Posted on 09/13/2001 1:44:27 PM PDT by Aerial
Report: FBI Ignored French Warning on Extremist</font size>
Updated: Thu, Sep 13 5:38 AM EDT
PARIS (Reuters) - The FBI arrested an Islamic militant in Boston last month and received French intelligence reports linking him to Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden but apparently did not act on them, a French radio station said on Thursday.
Europe 1 radio reported that U.S. police arrested a man with dual French and Algerian nationality who had several passports, technical information on Boeing aircraft and flight manuals.
The man had been taking flying lessons, it added.
Asked for information by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, French security services provided a dossier clearly identifying him as an Islamic militant working with bin Laden.
"He has a pedigree as long as your arm, an investigator said," the radio reported. "He belongs to the Pakistani-Afghan network that trains Osama bin Laden's soldiers."
Bin Laden, who is Afghan-based, is the prime suspected mastermind behind Tuesday's devastating plane attacks on New York and Washington. Two of the four commercial airliners hijacked in the suicide operation took off from Boston.
Many Algerian militants fought against Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s and have since used their military background for guerrilla attacks in Algeria, France and other countries, intelligence sources say.
French officials could not immediately confirm the Europe 1 report.
It said the man, who is in jail but has refused to cooperate with investigators, was a "soldier without borders" who had made several trips to potential hotspots around the world in recent months.
"He has the profile of someone who could prepare or lead terrorist operations," it said.
"This information was transmitted by French security services to the FBI but apparently got lost in the enormous American police machinery," it added.
"The inquiry that might have been able to avoid everything was not started. There was no special alert transmitted to airport authorities in the U.S.," it concluded.
Just because we got nailed hard is no reason to forget all the other abuses and incompetencies in the past and let them skate. There is always another side to the story, we need to keep vigilant always. I will not let this government skate on erasing freedoms for their failures, past administrations or not. Politician after talking tv news head is hinting around this, and it is NOT cool.
loose lips sink ships, but too tight of lips cause scandals and coverups and abuses
Yes...why bother with anything the French have to say...after all...there may be lives in the balance...but what the hell...who cares?
Why should the FBI do what they are alledgedly supposed to be doing? What a sorry state of affairs.
You, Sir or Madame are a pile of excrement.
"To think now that there is some kind of consensus of 'honourable' nations against the 'bad' terrorists, is simply not true."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.