Posted on 09/25/2001 8:33:28 AM PDT by dead
The hijackers had no use for money where they were going.
In the days leading up to the suicide attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, at least six of the 19 hijackers wired thousands of dollars from the United States to bank accounts in the Middle East.
Many of the accounts lead back to one man - Mustafa Ahmed - an elusive character who is emerging as a crucial link between the Saudi exile Osama bin Laden and the perpetrators of the worst act of terrorism on American soil. FBI investigators believe Ahmed was the banker who helped distribute the finances for the operation, which is now believed to have cost $US200,000 ($406,000).
The suspected hijackers' ringleader, Egyptian Mohamed Atta, wired $US10,000 to two Middle Eastern accounts a few days before the attacks. More money was funnelled back by Nabil al Marabh, regarded as a key link in a Boston cell loyal to bin Laden which appears to have figured prominently in arranging accommodation and transport in the final days before the attack.
FBI agents picked up al Marabh in Chicago last week and interrogated him for four days before he was flown to New York, where he is being held without charge. He is one of 350 people detained in the largest investigation in US history. Most are being held on immigration breaches while investigators seek any links to the hijackers. Many more have been questioned and released, in cases of mistaken identity.
Two men faced court on Monday charged with helping several of the hijackers obtain false identity cards last month in the State of Virginia. They were the first to face a judge on counts associated with the attacks.
Herbert Villalobos and another man, whose identity is being protected by the court, signed false declarations for the hijackers to obtain ID cards they later used to gain drivers' licences, credit cards and to buy airline tickets. Prosecutors have made no more sinister link between the pair and the hijackers other than to suggest the terrorists became customers in a long-running identity scam.
The US Attorney-General, Mr John Ashcroft, said in testimony before a congressional committee on Monday that the FBI wanted to question about 400 more people. He said the investigation so far had yielded 324 searches, 103 court orders and 3,410 subpoenas.
The FBI and CIA have identified up to 1,000 people living in the US who have terrorist links, though not all can be connected with bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation.
Pursuing the money trail is now a priority. It appears to lead from the hijackers back to the shady realm of bin Laden's bankers in the Middle East.
Most of the money was probably left over from the cost of flight lessons, accommodation, hire cars and airline tickets. It is likely that the rest - running into tens of thousands of dollars - was the proceeds of legitimate business dealings conducted by al-Qaeda operatives, or "sleepers".
These people have been in the US for years, living normal existences in suburbia. Few have been called on to help in any terrorist activity. Their purpose appears to be helping to fund the organisation by redirecting profits into the Middle Eastern accounts.
The two key players in these transactions appear to be Ahmed, the al-Qaeda banker, and al Marabh. CIA intelligence has established that Ahmed is operating out of the United Arab Emirates. He had at least one known contact in the past year with Mohamed Atta, who has emerged as the central figure among the hijackers.
Atta's family in Cairo continues to proclaim his innocence. And Egyptian newspapers report that he was kidnapped and killed by agents from the Israeli intelligence organisation, Mossad, and that his identity was assumed by the real terrorist ringleader.
However, Atta was indisputably caught on airport cameras in Portland, Maine, boarding a flight to Boston to connect with one of the hijacked planes.
He has also been identified by key witnesses in the investigation, including flight school operators in Florida, a honky-tonk bar operator in Florida, where Atta and another hijacker spent their last night, a motel operator who remembers him booking a room for himself and several others two nights before the attacks, and a man who reported having an argument with him over a parking spot in Portland airport before Atta flew to Boston.
Newsweek reports this week that one of the two bags Atta booked onto the hijacked jet he is now suspected of piloting into the World Trade Centre did not make it on to the flight. Inside it, investigators found a final prayer written by Atta that read in part: "Be prepared to meet your God. Be ready for this moment."
Agents have uncovered several common threads as they continue to build the profiles of the 19 suicide hijackers. Up to a dozen of them were young Saudis from poor regions who had dedicated their lives to fighting for Islamic causes.
