Al-Hayat: LAX gunman may have met with bin Laden deputy

Ha'aretz ^ | 7/07/02 | Zohar Blumenkrantz and Benny Landau, Ha'aretz Correspondents, Ha'aretz Service and agencies

[Roscoe]

bump

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

It may take a while but this looks to me like a planned terror attack.

[Jeff Chandler]

It was an isolated incident- an ISOLATED INCIDENT. Don't you ever listen?!

[Oldeconomybuyer]

...Al-Zawahiri, who visited California in 1998, went on to become bin Laden's right-hand man...

Why the heck was this guy allowed to enter the United States? Add this to the Clinton Legacy - our security agencies were asleep at the switch while the bent one received favors from interns and campaign donors. Pathetic.

[dawn53]

Let me just play the devil's advocate a minute with this one.

Haaretz says this was reported by An Arab Newspaper.

Say that you are Al Qaeda and you've promised something on the Fourth, something big, plus a video proclaiming Bin Laden and your movement is still alive.

No video appears, nothing big happens, but a terrorist (and I'll use that term in the sense that he inflicted terror) manages to kill a couple people.

Now the press is taunting, as I've read this morning, "So, where was the big attack, Bin Laden must be dead, etc."

Wouldn't you try to salvage some credibility, if you were a Bin Laden follower, by linking your organization to the terrorist? Saying in essence, "See, we did do something. You're wrong to claim Bin Laden is dead and his organization didn't follow through on their promise."

Just another perspective, which I don't necessarily believe, but popped into my mind this AM, but of course, I haven't had my coffee yet, so things may look alot different after a nice big cup of coffee, LOL.

[joyful1]

Golly, this is scarey stuff. But at least the mayor of LA said it was an isolated incident.

[Cautor]

If this shoots was the big 4th of July attack, it's no wonder the rag heads are having self-esteem problems these days.

[1234]

THIS LIMO SLOB: on a watch list in some reports, not on a watch list in other reports-HUH?

[Trust but Verify]

This stuff is scary? What's so scary about a guy going into a public building and blowing away a couple of people before the authorities blow him away? Doesn't this happen every day?

My heavens, if this is the best 'they' can do, I say bring it on.

We have more to fear using the ATM.

[Catspaw]

From the reports I've seen, al Zawahiri came in with a fake passport: http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/zawahiri/profile.html

While tending to the wounded in Afghanistan, al-Zawahiri also worked to re-establish al Jihad. He eventually began traveling to broaden his network. In 1995, using an alias, al-Zawahiri even visited California on a secret fund-raising mission.

[Don Myers]

"It may take a while but this looks to me like a planned terror attack."

Terrorists acting independently in tiny groups or alone will probably not show up on any federal agency watch list. I guess that one important indicator is if the Muslim sends the family out of the country. But, who can track that?

[anniegetyourgun]

It might also be important to track the family who has returned to see if they get "paid off."

[Don Myers]

I am not sure they would want to trying claiming this event as one of their big, planned terrorist attacks. They would be laughed off the planet. It would be better to say nothing, and try looking wise and dangerous, even if it is not true. They always have the cover of not having anything at all planned for the Fourth.

[OXENinFLA]

Just a thought I'm sure buy now most of you have heard this man's birthday was given the 1st was April 7th and then new came out that his B-day was July 4th. Has anyone thought that this wasn't a birthday but an ACTIVATION date. Also anything more on the granddaughter of ( I forgot this early morning, but you know what I mean )?

[Aquinasfan]

The Egyptian who shot up the El Al ticket counter could be a terrorist? Gasp! < /sarcasm>

[OXENinFLA]

oops.. The granddaughter being on the flight or in line at the time of the shooting.

[aruanan]

The FBI said Friday it had no indication suggesting that the attack was an act of terrorism, but said the gunman's motive was still unclear. (Click here for a look inside El Al security.)

"He was not on any FBI or FAA watch list," FBI agent Richard Garcia told a news conference. He added that authorities still had several days work to do "to determine whether this person acted in an act of terrorism."

Sounds a lot like Janet Reno when she was "investigating" Algore and the Buddhist temple stuff.

[Don Myers]

The FBI has it's sources. I guess they will investigate all angles, hopefully. What they tell us will probably be 180 degrees from the truth.

[cake_crumb]

Not surprising...but then, how many of us thought he WASN'T a terrorist, hmmmmmmm?