Jordanian student at UTA ordered deported - He admitted considering suicide-bomb attack

The Dallas Morning News ^ | 2/08/2003 | TODD BENSMAN

[Let's Roll]

He admitted considering suicide-bomb attack

02/08/2003

By TODD BENSMAN / The Dallas Morning News

In a rare glimpse at the government's domestic war on terror, a Jordanian student from Arlington admitted in court Friday that he had considered becoming a suicide bomber if the United States invaded Iraq.

Tahir Ibrihim Aletwei, a 30-year-old software engineering graduate student at the University of Texas at Arlington, spoke freely about his inclinations toward terrorism and divulged details of his interviews with federal agents during his deportation hearing.

"I was looking at America as my enemy," he said. "If someone would have approached me and asked me to do something against the country, I was willing to do it."

Mr. Aletwei said he had since had a change of heart and was confessing to help U.S. authorities better guard against people like him. He said he had not been approached by terrorists seeking to enlist him and had no target.

But when U.S. Immigration Judge D. Anthony Rogers referred to an FBI report quoting Mr. Aletwei as saying he still harbored thoughts of killing Americans, Mr. Aletwei conceded that the prospects of a U.S. invasion of Iraq had him again contemplating an attack.

Judge Rogers ordered that Mr. Aletwei be deported within five days, rejecting several pleas by the detainee to be released long enough to finish the last three months of his master's degree.

"I abhor the thought processes that you acknowledge," Judge Rogers said. "The issue we have in this nation since 9-11 is we want to act on the side of caution, and it will be necessary to send you home. That's my final ruling."

At one point, Mr. Aletwei proposed that he be allowed to stay in exchange for cooperating further with authorities, who had interviewed him extensively. The judge deferred to INS prosecutor Heidi Graham, the government's representative in the proceeding.

She declined the offer: "Had we known about what he calls his misguided thinking, we would never have issued him a visa."

Dallas FBI and INS officials declined to say what led agents to Mr. Aletwei or to comment on his case, citing confidentiality rules related to terrorism investigations.

Former FBI Associate Deputy Director Oliver "Buck" Revell said authorities probably had no alternative other than deportation, especially if the suspect seemed mentally unbalanced and unpredictable.

'A peculiar case'

"He's a peculiar case, I have to admit. I haven't heard of one like that, and I've been in the business for 35 years," Mr. Revell said.

Mr. Aletwei said that when agents asked him whether he was involved in terrorism, he said yes.

He said he proceeded to explain to agents that his desire to become a martyr was cultivated by his home country's hatred of the neighboring state of Israel and its most powerful ally, America.

Mr. Aletwei said in court Friday that he came to the United States as part of a Jordanian-sponsored student exchange program in August 2001. He said he came to earn an advanced degree in computer software engineering but secretly hoped for an opportunity to carry out a suicide bombing using explosives strapped to his body.

He said that though he had no formal training to carry out a suicide attack, he was mentally prepared.

"In my mind, I was doing a noble thing," Mr. Aletwei told Judge Rogers.

Mr. Aletwei said he told agents about his feelings and unformed plans as a gesture of good will to a country that had softened him with kindness since his arrival about 20 months earlier.

"I wanted to help. It's my duty to help," he said. "I want people to understand just how we think because if they understand how we think, they can prevent accidents like 9-11. I don't believe war or violence can solve anything."

Mr. Aletwei was arrested Jan. 31 on charges of violating provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which subjects violators to deportation. He could not be criminally charged because he has done nothing illegal.

Professor surprised

News of Mr. Aletwei's testimony astonished his faculty adviser at UTA. Mr. Aletwei had complained in recent months of government harassment and the revocation of his student visa by the U.S. Embassy in Jordan, said Dr. Arthur Reyes, an assistant professor of computer science at UTA.

Dr. Reyes, who taught Mr. Aletwei for a year, said his student rarely spoke of politics and struck all who knew him as well-balanced and as a genuinely good person. Dr. Reyes said he wrote a letter to the U.S. Embassy in Jordan at Mr. Aletwei's request to get his visa reinstated.

"There's nothing in his character that would indicate any truth to that at all," Dr. Reyes said. "That doesn't sound like the Tahir that we know."

E-mail tbensman@dallasnews.com

[perspectiveplease]

I'm currently a student at UTA and thought maybe I could offer a bit of a different perspective on the matter. This is actually a pretty general reply to a number of the issues that I've seen as I read through these posts.

