Madrid case leads to lawyer in Oregon

The Oregonian ^ | May 7, 2004 | Noelle Crombie and Mark Larrabee

[aposiopetic]

Federal agents on Thursday detained a Washington County lawyer in connection with the deadly March 11 terrorist attack in Madrid -- the first American connection to the worst terrorist attack since Sept. 11, 2001.

Brandon Mayfield, 37, who lives in Aloha and played a minor legal role in the Portland Seven terrorism case, was picked up at his West Slope law office on a material witness hold Thursday morning, said Tom Nelson, Mayfield's attorney.

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[Grampa Dave]

Valerie, thanks for all of the great links and posts on the Madrid Bombing.

You have done a great job.

Backhoe, Ernest at the Beach, fyi.

[ValerieUSA]

*curtsy*

[Grampa Dave]

You deserve it and take another for the good work.

[Future Useless Eater]

I also notice the guy is a LAWYER...

“First thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” --William Shakespeare. “

Three differences between a dead skunk and a dead lawyer in the middle of the road:

1. Skid marks in front of the skunk.

2. The skunk was clearly an accident.

3. The skunk smells better.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the ping and all the good info ValerieUSA...

Scanned thru it and the plastic bag is still very mysterious!

Calling it a night here shortly.

[aposiopetic]

Further thanks for the links and posts.

[backtothestreets]

See, I see one Islam and they're playing us like good cop, bad cop.

One beat us up, the other offers sympathy, but does not try to stop the bad one.

Moderates the world over do protest and act when they want to change the course of events. Even moderate Muslims. If they are not part of an Islamic plan, why don't they try to stop the radical bunch?

The "moderates" of Islam are dulling our senses. When we fought the Germans, did we fight just the Nazis? Or did we fight just the Imperialists in Japan?

Islam is one and they are attacking worldwide regardless of religion or culture. The attacks are physical as with terrorist attacks, and they're also passive as with challenges to the laws, customs and cultures of nations worldwide. It is one war by all of Islam against everything not Islam.

[ValerieUSA]

I see your point.
Is it merely a coincidence that so many of the civil rights activists in this country through the years have been converts to Islam? These laws now accomodate their covert and subversive activities.
I don't think it was consciously planned by any organization of man from the beginning to this result - it is part of the ongoing spiritual warfare that uses men as mortal pawns on one side, and grants man victory over death on the other.

[ValerieUSA]

bump

[Sacajaweau]

Tell Senator Clinton that she's guessing. The guy may "really working for us" now. It's called deals. She knows
how it works. She was an attorney. She made a fool of herself.

[Sacajaweau]

Little by little, more "specifics" come out; plastic bags with the detonators had his print.

His wife was amazingly specific: She said it was only "half a print, it could be anybody".

Wonder what the stats are on "half a print"

I thought I rememembered that the detonators were telephones so maybe his number was in there and the "print" story is a plant.

Interestingly, this also mentions the sniper.

Patterns: Muslim Convert, Immigration, Army, (Both joined in 1985 Mayfield left in 1994). Ft Lewis, Germany, Low Profile, Muslim wife, Obscurity,

Let's see if we get an indictment out of this.

Thanks for all the info ValerieUSA.

[Sacajaweau]

The sniper also left active duty in 1994. He served in the reserve in 1995.

[aposiopetic]

The Mayfields' time in Germany -- interrupted by a 30-day leave for a trip to Egypt -- is intriguing, given the freedom to operate enjoyed by terrorist cells in Germany. Islam Online shows Bitburg/Spangdahlem was important enough to rate a minor (300-person) protest once the Iraqi campaign had started last year.

[blam]

"The fact that there are connections from Seattle all the way to incidents in Spain," says Jacobs, "indicate that it could be a much more extensive network here."

Ol' Brandon could just be a 'sleeper' part of a larger cell.

[ValerieUSA]

Cell phones were used to activate the detonators.
Some info in a new report:
(most of what I find now is just what was posted yesterday, but sometimes there is a bit of something new)

http://www.harktheherald.com/print.php?sid=20952

MADRID, Spain -- The fingerprints of an American lawyer arrested in the Madrid terror bombing probe were found on a plastic shopping bag containing detonators like those used in the train attacks, the Spanish government said Friday.

Two senior U.S. law enforcement officials in Washington said Brandon Mayfield, 37, had been under FBI surveillance for several weeks after a single fingerprint was found.

...Other fingerprints found inside the van included those of Moroccan Jamal Zougam, a prime suspect in the attacks who is under arrest and charged with mass murder and terrorism.

Police say cell phones used to activate the detonators in the backpack bombs used in the train attacks were traced to the cell phone store Zougam ran in Madrid.

[ValerieUSA]

here's something the AP posted just an hour ago:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040508/ap_on_re_eu/spain_bombings_16

Number Found at Spain Site Leads to Arrest

MADRID, Spain - Police investigating the Madrid terror bombings have arrested a Moroccan whose telephone number was found in the ruins of an apartment where seven suspects blew themselves up, the Interior Ministry said Saturday.

