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THE TWILIGHT ZONE OF THINGS AND STUFF:

September, 1996
IT ONLY GETS WEIRDER

A radio program broadcast Saturday nights called "American Crime Line" focuses on being pro-police. In addition to police chiefs and authors, host and former Chicago cop Ed Nowicki had an interesting guest on his show this January. According to _Law Enforcement Technology_ magazine, his guest Massad Ayoob, director of the alarmingly named Lethal Force Institute, talked about firearms and self-defense.

The phone number given for America's Crime Line -- in Oregon's own 541 area code-- is 664-8827.

http://www.attacksonsikhs.com/news.cfm?mode=view&ID=1241

Sept.2001
At a press conference Tuesday, County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles A. Moose and several religious leaders gathered in front of the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring to display support for religious and racial tolerance.

March, 2002
3. Interfaith organizations are crucial in enhancing mutual understanding. After the 911 tragic incidents many innocent Muslims and their houses of worship (mosques) became the targets of attacks and harassment in U.S.A. Montgomery County, Maryland, experienced the least of such incidents, largely due to the higher level of interactions between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities. The County Executive Douglas Duncan, and the County Policy Chief, Charles Moose, who had been the regular guests and visitors at the local Muslim Community Center were among most effective and supportive of people in protecting their Muslim neighbors.

October, 2002
The Post article ends on a chilling note that does suggest some sort of group:

"Our belief is that there are people out there, certainly more than one, who know about the shootings," [Lucille Baur, a police spokeswoman,] said. "We have pieces of a puzzle, and the more pieces we have, the better."

And there's also mention of ideological motivation:

As for whether the attacks could be the work of a terrorist group, [Montgomery Police Chief Charles A. Moose] reiterated: "We are not closing any avenues. We are a large suburban community adjacent to the nation's capital. We understand what that may mean to people that may be looking to make a point."

If this atrocity is related, at least, to an ideological group and was meant to make a statement, I'd say that the white supremacist angle isn't the most logical inference. If the minority under attack is Hispanics (or Asians, for that matter), then immigration and employment are the likely points of contention. Shopping at a craft store, filling up at a gas station, and mowing the lawn are not activities that seem to speak to those issues.

If there is at least the logic of a "statement" behind the attacks, they seem practically hand-picked to bring to mind images of quotidian life — humdrum, everyday, American life. That suggests to me terrorism as a goal and an attack on the American way (sort of like nuking the Super Bowl), not an attack on those things that, to a supremacist, are corroding "the real America."

Of course, such groups are, by definition, demented, so it could be an attack on the Democrats' "soccer moms," for all we know at this point. After all, blood streaked across a minivan is an image that is likely to reach deep into the American heart and mind. I'm merely suggesting that, in the field of likelihood, better guesses can be made as to what that image is meant to represent.

(links via Instapundit, who has been doing a marvelous job of gathering all of the various information and analysis, and Unqualified Offerings, who led me to this specific article.)

ADDENDUM:
Tom Scott brings up a great point in the comments section about al Fuqra, a black Muslim group in Virginia (he gives a link). That group had slipped my mind, and I haven't heard them mentioned in quite some time, let alone in this case.

News We Should Lose
Due to Circumstances Within Our Control, We're Encouraging the Sniper

We don't know much about the sniper who has killed eight people and wounded two others since Oct. 2. But we do know this: If we can't yet solve the crime, we sure should try to avoid making the situation worse. My fear is that we may now be facing a more determined killer, unintentionally emboldened by police, politicians, the media and others whose motives are much better than their judgment. For instance, the sniper's ninth attack occurred at a school; by announcing that our children were being kept safe in locked-down schools, did we provoke him to do it?

But this is not about hindsight or blame. It's about the balance between responsiveness and responsibility, and the prudent vetting of the visual and verbal messages that, for a killer, may carry potent rewards.

http://www.cairolive.com/globe/
Media in charge?
"I have not received any message that the citizens of Montgomery County want Channel 9 or The Washington Post or any other media outlet to solve this case. If they do, then let me know. We will go on to do other police work and we will turn this case over to the media and you can solve it."

