Preparing for Jihad ...in Alabama

ABCnews.com ^ | 07/25/02 | Brian Ross

[Thane_Banquo]

Preparing for Jihad ? in Alabama
Islamic Militant Training Camp Allegedly Operating in Alabama

July 25 ? A training camp linked to Islamic militants has been operating in Alabama, and European law enforcement officials believe Muslim extremists were using it to prepare for a holy war.

British authorities also thought that militants from overseas were training in the United States to take advantage of America's gun laws, sources told ABCNEWS. The looming question for law enforcement is whether there is a connection between the camp and the al Qaeda terror network.

An investigation by Britain's Scotland Yard led to the discovery of the camp in Marion, Ala. The facility is called "Ground Zero USA."

Bullet-riddled police cars and a school bus with mannequin targets are scattered around the property. Inside a huge shed is an equally macabre scene ? shot-up mannequins, male and female, in domestic settings, some with red, blood-like stains on them.

Ground Zero's operators promised state-of-the-art, world-class training in automatic weapons, urban warfare, SWAT tactics and martial arts, supposedly to fight terror attacks.

Marion Police Chief Tony Buford said he became suspicious of the use of police cars and buses as targets.

"It was rumored that the camp here was used as training site for possible people that were sent here to do bodily harm to Americans," Buford told ABCNEWS.

Web Site Provides Terror Link

The suspected terror ties of the Alabama camp were unknown until after Sept. 11, when officials in London arrested an accused al Qaeda supporter, Zain-ul-Albidin

He is charged with operation of a Web site, under the name of Sakina Security, allegedly recruiting Muslims for an Islamic jihad or holy war. He is now on trial in London.

The site, since taken down by British authorities, described what seemed to be the Alabama camp, including live-fire exercises at a state-of-the-art shooting range in the United States ? something that would not be legal in Britain.

"In the United States, it is not illegal for anyone to receive military training, high-grade military training," said Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside Al Qaeda.

The actual owners of camp, who are also British, say it was used primarily to train law enforcement personnel. Officials consider them unwitting accomplices. The camp owners declined to talk to ABCNEWS.

Scale of Secret Camps Unknown

It is not known how many holy war recruits came through the camp or when. But the FBI is now investigating a number of suspected training camps around the country.

"We know of a number of cases where Islamic terrorists came and training in this country in the early 1990s. It is likely that this scale of training is still continuing," Gunaratna said.

The most radical and belligerent of London's Islamic clerics, Abu Hamza, told ABCNEWS in a phone call that America's laws make such paramilitary training easy, "like a picnic."

British intelligence officials told ABCNEWS they are closely examining alleged ties between Hamza, who is said to have recruited alleged "20th hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui, and Zain-ul-Albidin.

[Diamond]

...but Williams is a black American who converted

And who is just like his namesake.

Cordially,

[Texas Mom]

What was scary for me was listening to that Police Chief in Alabama this morning who, when asked about the training camp, said he had never heard of it until last night when the Federal agents told him about it. From what I understood it's only about 25 miles from his little town..

Ostrich Syndrom maybe Chief?

[thinden]

cain't get your link to "Jihad in Alabama" to work. it me?

[anniegetyourgun]

Yep.

[philosofy123]

The intelligencia advises against shedding the light on Black Moslems as traitors. Simply because they are black, and it is a taboo to say anything against blacks even if they are anti-America!

[bulldogs]

No, two Angry black men on an Islam rampage.

[Copperhead61]

I'd like to see some good ol' boys pay em a visit and show em some good ol' "Southern Hospitality". YIIIHAAA!!!

[Jack of all Trades]

Ooops what a "series" mistake

What is your basis for making this statement

[freeperfromnj]

Thanks for the flag. The MO of the shootings immediately flashed me back to that Alabama story. I posted the following on a sniiper thread 10/6 but it generated very little interest:

That whole alabama training story disappeared from the radar screen. Remember this:

An investigation by Britain's Scotland Yard led to the discovery of the camp in Marion, Ala. The facility is called "Ground Zero USA."

Bullet-riddled police cars and a school bus with mannequin targets are scattered around the property. Inside a huge shed is an equally macabre scene — shot-up mannequins, male and female, in domestic settings, some with red, blood-like stains on them.

Ground Zero's operators promised state-of-the-art, world-class training in automatic weapons, urban warfare, SWAT tactics and martial arts, supposedly to fight terror attacks.

[sinkspur]

Ground Zero is a not an "islamist terror camp."

Here is a list of police departments who have trained at GROUNDZEROUSA

During 2001 we provided training and consultation services to Government and private sector personnel from 26 different Countries.

