Selling the threat of bioterrorism (LA Times investigates Alibek)

In the summer of 2001, June 29-July 3, GMU’s microbiology grad Al-Timimi participated in a seminar at the University of Alberta (Canada) and spoke along with unindicted WTC 1993 conspirator Bilal Philips, who then was operating out of the United Arab Emirates, as was 9/11 planner al-Baluchi. Philips had been Ali’s religious mentor and was an unindicted WTC 1993 conspirator.
http://web.archive.org/web/20010720074336/http://iananet.org/

You can click here to listen to his presentations, such as “Belief in the Day of Judgement” and “Actions that Negate Beliefs.”

Jon Berger, of IntelWire, has done excellent research on the subject of the IANA speaker, who would sometimes speak at the same conferences as GMU’s Ali Al-Timimi, Bilal Philips. Bilal Philips was Ali’s mentor and the father of El-Shukrijuman (aka “Jafar the Pilot”) in turn was Bilal Philip’s mentor.

There’s a $5 million reward being offered for Jafar the Pilot. He’s is said by the highest levels of the DOJ to be extremely dangerous.

Expert terrorism researcher and journalist Jon Berger explains that Bilal Philips was an al Qaeda operative who sought to recruit U.S. veterans as paramilitary trainers and combat volunteers in 1992 and 1993, at the explicit direction of a cleric who converted thousands of Gulf War soldiers to Islam on behalf of the Saudi government.

Clement Rodney Hampton-El was convicted of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks in a 1993 terror plot linked to the World Trade Center bombing in February of that year. El-Shukrijumah’s dad testified as a character witness on his Hampton-El’s behalf.

An al Qaeda-trained bomb expert with ties to Ramzi Yousef and radical cleric Omar Abdel Rahman, Hampton-El testified that he was summoned to a meeting at the Saudi embassy in December 1992. Hampton-El was told that wealthy Saudis were sponsoring jihad operations in Bosnia, according to his testimony in the 1995 trial (US v. Rahman, S5 93 Cr. 18, August 2, 1995). Hampton-El said he was given a budget of $150,000 to train volunteer mujahideen fighters and support their families in the U.S. The day after the meeting he was given a list of US soldiers who were completing their tours of duty to recruit as potential mujahideen to fight in Bosnia. He was given the list by the religious mentor of GMU microbiology grad student Ali Timimi’s mentor. Bilal Philips had been Ali’s religious teacher in Saudi Arabia when he was a young and impressionable.

Philips gave Hampton-El the list at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, after a meeting that Hampton-El characterized as an Islamic conference for military personnel, according to the testimony.

Bilal Philips had begun working for the Saudi government in March 1991, leading an educational program for American soldiers stationed in the Gulf. Ostensibly to teach the Americans about Islamic and Saudi culture, the program was in actuality an aggressive campaign to convert U.S. soldiers to Islam, Philips acknowledges. ‘

For about five and a half months beginning in March 1991, the program converted an estimated 1,000 and 3,000 U.S. soldiers to Islam. Journalist Jon Berger reports that Philips was “made a proselytization official by the Saudi Air Force. Philips said his work on the program continued through 1994.”

After the initial conversion program ended, Philips followed up in the United States, with phone calls and visits designed to recruit recently released veterans as potential members of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network.

Hampton-El said he had previously been given the contact information for potential recruits in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Ohio.

Members of the New York terror cell were arrested in a warehouse in June 1993, caught in the act of assembling ammonium nitrate-fueled bombs for a massive “Day of Terror” attack on New York City landmarks.

Jon Berger explains:

“In the mid-1990s, Bilal Philips taught at an Islamic school in Cotabato, the Philippines. Cotabato is a regional center for Islamic extremists in the region, including the Abu Sayyaf Group and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.”

He continues:

“In May 1993, Bilal Philips sent for Hampton-El, who was flown first to Saudi Arabia for a week, then to the Philippines for a week.”

***

At the time the “Day of Terror” plot was exposed, the perpetrators were thought to be independent operators, or possibly attached to the Islamic Group, an Egyptian terror organization tied to Abdel Rahman.

But a substantial amount of evidence uncovered since then shows that the cell was almost certainly an al Qaeda-sponsored operation, either in part or in whole, as documented by Lance in “1000 Years,” and in numerous recent court filings and terror prosecutions.”

“Many operatives tied to the NYC cell were Egyptian, and some were also associated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a terror group run by current al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri. The extensive cooperation on display in the NYC cell between known al Qaeda figures and known EIJ figures strongly suggests that Zawahiri joined forces with bin Laden years earlier than the conventional wisdom suggests, perhaps as early as the late 1980s. Most experts currently believe EIJ and al Qaeda merged around 1998.”

“The New York cell was intimately tied to Ramzi Yousef and the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. Once thought to be a kind of terrorist freelancer, Yousef is now believed to have been an al Qaeda operative who took money and instructions from bin Laden. While in New York, Yousef received money from Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, who would later become the top operational mastermind of al Qaeda.”

“Members of the New York cell, including Hampton-El, received training, bomb-making manuals and U.S. military documents from Ali Mohammed, a California-based al Qaeda operative who was bin Laden’s chief of security in the early 1990s, according to extensive testimony and his own guilty plea in a separate case. Ali Mohammed trained bin Laden’s personal bodyguards, a clear sign of his status within al Qaeda.”