That was the way Montgomery County Police chief Charles Moose went ballistic against the media who are covering the sniper case in the suburbs of Washington DC.

The story of an unknown assailant, calmly picking off victims in public places, is already nightmarish -- and the media's coverage has definitely helped stoke its anxiety-inducing potential. That's basically what the Chief was upset about -- the media always trying to make things bigger than they actually are, or not keeping their mouths shut about new evidence.

The Washington Post -- one of the main targets of the chief's rant -- plays off the top cop's outburst, couching it in a generally positive profile of his career...

But perhaps his comments quoted above are worth examining in a different way. As a metaphor, maybe, for how the media covers a lot of things -- with an authority they don't really have.

Like when covering war, for instance. Instead of the "retired police chiefs out there looking for other jobs, taking advantage of this situation to get their face on television" that Montgomery Country Police Chief Moose railed against, you have the retired generals, and all the sudden terrorism experts who talk and tactic all the time on TV -- like they're all on the case, qualified or not

IMPORTANT!!!
The six indicted were knit into Portland's fabric

10/05/02

%%byline%%By JULIE SULLIVAN

Terror suspect Patrice Lumumba Ford was a standout by any standard.
(MOOSE WORKED WITH HIM OVER HIS YEARS IN PORTLAND.)

A 1989 Lincoln High School graduate, Ford's pursuit and command of Mandarin Chinese carried him to work for the Portland mayor's office and into one of the most prestigious language programs in the world.

Now, the son of a former Black Panther from Portland is charged with conspiring with five others to move money and arms through China and other Asian locations to fight the United States.

Ford, 31, was arrested Friday in Portland. So were Jeffrey Leon Battle, 32, and his ex-wife, October Martinique Lewis, 25. Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, 24, was taken into custody in Dearborn, Mich.

His brother, Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal, 22, remained at large, as did Habis Abdulla al Saoub, 36.

Officials said all are linked to a suspected terrorist cell in Portland.

Before his arrest Friday, Ford was best known for his quiet helpfulness and his success as one of few African Americans specializing in Chinese studies.

After graduating from Portland State University in East Asian studies four years ago, he went on to complete a year-long program at the highly competitive and prestigious Johns Hopkins Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies in China.

Calls to the Ford family, including to his father, Kent Ford, 59, were not returned Friday.

But those who knew him in Portland schools and in the Muslim community were stunned.

"I am dumbfounded," said Linda Walton of the Institute for Asian Studies at Portland State. "I consider him a real role model."

Ford graduated from Lincoln under the name Patrick L. Ford, according to student records from Portland Public Schools. District spokesman Lew Frederick -- a former television reporter who covered news stories involving Black Panther Kent Ford decades ago -- described the son as exceptionally bright.

The younger Ford made a strong impression on many adults he encountered, said Frederick, who had not talked to either Ford in five years.

"I was very disturbed by it, shocked," Frederick said of the arrests.

City officials said Patrice Lumumba Ford was an international relations intern in the office of Portland Mayor Vera Katz for three months in 1998 and in September 1999, leaving of his own accord both times.

In 2001, he sent messages to multiple members of the mayor's staff that they interpreted as threatening enough to forward to the police in August of that year.

Sam Adams, Katz's chief of staff, said the FBI asked the office not to disclose details. Andrew Haruyama, the mayor's international relations director during Ford's internships, also declined to comment.

Nevertheless, City Hall sources said Ford was quiet and well-liked during his brief tenures at the office, where he was one of about 20 interns.

Katz said Friday that Ford was not a particularly memorable guy.

"He was quiet, very professional," she said.

Ford completed his Johns Hopkins work in 1999, according to the university's international studies program, and contracted to teach physical education at the Islamic School of The Muslim Educational Trust in Tigard in the 2000-2001 school year.

The school hired him because he had taught Chinese martial arts at various mosques in the Portland area, according to Wajdi Said, executive director of The Muslim Educational Trust.

