raising support from the president of the event's primary sponsor.

The American Muslim Union's Annual Community Brunch on February 21, 2004, was co-sponsored by 10 other organizations, including the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Center of Passaic County of Paterson, the El Tawheed Islamic Center of Jersey City, and the Dar-ul-Islah Islamic Center of Teaneck.

The co-sponsor with the most apparent ties to radical Islam, including allegedly raising funds for Hamas and hosting as a speaker last year an alleged Hamas figure, is the Islamic Center of Passaic County. The American Muslim Union, though, appears to have close ties to the Islamic Center of Passaic County, as five of its current and former directors and executives have held or still hold leadership positions at the Islamic Center.

The American Muslim Union insists it is a mainstream group, and Mr. Pascrell says he doesn't regret the appearance. Neither Mr. Pascrell nor Mr. Corzine generally vote outside of the Democratic mainstream on Israel or terror-related matters.

The co-founder of and former imam at the Islamic Center of Passaic County, which was founded in 1989, was Mohamed El-Mezain. He worked with the ICPC to raise funds for Hamas in the mid-1990s, according to an FBI memo drafted in November 2001 by the FBI's assistant director of counterterrorism, Dale Watson.  Mr. El-Mezain, who is no longer affiliated with the Islamic Center and could not be reached for comment, was never charged or arrested.

The FBI document, which provided the basis for the U.S. government to shut down the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in December 2001, cited a "reliable" source in noting that "during a speech at the Islamic Center of Passaic County (ICPC) in November, 1994, Mohammad El-Mezain, the HLFRD's current Director of Endowments and former Chairman of the HLFRD Board, admitted that some of the money collected by the ICPC and the HLFRD goes to HAMAS or HAMAS activities in Israel. El-Mezain also defended HAMAS and the activities carried out by HAMAS."

The American Muslim Union's president, Mohamed Younes, who is a member of Islamic Center of Passaic County's board of trustees, told The New York Sun that people at the mosque "did not know everywhere their money was going, and they would not have meant to give to Hamas."

Mr. El-Mezain and the Islamic Center of Passaic County appear to have other ties to Hamas.

Mr. El-Mezain attended a conference in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s where more than $200,000 was raised for Hamas and the keynote speaker urged participants to "finish off the Israelis," according to the FBI memo.

The FBI memo cites a "reliable" source who says that at a Muslim Arab Youth Association conference held from December 30, 1994, to January 2, 1995, the keynote speaker was Sheikh Muhammed Siyam, who was introduced as "head of operations of Al Jihad Al Islamia in Gaza, the Hamas military wing." According to the FBI in formant, Mr. Siyam told the crowd, "Finish off the Israelis. Kill them all! Exterminate them!"

"Following Siyam's speech," the memo continues, "El-Mezain exhorted the crowd to contribute money. It was subsequently announced that $207,000 was raised for 'the cause."' The FBI informant also said that at the conference, Mr. El-Mezain announced that he had raised $1.8 million inside the United States for Hamas in 1994 alone.

Magdy Mahmoud, who is the cofounder and president of CAIR-NJ, one of the co-sponsors of the American Muslim Union brunch, was on the executive board of the Muslim Arab Youth Association and directed its Chapters Committee from 1993 to 1998, during which time the 1994-95 conference occurred. According to his biography on CAIR-NJ's Web site, Mr. Mahmoud later served as the chairman of the Chapters Committee for the American Muslim Union from 1999 to 2001. Mr. Mahmoud did not return a call requesting comment.

According to the Islamic Center of Passaic County's Web site, the mosque hosted a lecture in February 2003 by Abdelhaleem Ashqar, who was identified in the FBI memo as a prominent Hamas figure.

Another co-sponsor of last month's event attended by Messrs. Corzine and Pascrell, Dar-ul-Islah Islamic Center, was co-founded by Waheed Khalid, who has defended Hamas activities. When asked by the Bergen Record newspaper in 1998 about Hamas' terrorist activities, Mr. Khalid, who until late last year served as the mosque's president, responded, "They are trying to get the occupiers out of their home."

Mr. Pascrell said that allegations that any of the co-sponsors of the event are radical Islamists or tied to terrorist organizations are "pure crap." Asked if he felt that by appearing at the event he was lending legitimacy to radical organizations, he added, "I'm not going to deal in rumors; the rest is crap. I know these men as fine family men."

