'Scout' Had Low Profile

The Washington Post ^ | 6/21/03 | Jeffrey Smith and Amy DePaul

[Pro-Bush]

'Scout' Had Low Profile

Home in Heartland Afforded Ideal Cover



The Brooklyn Bridge, above, was one of Faris's potential targets, but in a coded report, he said the "weather is too hot." (File Photo/Beth A. Keiser -- AP)

By R. Jeffrey Smith and Amy DePaul Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, June 21, 2003; Page A10

Iyman Faris, the naturalized U.S. citizen unmasked yesterday as a scout for the al Qaeda terrorist network, has an unassuming profile that greatly worries authorities trying to stem the threat of new attacks within the United States, federal officials said yesterday.

A resident of Columbus, Ohio, who had reason to travel widely in his job as a freelance truck driver, Faris was in some ways an ideal agent for al Qaeda planners who needed practical information they could feed to others willing to undertake such attacks, the officials said.

Faris, 34, was "a scout and a facilitator" within al Qaeda's organization, collecting information about the feasibility of destroying the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and derailing trains in or near Washington, D.C., one official said, elaborating on details in an FBI affidavit unsealed Thursday.

[Pro-Bush]

A little insight on Faris..

[MEG33]

Interesting

[Plutarch]

Iyman Faris, the naturalized U.S. citizen...

Not all immigrants are terrorists. Just some of them. But enough to put a whole country in a state of fear, and to make getting on a domestic flight akin to entering a prison.

[Ronin]

We are pretty shocked. It's pretty upsetting hearing that someone was plotting this type of thing," said Asma Mobin-Uddin, vice president of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Ohio. "We are peaceful people."

Golly-gee... I mean... Wow.... Fancy that....

I think I have seen this movie before, someone change the channel while I go out for a beer.

[Pro-Bush]

Not all immigrants are terrorists. Just some of them.

Hmm..Thanks for the heads up!