Ford also operated a private shuttle service and was known in the community for his volunteer work resettling Muslim refugees.

The landlords at the Southwest Portland building where Ford was arrested Friday said he and his wife have lived there since April 2000 with a small child, and that the couple seemed kind. Karen Smith, the building's owner, said Ford was "very fussy" about who went into the apartment.

"Even for repairs, they had trouble getting in," she said.

Jeffrey Leon Battle:
Battle's early background is still obscure, but October Lewis, his now ex-wife, was born Oct. 31, 1976, in Vallejo, Calif.
*JEFFREY BATTLE WAS THE PERSONAL BODYGUARD FOR QUANELL X OF THE NEW BLACK PANTHERS AT THE TIME HE LEFT THE NATION OF ISLAM BECAUSE HE FEARED FOR HIS LIFE. THERE WAS POWER STRUGGLE BETWEEN CALYPSO LOUIE AND QUANELL AS HE WAS TRYING TO BECOME THE MAIN SPOKESMAN FOR TNBP AND USURP THE NATION OF ISLAM'S POWER AS THE ONLY SPOKESMEN FOR BLACK MUSLIMS IN THE US.

Lewis' mother, Vivian Lewis, said the two met in Texas, and records indicate they had lived in Houston. They moved to Portland no later than the summer of 1998 and were married in Portland on Sept. 17, 1999.

Battle found work in Portland as a part-time security guard in 1998 and later formed his own company.

Scott Tighe, director of certifications and standards at the Oregon Department of Police Standards and Training, said his agency issued Battle a license August 11, 1998, to work as an unarmed security guard.

Battle had gone to work the day before for First Response, a Portland and Seattle firm with about 180 employees. David Foglio, the company president, said Battle quit about four months later.

Battle's file with the state regulator shows that he completed a required eight hours of basic training, mostly classroom work, and four hours of field-testing and assessment by a certified trainer when he went to work for First Response.

"He was a part-time person, and he left on good terms but nobody really remembers him," according to Foglio, who said Battle had passed a criminal background check and drug test.

On Sept. 7, 2000, he filed articles of incorporation for a private security company, As-Sabiqun Vanguard Security Corp., with the Oregon secretary of state. As-Sabiqun is an Arabic term that translates roughly as "people who strive for excellence in religious matters."

What As-Sabiqun did -- if it did anything -- is unclear. But it existed for a year. On Sept. 14, 2001, the Corporation Division notified Battle that he hadn't filed the required annual report for As-Sabiqun. Two months later the Division dissolved the company involuntarily, a routine step after a failure to file.

Five months after Lewis and Battle were married, they filed for divorce. Their court papers, filed in February 2000, described their petition as a "matter of urgency."
(THIS IS ALSO TELLING.)
Battle was due to report for U.S. Army Reserve duty on Feb. 19, 2000. But, he said in the divorce papers, he had a 4-year-old son, and his wife was leaving, and he needed to be excused from duty so that he could take care of his son. He said he needed the dissolution to show his commanding officer.

The two waived the normal 90-day waiting period for a divorce, and it was granted March 15, 2000.

The 4-year-old boy was Battle's by another woman. Battle and Lewis had no children together.

Battle had been a member of the Army Reserve since the fall of 1999. Army Reserve recruiters assigned him to the 671st Engineer Company in Portland, a unit that specializes in bridge construction.

He reported to basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., and spent about 10 weeks there before graduating in February 2000, said Maj. Gerard Healy of the U.S. Army Reserve Command in Atlanta.

Battle's next step would have been to take advanced individual training at Fort Lee, Va., before reporting to duty as a supply clerk at the Portland reserve unit.

"He never showed up" for the advanced training, Healy said. Nor did he report back to his reserve unit, said Lt. Col. Joyce Clarkson, public affairs spokeswoman for the 671st.

"We tried to make contact with him," Clarkson said. "Obviously, if we train a soldier, we want to keep him. But we were unable to get a hold of him." Consequently he was "administratively discharged" from the reserves.

