Posted on 03/23/2003 3:17:04 PM PST by Jean S
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:02:55 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
WASHINGTON - It was both an auspicious and ominous way to begin the week: Auspicious because of President George Bush's resolute demand that Saddam Hussein and his sons leave Iraq. There were also ominous noises from his predecessor in the White House, Bill Clinton, who bared not only his antagonism to the president but his horror at envisioning a strong America.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
Reads like our good buddy Ambrose Evans-Pritchard... ;-)
You're absolutely right. CIA, FBI, Dept. of State and EPA are especially afflicted by the presence of Clinton holdovers who, like a cancer, continuously work to destroy the body.
Take a look at some recent facts about our own backyard — the Caribbean and Latin America.
Margarita Island, sometimes known as the "Pearl of the Caribbean," is under the control of Hugo Chavez's anti-U.S. government of Venezuela. Now, we learn that Margarita is home to a cadre of some two dozen Iraqi troops and a number of Libyan military specialists. Their presence was arranged when Chavez visited Tripoli and Baghdad in 2000 and, at Fidel Castro's suggestion, explained his needs to these other two dictators. Simply put, these troops, together with a Cuban group, are there ostensibly to provide additional security for the several hundred Palestinian and Lebanese oil technicians working with Chavez's own thugs, the Bolivarian Circles, on strike breaking for the crippled Venezuelan state oil company.
This may be true, but what about the security of our borders?
And, just add to your worries note the fact that Guyana is close to Margarita Island, which is a base to several hundred Iraqi oil engineers, awaiting entry to Venezuela as strike breakers for Hugo Chavez.
Late last month, our House International Relations Committee decided to find out what was really going on. They asked the CIA to give them a briefing on "political and economic trends" in the region. And they wanted the CIA's National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for Latin America, Fulton T. Armstrong, to give the briefing.
Armstrong declined, saying he would not speak at an open, unclassified hearing, and abruptly went on "personal travel" status. A quick way to show his contempt for Congress.
We must remember that Fulton is no professional spook: For 10 years he worked for Iowa's liberal Republican congressman, Jim Leach — one of the few Republicans to show up at gatherings of the Institute for Policy Studies.
Today, Fulton is known as a guy who refuses to believe that Castro is a military or security threat and claims that he (Fulton) is the target of right-wing ideologues.
Subsequent to being a flack for Leach, Armstrong was appointed to Bill Clinton's National Security Council; and after killing time (but nothing else) at the CIA's Crime and Narcotics Center, he became the boss for Latin America. In this position, Armstrong is protected and trusted by CIA Director George Tenet — yet another Clinton domestic minion. A weak NIO is neither a disaster nor that unusual. But in this case, the man on the National Security Council, who could exercise some control, is a former ambassador to Venezuela under — you've got it right — Bill Clinton.-- "Clinton and his Clintonistas," Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 3/23/03, Dateline D.C.
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Guyana brings some things to mind this a visa fraud case a few years ago in which one of our diplomats was involved. This report only mentions Chinese illegals but no doubt other illegals were involved, possibly even terrorists ... could Halim Khan be the type to aid islamic radicals?
US diplomat Thomas Carroll and Guyanese Halim Khan charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and visa fraud, both of them federal offences. The US Attorney's Office in Chicago was reported as saying that $535,000 and ten gold bars had been seized from safety deposit boxes controlled by Carroll in the Chicago area, and that officials were trying to freeze additional assets under the control of the two men. The investigation of Carroll, it was stated, had begun in June 1999, after a tip-off from confidential sources. Carroll appeared in court in Chicago on March 22, and was held without bond. Khan had been arrested in Miami. In our edition of March 31, a possible Chinese connection was given coverage, where a restaurant in Georgetown was said to have been a key recruiting point for the visa scam. The report adverted to a possible link between the racket and the stream of illegal Chinese aliens passing through Guyana.
It went on to say that since Carroll and Khan's arrest, three of the embassy's local employees had been dismissed and their visas revoked. On April 22 a report of the setting up of an inter-agency local task force to help the US Embassy in its investigations appeared.
