Feds raid Saudi-based organization in N.Va.-(Marco... Polo)

richmond times dispatch ^ | Jul 2, 2004 | The Associated Press

[Flavius]

Feds raid Saudi-based organization in N.Va.

The Associated Press Jul 2, 2004

FAIRFAX - Federal agents raided the Fairfax offices of a Saudi-based institute yesterday. No arrests were made.

A task force of federal agents, including the FBI, raided the offices of the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences. Earlier this year, 16 Saudi diplomats affiliated with the institute had their passports revoked. State Department officials said the diplomats were teaching at the institute rather than serving as diplomats.

The institute, in the Merrifield section of Fairfax County, also served as a meeting point for a group of Islamic men who played paintball games in 2000 and 2001 as preparation for holy war, according to prosecutors. Nine of the 11 men charged in what prosecutors called a "Virginia jihad network" were convicted in federal court for their roles in the group.

Lawyers for the Council on American-Islamic Relations observed the raid. The council's spokesman, Ibrahim Hooper, said, "We're concerned that this may be perceived in the Muslim community as a fishing expedition."

He pointed out that a variety of Muslim businesses and charities were raided more than two years ago as part of a broad investigation into alleged terrorist financing, but that no charges have been filed against those charities.

An FBI spokeswoman did not immediately return calls.

[Flavius]

for your information...

[Flavius]

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

It's about f*ing time is all I have to say. All these whack-jobs should be deported. All of the "diplomats". All of the "students". If the government doesnt do it, in time, WE THE PEOPLE will be forced to take care of the problem ourselves.

[Flavius]

[Flavius]

[muawiyah]

I don't understand your profound interest in "deporting" these people when we are all much better off locking them up right here where they can do no further harm to anybody.

You do nothing but strengthen AlQaida by shipping these people back to them.

[Flavius]

Lets here it for the FBI, about time we turn the tide...

allegedly off course...

[Flavius]

here=hear./..

[Shermy]

They're very connected. $$$

[Shermy]

Smells like Alamoudi and Norquist...

[Flavius]

well I'm glad we are proactive not that I thought we werent just nice to see it every once in a while...

[muawiyah]

So, which is it ~ lock them up here or deport them to somewhere they can do harm to us?

Doesn't matter how "connected" they might be.

[JediForce]

Perhaps they will be transported back to their friends via a C-130 transport plane with a defective ramp system that opens in mid-flight. Dumb bombs anyone ? :-)

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

I think you think you missed my point. Of course, anyone who is suspected of terrorist activities should be arrested and charged with conspiracy. My point is that all the rest, who are here on "student visas", etc. from terror-sponsor (read: whahabbi arab or other radical muslim countries) shoud be deported as well, regardless of whether they are terror suspects or not. WE do not need them here, and their presence ("teaching" Wahabbi Islam, etc.) has only downside potential that could have to be resolved later at greater cost. Get it?

[muawiyah]

Look, all the federales have to do is hold to the doctrine of "in for a dime, in for a dollar" and ALL the folks associated with this particular operation are going to be locked up for a long time.

ALL still means ALL.

Every time the cops have gone after one of these guys they've managed to get a conviction. The "paintball terrorists" leader was, in fact, taken down just a couple of blocks from my home. You might imagine I do not want there to be the slightest chance any of these people might come back. Deporting them just plays into AlQaida's hands.

I want action taken that plays into MY hands, and building a case that implicates all the folks associated with this particular "Institute" would be good.

[txhurl]

hey--

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

"You do nothing but strengthen AlQaida by shipping these people back to them."

Is it time we do what they do ?...Off with their heads!

[muawiyah]

We were discussing a particular group of folks. Seems to me you want to just ship out the Arabs and Moslems.

Actually, this place has been going down hill since we let in the English, so there's probably as much a chance of shipping out all the Arabs as there is of sending the English back home!

[woofer]

federal agents, including the FBI, raided the offices of the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences.

Two words that never appear in the same sentence. I think this may have been what tipped off the feds.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Again, with regard to those who could be charged and convicted of fomenting or abeting terrorism, I agree with you, with one minor exemption. Upon conviction, I do not want my taxes paying for their meals and TV's. I want them dead. Thats dead, as in DEAD, DEAD, DEAD! We would be in much better shape as a society if everyone convicted of terrorosm conspiracies were executed within two weeks of their trials. But that's just my personal sentiment. Rabid dogs are NOT rehabilitated, they are exterminated.

And, I say again, that even those who are not so convicted and exterminated, if there is no benefit to us for their being here, and where there is suspicion that they might be fomentiong terrorism by rasining funds or inculcating potential mad dogs in gutter wahabbi islam, then they should be deported (as a humane alternative to what would be my personal preference, which by now you can probably imagine).