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The secret FBI files on the suicide bomber who changed his mind
The Observer | August 5, 2001 | Jason Burke

Posted on 09/17/2001 8:27:51 PM PDT by Wallaby

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1 posted on 09/17/2001 8:27:51 PM PDT by Wallaby
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To: all
On my browser, the spanning in the second paragraph obscures a sentence. It should read: "There are scores of ambulances ferrying the wounded and the dying to the city's hospitals. "
2 posted on 09/17/2001 8:34:15 PM PDT by Wallaby
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To: Wallaby
It's interesting to read about these brainwashed robots. None are described as "poor" which puts to lie the often repeated Muslim defense that these are poor desperate people, and bin Laden is a multi-billionaire so this has nothing to do with poverty and hardship.

Most of them are single men, and in the Islamic culture, the better men get 4 wives leaving these men to never pass on genes or be part of a family, their purpose in the culture is to die young to preserve that culture. They have no other purpose in life.

3 posted on 09/17/2001 9:08:59 PM PDT by FITZ
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To: Wallaby
This was a good read.

He (bin Laden) denied direct involvement, but said he was glad his teachings might have inspired the deaths.

Sounds just like Charles Manson.

4 posted on 09/17/2001 9:13:00 PM PDT by Slyfox
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To: Slyfox, FITZ,BlueDogDemo, livius, independentmind, Uncle Bill, Nita Nupress, rdavis84, thinden
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.

Egyptian accused in embassy blasts served in US special forces
Agence France Presse
December 01, 1998 19:27 GMT

WASHINGTON, Dec 1
An Egyptian accused in the bombing of two US embassies in Africa served with an elite special forces unit during a three-year stint in the US Army, an army spokesman confirmed Monday.


Army spokesman Colonel John Smith confirmed that Mohamed served in the US army from 1986 to 1989, and was assigned to the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg and received airborne training.
Ali Mohamed, a former Egyptian officer, managed to immigrate to the United States in the mid-1980s, enlist in the army and become a US citizen even though he had been put on a State Department "watch list" as a security threat, officials said.

While in the army, Mohamed boasted to fellow soldiers that he had used leave time to fight with Mujahedeen rebels in Afghanistan and later offered military training to Islamic militants in New York, the New York Times reported.

At the same time, he was serving with the US Army's Special Warfare Center in Fort Bragg, where he played the part of an Islamic radical in army training videos and wrangled an interview with a CIA representative, who joked that Mohamed might already be a "spook," the Times said,

It would not have been the first time that Mohamed met with the CIA.

A US government official confirmed that Mohamed first approached the CIA in 1984, volunteering to spy for the agency.

But in 1985 after learning that their recruit had made contact with a Hezbollah group in Germany and told them he was working with the CIA, the agency cut him off and had him put on a watch list as a security risk, the official said.

The CIA issued a second warning about Mohamed when it learned he had managed to obtained a visa.

Despite the watch list, Mohamed turned up in the United States, where he enlisted in the army in August 1986.

Army spokesman Colonel John Smith confirmed that Mohamed served in the US army from 1986 to 1989, and was assigned to the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg and received airborne training.

He said the army was looking into whether supervisors reporters that Mohamed had boasted of fighting with the Afghan Mujahedeen during a 1988 leave had been followed up on.

"We are still trying to see if we have any records of any investigations," he said.

Mohamed did not have a security clearance but his job as an administration specialist did put him in the headquarters of the army's elite "green berets" and ultimately on the staff of its training center, the army said.

"He initially served as supply sergeant for the headquarters company of the John F Kennedy Special Warfare Center," an army statement said.

"Because of his native fluency in Arabic and other language skills, and his familiarity with the Middle East, he was later invited to serve as an assistant instructor on the staff," it said.

"In this capacity he assisted the Middle East seminar director to prepare and instruct classes related to the Middle East's political environment, history, culture, economy, armed forces and religions," it said.

In 1989, his last year in the army, Mohamed was offering military training to militants associated with a Brooklyn, New York refugee center, teaching them survival techniques, map reading and how to recognize Soviet weaponry, the Times said, citing trial testimony.

Prosecutors now contend that the refugee center was the main US base for Al Qaeda, a group led by Osama bin Laden.

"We have no knowledge or record concerning what his associations with persons who may have been terrorists may have been," the army statement said.

