Posted on 06/01/2002 12:36:47 PM PDT by Pokey78
Age: Unknown
Last U.S. address: New York
A martial arts expert from New York, Abu Malik's name surfaced repeatedly in last year's federal trial of those behind the 1998 embassy bombings in East Africa. Witnesses described him as a jihadist who fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan in 1989.
Malik appeared again in 1993 or '94 in Khartoum, Sudan, at Taba Investments, then a nerve center of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, according to court testimony. Little is known about Malik, whose photo is published above for the first time. One trial witness, bin Laden aide Wadih el-Hage, testified that Malik had a wife and children in Cairo.
Investigators believe he is the most important of a handful of native-born Americans associated with al Qaeda during its Sudan days, before bin Laden moved to Afghanistan in 1996. Federal agents are eager to talk with him.
STUDENT
HIRAM TORRES
Age: 27
Last U.S. Address: Perth Amboy, N.J.
An unlikely jihadist, Hiram Torres, a young Puerto Rican from the working class city of Perth Amboy, N. J., was introverted and bright as a teenager. Torres also played chess and displayed an unhealthy fascination with Adolf Hitler. He pored over books on philosophy, read the Bible and the Koran, and fantasized about being a revolutionary.
The 1993 valedictorian at his high school, Torres went on to Yale University but lasted barely a month. Intrigued by Islam, he found his way to Pakistan and, in 1998, called his mother from Afghanistan to say he was "studying" there. It was the last she would hear of him until a reporter called earlier this year; Torres's name, along with his New Jersey address and phone number, had been found on an apparent list of recruits in a safe house run by Harakat ul-Mujahideen, the same al Qaeda-tied militia that was joined by John Walker Lindh.
SOLDIER
ISA ABDULLAH ALI, aka Kevin Holt
Age: 45
Last U.S. address: Washington, D.C.
Born Cleven Raphael Holt, Ali grew up in a housing project in a tough Washington, D.C., neighborhood. After serving with the U.S. Army in Korea, he converted to Islam and joined the Afghan fight against the Soviets. Forced by an injury back to Washington, he soon left for Lebanon, where he worked with the Amal militia and Hezbollah.
At 6 foot 3 and 250 pounds, with a booming voice and bald head, Holt attracted attention and was nearly killed by an assassin in Beirut. He returned to Washington and worked picking up trash at Howard University, but in 1996 U.S. intelligence believed he had joined up with foreign jihadists in Bosnia.
Officials issued warnings about Ali to guards at bases in the region and announced that he was wanted for questioning about "terrorist activities," but no charges were brought against him.
CAR SALESMAN
KHALID ABU AL-DAHAB
Age: 38
Last U.S. address: Santa Clara, Calif.
A former Silicon Valley car salesman, al-Dahab allegedly recruited 10 U.S. citizens into al Qaeda during his 12 years in the Bay Area, according to an account of his statements to an Egyptian military court. Born to a wealthy family in Alexandria, Egypt, al-Dahab became radicalized when his father, a pilot, was shot down after straying into Israeli airspace.
Al-Dahab joined Islamic Jihad, responsible for the 1981 assassination of Anwar Sadat, and came to America in 1986 on a student visa. Over the next decade he took three American wives, one after another, fathered five children, and became a U.S. citizen. At the same time, he allegedly led a double life, traveling to fight in jihad wars in the Balkans and Afghanistan, including a 1990 trip to train Afghan fighters to use hang gliders to free prisoners in Egypt. Arrested in 1998 in Cairo on terrorism charges, he is now serving a 15-year sentence.
BUSINESSMAN
MOHAMED BAYAZID, aka Abu Rida al Suri
Age: 41
Last U.S. address: Kansas City, Mo.
A nuclear bomb for Osama bin Laden was a key goal for Syrian-American Mohamed Bayazid, according to court records. Using his U.S. passport to travel, Bayazid allegedly worked as a manager for bin Laden's Taba Investments in Khartoum, Sudan, during the early 1990s, buying uranium as well as tractors and automatic weapons. His driver's license listed for his home the same address as Benevolence International, an Illinois-based charity whose assets are now frozen.
Bayazid lived in Kansas City until about 1994 and is now variously reported to be dead or living in Sudan or Turkey. His uncle in Kansas City, Adnan Bayazid, believes his role was limited to buying supplies for the Afghan resistance, and he says that Mohamed grew disillusioned with bin Laden. He warns that officials may have the wrong man. "Mohamed is a very popular name," he says.
CAB DRIVER
RAED HIJAZI
Age: 33
Last U.S. address: Boston
His father once called him "a typical American." A former Boston cabdriver, Hijazi now sits in a Jordanian jail, sentenced to death by hanging for his role in plotting terrorist attacks over the millennium holiday.
In a plot tied to Osama bin Laden, the heavyset Hijazi allegedly hoped to murder hundreds of Americans, Israelis, and others by bombing Christian holy sites, border crossings, and the Radisson Hotel in Jordan.
Hijazi was born in San Jose, Calif., the son of a San Francisco-educated Palestinian engineer. Although he grew up mostly in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, his family had a love affair with America and vacationed at Disneyland and in Florida. Hijazi fell in with Islamic radicals while studying business at California State University- Sacramento around 1989. He later left for Afghanistan and allegedly studied bomb making at an al Qaeda camp.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/020610/usnews/10jihad.abu.htm
I am not against profiling because it isn't PC. I am against it because it WON"T WORK. Suppose a black Muslim jihadist sends his grandma onto a plane with a bomb in a package. Suppose a Puerto Rican Muslim is allowed to pass inspection while they are searching an Arab Christian.
There is a reason we aren't profiling, and this is it.
Thank you for the post, Pokey!
Would anybody like to join my cult? If you hurt your back cleaning my garage or weeding my garden you go to paradise garanteed! It is a great honor to wash my socks.
Also I am giving out some Amway Cupons and a free chicken dinner with membership. Luxury accomodations in buried school bus await you.
Sincerely, Dark Lord Peanut
Great news! Not unlike a ray of sunshine...(Smile)
described the third, "Haidar," as a tall, white fellow, about 25, "with a strong build and small golden beard."
He's shaving it as we speak.
Disect the sentence.
"Law enforcement officials stress they see no evidence OF..." WE NOW KNOW THEY ARE INEPT.
"...a tightly organized 'fifth column' among America's diverse Muslim communities." THE ENEMY IS BETTER ORGANIZED THAN LAW ENFORCEMENT.
While chasing after Randy Weaver during the 80s and 90s, the real enemy was at work, under the eyes of "law enforcement."
I guess I still need a gun, after all.
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