A spokesman for Mr. Pascrell later clarified that the congressman wasn't referring to Alaa Al-Sadawi, the former imam at El Tawheed Islamic Center, who was convicted last July of attempting to smuggle more than $650,000 in cash to the Global Relief Fund in Egypt in April 2002.The U.S. Treasury Department designated that fund as terrorist in October 2002.

The spokesman for the congressman said, "That guy should be in jail, but you can't hold the members of the mosque responsible for his actions."

Despite multiple calls from the Sun, Mr. Corzine's office offered no comment.

(snip)

[Calpernia]

Did you download that picture that is offline now?

[Cagey]

And remember, McGreevey appointed his sweetheart to be in charge of New Jersey's Homeland Security. The only thing Cipel was qualified to in that position was to "assume the position".

[Calpernia]

Nice job with the layout at 1010Wins. Irony at it's best.

[frithguild]

Maybe we should tell Susan Sarandon or Bruce Springsteen so they may raise public consciousness over this.

[Calpernia]

Heck, no one raised attention over Toricelli's connections to David Chang or Menendez with the Omega 7.

Recepción al Congressman Menendez de New Jersey

Menendez aided murderer!

Hudson Dispatch
Wednesday, October 7, 1987

By Douglas Lavin

UNION CITY – Mayor Robert Menendez has contributed funds for a convicted Cuban-American terrorist and murderer wo was the kingpin of Omega 7.

Menendez, the city's first Cuban-American mayor, said he supports the use of violence and breaking the rule of law in the fight for a free Cuba, but also said his contribution made at a Friday fund-raiser was intended only to supply Eduardo Arocena with legal counsel.

"I endorse the fact that there are times when what one looks at as a law at a given time has to be broken," Menendez said, adding that the fight should be carried out "wherever the enemy may be."

Bernard F. Kenny, Menendez's Democratic running mate in the Assembly race to represent North Hudson's 33rd District, also was at the dinner, but said yesterday he did not know the event was a fundraiser or was linked to terrorists.

(excerpt)

[Cagey]

That is ironic, indeed.

As your article points out, New Jersey is an ideal area for terrorists to live and plot attacks on New York and DC. And McGreevey had the audacity to appoint his unqualified lover to be in charge of our security? That sickens me.

McGreevey is more than a “Gay American”, he is a “Dangerous Gay American”.

[WestCoastGal]

While sitting here with my back to the TV this morning I hear them say the bunch arrested has no ties to al qaeda, they’re home grown terrorists. I’m thinking WHAT??? almost all of them were illegal aliens. WTH?

Sad state of affairs going on with DHS IMO.

[Calpernia]

McGreevey is more than a “Gay American”, he is a “Dangerous Gay American Machiavellian”.

[Cagey]

LOL! Very good.

[Calpernia]

Al Qaeda use to be a sophisticated cell system. That has been broken up. BUT, since that was broken up, Al Qaeda has morphed into a BRAND name.

Lone groups and individuals act on their own, then apply for the license to use Al Qaeda. It is much like a contest now.

What the media is doing is actually trying to deflect international connections to this albanian group. It goes down two rabbit holes that I’m aware of.

1) 3 of the illegal immigrants/terrorists were roofers that appear to be connected to GAF (about GAF: http://www.answers.com/topic/gaf-2 *memories of WW2!). That means they would be connected to others in official position due to business licenses and work permits.

2) These Albanians may be related to the mafia.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1792756/posts
BALKAN CONNECTION (Albanian mafia in 80es threatening to Rudi Giuliani)

[WestCoastGal]

That’s a very interesting tangled web. Thanks for the links.

My first thought when all this broke was why in heck were muslims allowed to deliver pizza to a military base?

And as a funny aside because I’m half Italian........what do they know about making pizza. :)

[Calpernia]

Albanians don’t necessarily have a stereotypical Middle Eastern appearance.

[wideawake]

I hear them say the bunch arrested has no ties to al qaeda, they’re home grown terrorists

Well they have no ties to Al-Qaeda in the same sense that my local KISS cover band has no formal ties to KISS.

And other than the fact that they grew up in Kosovo, Turkey and Jordan - they're homegrown.

[ClaireSolt]

I think the feds are involved in a major corruption probe in NJ. We can’t ever be safe as long aqs major metros have casual sanctuary city policies. We will never have valid elections or good government with organized crime alling the shots in NY, NJ, and Chicago. Whenever the open borders crowd says we have had no problems with immigrants, I think of the Maffia.