Posted on 09/12/2001 7:37:34 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Authorities in Massachusetts have identified five Arab men as suspects in Tuesday's attack on New York City and have seized a rental car containing Arabic-language flight training manuals at Logan International Airport, a source told the Boston Herald newspaper.
Two of the men were brothers whose passports were traced to the United Arab Emirates, the unidentified source told the Herald. One of the men was a trained pilot, the paper reported on its Web site on Wednesday.
The paper said investigators suspect the two brothers were aboard hijacked United Airlines flight 175, which pilot union officials said was one of the aircraft that crashed into the World Trade Center.
Flight UA 175 left from Boston en route to Los Angeles with 56 passengers on board. American Airlines flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles crashed into the other World Trade Center tower. Another aircraft hit the Pentagon (news - web sites) and a fourth aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania.
At least two other suspects flew to Logan on Tuesday from Portland, Maine, where authorities believe they had traveled after crossing over from Canada recently, the Herald reported.
Authorities were informed about the rental car by a civilian who got into a fight with several Arab men as they were parking their car, the paper reported.
It would be interesting to know what the fight was about.
Several men fighting one?? This pretty much sums up the kind of cowards these so called "men" are.
By Denise Lavoie, Associated Press, 09/11/01
BOSTON -- Investigators are interviewing drivers from a Boston cab company, where two known associates of Osama bin Laden once worked, to see if they had ties to baggage handlers who may have helped carry out the terrorist plot in New York, a former FBI supervisor said Wednesday.
Authorities are trying to determine how hijackers got aboard two jets at Logan International Airport and crashed them into the World Trade Center on Tuesday.
The FBI plans to question drivers at Boston Cab Co. and possibly other local cab companies to determine whether they had any connection to baggage handlers at the airport, Robert Fitzpatrick, former second-in-command in Boston, said he was told by law enforcement sources.
The FBI refused Wednesday to confirm aspects of the investigation.
Last year, the FBI investigated the Boston activities of two taxi drivers who worked for Boston Cab, Bassam A. Kanj, a Lebanese native, and Raed M. Hijazi, a Palestinian. The men were tied to separate military and terrorist plots allegedly financed by bin Laden.
Both men lived for years in Boston and its suburbs, Fitzpatrick said.
Kanj, 35, was killed in northern Lebanon last year in an attack against the Lebanese army. Hijazi has been jailed in Jordan on charges that he planned to blow up a hotel filled with Americans and Israelis on New Year's Day 2000.
In February, FBI officials told The Boston Globe they were trying to determine if Kanj and Hijazi were involved in any activities on bin Laden's behalf in Boston.
The officials said it was possible neither was involved in a terrorist cell, but were living here to raise money for their families while awaiting orders from bin Laden's organization.
"They are going to look at the cab drivers again -- since they are predominantly Middle Eastern -- and they are going to look at a possible link between them and the baggage handlers," Fitzpatrick said.
"They could thwart the security by having a baggage handler put the material aboard the plane. That link is being investigated," he said.
Fitzpatrick said a law enforcement source also told him authorities have found uniforms and identification badges worn by baggage handlers that they believe may have allowed the hijackers to get past security at the airport.
Authorities also found six plastic bags in a car seized in the airport's parking garage, Fitzpatrick said. The bags contained items that included Arabic-language terrorist training manuals.
The Boston Globe reported that authorities found two bags that contained an instructional video on flying commercial airliners, a fuel consumption calculator and a copy of the Koran in two bags that did not make it onto American Airlines Flight 11, which left Boston at 7:59 a.m. Tuesday and plowed into on of the World Trade Center towers about an hour later.
A source told the Boston Herald that five Arab men had been identified as suspects, including one who was a trained pilot. Two of the men were brothers with passports traced to the United Arab Emirates.
At least two suspects flew to Logan on Tuesday from Portland, Maine, Gov. Angus King said Wednesday.
Bin Laden has long-standing family ties to Boston. Several of his relatives have lived in the area during the past decade.
A relative, Mohammaed M. bin Laden, owns six condominiums in the Flagship Wharf condominium complex in Charlestown. One of his brothers, Sheik Bakr Mohammed bin Laden, established scholarship funds at Harvard Law School and School of Design.
Harvard officials said they were satisfied Osama bin Laden had no connection with the programs, and that the family members who took part were estranged from him.
Very important connection here. The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are the only countries who officially recognize the Taliban in Afghanistan. Is there any more of a connection needed to raise Afghanistan into a smoldering ember along with bin Laden?
Unfortunately this is the price to be paid. No longer can Western countries, but principally the U.S. be satisfied with half-measures. If a people will not rise up and destroy this evil then they are no better than the evil over them. This was the principle which drove the saturation bombing of Dresden, Berlin, etc. and the dropping of two nuclear devices over the heads of the Japanese. Brutality is what modern day Islam understands. Moreover, when war is declared you don't send in a few troops. You either play the game or get off the pot. This attack on the U.S. sovereign territory is a wake-up call to Americans that they cannot on the one hand condemn Israel for attacking terrorism and on the other hand blithely mouth platitudes about peace and negotiation. This is what negotiation (Oslo for example) has done in the face of the Jihad.
Strange choice of words. Were the two bags checked in but not loaded (why?), or were they part of the six found in the car?
Doesn't this strike anybody as just a teeny bit too obvious? A "plant", that was intended to be found?
They obviously didn't think they'd be needing the manuals again.
No need to apologize to anyone. Bin Laden is getting his cash from the Saudis. He has never been disinherited. That is a lie. The Saudi government supports the Taliban and Bin Laden is being shielded by these idiots. The connection is obvious. I too am sickened over the defence of these Islamic goofballs. But it was them or Soddomite. The lesser of two evils I guess.
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