Posted on 11/01/2005 6:22:54 PM PST by NormsRevenge
FORT BLISS, Texas - A man once considered a top al-Qaida operative escaped from a U.S.-run detention facility in Afghanistan and cannot testify against the soldier who allegedly mistreated him, a defense lawyer involved in a prison abuse case said Tuesday.
Omar al-Farouq was one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in Southeast Asia until Indonesian authorities captured him in the summer of 2002 and turned him over to the United States.
A Pentagon official in Washington confirmed Tuesday evening that al-Farouq escaped from a U.S. detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, on July 10. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
An Army lawyer for Sgt. Alan J. Driver, a reservist accused of abusing Bagram detainees, asked Tuesday where al-Farouq was and what the Army had done to find him in time for Driver's court proceedings.
Capt. John B. Parker, a prosecutor, said al-Farouq and three others escaped from the Bagram detention center and have not been found.
"If we find him ... we will make him available," Parker said.
Members of Driver's company, testifying by speaker phone in court Tuesday, identified the detainee Driver is accused of abusing as Omar al-Farouq, who was featured in a Time magazine cover story in September 2002. The article, titled "Confessions of an al-Qaida Terrorists," detailed his plans to carry out attacks in Southeast Asia, including a plot to bomb U.S. embassies near the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Driver's Army lawyer, Capt. Michael Waddington, questioned members of Driver's company about who had access to al-Farouq, specifically asking whether the CIA had ordered military police officers to do certain things to al-Farouq.
Al-Farouq could have been the first detainee to testify against a soldier in the Afghanistan prisoner abuse case.
Driver, a reservist from the Ohio-based 377th Military Police Company, is charged with maltreatment and assault of three detainees, including one who later died, at the Bagram facility in 2002. He is accused of slamming al-Farouq against a wall.
In earlier cases of prisoner abuse in Afghanistan, the alleged victims either were dead or unidentified. Other alleged victims in Driver's case also cannot testify. One was released from custody and cannot be found, and the other has died.
Driver is one of 14 soldiers accused in the abuse investigation after two detainees died in American custody in 2002.
Military prosecutors had accused Driver of hitting one of the detainees while he was shackled in a cell.
During a preliminary hearing Tuesday, lawyers and an independent investigator heard testimony from several witnesses who said they saw Driver mistreat detainees.
Lt. Col. Roger E. Nell, the investigator, will recommend whether the case should be taken to trial or the charges should be reduced or dropped.
Six soldiers have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to abuse charges. Two soldiers, both reservists from Driver's unit, were acquitted. Charges against another reservist were dropped.
___
Associated Press writers Katherine Shrader and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.
How can you possibly "mistreat" a "top Al Qaeda" terrorist, NO MATTER what you do to him?
Terrific! NOT!
Perhaps they didn't "mistreat" him enough and thats why he escaped. Missing limbs will slow you down.
LOL... Escaped to Paradise???
His rice pilaf was late, and panties were hanging by the chimney with care.
He'll be tunneling for some time, I'd guess...
This infuriates me! Obviously he wasn't "mistreated" enough! Enough of liberals! They are going to destroy us all!
Sounds like this man deserves an award not a trial.
Maybe he is now equipped with GPS?
escaped? Hmm. perhaps he was transferred somewhere, where he can no longer be located.
what do you make of this one?
Good...now instead of allowing him to testify against the soldier...we can shoot him on sight.
No one who is a "top Al Qaeda operative" should ever have the slighest chance to escape. They should be heavily shackled at all times and preferably in their last hours of life. The idea that these animals have to be coddled is just so repulsive. If Mohammed Atta had not taken his death flight but instead had sent off his terror comrades to do the dirty deeds on 9/11, and if we had then captured him alive, liberals would be demanding that he be treated 'humanely' and provided with a lawyer, TV in his cell, 3 square meals, etc. etc. Lynne Stewart and Ramsey Clark would be rushing to his defense, Mother Sheehan would be visiting him in jail bringing him cookies (or something approved by his Sheikh), and the MSM would be squawking about whether his "human rights" were being respected.
I think we should tag a few of the rats and let them "escape". It would be really interesting to see where their nests are.
LOL... Escaped to Paradise???
it depends upon what you mean by "escaped". could have been metaphysical, like through the .76mm round hole newly smoked.
Lucy! You got some 'splainin' to do!!!
hopefully he escaped at 1000 feet without a parachute
GPS via anal probe?
ping
Well, at least we can guess it might be 6 feet lower than the rest of us. That's a great way to not have to explain the ones that didn't survive 'questioning'. "Oh, uh, I think he escaped. Yeah! That's it!"
Heh, heh.
Hey! We could send Mother Sheehan over there to look for these guys. When you find them, let us know.