“Hampton-El fought in Afghanistan during the period bin Laden was active there, around the time al Qaeda is alleged to have formally organized. He was closely associated with the Alkifah mosque in Brooklyn, which has also been tied to al Qaeda and its predecessor organization, the Services Office.”

And, yes, I’ll say it again — Islambouli was head of the Services Office in Peshawar. He was close to the Blind Sheik. He was the subject of the December 4, 1998 PDB to President Clinton that explained that he was travelling to the US to plan aircraft and other attacks.

Jon Berger has also done very important work in explaining the importance of the role of Khalifa, OBL’s brother-in-law. I recommend his intelwire website which is heavy on the documentary evidence that he obtains through FOIA. My apologies to Mr. Berger for plagiarizing some of the above — or unduly relying on it — but his work is too important not to get out there. And I’m rushing to catch the Bourne movie before I forget.

Ft. Belvoir, btw, is very close to where Ali lived.

They were very close personally— mentor/mentee — and very close geographically. (Minutes)

And so during the 1993-1994 period, when Bilal was busily recruiting US Army personnel, his mentee was developing his academic career.

And when they both spoke in the Summer of 2001 about the day of judgment and such issues, Ali had worked with a high security clearance for the Navy and now was working in the same halls as the famed Russian bioweaponeer Alibek and former USAMRIID head Bailey. So I’d say that Bilal was darn good not only at recruitment, but at infiltration.

I’ve laid this reasoning all out to Dr. Philips to give him a chance to share his perspective and correct any misunderstandings of fact but haven’t heard back. I also spoke to another IANA supporter, a former US Army sergeant from Queens who is a close confidante of another IANA speaker who spoke alongside Bilal and Ali in July 2001 in Canada. This other speaker, an oncologist here, was sentenced to 22 years for some financial irregularities. The former US Army sergeant is also President of the mosque here. But haven’t heard back from him.

If the government is mistaken about what the WP reported in October 2006 that it suspected, now is the time to turn on the lights so as to avoid the continued shadow boxing.

It’s never the butler — always the brother.

Tonight’s news-
CA: San Jose man and brother indicted for providing support to ...
The indictment alleges Zulkifli Abdhir and Rahmat Abdhir communicated with one ... Zulkifli Abdhir, an alleged member of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant ...
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1875554/posts

http://www.swnebr.net/newspaper/cgi-bin/articles/articlearchiver.pl?161548

“Nuradin M. Abdi, 35, a Somali national living in Columbus, Ohio, was named in a four-count indictment returned under seal in the U.S. District Court in Columbus on June 10, 2004. This afternoon [August , 1] Abdi pladed guilty in federal court to Count One of the indictment, which charged him with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists ... Abdi agreed to serve a 10-year prison sentence pursuant to the terms of his plea agreement.

“Today’s case should serve notice to those who would take advantage of our country’s freedoms to support and conspire with international terrorists who are our sworn enemies,” said Assistant Attorney General Wainstein.

“This plea is the product of a persistent global investigation by agents and officers who used every legal tool available to document the actions of one who conspired to aid terrorists,” U.S. Attorney Lockhart said.

***

In the ensuing years, Abdi befriended co-conspirators Christopher Paul and Iyman Faris in Ohio.”

“This case was investigated by the Southern Ohio Joint Terrorism Task Force”

[Iyman Faris was the guy sent by KSM to case the Brooklyn Bridge. (I thought it was to loosen the bolts rather than use a blow torch on the cables as mentioned in the link above in the thread). See “Columbus terror trial will hear jailed Brooklyn Bridge plotter,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, July 24, 2007

Christopher Paul was the guy in the Navy who was cooperating and giving classified info to the webmaster of azzam.com, which had an FAQ on the meaning of the “Inside the Hearts of Green Birds.” The fellow from New Brunswick mirroring the website was recently indicted.]

Now it’s time for the Amerithrax indictment out of New Jersey to be revealed.

Come on, you can do it, push......

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_6533432?nclick_check=1

Story today about JI operative.

The brothers indicted were Malaysian. They used coded language in the Malaysian language. Guns were “iron” and government agents were “dogs.” Bombs were “prizes” or “presents.”

I’ve referred to Ali Timimi’s religious mentor, the distinguished and widely published Dr. Bilal Philips, as an unindicted WTC 1993 conspirator. Here is his side of the story in a 2007 interview. He explains that he has not entered the US since 1995.

He explains:

“It is also worth noting that the other claim that I was an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing is really a joke, because well over 100 names of active Muslim leaders, teachers, and lecturers in the New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia areas were put on a supposedly leaked report of the then attorney general, Mary Jo White, back in 1994. Since then, none of the ‘unindicted co-conspirators’ have been charged but the ‘list’ remains.”

[Comment: that seems a sound observation. It is a very long list.]

He continues: “Guilt by association has become a defining characteristic of the American intelligence community’s activities in dealing with Western Muslims.”

[Comment: that seems a sound observation.]

His message would be:

“’don’t judge the book by its cover,’ especially when the cover is prepared by the media and the powers that be.”]

[Comment: that seems a sound observation.]

He notes:
“Cultural sensitivity is the need of the hour. If it is not adopted, the very fabric of society will be torn apart.”

[Comment: that seems a sound observation.]

