Investigators: Phone cards link Reid to al Qaeda

CNN ^ | 02.09.02 | Susan Candiotti

[callisto]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- New evidence has emerged linking Richard Reid, who is charged with trying to blow up a U.S. commercial jet by lighting explosives in his shoes, to one of Osama bin Laden's European cells, CNN has learned.

The new link to al Qaeda, the terrorist network run by bin Laden, involves phone cards.

[TomGuy]

Amazing, considering how the "first day" reports, when Reid was apprehended by passengers and flight crew, blabbered that he was a lone wacko with no connections to terrorists and the "incident" was an isolated event.

[VA Advogado]

I always figured phone cards were untraceable. Thank God we have another tool not only in our war on terrorists, but our war on drugs. Snuff 'em all out.

[ez]

Had the shoe had exploded near the fuselage, it could have blown a hole in the aircraft. Reid was sitting in a window seat, a source said.

Who was sitting in the window seat by the right wing on Flight 587?

[blam]

"Who was sitting in the window seat by the right wing on Flight 587?"

One of his buddies?

[Pearls Before Swine]

I always figured phone cards were untraceable

It seems logical that you could figure which account made and paid for calls. What isn't clear is how you trace it to a given person. Probably, Reid had the card on him, or it was discovered in his personal effects somewhere. Then you have the card and its owner. If the card is bought cash and carry, and you toss it in the trash when you're done with it, I think it probably is untraceable.

[ez]

from CNN...

Security firm warned of shoe bomb suspect

Officials: Tests find plastic explosives in shoes

December 26, 2001 Posted: 1450 GMT

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A security firm at the Paris airport told French authorities on two different days that the shoe bomb suspect should be screened further, the president of the firm told CNN Tuesday.

(snip) Government sources said Reid, who identified himself as a convert to Islam, has a British mother and a Jamaican father. New Scotland Yard and French authorities said he is a British citizen.

U.S. law enforcement authorities have found no connection between the man and any terrorist groups, sources said.

[B4Ranch]

Fingerprints on the card would be a lead also.

[VA Advogado]

If the card is bought cash and carry, and you toss it in the trash when you're done with it, I think it probably is untraceable.

I think you're right. As long as the card gets ditched, the call has to be untracable. Knowing these guys though, I'm sure they weren't that bright about it.

[Yaelle]

Also, remember that there was some "comfort" to the masses upon Reid's arrest that he was NOT Arab. Combine that with the recent female Palestinian suicide bomber and you have the next strategy for the air terrorists: avoid the young male Arab profile. If there are any more Johnny (or Jenny!) bin Walkers out there, they will be pressed into service. While everyone is made to remove shoes, the new terrorist will no doubt have the explosives in his/her belt or underwear. We should have explosive-sniffing dogs at every airport checkpoint.

[anymouse]

Ping on Shoebomber Al Queda tie in evidence.

[El Gato]

The other trick is not to use a phone traceable to you when making a phone card call. Probably OK to receive one on your own phone, if the caller does not retain his calling card. In this case the person called had used a card on his own phone, then his possesion of the card tied the phone number to the use of the card. The possession of the card Ried used then tied him to that phone and thus to its owner. If both of them had used pay phones when calling, as Reid apparently did, and then discarded the card afterwards which neither apprantly did, the link could not have been made. A classic example of being penny wise and pound foolish.

[eabinga]

I think the phone cards in question are pre-paid GSM cellular phone cards. They are used to recharge a cell (no pun intended) phone.

[VOA]

Combine that with the recent female Palestinian suicide bomber and you have the next
strategy for the air terrorists: avoid the young male Arab profile.

Paul Harvey reported that there are rumors that what remains of Al-Quida are
headed down that path post-haste.
My amateur guess is that besides trying to recruit females, they'll look for Muslims
of Asian phenotype (Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.) or more European phenotype (from Albania and
former Yugoslavia area).

I'm probably being overly optimistic, but I suspect that with each new operative
that is taken into custody and locked up, the lower the chance they'll get volunteers.
And even fewer once airline passengers/personnel bludgeon one of these
pukes to death in a righteous fit of self-defense.

These peckerwoods won't stop until a few of them not only don't get to hit
their target, but end up meeting Allah and trying to explain how s/he f---ed up
and let the infidels win the engagement.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Ship him to Gitmo and try him with a military tribunal for his attempted sabotage.

[diefree]

I rented an apartment in France a few years ago. There was a telephone there that only worked with a phone card. The card was inserted into the phone and as I talked, the usage was calculated. If I started with 100 mins and talked for 2 mins, the display would show 98 mins left. I could also use the card in a pay phone. The pay phones use the same method, the card has to be inserted into the slot of the phone.

Maybe if the card is used on multiple phones it can be traced since the time is being deducted. So, if someone used it once on a home phone and then travelled with it, the phone company would know every phone it was used on.

[Rubber Duckie]

I'm probably being overly optimistic, but I suspect that with each new operative that is taken into custody and locked up, the lower the chance they'll get volunteers. And even fewer once airline passengers/personnel bludgeon one of these pukes to death in a righteous fit of self-defense.

You are a violent right-wing extremist. I'd settle for merely gouging out their eyes, knocking out their teeth and kicking them full force and repeatly in the croch, then unloading them at the nearest American or American-allied airport for further questioning and processing. </sarcasm>

[gigi]

Exactly! I don't for a minute believe that 587 was caused by mechanical or pilot error. I just don't believe in coincedence like that. This would make more sense. I wonder if we'll ever know.

[Lion's Cub]

Indexing

[eno_]

If you look up the FR threads, the same shills that were saying Reid was a "lone nut" are the same ones saying AA587 blew up spontaneously, and that have drunk deep of the "domestic anthrax" Kool-Aid. At least they are are a consistent and reliable indicator.