Suspect held in plot to bomb U.S., Israeli embassies

U.S. officials are interrogating a suspected al Qaida operative who says he directed a foiled plot to blow up the American embassy in Singapore, NBC Nightly News said on Friday.

The man, Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, was arrested earlier this year in Oman, but is now being held at a military base in the northeastern United States, NBC said.

Jabarah, 20, is cooperating and providing new information about al Qaida's operations, including attack plans drawn up since the Sept. 11 attacks on Washington and New York, the report said.

NBC said Jabarah faces terrorism charges, but has agreed to testify in future trials of suspected al Qaida members.

"At the request of U.S. officials, who cite concerns for Jabarah's safety, NBC News has agreed to withhold the exact military installation where he's being held," the network's correspondent Pete Williams said.

NBC said U.S. and Singapore authorities last December exposed the plot to blow up the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Singapore, as well as the offices of the British and Australian governments and commercial buildings housing American companies there.

Jabarah had ordered the co-plotters to buy 17 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer for truck bombs, the report said. It said he had grown up in Ontario, Canada, and his parents still divide their time between Kuwait and Canada.

U.S. fears Qaida-Hezbollah ties U.S. intelligence agencies have detected low-level al-Qaida members building relationships with members of Hezbollah, sparking worries that the world's two most sophisticated Islamic terror networks will start cooperating, U.S. counter terrorism officials say.

U.S. embassies around the world were put on alert Friday after threats were made to destroy U.S. diplomatic facilities in Islamic nations.

The contacts between al-Qaida and Hezbollah so far are not extensive, and officials say Iranian-backed Hezbollah has plenty of reasons, both ideological and practical, to spurn any formal advances from al-Qaida's leadership.

Instead, U.S. counter terrorism officials say individual al-Qaida members, cut off from the group's leadership by the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan, are turning to what they consider the next best thing - Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon.

Still, the prospect of cooperation at any level has alarmed U.S. officials. The fervor and international sophistication of al-Qaida members, coupled with the resources, organization and state backing of Hezbollah, would constitute a volatile mix, terrorism experts said.

Intelligence indicates that "Al-Qaida (operatives), because they have been disrupted, are looking for places to go for help with various support functions," a senior law enforcement official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Hezbollah has a very extensive support network, not only in the Mideast, but in Europe, and in the United States," the official said.

Hezbollah was formed in 1982 with Iranian backing during Israel's invasion of Lebanon. The group is linked to the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983 that killed 241 Americans, bombings of two U.S. Embassy buildings and kidnappings of more than 50 foreigners.

Most of its recent operations have been directed at Israel, rather than the United States.

There is some evidence suggesting Hezbollah members have shared intelligence on U.S. efforts to track terrorists in certain cities and provided some financial assistance, a law enforcement official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But that conclusion isn't universally accepted throughout the U.S. government - underscoring the difficulty of gathering solid intelligence on the two terrorist groups.

Other U.S. counter terrorism officials say that while they have observed increased contacts and relationship-building between members of the two terror groups, they haven't seen credible evidence of financial or operational collaboration.

FBI counter terrorism agents believe many al-Qaida members are desperate for resources because of U.S. efforts to reduce the funds available to the terrorist organization.

Despite the low-level meetings, U.S. officials are unaware of high-level contacts between al-Qaida's surviving leadership and that of Hezbollah. They have denied news reports that al-Qaida leaders attended a March meeting of Hezbollah officials in Lebanon.

Yet Lebanon has been the site of many of the al-Qaida contacts with Hezbollah that U.S. officials have learned about, one U.S. counter terrorism official said.

Hezbollah also enjoys support from Syria and Lebanon, both of which have aided the U.S. war on al-Qaida, and U.S. officials believe Hezbollah's relationship with both countries could be threatened if it began working extensively with bin Laden's group.

Historically, al-Qaida and Hezbollah functioned separately. Al-Qaida is run by Sunni Muslims and Hezbollah by Shiites.

Ideological differences between these chief two branches of Islam apparently have prevented an alliance thus far, but their mutual hatred of America and Israel may drive them closer, officials fear.

U.S. embassies around the world alerted after anonymous threats U.S. embassies around the world were put on alert Friday after U.S. news organizations received phone calls threatening the destruction of U.S. diplomatic facilities in Islamic nations.