Given that we can all agree he makes many sound observations while speaking in the secular realm, and given he is both fluent and articulate, I would invite Dr. Philips to address the factual issues relating to the proselytization effort in the early 1990s (sponsored by the Saudi government) that I’ve described. More particularly, I would ask that he provide an account of his contacts with Dr. Al-Timimi so that we can better understand the man who has been sentenced to life plus 70 years. The sentence seems unduly harsh sentence for the crimes charged by most any measure.

Dr. Philips, what is the extent and nature of your contacts with Ali in recent years? With Sheik al-Hawali? With Sheik Abdel-Rahman? Did you know that Ali worked alongside the leading bioweaponeering experts? Did you caution your religious protege that he might (unfairly or not) come under suspicion? Particularly given his (unfair or not) association with you and in light of the widely circulated court testimony about your dawah efforts with US Army personnel?

Let’s turn the page in this chapter so we aren’t judging the book by the cover.

Finally, did you know al-Balucchi in the UAE?

Did you know Mohammed Ali?

Did you know Aafia Siddiqui?

Did you know OBL’s brother-in-law Khalifa while in the Philippines?

Did you know Ramzi Yousef?

Did you know the JI operative indicted yesterday?

http://austrolabe.com/2007/04/09/exclusive-interview-with-dr-bilal-philips/
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s1890050.htm

Here is a good explanation in today’s news of why a terrorism law based on association, rather than the individual’s actions, is inappropriate.

Six degrees of association
ABC Online, Australia - 7 hours ago
A person that has prepared a bomb, written up plans for a terrorist attack, is
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/03/1996156.htm

The question of “who knew who” is only an aid in divining “who did what.”

Moreover, in the US, “pure speech” is protected by the First Amendment.

(It seems that Ali’s email celebrating the destruction of the Columbia as a harbinger of the destruction of Western Civilization might have been excluded under a balancing test of relevance versus probativeness.)

As for the practice of recruiting followers from the ranks of Armed Forces, EIJ leaders Dr. Zawahiri and Dr. Sharif were the ones who set the gold standard.
Ayman’s mentor Qamari was in the Army. And, of course, Sadat’s assassins were in the Army.

In an essay “Islam and Terrorism,” Bilal Philips, this religious mentor of GMU’s microbiology grad Ali Al-Timimi, explained the principles of islamic jurisprudence of islamic warfare thusly:

http://www.studentofknowledge.com/islamandterror.htm

“Islam opposes any form of indiscriminate violence. The Quran states: “Anyone who has killed another except in retaliation, it is as if he has killed the whole of humankind.” [Quran Surah #32 Verse #5] There are strict rules regulating how war may be conducted. Prophet Muhammad forbade the killing of women, children, and old people and the destruction of Churches and Synagogues or farms. Of course, if women, children or the elderly bear arms they may be killed in self-defense.

***

Defending Islam and the Muslim community is a primary aspect of the physical jihad which involves taking up arms against an enemy. God states in the Quran “Permission to fight has been given to those who have been attacked because they are wronged. And indeed, Allah is Most Powerful.” [Quran Surah #22 Verse #39] and “Fight in the cause of Allah against those who fight against you, but do not transgress the limits. Indeed Allah does not love transgressors.” [Quran Surah #2 Verse #190]. Muslims are also enjoined to fight against tyranny. The Quran states, “Why shouldn’t you fight in the cause of Allah and for those oppressed because they are weak. Men, women and children who cry out, ‘Our Lord! Rescue us from this town of oppressors’” [Quran Surah #4 Verse #75]”

The address in Bourne, “where it all began” is 415 E. 71st which I believe is Cornell Medical. But in Bourne’s file, “Utica” flashes just before we’re pointed to the E. 71st address in New York. Pam Landy then communicated it to Bourne in a simple code. She described it in the form of a birthdate — “not much of a code” she later says. While I don’t think of the zipcode in the anthrax letters as a code (after some initial quickly stalled brainstorming), if it were, what might it be? For example, before looping in the fellow who knew the significance of the address, the CIA folks were quickly taking the address, which had been coded as a birthdate, and guessing at geographical coordinates or a zip code.

TrebleRebel’s brilliant examples of steganography in the thread above are clearly intended to show that Ed doesn’t know the results of digital manipulation when he sees it.

Trivia question: What NJ addresses did Al Qaeda operative Dhiren Bharot use on his application to Utica’s Mohawk Valley Community College? Who did he list as references? At the end of the day, isn’t the Amerithrax story going to be rooted in some fashion in central New Jersey?

Mr. Lake explains on his webpage:

“Note that the writer of the letter traced over several of the Ts and at least two of the As.

“THE DOODLING TERRORIST”

Is it just a coincidence that Atta is a name that can be spelled with just As and Ts? People who believe al Qaeda was behind he mailing sometimes point that out. The fact that most of the A’s and T’s were traced over cannot be denied. Anyone can see it. But what does it mean? Atta had been dead for a week by the time of the first mailing. But he was in the news every day and on the minds of everyone following the unfolding details of his journey to the World Trade Center. It was probably on the mind of the scientist preparing the letters - and, if he used someone else to actually write the letters, on the mind of that person, too.”

Ed explains:

“It seems very odd that a man about to commit a crime would doodle on such a letter. ... There undoubtedly could be many other reasons for the retracing of those two particular letters of the alphabet. I just can’t think of any.”