He came to the attention of the FBI in 1993 after being detained by Canadian border authorities while accompanying a suspected associate of bin Laden who was trying to enter the US with false documents, the Times said.

Over the next few years, he apparently provided the FBI with some information about bin Laden, who was becoming the focus of an investigation into the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Times said.

But in September, he was arrested on charges of conspiring with Saudi expatriate Osama bin Laden in the bombings the month before of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.


5 posted on 09/17/2001 9:46:31 PM PDT by Wallaby
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To: deport
Really worth reading.
6 posted on 09/17/2001 9:54:48 PM PDT by Slyfox
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To: FITZ
Excellent insight into the mind of these people

I would also have highlighted the following paragraph:

In 1996, when he was 19, a friend returned from fighting in Bosnia and started him thinking about joining a jihad himself.

Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania. Can there be any doubt that the Jihad is being taken to Europe. In a few years we'll hear about the Turks in Germany and the Algerians in France. Welcome to the Jihad Century

7 posted on 09/17/2001 10:08:46 PM PDT by rightisright
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To: Wallaby
It's a shame there is no double jeopardy. Wonder how these NY jurors would vote today?
8 posted on 09/17/2001 10:23:53 PM PDT by Lion's Cub
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To: Slyfox
Excellent read. This could get really ugly. My question, what will the militant groups in the US do if this terrorism continues in the US.
9 posted on 09/17/2001 10:33:13 PM PDT by GoreNoMore
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To: Wallaby
Bump and a bookmark!
10 posted on 09/17/2001 10:48:24 PM PDT by NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
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To: Wallaby
I must read this tomorrow.....
11 posted on 09/17/2001 11:15:58 PM PDT by Feiny
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To: Slyfox
thanks for the bump.... marked for later
12 posted on 09/18/2001 9:04:31 AM PDT by deport
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To: Wallaby, OKCsubmariner, golitely, rdavis84
taken from Wallaby's post above:

"Wadih el Hage, a 40-year-old naturalised American citizen born in the Lebanon and living in Texas, also got life. He was accused of being a key 'facilitator' for both bomb teams.

1. which town in texas did el Hage reside in? surely not San Antonio? Dallas maybe?

would being a key "facilitator" inclulde financing/money raising/support functions for the texas cell?

13 posted on 09/18/2001 10:53:29 AM PDT by thinden
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To: thinden
Arlington.
14 posted on 09/18/2001 11:04:00 AM PDT by writmeister
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To: Wallaby, rdavis84, golitely,
the jason burke piece from the observer was excellent insight into the mind of a suicidal fanatic.
15 posted on 09/18/2001 11:23:51 AM PDT by thinden
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To: writmeister
arlington, hmmm. thanx.
16 posted on 09/18/2001 11:25:42 AM PDT by thinden
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To: Wallaby, thinden, aristeides, Plummz
Super postings, Wallaby. They were well worth my time to read and digest.

thinden, I noticed that Texas connection too. Have you read about the individual who refuses to be interrogated by the FBI? - he lives in Maryland (Laurel?) and moved there from Texas just last year.

17 posted on 09/18/2001 12:07:11 PM PDT by Fred Mertz
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To: Wallaby
Bump. Excellent read.
18 posted on 09/18/2001 3:33:16 PM PDT by PA Engineer
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To: Wallaby
On 22 February 1998 a new fatwa was issued in the name of the 'World Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders'. It was signed by bin Laden and the heads of major Islamic movements in Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

So much for the myth of Islam considering Jews and Christians as "People of the Book" and not as infidels to be destroyed. Oh, wait, I get it! Islam believes that, it's just all those people who consider themselves Muslim who don't. Well, that's a relief. If Islam really teaches the opposite of what they say they'll do and what they try to do and actually do do, then we don't have anything to worry about. That some people actually believe this just boggles the mind. Who cares whether "true" Islam teaches this or that? That's irrelevant when there are lots of people trying to kill you for what they think is true Islam. Those folks aren't going to care what you say about the 'true meaning' of their religion, because they've already decided that its true meaning is that you should die. The only thing that counts is to find a way to stop them. And it's not going to be through a rap session on comparative religions.
19 posted on 09/18/2001 3:51:21 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: Fred Mertz, OKCsubmariner, Wallaby, golitely
couple more "finance cells" found outside texas. heard on Fox news there's one in california
20 posted on 09/18/2001 4:32:16 PM PDT by thinden
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