The 'stupid' man who fooled us all (al-Qaeda's man in Sydney)

The Associated Press ^ | November 13 2003 | Martin Chulov

[knighthawk]

HE chowed down like a true gastronome on her beef rendang and chicken liver stir fry but, when it came to handing out change, al-Qaeda's man in Sydney was a chump.

If Willie Brigitte was the Islamic terrorist menace that Australian authorities believe he is, he had many more people than his wife fooled.

First among them was Alihma Mohd, the woman who gave Brigitte his job in the Island Dreams Cafe in Sydney's CBD in early July, and who regularly reminded him about when to pray.

She was first introduced to the big, pear-shaped bloke she came to know as Jamal, or "The Whale", by one of her relatives, Mohammed, who says he was just helping out a Muslim brother new to town.

"When he came to see me he had very good manners and his face looked like he needed pity," Mrs Mohd said from her second cafe in the southwestern suburb of Lakemba. She should have put him on probation first.

"He was slow, very, very slow," Mrs Mohd said. "His work was not so good. But there were a lot of French-speaking people in my shop and he was good to them."

The first personal glimpses of Brigitte and his five months in Sydney reveal a man many thought was a tad odd, but whom few, if any, can conceive of as the biggest terrorist threat the nation has faced.

"The worst thing I could say is sometimes he was not there, he had very bad concentration. I was always telling him to relax and he just laughed," Mrs Mohd said.

One day in late September, Brigitte showed up with a bride - a good-looking Australian girl wearing a hijab, the traditional Islamic woman's garment, which covers all except the face and hands.

At first they looked shy, even awkward together. "But you do expect that in an Islamic marriage, especially when they have only met a few times before."

Soon, Brigitte, and his wife, Melanie Brown, began to appear far more at ease. "He just kept on looking at her. He was sort of proud of her, and he had even gone to see her dad to ask for her (hand in marriage)."

Back at the cafe, Brigitte remained his ponderous self - even under the tutelage of Mrs Mohd's young niece.

"Jamal had only been working for us for 3-4 days so I got my niece to look after him, because he didn't know how to use the till. They watched him as he was trying to give this person his money and five times he gave him the wrong change. I came back and my niece said, 'Auntie, he is stupid, he doesn't know what to do'."

Cafe staff came to accept the hapless colleague in their midst and at the same time learned glimpses - nothing more - of where he had been and what he had done before Sydney.

"I knew he lived in Paris and that he was born in the Caribbean," Mrs Mohd said. "He also told me he had been to Yemen when he first converted to learn more about Islam."

But there was no mention of his time in Pakistan, or Afghanistan, or the tribal territories between both countries in the months following September 11. "He said he loved Australia and the people here, and wanted to stay here."

On October 9, eight men from the Department of Immigration, ASIO and the Australian Federal Police came to the city cafe and hauled Brigitte away.

The next time Mrs Mohd saw him was in Villawood detention centre.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Dacus943]

"But there were a lot of French-speaking people in my shop and he was good to them."

Hmmmmm...