You can just imagine the same fictional CIA folks plugging the underlined letter from the anthrax letters and wondering whether it point to this article in the journal Gene by USAMRIID authors. Gene. 1988 Sep 30;69(2):287-300. The article is called “Sequence and analysis of the DNA encoding protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis.” Authors were Welkos SL, Lowe JR, Eden-McCutchan F, Vodkin M, Leppla SH, Schmidt JJ. at the Bacteriology Division, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Frederick, MD 21701-5011.

The nucleotide sequence of the protective antigen (PA) gene from Bacillus anthracis and the 5’ and 3’ flanking sequences were determined. PA is one of three proteins comprising anthrax toxin; and its nucleotide sequence is the first to be reported from B. anthracis. A consensus TATAAT sequence was located at the putative -10 promoter site.

When authorities determined that the anthrax had not been genetically modified so as to be resistant to antibiotics, Condi Rice told the President: “That’s the best news you’ve had as president.”

At trial for sedition, GMU microbiology grad student Ali Al-Timimi read “Genome Technology.”

The projects that Ken worked on in Russia had codenames like ``METOL’’, ``FACTOR’’, ``BONFIRE’’, and ``PODLESHIK’’. The names meant nothing — having been randomly selected by a computer. Ken reports that he had 30 project curators coordinating more than 300 projects — and points to the general advances in the area of genetic engineering that have occurred in the last 30 years.

Ayman’s project was named Zabadi. Meaning yogurt in Arabic. Curdled milk. Given that the same process used to make the Daschle product can be made to make yogurt, was it randomly selected?

I am relying on the name of the codenamed project the excellent article by WSJ journalist Cullison, based on Ayman’s computer. I have no way of knowing whether there was a mistake in translation — whether the real name was Zubaidy, named after the device invented by an Iraqi (by that name) for distributing aerosols.

After the islamists sent the anthrax threat in January 2001 in connection with the detention of the manager of Bin Laden’s farmer in Sudan, EIJ shura member Mahjoub, it was a dairy processor in Wisconsin that Dugway relied on in creating the simulant to test the nature of a threat using mailed anthrax. (They then tweaked it at Dugway). Even TrebleRebel would agree that no coating was added AFTER the preparation at the dairy processor. Given the parameters of that simulant were similar to the Daschle product — it immediately dispersed upon mere opening throughout the room — the Canadian study using that simulant evidences that a relatively sophisticated product can be made using relatively unsophisticated means.

Both Ken and his colleague Charles did consulting with Battelle.

It seems that before one reaches the issue of the risk and consequences of a genetically-engineered pathogen — especially given the 30 years of advances since the Russian program Alibek oversaw — there is an outstanding and unresolved issue of whether or not Amerithrax demonstrates the folly of the US and UK biodefense program. There is the issue whether Amerithrax is Exhibit A demonstrating a huge security breach dating back to the 1999-2001 period.

Particularly as public corruption relating to appropriations in security matters continue to dominate the headlines, are we really that comfortable leaving these policy issues to politicians, let alone the scientists and institutions who stand to financially benefit?

By way of analogy, not long ago, I emailed the US FDA Commissioner one Wednesday afternoon that benzene was in the soft drinks consumed by children worldwide. I was relying on a secret industry project codenamed PROJECT DENVER. I represented a whistleblower. The FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford quit that Friday morning without explanation. He just emailed all FDA employees and walked out the building. I harangued an FDA Assistant General Counsel in Boston, who was speaking at a childhood obesity conference that weekend as to why I hadn’t gotten a response to my email, to no avail. Later it came out the Commissioner owned $62,000 in Pepsi stock. He had been the chief scientific advisor for the Grocery Manufacturers Association which was closely working with the American Beverage Association in opposing my efforts to get soda out of public schools. In his allocution to two misdemeanors, he never addressed this issue of his knowing all about the high levels of benzene found in the soft drinks consumed by children. (He provably did). He disclosed only his leadership of a task force on childhood obesity.

So I venture that when GMU stands mum and is highly defensive about the lax security, no one should accept a lack of forthrightness.

When the FBI and DARPA don’t tell you what the forensics show, one should remain skeptical that they are striking the most appropriate balance between the need for secrecy in the investigation and the Administration’s desire to avoid embarrassment.

I always give the FBI the benefit of the doubt because I sense that FBI Director Mueller and the former Amerithrax head Michael Mason have a lot of integrity. Director Mueller demonstrated it just recently in questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee on the subject of the meeting at Attorney General Ashcroft’s bedside.

But as the months and years pass, it becomes harder and harder to have confidence that they are, in fact, charting the correct course. Attorney General Gonzales seems too often think in terms of avoiding embarrassment.

If Leahy is testy toward Attorney General Gonzales, maybe it is partly because he doesn’t think he is getting straight information from the DOJ/FBI — whether on NSA spying or on Amerithrax. The leak concerning silica came from the highest levels of the DOJ department, not a Senate staffer, as DOJ suggests as its reason to avoid a fuller briefing.

As for Attorney General Ashcroft, I always had a dim view of him based on the bad press he always got. But after hearing him speak to a university audience here on this question of balancing security concerns against other American values (such as privacy and due process), I certainly don’t question his good faith. The questions from the student body were incredibly lame and loaded — passing up a wonderful opportunity to ask meaningful substantive questions.

Ironically, it turns out that Attorney General Ashcroft could teach his successor a lot about public relations. Take the hard questions and give honest, truthful answers.