We also provided Special Operations Instructor certification training to the firearms instructors from the following USA law enforcement agencies.

1. Calcasieu Parish Sheriffs Office SOG LA
2. Madison Police Dept AL
3. Hartselle Police Dept AL
4. Loxley Police Dept AL
5. Auburn Police Dept AL
6. Cullman Police Dept. AL
7. Selma Police Dept AL
8. Scottsboro Police Dept AL
9. Argo Police Dept. AL
10. Alabaster Police Dept AL
11. Demopolis Police Dept AL
12. Limestone Co Sheriff Dept AL
13. Tuscaloosa Co Sheriff Dept AL
14. Daleville Dept of Public Safety AL
15. Marion Co. Sheriff Dept AL
16. Sheffield Police Dept AL
17. Muscle Shoals Police Dept AL
18. Brookwood Police Dept AL
19. Winfield Police Dept. AL
20. Cleveland Police Dept AL
21. Blount Co. Sheriff Dept AL
22. Alexander City Police Dept AL
23. Cullman Police Dept. AL
24. Courtland Police Dept AL
25. Limestone Co Sheriff Dept AL
26. Blount Co. Sheriff Dept AL
27. Fultondale Police Dept AL
28. Hartselle Police Dept AL
29. Lee Co Sheriff Dept AL
30. Mobile Co Sheriff Dept AL
31. Anniston Police Dept AL
32. Madison Police Dept AL
33. Alabama State Troopers Dept AL
34. Whitefield Co. Sheriff Dept. GA
35. Merritt College/Police Tactics & Training CA
36. Jones Co. Sheriff Dept, CID MS
37. Harrison Co. Sheriff Dept. IN
38. Bridgeview Police Dept. IL
39. Rogers Police Dept. AL
40. St. Charles County Sheriff Dept. MO
41. Amherst Campus Police Dept. MA
42. Tuscaloosa Police Dept AL

[freeperfromnj]

Ground Zero is a not an "islamist terror camp."

No it isn't. It's just another example of AQ using our freedoms and resources against us. As we've seen with Ujama scouting for a camp in Oregon and as we've seen with the Portland cell practicing in a quarry, finding a means of weapons training is important to their operations. I'm pretty sure that now, if someone named Mohammed were to try to sign up for weapons training at Ground Zero in Alabama they'd certainly be questioned.

[thinden]

nice attempt at diversion, sinky. while you're at it, could you please post a comprehensive list of the 26 different countries that conducted training at the facility?

During 2001 we provided training and consultation services to Government and private sector personnel from 26 different Countries.

[ppaul]

Preparing for Jihad?

A Matter of Faith: Islam is Fastest-Growing Religion in the U.S.

Jihadi Farm

Abdullah Yusuf, center, prays at the Masjid As-Salam in Sacramento
on Friday. Yusuf says he was raised Catholic but converted to Islam
because he liked the teachings of the Qur'an.

Latino Muslims

In April, California State University, Sacramento, hosted a forum on the "Islamic Presence in Latin America" before and after Columbus. One of the speakers, Salvadoran-born AbdulHadi Bazurto (President of Latin American Muslim Unity), said the more he examined his roots, the more he questioned the validity of Catholicism in his life. "Since the day the Spanish arrived, we as people have suffered a lot," he said. "Christianity's 'white God' concept was harmful to our people, who were definitely not white."

Another speaker, Daniel Denton, a Stockton elementary school teacher who was born in Mexico, said he was a hard-drinking veteran of the Gulf War when he began to explore Islam in 1994. At the invitation of Muslims at Delta College, he went to a mosque. "There was a carpet on the floor, and the walls were bare. I wondered, 'Where is everything?' and then I realized that was everything. If you go to a Catholic church, every few feet they have an image or a statue, but in Islam, there is no association between God and any image."

Denton also was impressed by the Islamic belief that each individual will be judged by their deeds on Judgment Day. That night, he took the shahada, the Muslim vow that says "There is only one God, Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger."

When he started fasting for Ramadan, "I heard my relatives in Stockton were calling my mom in San Diego and telling her I had become a terrorist and was doing drugs," Denton said. "When I went down to San Diego toward the end of Ramadan, I had lost 15 pounds and was starting to grow my beard. My mom was just in tears for days."

But, Denton said, his mother soon realized that instead of partying, he was staying home and talking to her as he had never done before.