Many of their families have spoken to Saudi newspapers, saying the men had become increasingly radical in their religious adherence in recent years.
Six of them left their homes in the past two years, telling their families they intended to fight with Muslim rebels in Chechnya.
Instead, all followed circuitous routes to the US where they entered flight courses organised by Atta. Several of the flight school operators said the men were not very good at landings or take-offs - ultimately skills they didn't need.
"....These people have been in the US for years, living normal existences in suburbia..
Aid and comfort everywhere a body looks these days....
"....These people have been in the US for years, living normal existences in suburbia..
Aid and comfort everywhere a body looks these days....
We will NEVER eliminate the terrorist threat. We can only minimize it. Kicking jorge, the guy cleaning the toilets at the diner, out of the country does nothing to stop the activities of potential terrorists. Bush is doing what needs to be done, namely setting the stage for the complete destabilization of the Middle Eastern region. Once destablized, the US can support those entities they wish to have in power and make sure democracy takes hold. At that time, these terrorists will have to be concerned with their own land, not our land. IMO...as always...
Kicking jorge, the guy cleaning the toilets at the diner, out of the country does nothing to stop the activities of potential terrorists.
But it makes the guys who always wanted to kick Jorge happy. Opportunists abound in time of war.
He has also been identified by key witnesses in the investigation, including flight school operators in Florida, a honky-tonk bar operator in Florida, where Atta and another hijacker spent their last night,...
Did he fly from Florida, up to Portland and then to Boston, all on 9/11?
Or has this reporter made a mistake?
I heard that there were some Al Qaeda people in the Florida bar the night before, but I never heard that Atta was one of them.
And from this day forward, things will change.
Americans have typically assumed the best in people.
Now, in a pendulum swing, they assume the worst of certain people.
On balance, I hope Americans maintain a hard edge toward the worst people that will even be a ruthlessness.
Does that total include the FALN terrorists that Clinton pardoned to give Hillary! a boost with the Puerto Rican voters in NYC?
Listen, I support stemming the tide of illegal aliens into the country but I do NOT support the mass deportation of illegals nor do I support shutting down our borders.
The far majority of People come to America for opportunity. A $15K job here means the chance at living somewhere beyond the garbage dump they left. I cannot fault these people for doing what it takes to support their family and strive for success. Do I wish they would have come into the country legally? Sure. We all do.
The easier answer is "shut down the borders, deport any illegals and big a huge wall around our country." Whether or not it is the RIGHT answer is the debate.
The affidavit by FBI special agent Brian Weidner said that Villalobos, using the alias Oscar Diaz, signed papers certifying that Abdul Aziz Al Omari, one of the hijacker suspects, lived in Virginia.
A second man, ``a Hispanic male'' who is a confidential witness, signed both a residency certification and an identify affidavit that was used by another suspected hijacker, Ahmed Saleh Al Ghamdi, to obtain a driver's license, the affidavit said.
It said the unidentified man was standing in a parking lot near the Arlington, Va., Department of Motor Vehicles office along with several Hispanic men, including Villalobos, when three Arab men approached him in a van and asked for help in getting Virginia identification cards.
Villalobos and his acquaintances then drove together to an attorney's office nearby with the Arabs following. The papers, which can be used as identification for getting a driver's license, require an attorney's signature.
Clearly a gang of Hispanics helping illegals gain driver licenses. Whether the gang consists of illegals or legals is not reported, but that is most probable and even if they are legal they are clearly there to serve the illegals. To put it another way, the terrorists are blending in and get undetected due to the millions of illegals present in the US.
Who they? The same illegals? America doesn't provide a mechanism to immigrate for any third-worlder, just because they want to make more money.
The easier answer is "shut down the borders, deport any illegals and big a huge wall around our country." Whether or not it is the RIGHT answer is the debate.
It's not the easy answer, that's what the law says and that's the right answer. The easy answer is to ignore the law and not pay attention to an invasion of third-worlders who don't give a damn what you think whether they are welcome here.
OKCsub, weren't a couple of the ME apprehended after murrah named ahmed, as well? is this the same guy?
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