On the subject of water quality, having lost all confidence in an industry-dominated government, rather than counting on the US FDA or NYS DOH to do anything about the carcinogen bromate in water sold throughout New York State, I called up Wegmans, countinig on them to do the right thing. (Which upon independent testing, they promptly did, followed by numerous all large retailers).

So who is it in the context of Amerithrax that it is going to do the right thing?
The red cell members of the GMU student body? Where are the biothreat analysis people who can digest this point about the risks associated with the proliferation of knowledge?

At the first annual IANA conference in 1993, Ali Al-Timimi spoke alongside Bilal Philips, a fellow named Mohammed Abdul-Rahman from Afghanistan, Mohammad Qutb from Cairo, and Gamal Sultan from Cairo.

There was a Mohammad Abdul-Rahman who was the blind sheiik’s son. The blind sheik would soon be sentenced for terrorism relating to WTC 1993 and the “Day of Terror” plot directed at NYC landmarks.

And there was a Mohammad Qutb who was Syed Qutb’s brother who taught Bin Laden at university in Saudi Arabia, having emigrated to Saudi Arabia in the 1980s. Qutb, as al-Hawali’s teacher, also strongly influenced al-Hawali. Al-Hawali would be sent to prison in 1994.

In the 1970s, bin Laden was taught by Sayyid Qutb’s brother, Dr. Mohammad Qutb, and a Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood member, Dr. Abdullah Azzam, who later would found Al Qaeda. Azzam’s ideas of non-compromise, violent means, and organizing and fighting on a global scale were central to AQ methods. (A sentencing memo in the US District Court here mentions a videotaped interview made by IANA Vice Chairman Rafil Dhafir of Azzam in Afghanistan in the early 1980s but the local ACLU head assures me there was no enhancement in sentencing for terrorism.)

And there was a Gamal Sultan, the former EIJ member who would seek to start a political party in 1999 with EIJ founder Kamal Habib that sought to chart a nonviolent course (given the practical reality that the movement had been so infiltrated by the security forces), but that the blind sheik declined to endorse.

Salafist commentator Umar Lee has explained that during this period “the most dynamic part of the salafi movement in the DC-area were the students Sheikh Ali al-Timimi. In the DC area, who in the 1990’s co-founded a very small with a small office in DC for an organization called the Society for the Adherence to the Sunnah.

In 1994, cooperation with Al-Timimi’s Society for the Adherence to the Sunnah, Washington, D.C., IANA held its first annual summer camp in English in early July, close to Baltimore, MD. The theme of the camp is, “Living the Shahadah in America.”

In 2000, Mohammed Abdel Rahman, a/k/a “Asadallah,” who is a son of Abdel Rahman, was sitting alongside Bin Laden and Zawahiri and was videotaped encouraging others to “avenge your Sheikh” and “go to the spilling of blood.”

In 2000, on a trip to Pittsburgh, Gamal Sultan and his colleages thought Pittsburgh reminded them of Kandahar given its rolling hills.

Question: what impressionable Maryland youth attended that summer camp co-sponsored by Al-Timimi’s group and IANA?

Illustrating the soundness of the point made by Bilal Philips — that the description “unindicted conpirator” in the WTC 1993 is pretty meaningless - here is the list as posted by Kifah Jayyousi, now on trial currently in Florida. There are 172 individuals on the list. Jayyousi posted it to a newsgroup in 1995.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.islam/browse_thread/thread/b9dcc647f7aae66e/7f08a3260eb9afdb?lnk=st&q=%22Islam+Report%22+++Abdel-Rahman&rnum=4&hl=en#7f08a3260eb9afdb

Je vous adore bébé

If anyone is wondering what TrebleRebel thinks on Amerithrax, he has previously published in a peer reviewed journal on counterintelligence that he thinks Al Qaeda is responsible operationally. But he thinks the know-how was developed in a state program. He tends not to focus on the fact that such know-how merely travels in the minds of the scientists but would admit that it is true. Dr. Patrick kept his notes in a black binder on his living room shelf.

Is there an undisclosed connection between Amerithrax and Ohio?

Ohio: “Terror conspiracy bigger, insiders say,” Columbus Dispatch, August 4, 2007
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/08/04/abdi_guys.ART_ART_08-04-07_A1_R47HATO.html

In mid-2001, Ohio resident Iyman Faris (Faris) had dinner and spent the night at the detainee’s family residence in Baltimore, Maryland. Faris stated during this visit the detainee spoke to him about the fighting and struggle in Afghanistan. On a subsequent visit the detainee told Faris he met Khalid Shaykh Mohammed (KSM) in Pakistan. KSM, a multi-tasker to be sure, was heading the effort to use weaponized anthrax against the US.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501269.html

KSM, when captured, identified Majid Khan, Aafia Siddiqui and Iyman Faris as Al Qaeda operatives. KSM allegedly asked former Maryland resident Majid Khan to research contaminating a reservoir. What contaminant would have been used? Anthrax? Cyanide? Was it cyanide such as the thwarted attack against the US embassy in Rome in 2002? Some identified chemical intended to be smuggled in using the Paracha shipping container? Would the koran permit such indiscriminate murder of innocents? A recent study shows that anthrax is resistant to chlorine, but the most analysts typically think anthrax would be ineffective given the dilution. Other analysts focus on the risk of an attack on more localized water supply such as apparently contemplated at the Rome embassy.

