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Posted on 10/10/2005 11:45:19 AM PDT by hope
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Terrorist Claims World Leaders Ignored His Warnings
By Sherrie Gossett
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 10, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - An imprisoned al Qaeda leader claims his repeated warnings to international authorities regarding the terror network's planned operations, including bombings in Spain, Britain and Italy, have gone unheeded.
Ali Ahmed Ali Hamad, who is currently serving a 12-year prison term in Zenica prison in Bosnia-Herzegovina for terrorism and robbery, states that for more than three years - from November 2001 to January 2005 -- he repeatedly offered in letters and "official interviews" to provide information on al Qaeda's operations in Bosnia and elsewhere.
Hamad adds that his efforts included two letters, sent on Jan. 12 and 19 of 2004, to Lord Paddy Ashdown, the international community's High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, which, according to Hamad, Ashdown ignored.
On Jan. 10 of this year, Hamad wrote a nine-page letter from prison, addressed to local news editors in Bosnia, complaining about being ignored. Cybercast News Service obtained a copy of the letter and confirmed its contents in a conference call with Hamad's newly-appointed attorney, Dusko Tomic, and an independent translator.(Click here to view copy of original letter. Click here to read English translation.)
"[Ashdown] has not shown the slightest interest" wrote Hamad, adding that "I offered him the opportunity to disable and destroy the major cells of al Qaeda."
Offering a "ten-point program" to help "cleanse" the region of the "remnants of terrorism," Hamad warned about "sleepers" who were waiting for the "green light ..."
The Washington D.C.-based International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA), echoes the criticism of Ashdown, alleging that he has "consistently denied any terrorist activities in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and has consistently and successfully dismissed any officials who brought to light links between [al Qaeda] and other terrorist supporting governments with the Bosnian Islamist leadership."
Ashdown became the international community's High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, on May 27, 2002. The Office of the High Representative (OHR) was created in 1995, immediately after the Dayton Peace Agreement, to ensure that Bosnia would become a "peaceful, viable state on course to European integration," according to the OHR website.
The OHR is funded by the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), whose 55 member countries and agencies include the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the United Nations (UN).
The International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA) has long warned about terrorists using the Balkans as a springboard for terrorist operations in Europe, and has published detailed reports linking the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., the March 11, 2004, bombings in Madrid and the July 7, 2005, bombings in London to jihadist activity in the Balkans.
In August, Cybercast News Service posted an edited version of a video, which had been obtained from ISSA, showing a jihadist training camp in Bosnia.
The Cybercast News Service article accompanying the terrorist training camp video ended up on the front pages of news organizations in the Balkans, but Bosnian government officials and Gen. David Leakey of the European Union Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR) denied there were any terrorist camps in the region.
Bosnia's top Muslim weekly, Slobodna Bosna, confirmed the existence of the training camps and insisted the European Union general was "playing dumb."
One month later, al Qaeda activity in the area was confirmed by German intelligence sources as well, as reported by United Press International.
Hamad's letter also singles out Gen. Virgil Packett, the former commander of the Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR) for doubting that there were al Qaeda terrorists in the region, even while admitting that there could be "sleepers."
"[T]he terrorists who perpetrated the September 11 attacks ... were peaceful sleepers before they received their order to attack," warned Hamad in his letter.
Other leaders and institutions that Hamad claims he warned include the prime minister of Bosnia, embassies of the United States, Great Britain, Italy and Canada; former Pope John Paul II, President Bush, the U.S. Department of Defense and the FBI.
A U.S. congressional staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed to Cybercast News Service that "our FBI official in Sarajevo has met with Ali Hamad and interrogated him."
Dusko Tomic also confirmed the FBI interrogations as well as meetings with Bosnian intelligence agents, who Hamad later accused of obtaining his information in order to protect terrorists.
Hamad states that he fled a broken home to live in the streets at 17 years old, was picked up by al Qaeda and "brainwashed" into hating those who were "alive and different," according to Bosnian public television.
"... I made a sworn pledge to al Qaeda, in the presence of Osama bin Laden and three of his high-ranking officers," Hamad further explained in the letter from prison.
The former al Qaeda officer claims to have details about al Qaeda's rules and operations, the individuals "deployed around the world" and their terrorist missions. He is also threatening to reveal the names of government officials "from various Islamic countries," who allegedly provided secret support to al Qaeda.
"My client has spoken out for two years about the threats of terrorist attacks against Spain, Britain and Italy and no one took him seriously until the Madrid and London bombings," Tomic told Cybercast News Service.
Regarding the evidence of jihadists operating in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Tomic charged that "a lot of western intelligence, including MI6 (British intelligence service) not only have been aware of [mujahedeen] in the area, but helped them and therefore are now trying to cover up their existence so as to cover up their responsibility."
Tomic added, "It's my personal conviction that Ashdown is an agent of MI6, therefore that organization dictates his actions in the area."
In September, Sarajevo newspapers reported that Ashdown was an agent for MI6 in the 1970s. His office declined comment, but denounced the Internet publication of the names of alleged spies. Cybercast News Service attempted to contact Ashdown for this article, but a spokesman for the Office of the High Representative stated that "we do not comment on correspondence."
Ali Hamad, who claims he escaped an attempt on his life while in prison, has also written a book, which Tomic says will reveal how western intelligence helped mujahedeen infiltrate the Balkans during the Bosnian war and are now trying to conceal their existence.
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| All original CNSNews.com material, copyright 1998-2005 Cybercast News Service. |
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Very interesting, thanks for posting.
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