"The State Department learned last night that two news organizations had received anonymous calls concerning a possible threat to some of our embassies in Islamic countries," a department spokesman said. "We have informed our posts abroad of this information."

Although the department described the calls as "anonymous," the Associated Press said it had received a call from someone identifying himself as a spokesman for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

The State Department updated its worldwide caution on July 1, noting the continuing threat of terrorist attacks against U.S. interests. It urged U.S. citizens traveling abroad to be especially vigilant, since increased security at official installations could prompt terrorists to seek easier targets.

Terrorist 'Sammy' held in US

WASHINGTON -- The United States military has in custody a man who law enforcement officials believe directed an Al-Qaeda plot to destroy the American Embassy in Singapore, a senior Bush administration official said.

The suspect is being detained at a secret location in the north-eastern United States, the official said on Friday night, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, a 20-year-old Canadian man, has admitted to directing the Al-Qaeda plot to blow up government buildings in Singapore and making a video of the targets, NBC News reported on Friday night.

The Singapore Government announced in January it had stopped a plot by terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda to blow up Western embassies, US Navy vessels, a shuttle bus carrying American soldiers and the offices of US companies.

One of the ringleaders of the Singapore embassy-bombing plot is a man code-named Sammy, Singaporean authorities have said.

The 20-year-old of Kuwaiti origin had been travelling under a Canadian passport bearing the name Jabarah Mohammed Mansour, according to Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs.

Singapore said it arrested six suspects by the time an incriminating videotape and handwritten notes were found in the rubble of an Al-Qaeda leader's home in Afghanistan.

By the time Singapore received the tape and notes on Dec 28, 13 suspects were in custody. Sammy, however, escaped before the others were captured and was later arrested in Oman, NBC News said.

Government officials say the capture of Sammy is a significant breakthrough in the effort to disrupt future Al-Qaeda plots.

Authorities believe he has detailed information on Al-Qaeda operations in different parts of the world and is aware of operatives on all levels of the terrorist group.

He is not considered a senior member of Al-Qaeda but does have significant operational authority, said the official.

Law enforcement officials say he now faces terrorism charges.

NBC reported that Sammy is cooperating by providing new information about Al-Qaeda's operations, including terrorist plans drawn up since Sept 11.

He has agreed to testify in future trials of suspected Al-Qaeda members, according to NBC. -- AP

9/11 probe panel on deck?

By Kathy Kiely,07/20/02 USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — A surprise House vote Thursday reopened the issue of how to investigate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and raised the possibility that President Bush might be forced to accept an independent commission he has long opposed.

Supporters of a proposal to create an independent panel plan possible Senate action next week following the House of Representatives' unexpected vote to establish a commission. The 218-189 vote (Related link: Roll call vote) put 25 House Republicans at odds with Bush. A number of them come from New York City's bedroom communities, where many families of Sept. 11 victims live.

The vote represented a desire to go beyond the scope of Congress' ongoing investigation. It could set up the biggest clash to date between Congress and the White House over the war on terrorism.

The White House said a commission would be "duplicative and would cause a further diversion of essential personnel from their duties fighting the war."

An independent commission is viewed by proponents as a way to investigate not only the nation's spy agencies but also others, such as the Federal Aviation Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. So far, the only probe of the attacks is being conducted by the House and Senate intelligence committees. On Thursday, lawmakers ended hearings for the summer without holding any in public.

Some victims' relatives fear a whitewash. "Congress can't do this. We need somebody to investigate Congress," said Steve Push, whose wife was on the hijacked jet that crashed into the Pentagon. But Senate Intelligence Committee member Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said Congress "would have the advantage over a commission" because of its power to legislate change.

The measure that the House passed would create a 10-member commission appointed by Congress; two members would be from the victims' families. "The bipartisan passage of this bill is a significant step forward," said its sponsor, Rep. Tim Roemer, D-Ind.

The vote is bound to increase pressure on Bush. His father, the first President Bush, appointed a commission to probe the terror attack that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, after a similar public groundswell. The panel concluded there were weaknesses throughout the aviation security system.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., might seek a Senate vote next week on the commission. But hurdles remain. Said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.: "The bureaucracies don't want to be investigated."

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.