In February 2003, Majid Khan had met with Uzair Paracha and someone described as a “chemistry professor.” (Paracha and his father had meetings with al-Qaeda members Majid Khan and senior operative Ammar al-Baluchi, who about that time married Aafia. In the prosecution of Uzair Paracha, the AUSA said Aafia Siddiqui was willing to participate in an anthrax attack if asked. She opened up a P.O. Box to facilitate Majid Khan’s re-entry into the country.

New water-surveillance systems are being tested that promise to detect biological attacks more quickly and accurately than is possible today. Ever since the anthrax mailings, the Homeland Security Department has been concerned about the risk that public water supplies will be poisoned. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories, the University of Cincinnati, and Argonne National Laboratory have paired up with the Environmental Protection Agency to develop the Water Sentinel Program: software that monitors municipal water systems. It is being tested in Albuquerque.

In Ohio, there was the long-forgotten case of a mysterious Egyptian in the Summer of 2001 associated with the members of an alleged terror cell in Ohio. (The young men worked at a local chicken slaughterhouse and are more commonly known as the “Detroit cell.” In June 2001, they had an angry conversation about the detention of the blind sheik. Sometime before 9/11, the Egyptian along with one of these young men made repeated attempts to obtain maps of the water supply system of Canton, Ohio. At the library, he studied books dealing with disease spread to human by animals such as anthrax. Akron Beacon Journal reported that after 9/11, a librarian in Canton alerted authorities who called in the FBI after the man visited the library as many as a half dozen times and asked for detailed maps of Canton’s water system and books concerning microbiology and animal borne diseases. Among the things the man sought were maps of waterlines running under Interstate 77 to Canton’s Mercy Medical Center. The librarian described the man as 50ish, with a slight paunch, and balding. He said he worked at Case Farms (where the Detroit defendants were working at the time).

Was the scientist ever identified and questioned? According to the Akron Beacon Journal, the man told the librarian that he worked at Case Farms. The Egyptian reportedly had lived with the young men in Canton in the past year or so, according to the librarian. (their names were Hanna and Koubriti) The FBI has never confirmed the story. Case Farms doesn’t confirm the story. The librarians won’t confirm the story — and a reporter who went in person was shown the door. What news, if any, came out of the trial of members of the Detroit terror cell? Portions of the proceeding were sealed. During the same period, two of the men on trial reportedly had enrolled in a four-week truck-driving course.

In considering how many Egyptian biologists taxi driver Nabil Al-Marabh knew, he knew Mahmoud Jaballah. Mahmoud Jaballah was a biology teacher and co-founder of an elementary school on the edge of Little Beirut in Toronto. He was rearrested in August 2001 after an earlier security certificate was quashed. CSIS alleges that he has had contact with Hassan Farhat and Ali Hussein, whom they say were part of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. After Jaballah’ s second arrest, Nabil al-Marabh’ s uncle took over as principal at Jaballah’ s school. Ahmed Shehab had shared control of the school with Jaballah as co-founder. Was Jaballah the scientist researching anthrax in the Canton, Ohio folks from May to July 2001, telling the librarian that he had worked at a laboratory in Egypt where he had learned to detect pathogens otherwise not detectable? The Detroit cell members lived in apartment that had al-Marabh’s name on it. Jaballah was 40 rather than 50ish. But he otherwise fit the description and from his picture looks older than his age.

Last year, I did a lot of testing of water as another unrelated interest. Albuquerque — where the University of Cincinnati folks are testing Sentinel. Albuquerque was an interesting choice given the high levels of arsenic there. (With arsenic, it is very difficult to get the levels down short of dilution or incurring substantial capital costs). Arsenic occurs due to naturally occurring geothermal springs. I tested a bottled water from Coke’s distributor in Northern Mexico (Topo Chico) that I picked up in Phoenix and it tested above the 10 ppb limit — 13 ppb and 26 ppb. The Mexican company gave me a single test showing that they tested it at 9 ppb. Its NYC attorney (big firm, but I forget which) told me that they weren’t willing to do any further testing in the US because it would be against his client’s interest. Indeed. The FDA did nothing. The company did not notice a recall. So forgive me if I have little confidence in relying on the industry-dominated FDA or EPA — or industry or its trade association — to address these issues of the water safety.

One of the cell members, the recently indicted Christopher Paul, even had a remote controlled boat. Mr. Paul said he traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the early 1990s to “fight jihad.” There, he met bin Laden’s former pilot (apparently Wadih al Hage) and became friends with another al-Qaida member responsible for logistics and transporting personnel to and from training camps in Afghanistan (that description fits Nabil al-Marabh).

In February 1999, Paul obtained a new passport under the name Christopher Paul, claiming his was water-damaged. The next month he began talking to co-conspirators in Germany. The indictment alleges that in late Spring 1999, Paul traveled to Germany to teach others how to use explosive devices and to recruit other jihadists to attack al-Qaida targets in Europe and the United States. After KSM told authorities about Iyman Faris, if Paul was fearful after Faris went to jail, he didn’t show it. In November 2005, Paul alleged received a fax containing names, phone numbers and contact information for key al-Qaeda leadership and their associates. Paul has now been indicted and accused of aiding terrorists and conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. He was arrested in Columbus, Ohio in the same apartment Paul had shared with Iyman Faris.

In 2000, Paul researched remote-control boats and helicopters and flight-simulator programs for commercial jets. When federal officials last November searched the house of Paul’s father in a nearby suburb, authorties found a modified remote-control boat, books and manuals about how to make explosives and land mines, and a fanny pack with information about how to find books on booby traps, radio-detonation bombs and guerrilla war techniques.

