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<p>A Qatar native held on charges of lying to the FBI in an investigation into the September 11 attacks was designated yesterday as an "enemy combatant" and could be tried before a military tribunal for helping al Qaeda operatives relocate in the United States. Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, 37, in Justice Department custody since late 2001, was given the new designation by President Bush and handed over to the Defense Department.</p>

Problematic, in a very big way even if the offer was made.Qatar’s ties to Al Qaeda and ISIS aren’t news. They’ve effectively served as intermediaries in everything from ransom exchanges for hostages to Taliban negotiations. But actually trying to secure terrorist swaps for prisoners on their own behalf would have been a new frontier. Before he was released from a U.S. maximum-security prison last week, a confessed al Qaeda sleeper agent was offered up in a potential prisoner swap that would have freed two Americans held abroad.According to two individuals with direct knowledge of the case, the proposition was...

Tianjin Blasts: Rains Could Turn Sodium Cyanide into Deadly Hydrogen Cyanide Gas By Mugdha Variyar | Updated: August 17, 2015 10:58 IST The woes for residents in China's Tianjin port city are far from over following the deadly explosion last week as the exposed sodium cyanide has the potential to release the lethal hydrogen cyanide if it rains in the region. Sodium cyanide, which is in a solid state in a powder form, releases the deadly hydrogen cyanide when it comes in contact with water, and environmental experts have raised an alarm of this happening as storms approaching the region...

WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutors plan to move an alleged al-Qaida sleeper agent out of a Navy brig in South Carolina and send him to federal court in Illinois to face trial. Two people familiar with the case of Qatar native Ali al-Marri said Thursday the government plans to transfer him to the civilian court system. The two people spoke on condition of anonymity because it's a pending criminal case. The transfer could avert a Supreme Court hearing in April and a subsequent ruling that would govern other cases against accused terrorists. To justify holding al-Marri, the Bush administration claimed the...

Note: The following text is a quote: Ali Al-Marri Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Al-Qaeda Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, 43, a dual national of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda. Al-Marri entered his guilty plea at a hearing this afternoon before Judge Michael M. Mihm in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. In so doing, al-Marri admitted that he agreed with others to provide material support or resources to al-Qaeda in the form of personnel, including himself, to work under al-Qaeda’s...

« Kepler’s dust cover has now been jettisoned, meaning the search for extrasolar ‘Earths’ is not long from commencing. The cover stayed in place for so long because the spacecraft’s photometer had to make measurements of electronic noise that will later have to be removed from the science data. Mission engineers will now continue with the calibration process for several weeks using images of actual stars. Our debates over the ‘rare Earth’ hypothesis will be getting firm data in short order because of Kepler. Three years from now, having had time to detect terrestrial-class planets in the habitable zone...

Exclusive Book Excerpt: How an Al-Qaeda Cell Planned a Poison-gas Attack on the N.Y. Subway The plot was called off by Bin Laden's No. 2 only 45 days from zero hour, according to a new book by Ron Suskind SUBSCRIBE TO TIMEPRINTE-MAILMORE BY AUTHORRelated Blogs: Click here for blog postings from around the web that are related to the topic of this article. Posted Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 Al-Qaeda terrorists came within 45 days of attacking the New York subway system with a lethal gas similar to that used in Nazi death camps. They were stopped not by any intelligence...

Obscure al-Qaida Chemist Worries Experts By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent 7 minutes ago He's a mystery in a red beard, with a strange alias and a degree in chemical engineering. In the hands of this alleged al-Qaida operative, it's a specialty that summons visions of poison gas and mass terror. Al-Qaida is "wedded to the spectacular," notes U.S. counterterrorism analyst Donald Van Duyn, and elusive Egyptian chemist Midhat Mursi was said to be exploring such possibilities when last seen, brewing up deadly compounds and gassing dogs in Afghanistan. Van Duyn's FBI and other U.S. agencies are interested enough...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI is warning police that terrorists could construct a simple but deadly chemical weapon out of materials readily available. "Little or no training is required to assemble and deploy such a device due to its simplicity," the FBI said Wednesday in its weekly intelligence bulletin to about 18,000 law enforcement agencies. The bulletin provides no details of a specific threat or possible location of an attack. It does say that terrorists could take advantage of building ventilation systems, air intakes or enclosed areas to disperse toxic chemical gas. Law enforcement officials previously have warned that al-Qaida...

On page 40 of document ISGQ-2003-00000847 there is an October 2002 document where there is a request submitted by Zoo Al Fikar Military factory to the “Iraqi Directorate of Planning and Follow up” for 500 Kilograms of SODIUM CYANIDE (NaCN), 15 tones of HYDROCHLORIC ACID ( HCL), and 30 tones of SULFURIC ACID (H2SO4). Sodium Cyanide is an important precursor to produce a Chemical Weapon called HYDROGEN CYANIDE (HCN) also known as ZYCLON B and the use of Sodium Cyanide with Hydrochloric acid or Sulfuric Acid will produce this Chemical Weapon. Although Sodium Cyanide can be used for other military...

Recent reports outlining what Time magazine has called the "untold story" of a cancelled al Qaeda plot against the New York subway system have excited considerable media hype and public consternation. The account is part of Ron Suskind's new book, The One Percent Doctrine, that was excerpted in the June 26 edition of Time. According to Suskind, al Qaeda developed a "revolutionary new WMD device" that would generate cyanide gas, and these weapons -- which he refers to as "mubtakkar" devices -- were to have been planted on subways by operatives who were in place and preparing to act in...

TYLER - Three people face sentencing as early as next month for their involvement in the stockpiling of chemical weapons in East Texas, which some authorities believe may have been part of a domestic terrorism plot. William Krar, 62, of Noonday, pleaded guilty in November to one count of possessing a dangerous chemical weapon after investigators discovered the components needed to make lethal cyanide gas at a storage facility he rented with his common-law wife, Judith Bruey. Bruey, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess illegal weapons. Edward Feltus, 56, of New Jersey, has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting...

A more than 20-mile stretch of I-75 is shutdown as an explosion at a southern Kentucky factory Thursday morning left two workers unaccounted for and 22 others injured. A Corbin hospital reports 11 critically injured. Large scale evacuations are reportedly underway as there are reports of a hydrogen cyanide chemical release, which is a toxic chemical. The blast at CTA Acoustics occurred at 8:02 EDT, according to Ray Bowman, a spokesman with the state Division of Emergency Management. About 22 people were taken to hospitals, Bowman said. A low-hanging cloud was visible near the Knox County plant, Bowman said, and...