This is exerpt from Osama tape translation Here
"This is America, God has sent one of the attacks by God and has attacked one of its best buildings. And this is America filled with fear from the north, south, east and west, thank God."
...........and they call Islam one of the GREAT religions of the world and place it on the same level as Christianity and Judaism..........................
.............f&*^%@= dogs.............
The conversations were between Abdulsalam Abdulrahman, the sheik, who had traveled to Italy, and Abdelkader Mahmoud Es Sayed, who fled from Italy two months before the attacks and is considered by the United States to be the organizer of al-Qaida's cell, bin Laden's network, in Milan.Es Sayed, an Egyptian national, was convicted of the 1997 massacre at Luxor in which 58 foreign tourists were killed.
If es Sayed was convicted of a massacre of 58 (or more) people, why was he loose and being bugged?
November 30, 2001
Italian police raid Islamic centers, arrest two accused of recruiting for al-Qaida
By PIERO VALSECCHI
Associated Press Writer
MILAN, Italy — Police raided mosques and Islamic centers in northern Italy on Thursday, arresting two people accused of recruiting fighters for Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.
As part of its crackdown on suspected Islamic militants, authorities intercepted cryptic phone conversations between members of a Milan cell and bin Laden operatives in Afghanistan, according to Bruno Megale, a deputy chief with Italy’s anti-terrorism unit.
The two men arrested were identified as Nabil Benattia, a 35-year-old Tunisian, and Yassine Chekkouri, 35, of Morocco. Their arrests come two weeks after police picked up Abdelhalim Hafed Remadna, 35, of Algeria, as he boarded a train in Milan on Nov. 14. He had phony Italian residency papers and was trying to leave the country.
The three men and an Egyptian fugitive named Abdelkadir Es-Sayed are suspected of membership in a Milan cell and of plotting to produce false documents and recruit fighters to train in bin Laden’s Afghan camps.
Es-Sayed was identified as a former preacher at another Milan mosque who was sentenced in Egypt for terrorist activities, Megale said. Prosecutors described him as a key member of the Islamic cell in Italy, with links to Islamic extremists in several countries.
Wiretaps of telephone conversations between the cell and al-Qaida operatives revealed codes that bin Laden officials used to indicate they were ready for new recruits.
“We are opening new gymnasiums. We need instructors and materials,” Megale quoted one of the officials as saying in an intercepted conversation.
Both Remadna and Chekkouri worked at Milan’s Cultural Center and mosque, a converted garage that the U.S. government has described as “the main al-Qaida station house in Europe.”
Italian investigators have been watching the center for months and have arrested at least one worshipper there but the arrests of Remadna, who was a secretary at the center, and Chekkouri, the center’s librarian, were the first of anyone directly working for the center.
In overnight raids, police seized documents from the Islamic center, another Milan mosque and Islamic centers in the Italian cities of Pavia, Vercelli, Venice, Aosta and Bergamo, Megale said.
At Remadna’s offices, police seized a false Yemeni passport, a false Italian driver’s license and faxes of a map detailing a route to Afghanistan through Iranian territory, Megale told a press conference.
Lawyers for Remadna and Chekkouri said their clients hadn’t been charged with terrorism and that the wiretaps provided no evidence of terror involvement.
The Islamic center’s president, Abdel Hamid Shaari, defended his mosque and said he had cooperated fully with the overnight searches.
“We are not giving any cover to anybody,” he told reporters. “If they are guilty, they will have to pay for it.”
Separately Thursday, a Tunisian preacher who ran a mosque in the Italian city of Bologna was convicted in Tunisia on Thursday and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Mohamed Saidani, 35, was extradited this summer from Italy on charges of “belonging to a terrorist organization.” But a military court sentenced him for two separate offenses, according to his lawyer, Samir Ben Amor, who did not provide further details.