The man, whose name was not released, was arrested Thursday night in Parla, a town just south of Madrid, a ministry official said.

The suspect's telephone number was found in the wreckage of an apartment where seven suspects, including the suspected ringleader of the train attacks, blew themselves up on April 3 as police prepared to go in and arrest them, the official said.

The attacks on March 11 killed 191 people and wounded more than 2,000, and have been blamed on Islamic militants with possible links to al-Qaida.

Eighteen people have been charged so far — six with mass murder and the rest with collaborating with or belonging to a terrorist organization. Six of the 18 have been released from jail but still face charges.

On Thursday, the FBI arrested an American lawyer, Brandon Mayfield, 37, in the United States as a material witness in the case.

Spanish officials say at least one of Mayfield's fingerprints were found on a plastic bag containing detonators of the kind used in the attacks. The bag was found in a van left near the station from which three of the four trains bombed on March 11 departed. U.S. officials said a single print of Mayfield's was found on the bag.

The newspaper El Pais reported Saturday that Spanish investigators have serious doubts as to whether the print is Mayfield's. They have no record of him traveling to Spain recently, and experts found only eight points of similarity between the print and the one of Mayfield held in U.S. files because of his status as a former member of the Army. The FBI said it found 15 such points, El Pais said.

The Interior Ministry declined to comment on the report.

[ValerieUSA]

hmmm... now his father adds "he needed a job" as a reason Brandon joined the Army.

From the Seattle Times report:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001923229_mayfield08m.html

Portland man innocent in Madrid train bombing, family says

By Hal Bernton and David Heath, Seattle Times staff reporters

.....Neighbors say the family has been friendly, reaching out with offerings of baklava over the Christmas holidays and recently helping to rescue a cat stuck in a tree.

A family friend who spent time with Mona Mayfield yesterday said the family thinks the Spanish evidence is flawed and that Brandon Mayfield has been unfairly targeted as an American Muslim convert.

Mayfield's brother, Kent, an art teacher at a junior high school in Halstead, said , "My brother has never condoned violence. He is an advocate for change. He is critical of the Bush administration. If that's a crime, that's the only crime he's committed."

A sister, Amy Sikes of Hutchinson, said, "He's just a wonderful man. He's very loving and gentle."

Mayfield joined the Army because he needed a job and wanted to serve his country, family members said.

"You couldn't find anybody who's more apple pie than Brandon," said his father.

While serving at Fort Lewis, he met his future wife, Mona, who is from Egypt. Mayfield later converted to Islam. The couple last left the country 10 years ago to visit family in Egypt, Alexander, the former stepmother, said.

Mayfield has practiced law since 2000 from a small office in a business park.

He was "a perfect tenant" who always paid his rent on time and never drew any complaints from other businesses that share the park, according to Sharon Brown, of Lawrence Investments, which manages the property.

Most of the time, Mayfield worked alone without a secretary, though sometimes his wife came to help, according to Brian Lamson, an insurance agent in a nearby office.


.....Some of Mayfield's practice involved immigration law. Portland attorney Dagmar Butte said Mayfield called her a few times for advice on cases and she urged him to join an association of immigration lawyers for support. But he never did.

Mayfield's dented red Chevrolet Corsica remained parked outside his office yesterday.

An FBI receipt for "properties received" sat on a front seat, listing items seized, including: business cards, audiocassettes and driving directions from MapQuest, an Internet service.

Mayfield and his family attended services at Beaverton's Bilal Mosque, where his wife and daughter wore hidjab scarves, the traditional head coverings for Muslim women.

Mayfield is remembered at the mosque as a respectful, decent man, who volunteered during weekends to teach English to African Muslim immigrants.

"He was very much an American, and we needed a white guy for the right accent," said Shahrir Ahmed, president of the mosque.

"He wanted them to learn, so they could become engaged and become part of the system."

[ValerieUSA]

In the Mayfield family photos provided to the press from Kansas, Mona and their daughter are not wearing the Muslim head scarves. Yet they did in Portland. I contend they kept the depth and militance of their "faith" from their Kansas family. Brandon and Mona led a secret life through their Beaverton mosque.

[ValerieUSA]

From what I can tell now, Mayfield was working on behalf of Battle in 2002 to take his child away from his non-Muslim mother so it could be raised in an Islamic household by his uncle. Battle must have then been preparing to go to Afghanistan himself, so he couldn't raise the boy - unless the courts had already decided he was an unfit parent.
I'm sure Mayfield must have asked what Battle was up to at the time - why he didn't plan to raise his own son.
Battle was arrested the following year for travelling overseas with the purpose of joining al qaeda to fight against American forces in Afghanistan. He supported the Taliban ..... and I wonder if Mayfield also supports the Taliban and Sharia law. Let's ask his daughter, Sharia, if she has any clues.

[aposiopetic]

"He was very much an American, and we needed a white guy for the right accent," said Shahrir Ahmed, president of the mosque.

Question: If a Christian, rather than a Muslim, had uttered this statement, what kind of treatment would they have received in the media?