SEPTEMBER 14, 2002 : (LACKAWANNA, NY : FEDERAL RAIDS ON HOMES OF TERROR SUSPECTS --- BUFFALO CELL)Authorities said that the five men were graduates of al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and that one is believed to have trained with John Walker Lindh in an al-Qaida camp. One of the suspects is linked to Omar al-Farouq, a senior al-Qaida figure captured in Asia this summer, who has provided his interrogators with specific information suggesting that terror cells in the region were planning attacks on U.S. facilities, the sources said. The suspects are believed to have had contact with those involved in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. However, the sources would not say whether any of the suspects had a direct role in last year's attacks. Authorities declined to identify the five men picked up in Friday's raids. However, confidential sources, relatives and neighbors in the close-knit Yemeni community identified two of the suspects as Shafal Mosed, 24, of 183 Ingham Ave., and Yahya A. Goba, 25, of 74 Holland Ave. The names of the other three suspects could not be immediately confirmed. -----------[Buffalo] FIVE AREA MEN HELD AS AL-QUIDA SUSPECTS The Buffalo News ^ | Sept. 14 | SUSAN SCHULMAN
freepmail
Thanks for updating this thread, Piasa. I appreciate it.
ADDING 2 links - Updating Thread, also. Fyi.
#
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5378410.stm
Last Updated: Monday, 25 September 2006, 15:16 GMT 16:16 UK
“Senior militant ‘killed in Iraq’”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “British forces have killed a senior al-Qaeda fugitive in a raid on a house in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, security sources say.
Officials named the dead man as Omar al-Farouq, a top lieutenant of Osama Bin Laden in South East Asia.
Farouq was captured in Indonesia in 2002 but escaped from a US military prison in Afghanistan last year.
Security sources say although he was hiding in Basra, al-Qaeda was not known to be actively operating in the area.
British military spokesman Maj Charlie Burbridge said Farouq, whom he called a “very, very significant man” had been tracked across Iraq to Basra.
He said about 200 troops surrounded the house, from where they came under fire.
A gun battle erupted and Farouq was killed in the exchange.”
#
“Abu Yahya al Libi praises Omar al-Farouq in video
Public Address
Part of Omar al-Farouq killed”
” Omar al-Farouq, who was featured in a Time magazine cover story “
Time Magazines ‘man of the year’, probally got embolden to escape
listening to Harry Reid.
thanks for the followup
in Iraq no less... how sweet.
Yep and not surprising, when it comes down to it.
2005 : (SHEIKH ABU YAHYA AL LIBBI ESCAPES FROM BAGRAM PRISON- See ESCAPEES) New Al-Qaeda Film With Sermon by Escaped Sheikh & Footage of Children's Weapons Training – Now on Islamist Websites
In an Al-Qaeda sermon marking the recent 'Id Al-Fitr holiday, Sheikh Abu Yahya Al-Libbi, who escaped Bagram prison earlier this year [1], told his audience that "America's nose will be rubbed in the mud" and "Palestine is occupied by the offspring of apes and pigs." The film was posted on Islamist websites in December 2005.
TO VIEW THIS CLIP, VISIT: http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=970. -------"America's nose will be rubbed in the mud.," MEMRI ^ | December 22, 2005 | MEMRI Posted on 12/23/2005 6:02:50 AM PST by ConvienentCharade
JULY 10, 2005 : (BAGRAM, AFGHANISTAN : OMAR AL FAROUK ESCAPES FROM PRISON-- See BUFFALO CELL, BLEEDINGHEARTATTACK, ESCAPEES) Omar al-Farouq was one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in Southeast Asia until Indonesian authorities captured him in the summer of 2002 and turned him over to the United States. A Pentagon official in Washington confirmed Tuesday evening that al-Farouq escaped from a U.S. detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, on July 10. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. Pentagon: Top al-Qaida operative escaped ap on Yahoo ^ | 11/01/05 | Alicia A. Caldwell - ap
FEBRUARY 2006 : (YEMEN : JABER ELBANEH ESCAPES FROM PRISON -- See BUFFALO CELL, AL FAROUK TRAINING CAMP, ESCAPEES) BUFFALO, N.Y. - An American wanted for allegedly training with the "Lackawanna Six" at an al-Qaida camp was among the 23 men who tunneled out of a Yemeni prison last week, the FBI confirmed Friday. Authorities earlier said they believed Jaber Elbaneh, 39, was probably among the escapees, but were not certain because of conflicting information, including a posting by the international police organization Interpol that pictured Elbaneh but described someone else. Elbaneh is charged in Buffalo with providing material support to al-Qaida by attending the al-Farooq training camp run by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. ----------FBI: American Among Escapees From Yemen (allegedly trained w/"Lackawanna Six"), AP on Yahoo ^ | 2/10/06 | Carolyn Thompson -ap
Better yet, make him dead. Just make sure the real soldiers get to him before the phony-baloney military lawyers do.
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