But to return to the story of the day, who were the other folks in Ohio that defense lawyers were part of the same group?

8/4 -AP “Lawyers: Ohio terror probe could grow,” The Associated Press, 08/04/2007
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6545601

We once were told that the product mailed was a mixture. Let’s compare what we’ve been told by Dr. Read and the equipment that turned up missing at GMU. Catherine Fensalau at the University of Maryland (who earlier had done work for the FBI’s Amerithrax relating to the culture medium) has done some interesting work lately relating to mixture of strains.

Dr. Read, a scientist helping with the Amerithrax investigation in the DNA sequencing, long ago published the news that the anthrax was a 50/50% mixture of genotype 62 (Ames) and genotype 62 with an inversion on the plasmid. This would mean two distinct nucleic acids were detected in the sample. This means that some of the Ames had a segment of DNA that is inverted, or flipped, relative to the remainder of the plasmid. (No properly trained microbiologist would propagate or archive a mixture. Standard microbiological procedure calls for isolation of single colonies - i.e., single, unmixed cells and their clonal, unmixed progeny — at each step.) Inversions are not an uncommon class of mutational events, however. It likely would only be especially probative if it were a rare inversion and if samples were to be present among samples collected from laboratory archives. It is possible that the anthrax used is highly distinctive (pinpointing a single lab) and the authorities just don’t have that sample collected.

Let’s consider some of the equipment that has turned up missing at GMU.

The Assistant Director of Operations Thomas B. Huff advised staff, for example, that a rotary hybridization oven is missing:

(1) Rotissery hybridization oven.

He wrote:

“The rotissery hybridization oven belonging to the Center for Biomedical Genomics is currently misplaced. It is urgently needed for ongoing research.

If you have seen it, please let us know ASAP. It was formerly located
in Discovery Hall Room 320 when it was Luca’s lab, but may have been
moved to 321 at some point.

Any information will be greatly appreciated so the research projects
that rely on this equipment can continue.

thanks for your prompt attention,
Tom

___________________________________________
Thomas B Huff
Assistant Director of Operations
Life Sciences
The Shared Research Instrumentation Facility
George Mason University
10900 University Blvd, MSN 4D7”

This is used for hybridization. The oven is used for hybridization which is a technique used in many processes in molecular biology including PCR.

This equipment can be used to manufacture biological agents AND genetically modified biological agents which can be used as biological weapons.

(2) a miniature agarose gel box and tray

This is needed for gel electrophoresis: a method used in biochemistry and molecular biology to separate DNA, RNA, or protein molecules by size. These molecules vary in size and therefore travel at different distances (b/c of the different sizes).

A. Estimation of the size of DNA molecules following restriction enzyme digestion. But restriction enzyme digestion can be used in the process of creating recombinant DNA which is used for genetic transformation to produce genetically modified organisms. For example, it can be used in the manipulation of E. coli bacteria to produce
human insulin for diabetics.

B. Use in PCR: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a biochemistry and molecular biology technique for exponentially amplifying DNA without using a living organism (i.e. you can make tons of DNA easily including DNA that has been genetically modified). Can be used for cloning a gene, not to be confused with cloning a whole organism.

This is the process of isolating a gene from one organism and then inserting it into another organism (now termed a genetically modified organism (GMO)). PCR is often used to amplify the gene, which can then be inserted into a vector (a vector is a piece of DNA which ‘carries’ the gene into the GMO). The DNA can then be transferred into an organism (the GMO) where the gene and its product can be studied more closely or used as a genetically modified biological weapon.

(3) In late August 2006, someone pointed out missing equipment in Lab 254 Discovery Hall: A miniature agarose gel box and tray. In addition to a 96 well sized mat for the real time PCR machine. The a 96 well sized mat for the real time PCR machine is obviously also for PCR.

(4) two airgas tanks, Oxygen Large (OX200) and Rare/Special Small (NC CP35) (Nitric Oxide). Nitric oxide (NO) should not be confused with nitrous oxide (N2O), a general anaesthetic. Nitric oxide can be used for detecting surface radicals on polymers.

Such airgas tanks are used with lots of pieces of equipment but I?m not really sure which ones specifically. Most tanks are attached to a piece of equipment (i.e. microscopes) but it differs depending on the machine and the content of the tank. You’d have to know which labs they are missing from and what piece of equipment they were needed for to know the significance. The tanks are as tall as a person and HEAVY. They are pressurized tanks and can kill you (i.e. they turn into rockets) if they fall and a part of the nozzle breaks off. This can happen but only if you are really careless and/or don’t use the proper equiptment to move them. The point is that they are movable and steal-able but people will notice you unhooking the tanks and moving them.

Now, returning to the subjects of 2001, when did this equipment first go missing? Years afterward? (Beats me) Or the summer of 2001. Was any of the equipment initially thought missing located? (Beats me) Would it be useful in making the weaponized anthrax? (Beats me)

I don’t presently credit my scientific consultants because — among other reasons — I have such a scant understanding of such things — I may have rendered something totally wrong, especially upon any addition of material. Bill Nye is my guy.

errata -

As for who Ohio resident Christopher Paul knew, Wadi al-Hage was the personal secretary to Bin Laden, not the personal pilot (so there is no indication Christopher Paul knew him) And it was a guy named Khalifa Lnu, not Nabil al-Marabh, that the indictment of Christopher Paul says he knew.