First of all, I did a little research, and as best as I can determine there are about 2300 international students at UTA, with the total number pf students being more like 21000. I assume this includes graduate students but probably doesn't include students studying at the English language institute. With them it's probably more like 2400, maybe 2500. Of these, perhaps 20% are from the Middle East, though even that number sound a little high to me. But I couldn't find any statistics on exactly where the international students come from. I think it puts the hypothetical numbers down to about 5 Muslim Fundamentalists, which I agree would still be 5 suicide bombers too many.

However, unlike that poster, there are many of you who seem to be working on the assumption that all Middle Eastern students are like this guy. First of all, I only know of this person indirectly. However, I do know that both Americans and other Jordanian students thought he was strange, and have for some time. The general impression (whether accurate or not I cannot say) was that he was just trying to get attention--perhaps this is why he had no formal training and had never been contacted by a terrorist organization. His professor may have been surprised when he heard of his deportation, but many people were expecting it would happen sooner or later.

To those of you who would deport every international student, I can also say that I know many, many international students at UTA, including some of those who came from Jordan with the same program he did. Now, the vast majority of those I know are non-Muslim Asians, and they wouldn't represent a terrorist threat at all right now. However, the Muslim students who I know personally, including those from Jordan, also present no threat that I can see to our security. Yes, they were raised in a Muslim country by Muslim families, and yes, to varying degrees all of them continue to identify themselves as Muslims. And yes, this does color their view of the world, especially of Israel. But as educated people, many of them are capable of being far more objective than someone like Tahir appeared to be. I cannot imagine any of them becoming suicide bombers. The only one of these Muslim students that I knew well at the time of 9/11 was as shocked and horrified as I was by it. Incidentally, the ones who I know best are/were studying things that were not related to technology, so they are also not here to go back to their country to with knowledge of building better weapons, etc.

Is it possible that there is a terrorist wandering around the campus? Yes. Does it worry me? No. Should it? Maybe. But not enough so that I fail to treat my fellow students with the basic respect they deserve as human beings, the same way we want them to treat us. Though Tahir obviously sounds pretty messed up, he did mention that the kindness of the Americans he met here did for a time dissuade him from terrorism. And if he meant that literally, then the Americans who treated him kindly saved the lives of other Americans. Fortunately those are the ones he met.

I love my country, and I also love the knowledge I have gained of the world through the many here that I count as friends who are citizens of other countries. I think it's also worth noting that Tahir is the second student with ties to another country and to UTA that has made the news in the last week ... the other was Kalpana Chawla ...

I know this is long, but I thought maybe a perspective of someone more personally tied to the whole thing would help.

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for your reply and the personal input. Apparently the enrollment at UTA has gone down from what it was.

No, I don't think all Middle-Eastern students are like this guy. I too went to UTA. First in the early 70s and then again in the early 80s to finish my degree. At the time (both times) there were a LOT of ME students there, apparently more than now. I posted also a little story on this thread about my roommate from Kuwait when I was lived in the dorm (see #61).

There was another story a while back about a UTA grad in Washington state that was being investigated by the FBI. I can't remember his name, but he has been checked out twice for terror ties and they can't make it stick. There was something about faxes he was sending to known terrorists, al-Qaeda based I think. I'm not saying he was guilty or not guilty, but when you're sending faxes to folks like that, it makes me wonder...

[dfwgator]

I am a recent MBA graduate from UTA. I recall that soon after 9-11, there was a woman from Jordan in my class, who addressed the class and emphasized how horrified she was at what happened on 9-11, and talked about the harassment she was getting because of where she was from. Everyone one of us in the class went to her afterwards and offered her kind words and hugs.

Having said that, I am concerned that universities do represent a viable target for terrorists, in that terrorists can easily blend into a university environment without sticking out.

[Ms. AntiFeminazi]

I would like to know the whole story. Did he turn himself in, or are UTA police that sharp?

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! You're joking right? lol I bet Lloyd Christmas could give you some thoughts on this one. hahahaha.

[HarryDunne]

You're joking right?

Absolutely!

[Democratic_Machiavelli]

I've re-read the posts and I don't see that we're saying all middle-eastern people are like the man who was deported. Instead, I see people who are afraid of the deception being used by terrorists to accomplish their aims. It sounds like your cultural upbringing has taught you that a person must be treated innocent until he (or she) shows otherwise. This belief is probably tied in some way to a "judgment" (whether presided over by gods or your own conscience) to which you will be subject after you die.

Although I respect your opinion on this, there are many more who feel that their "judgment" will consign them to their own version of torment if they allowed themselves to be deceived and let an enemy kill who knows how many because they decided to trust. Keep some perspective on this and look beyond what you see. Otherwise, you'll fall into the same trap you're accusing others of.

However, I do know that both Americans and other Jordanian students thought he was strange, and have for some time. The general impression (whether accurate or not I cannot say) was that he was just trying to get attention--perhaps this is why he had no formal training and had never been contacted by a terrorist organization.