Saidani had previously been convicted in absentia to a total of 56 years in jail for three offenses, including having ties to an Islamic extremist group called Ennahdah, banned by Tunisian authorities in 1992.
Italian authorities have said that several cities there serve as centers for Islamic extremism.
The latest arrests were part of a probe that includes the April arrest of Essid Sami Ben Khemais, a Tunisian whom European officials now believe was sent from Afghanistan to supervise bin Laden’s terrorist operations in Europe.
He and five others arrested in Italy and Germany are accused of plotting a foiled attack against the U.S. Embassy in Rome and Spanish authorities say Ben Khemais met with Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta earlier this year in Spain.
© 2000, 2001 The Bryan/College Station Eagle
This expresses their intention clearly. It's a crime Bush did not connect the dots!
The tapes were made from bugging places where the two men were,
If the guy was convicted, why wasn't he arrested and picked up??
Mosques raided
11/29/2001
Associated Press
MILAN, Italy — Authorities raided several Islamic centers overnight in northern Italy and arrested two people accused of recruiting fighters for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, police said Thursday.
Police said a third man already detained in Milan, Abdelhalim Hafed Remadna of Algeria, had spoken directly with top bin Laden operatives in Afghanistan by satellite phone about sending new recruits to al-Qaeda camps.
Remadna and Yassine Chekkouri of Morocco, arrested early Thursday, both worked at Milan's Islamic Cultural Center and mosque, which U.S. officials say served as the base of bin Laden's operations in Europe.
Police raided the center along with another Milan mosque and several Islamic centers in northern Italy, said Bruno Megale, a deputy chief of Italy's anti-terrorism police.
In recent months, police have arrested a dozen people in and around Milan as part of the investigation, but Remadna and Chekkouri were the first directly affiliated with the center to have been detained.
In Remadna's office at the center, police seized a false Yemeni passport, a false Italian driver's license and faxes of a map showing how to cross into Afghanistan from Iran, Megale told a news conference.
The faxes, as well as wiretaps of telephone conversations between Remadna and bin Laden operatives in Afghanistan, showed that new recruits were advised in recent months to enter Afghanistan from Iran because it was easier than crossing from Pakistan, he said.
The wiretaps also revealed codes bin Laden's operatives used to indicate they needed new fighters, saying they were opening a new "gymnasium" and needed new gym instructors, Megale said.
Police initially said Remadna and the two other men arrested, as well as an Egyptian who remained at large, were suspected of criminal association aimed at possessing explosives and dangerous chemicals and producing false documents.
But at the news conference, Megale said the key charges were criminal association, producing false documents, arranging clandestine immigration and recruiting combatants to fight in Afghanistan. He was vague when pressed for details on the chemical charge.
Megale said an Italian chemist who converted to Islam had been questioned as part of the investigation and had his home searched but had not been charged.
Remadna was arrested Nov. 14 while boarding a train with allegedly false Italian residency documents, and police said he had intended to leave the country. He had been a secretary at the Milan center, a converted garage that the U.S. government recently described as "the main al-Qaeda station house in Europe."
Chekkouri was a librarian at the center and was arrested during the overnight raid. The other detainee, Nabil Benattia of Tunisia, was arrested Wednesday, Megele said. The Egyptian suspected of being a key bin Laden operative, Abdelkadir Es Sayed, 39, remained at large, police said.
The Islamic center's president, Abdel Hamid Shaari, said it "intends to defend its honor and its legal status. After all, it wasn't the center that was searched, but only the offices and workplaces of certain people who work at the center."
The arrests were part of a probe that led to the April arrest of Essid Sami Ben Khemais, a Tunisian who police in Europe now believe was sent from Afghanistan to supervise bin Laden's terrorist operations in Europe.
Spanish investigators say Ben Khemais may have met in Spain earlier this year with Mohamed Atta, one of the hijackers who attacked the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, and with members of an Algerian group in Spanish custody.
Profiles In Courage........Profiling Encouraged.