One addition re Ohio: he was also researching (in 2006) a remote controlled 5 foot helicopter (which is moderately interesting given his ownership of a remote controlled boat).

But turning back to Amerithrax, and in the general never-ending effort to ferret out additional mistakes or develop additional insights, these are questions I’m hoping to get answered (or mistakes needing correction).

Is Ayman’s codename Zabadi? (meaning Yogurt) Or is it Zubaidy? (named after the Iraqi inventor of an aerosol spray device).

Where is Mohammed Islambouli, subject of the December 4, 1998 PDB to President Clinton thought to be?

Was there anything on Atef’s computer that WSJ’s Alan Cullison gave the CIA? Or was it wiped clean.

Is Rauf Ahmad a microbiologist or an ecotoxicologist?

Why did the ISI stop cooperating with the CIA in early 2003 over Rauf Ahmad?

Was Al-Timimi a member of the Society for Applied Microbiologists?

What did the anthrax threat letter in January 2001 concerning Mahmoud Mahjoub’s bail hearing say?

Where was it mailed from?

What tweaking of the simulant prepared at a Wisconsin processor done at Dugway?

What is your view of the Gary Matsumoto “Science” article and ensuing debate?

What do you make of the Taliban’s Interest In the anthrax vaccine laboratory prior to 9/11.

What anthrax training did Muklis Yunos receive?

Whose laptop seized from Abdul Qadoos Khan’s home contained anthrax spraydrying documents?

Did those documents pre-date 9/11?

What did Ron Suskind mean when he said that “extremely virulent” (but unweaponized) anthrax was seized after Hambali’s interrogation? Do you credit that report (in “One Percent Solution”)

Do you credit the claim in 2007 upon the capture of Taliban spokesman there were anthrax packets intended for mailing to government officials seized?

When in October 2005 FBI Director Mueller told us in reference to the anthrax mailings to remember 9/11, remember Oklahoma City — what did he mean?

Why would Senators Leahy and Daschle been targeted?

Do you think the FBI profilers knew of the 1998 al Hayat letter bombs to DC and NYC?

Do you think the al Hayat letter bombs are useful in profiling modus operandi?

Have their been letters in the US containing ricin that bear on the Amerithrax analysis?

Do you think any code was used in the anthrax letters? If so, what?

Why was Princeton chose as the location of mailing?

What contaminant or poison did KSM plan to use to poison a reservoir?

Why wouldn’t dilution avoid the threat?

What was the chemical sought to be smuggled in the shipping container owned by Paracha’s company?

Who killed Ibn Khattab?

Did Ali Al-Timimi ever meet with pilots Hani or Nawaf?

Did pilot Nawaf ever meet with Moussaoui?

Did Moussaoui ever come to New Jersey? (on July 4, 2001 weekend)

Did Aafia know Ali Al-Timimi?

Did Marri know Al Al-Timimi?

Who was the Egyptian scientist researching anthrax in water supplies in July 2001 in Canton Ohio public library?

Did that Egyptian know al-Marabh? Was it Jaballah?

Why did they re-arrest Jaballah in August 2001?

Were the hoax letters to Judy Miller and Troxler sent from St. Petersburg related to Amerithrax?

Was the letter sent re Ayaad Assaad at Ft. Detrick (a coptic Christian) related to Amerithrax? (thought to have been sent by the anthrax perp(s)?

How many labs are thought to have had virulent anthrax strain?

With respect to what mathematical work for the Navy at SRA International have a high security clearance?

Is he known to have ever worked on a biodefense project?

Is he known to have ever taken a class from Dr. Alibek? Dr. Bailey? Serge Popov?

Article today on Al-Timimi and IANA -

“Behind the Indoctrination and Training of American Jihadis,” The Jamestown Foundation, August 6, 2007
http://www.jamestown.org/news_details.php?news_id=267

On July 26, [2007] a former Washington, DC cab driver and resident of Gwynn Oak, Maryland was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for providing material support to a terrorist group. Ohio-born Mahmud Faruq Brent, 32, admitted to attending training camps run by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT, Army of the Pure) ..
***
As disturbing as these cases are individually, collectively they demonstrate an even more troubling trend of radicalized American Muslims—bound by Salafi ideology—receiving training overseas and returning to the United States for potential future operations.
***
In addition to his academic pursuits, al-Timimi was an Islamic teacher in the northern Virginia area. Yet, he was also involved with the Islamic Assembly of North America (IANA), a group based in Ann Arbor, Michigan that receives funding from Saudis to promote Salafi Islam in the United States, especially in the prison system (http://www.iananet.org). Naturally, al-Timimi’s scholarly ties, more than anything, reveal his ideological proclivities. Establishing a center for Islamic education, al-Timimi contacted the well-known Egyptian-born Salafi Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Khaliq and translated his works into English. Abd al-Khaliq openly promoted the Salafi Islam prominent in the Gulf, and privately encouraged more militant Salafism among his followers, telling them that “American troops were legitimate targets of the jihad.”

Comment:

Both Al-Timimi and al-Khaliq are known for their work on women in islam.

But more pertinent to analysis is Al-Timimi’s lecture on “The Islamic Ruling on the Peace Process,” based on the writings of Shaykh ‘Abdur-Rahman Abdul-Khaliq.