Source, please? Friends, family, specific fellow students (i.e. had the guy in thus-and-such class), etc. Also, please post sources for the numbers you gave.

[Democratic_Machiavelli]

I don't know. The article says he's confessing, but that this upcoming war with Iraq hasn't changed his mind concerning engaging in terrorist activities (this, in spite of the kindness Americans have showed him).

[Democratic_Machiavelli]

Yes. I don't think anything will happen from it, now that I've thought about it a bit. We're too entrenched in our belief that we are immortal as a nation.

[perspectiveplease]

Sure thing, the source for number of total and number of international students was the alumni magazine, Winter 2002. In terms of percent ME students, like every one else's, this was a guess. I'm basing my guess on the people I personally encounter on campus but it is purely a guess.

As to sources for people who knew this guy, they are classmates of mine who are also from Jordan and knew him personally and an American friend who was a friend of his.

You're partially right in saying that my attitude comes from a cultural belief ("innocent until proven guilty"--I'm sure it was driven into my head in some political science class along the way). Also it's moral ("do unto others as you would have them do unto you"). And also it's also driven by the fact that I have many friends who are international students (given the large percentage of the student body that's international) and that influences the way I respond in situations that potentially affect them, like this one does.

Having just found out about this from some of said friends before I read this forum, the things that stuck out to me were comments like "they were spoiled little brats, to put it politely." (referring to all ME students at UTA)

"I'm transferring to UT-A soon, why the hell do these guys keep popping up there?" (they don't, really; the Center Street Mosque is a different issue.)

"We need to stop all Mideast immigration and Muslim immigration immediately. Send all Muslims and Mideasterners that are not American citizens home. Then we can watch the Muslim/Arab citizens that are left." (but how to do this without the government spying on us too?)

"To tell you the truth, I wish we would deport ALL of the ME types ASAP! And seal our borders with NO immigration!"

"Most of the people where this guy came from use such twisted, ignorant, barbaric "logic." They are brainwashed and full of hate." (maybe true, I don't know. The "most" doesn't seem true for the ones I've seen here.)

"I do know that it's a year after 911 and there are still no procedures in place for getting these nutbars out of America and it drives me friggin nuts. Any one of these guys I go to school with could be the next Mohammed Atta"

Having reread the posts myself, you're right, the vast majority of them sounded more fair. And reading them from the perspective of fear helps me understand those that didn't. Having further considered the issues, I would concede that if/when we go to war with Iraq, first, I probably should be less trusting.

[Democratic_Machiavelli]

Thanks for the sources.

Will write more later. No time now.

[buffyt]

OK he had a change of heart, that is good, but this part still sticks in my craw....

Tahir Ibrihim Aletwei, a 30-year-old software engineering graduate student at the University of Texas at Arlington,

WHY are these foreign students NOT grateful for their American education????????????????

[tet68]

Dear Mr. Aletwei,
9-11 was NO ACCIDENT!!!!
Bye.

[buffyt]

I had heard for years and years from people who had MidEastern college roommates who hate America, how twisted and angry and strange their thinking was... I can't imagine they WANT to come here for college if we are SO bad!

I met a group of women from different MidEastern countries while volunteering at Tom DeLay office one Xmas - these women are here for college, LOVE America, were not allowed to go to college in their home countries, and they want to make USA their home. They were a wondeful CONSERVATIVE group!

[Cindy]

re post No. 93: There are people who love our country and people who don't Buffy. Thanks for sharing your thoughts here. If only we could deport democrats.....wishful thinking....

"ARE THEY FOR US OR AGAINST US?" (Updated Daily.)

[El Gato]

GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!! This Dr. Reyes needs an EXIT visa immediately!

I believe Dr. Reyes is a native born American citizen. Besides that, he apparently is a supporter of the Constitution, most espeically the 2nd amendment. I think he was just fooled by this guy like everyone else. He also supports family vales. Take a look at the "other publications" section of his CV and cut the man some slack.

[Ms. AntiFeminazi]

The foreign student openly states he's willing to be a suicide bomber in the U.S.. He gets deported - THANK GOD! The professor pleads with the Jordanian government to get the student's VISA reinstated. I don't care what this man's credentials, nationality, background or anything else about the guy are. If he's actively pleading to get a volunteer suicide bomber back into this country, he should be locked up and the key thrown away. Deported would be even better.

BTW, that CV certainly does not allay my fears! Great, just the kind of "patriotic American" we need. /sarcasm

So what if he's pro-2nd amendment? What does that matter when he's actively trying to get terrorists into our country? Sheesh! There's much more to life than owning a gun.