October Martinique Lewis Vivian Lewis, reached Friday afternoon at her Florissant, Mo., home, said she had been unaware of her daughter's arrest until she received calls from the media. She said she longed to speak with her daughter.

When told of the allegations her daughter faces, she said, "I know she isn't involved in that."

"I know that my daughter stayed and took care of his son all the time," Vivian Lewis said, referring to Battle's son.

When told about money October Lewis allegedly wired to Battle, who federal officials said was headed to Afghanistan, her mother said, "Her husband was over there somewhere. She's not doing anything like that, that I know of."

She listened to the amounts of money her daughter is accused of transferring to Battle -- up to about $500 at a time -- and said, "What could they do with that money? Is that enough to do something?"

Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal Shahriar Ahmed, president o f Bilal mosque in Beaverton, said he was shocked by the arrests of Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal and Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal, who at one time attended the mosque with their wives and families. Ahmed said he hadn't seen the brothers in several months.

"They were a novelty because they were Americans who spoke Arabic very well," Ahmed said.

"I just hope and pray that this is just talk," he said. "If it's true, what this tells us is we ourselves need to keep our ears open. But we do keep our ears open, which is why this is really shocking."

Ahmed Bilal, 24, remained at large Friday as did al Saoub, another former Portland resident. Al Saoub, a Jordanian, had been a legal resident of the United States.

Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal Muhammad Bilal, 22, was arrested Friday in Dearborn, Mich., where he had spent the past few weeks with his sister, identified by her landlord as Isha Bilal, in a rental apartment in a three-story brick home.

Hassan Bazzi, a retired Ford Motor Co. worker who owns the house, said he didn't know Muhammad Bilal was staying there until police and other law enforcement officials arrived Friday -- in about 25 cars.

Isha Bilal's husband came to the door Friday evening, but said he and his wife didn't want to talk. He wouldn't identify himself fully.

"We have been through a very traumatic experience," he said.

Muhammad Bilal appeared before federal magistrate Paul Komives, who ordered him detained.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade told the magistrate that Bilal was a flight risk because he had spent 16 of his 22 years outside the U.S., and that his passport showed travel to Hong Kong, China, and Indonesia.

She said Muhammad's parents and most of his siblings are in his native Saudi Arabia. Les Zaitz, Shelby Oppel, Scott Learn, Clifton Chestnut, Harry Esteve, Henry Stern and Janie Har of The Oregonian staff contributed to this report. Staff researchers Lovelle Svart, Margie Gultry and Gail Hulden contributed to this report. Julie Sullivan: 503-221-8068; juliesullivan@news.oregonian.com

WORTH REPEATING

City officials said Patrice Lumumba Ford was an international relations intern in the office of Portland Mayor Vera Katz for three months in 1998 and in September 1999, leaving of his own accord both times.

In 2001, he sent messages to multiple members of the mayor's staff that they interpreted as threatening enough to forward to the police in August of that year.

Sam Adams, Katz's chief of staff, said the FBI asked the office not to disclose details. Andrew Haruyama, the mayor's international relations director during Ford's internships, also declined to comment.

Seattle case has several similarities to Portland's

10/05/02

JIM LYNCH

Two federal busts in three months indicate the Northwest may be fertile ground for home-grown terrorist suspects.

Three arrests in Portland on Friday have not been publicly linked to the arrest of suspected Seattle terrorist James Ujaama in July, but the similarities are striking.

Ujaama is a U.S. citizen and Islam convert who conspired to help al-Qaida and aid the Taliban in Afghanistan, authorities say. A lynchpin in the case against him is alleged evidence he tried to start a jihad training camp in the remote Southern Oregon town of Bly.

The Portland arrests also involve U.S. citizens converted to Islam who are accused of conspiring to support al-Qaida and the Taliban. Federal agents focused on them after they were seen performing weapons training exercises at a gravel pit in remote southern Washington.

Despite the similarities in the cases, authorities say there likely were multiple al-Qaida support groups operating in the Northwest without any knowledge of one another's activities.