"As she began to see the change, she came to accept it, and now she's happy. There's a saying in Islam that goes, 'Heaven lies at the feet of the mother. You have to treat her well at all times, take care of her.' "

Denton, 29, sees similarities between Islamic and Latino culture. "I've noticed that if you take away the crosses, the alcohol and the pork, the smells in my house are similar to Muslim homes..."

Link to article HERE.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________-

California State University, Sacramento, hosted a forum on the "Islamic Presence in Latin America" before and after Columbus. One of the speakers, Salvadoran-born AbdulHadi Bazurto (President of Latin American Muslim Unity), said the more he examined his roots, the more he questioned the validity of Catholicism in his life. "Since the day the Spanish arrived, we as people have suffered a lot," he said. "Christianity's 'white God' concept was harmful to our people, who were definitely not white."

Our tax dollars at work.

[sinkspur]

could you please post a comprehensive list of the 26 different countries that conducted training at the facility?

Go to the link I provided and ask them yourself.

[Lion's Cub]

Yeah. We posted this stuff all over the daily sniper thread last night. I originally thought Semi Osman had talked because of all the stuff about Tacoma. If you need to review him, look here. He is undoubtedly al-Q.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/722854/posts?q=1&&page=101#106 - See 106 by piasa for a really great timeline summary.

I am still convinced that these two were at least known by this cell. I don't think they did the shooting. They were probably spotters.

I think the significance of the duck in the noose is that the duck gets away--in this case with $10M.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774237/posts?q=1&&page=3901#3944

[Constantine XIII]

Naw, they're just getting ready for the big Bama/UT game. They'll never try anything, though, since they realize that we Tennesseans would whoop em up one side and down the other with ease.

"Knoxville, a drinking town with a football problem"

[SerpentDove]

>>Islamabama?<<

LOL

Let's start our own terrorist training camp. Busloads of raghead manniquins with their heads shot clean off.

[I_Publius]

Here's a photo of this "Ground Zero USA" I found in a simple search of Google.

¹	Jul, 26 2002

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Pravda.RU:Top Stories:More in detail

13:40 2002-07-26
MILITANTS OF AL-QAIDA TRAINED IN ALABAMA
Ground Zero USA military camp situated not far from Maryland, state Alabama could have been a training area of terrorists


There is an impression that militants of Al-Qaida and other terrorists radical organizations felt till recently very comfortable on the US soil. At least, a story is still in memory about US immigration services which only after 6 months after the September 11 terrorist attack gave an entry visa to the terrorists who captured planes September 11. And now, one more sensation.

ABC company journalists carried out an investigation and found out that Ground Zero USA military camp situated not far from Maryland, state Alabama could have been a training area of terrorists.

The investigation of the camp activity is being carried out now by special services of the US and Great Britain. Actually, that were British services which first learned that the militants are being trained in the US. This became known as some Zain-ul-Albedin was arrested, accused of recruiting militants for Al-Qaida. The recruiting was carried out very simply: there was a site on which the system of training (including that one of the Alabama camp) was described and the address of the recruiters was presented. Why was this site ignored before September 11? At least, there is no information that this site was conspiratorial, this is hardly possible on the Internet…

The ABC journalists visited the camp. What they saw there was shocking. The training was great. As targets, dummies, real buses, and police cars were used. And they did not spare targets which were literally riddled.

However, the special services are not sure of the camp owners knowingly co-operated with terrorists: they did not most likely know with whom they had to do. Though, the owners hardly would have done something if even they had known who were their clients. They seem to have been paid very well.

So far it cannot be said for sure that that were Al-Qaida militants who trained in the camp. Though, now FBI started to check up military camps on US territory. What other surprises could this investigation bring?

Vasily Bubnov
PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://pravda.ru/main/2002/07/26/44721.html

Related links:
PRAVDA.Ru Israeli terrorists arrested in the USA
PRAVDA.Ru Americans are tired of domestic terrorists
PRAVDA.Ru Samuel Francis: Why The Terrorists Attack America
PRAVDA.Ru Turkey accused America of assistance to terrorists
PRAVDA.Ru Americans are tired of terrorists at home

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[freeperfromnj]

Absolutely amazing. Free Republic is so far ahead of the curve tracking this stuff. Seems like they've infiltrated just about every state. Maintream media chooses not to report on the obvious.

[thinden]

Ground Zero is a not an "islamist terror camp."

Here is a list of police departments who have trained at GROUNDZEROUSA

the list of U.S. police departments that have trained at ground zero does absolutely nothing to support the statement you made highlighted above.

since you seem to be moonlighting for these guys from your gummit job, why don't you provide the list of 26 foreign countries that have received training at groud zero? better than that, provide a list of the names of the foriegners who have trained at ground zero.