"There are no known connections," said John A. Hartingh, executive assistant to the U.S. attorney in Seattle, who is handling the Ujaama case. Another federal law enforcement source also said Ujaama does not appear to have Portland ties.

The Portland suspects arrested Friday were part of an indictment of six people allegedly involved in a conspiracy to wage war against the United States. All six suspects have lived in Oregon, authorities say.

Ujaama's arrest on July 22 shocked many Seattle residents because the 36-year-old was widely viewed as an inspiring role model for the city's black youth in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Ujaama started his own computer company and dazzled teachers and politicians with his aggressive campaigns to steer youth away from drugs and into entrepreneurial pursuits. The Legislature made June 10, 1994, James Ujaama Day.

But Ujaama's own political views took on an increasingly hard edge, according to some family members and authorities. Ujaama and like-minded Muslim allies reportedly began enforcing Taliban-like discipline in the gritty Seattle neighborhood around the now defunct Dar-us-Salaam mosque.

Ujaama left the United States in 1997 to live in London, where authorities say he managed a Web site for Abu Hamza al Masri, a radical Islamic cleric and alleged al-Qaida recruiter.

Ujaama allegedly tried to coax Hamza into using a Muslim-owned ranch in Bly as a terrorist training camp in 1999. Ujaama also attended a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan and tried to get back into the country six days before last year's Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, authorities asserted at a hearing earlier this week in Seattle.

Again, in similar fashion, five of the six suspects indicted in Friday's anti-terrorism sweep tried to get into Afghanistan to help Taliban forces fight U.S. soldiers shortly after Sept. 11, authorities say.

Ujaama's trial is set for November but likely will be delayed as long as a year. His attorneys tried to get him released until trial at a court hearing Tuesday but were denied after U.S. Attorney Andrew Hamilton warned the magistrate: "The only problem with releasing Mr. Ujaama is he will always be a computer click away from Abu Hamza and others who would seek to destroy the United States of America."

FEB, 1998; Willamette Week Online
Charles Moose is job shopping.

The city's popular but surly police chief reluctantly confirmed to WW that he has applied for a job as chief of the Washington, D.C., police force. "I wish I could just live my life," Moose told a WW reporter, refusing to comment any further on the move.

With four and a half years as the commander of Portland's 1,000-officer force, Moose has outlasted most of his colleagues across the country, whose average tenure is just three years. For the most part, Portland residents seem to like their top cop. But the past year or so hasn't been easy: Moose launched a controversial investigation into Capt. Mike Garvey's sex life; cracked down on rampant cell-phone use; and dealt with the shooting deaths of two officers.

Mayor Vera Katz's office refused to comment on the chief's job application and would not say whether the move is an indication that Moose has outlasted his welcome with the mayor

CNN RELIABLE SOURCES

Does Press Sacrifice Public Safety for Scoops?

Aired October 12, 2002 - 18:30 ET

KURTZ: Joining us now, Gordon Peterson, news anchor at Washington's Channel 9 WUSA-TV; Marc Fisher, columnist for "The Washington Post"; Robert Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs. And in Montgomery County, Maryland in front of police headquarters CNN's Bill Hemmer.

Gordon Peterson, we just heard once again Chief Moose ripping into your station. What was your reaction when you heard those charges for the first time?

GORDON PETERSON, WUSA-TV ANCHOR: My reaction was I think the chief needs a nap. I mean I think he's exhausted and I actually have some sympathy for his position here. But in terms of what we did, what we put on the air, we're very comfortable with it.

KURTZ: But of course he argued that the media in general, Channel 9 in particular, might be hurting the investigation by putting out details like this Tarot card that the cops wanted to hold back.

PETERSON: Well, our reporter, Mike Buchanan, who has been doing this for a long time has unimpeachable and exhaustive sources in law enforcement. That's where the story came from.

KURTZ: That means somebody wanted it out.

PETERSON: Of course.

KURTZ: Yes.

PETERSON: A couple of hours before airtime, he ran it past the jurisdiction it involves, said you know the chief ought to know about this. We have no comment on the evidence that was picked up at the scene.

KURTZ: No requests. Please don't put this on the air.