-- http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:ZD_NzRgkLVkC:www.stabroeknews.com/Reviews.htm+%22Thomas+Carroll%22+appointed+congress+guyana&hl=en
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Visa Fraud AND Guyana bring something else to mind- a certain wanted man from Florida known as Adnan el Shukrijumah, alias Jafar the Pilot :
[el] Shukrijumah, though born in Saudi Arabia, is believed to be a citizen of Yemen. His ethnic heritage is part Yemeni, part Guyanese. He has some family in Guyana and is believed to have a passport from Guyana. He may also have a Saudi, Canadian or Trinidad passport, the release said. El Shukrijumah is described as 5-foot-3 to 5-foot-5, weighing 132 pounds or more, with a Mediterranean complexion, black hair, black eyes and, at times, a beard. His aliases include: Adnan G. El Shukri Jumah, Abu Arif, Ja'far Al-Tayar, Jaffar Al-Tayyar, Jafar Tayar and Jaafar Al-Tayyar, the FBI said. -- "Link between wanted Saudi man and 'dirty bomb' suspect? : Wanted man described as 'serious player'," From Kelli Arena and Kevin Bohn, CNN Washington Bureau, Saturday, March 22, 2003 , http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/03/22/fbi.terror.search/[Note: el Shukrijumah is associated with Binalshibh and Jose Padilla.]
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1999 : (EL SHUKRIJUMAH ARRANGES FUNDRAISERS FOR GLOBAL RELIEF FUND, ALLEGEDLY TO HELP REFUGESS IN BOSNIA) In 1999, Adnan [Gulshair El'Shukri-jumah] organized garage sales and car washes to raise money for Muslim refugees of the war in Bosnia. ''I remember him telling me once that he felt like those people were his family too,'' his mother said. At the time, his family said, neither they nor Adnan were aware that the charity they supported -- Global Relief Fund -- was allegedly involved in funding terrorist organizations. About the same time, the family befriended a man named Imran Farooq Mandhai -- who later would become the genesis of the FBI's suspicions about Adnan. Mandhai, now serving nearly 12 years in prison for plotting to blow up power plants and other South Florida facilities, first approached Gulshair's father for spiritual leadership. The family described him as a follower of little intellect but lovable. -- "FBI sees terror; family sees good son Ex-resident of Miramar being sought in terror case ," BY DAVID KIDWELL AND LARRY LEBOWITZ (Natalie McNeal contributed), The Miami Herald, 03/31/2003
MAY 2001 : (EL SHUKRIJUMAH IS IN TRINIDAD & TOBAGO; STAYS WITH ZAINOOL ALI; ALI SAYS SHUKRIJUMAH WAS HEADED FOR GUYANA) The Saudi native [adnan el shukrijumah] visited Trinidad for six days in May 2001 and stayed with Zainool Ali, who lives in Chaguanas. ... El Shukrijumah went to Guyana to visit relatives when he left Trinidad, Ali said. - "Terror suspect has close links to Caribbean; FBI keeps tabs on Trini friends ," Trinidad Guardian, 05/28/04**********
I need to interrupt this with a note about Venezuelans & Iraqis :
MARCH 2002 : (VENEZUELAN BERNAL IS CAUGHT SMUGGLING ARMS INTO SAUDI ARABIA FROM IRAQ) An MRV politician and close Chavez aide closely tied to the Circulos Bolivarianos, Freddy Bernal, was in Iraq last March. He got caught trying to move arms into Saudi Arabia by U.N. peacekeeping forces policing the border- "Terror Threat from Venezuela: Al Queda Involved," by| Martin Arostegui, Militares Democraticos, December 27, 2002
MARCH 8, 2002 9:29 PM: (VENEZUELA, FATTAH, HANJOUR, 911 HIJACKERS) At 9:29 p.m. on March 8, 2002, Hakim Mamad Ali Diab Fattah landed at Venezuela's Simón Bolívar International Airport on board Delta Flight 397. The Venezuelan-born Arab had been the subject of international surveillance because he had taken lessons at two New Jersey flight schools attended by Hani Hanjour, who crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. The FBI had arrested Fattah in the US after discovering that he also had talked about blowing up an airliner and had used forged identity documents. Information about him was requested from Venezuela's internal security service, Direccion de Inteligencia Seguridad y Prevencion (DISIP). But little was forthcoming other than psychiatric records showing that he was a diagnosed schizophrenic who had failed to attend therapy for more than a year. Top-level members of Venezuela's security services now are shedding some light on the mystery. General Marcos Ferreira, who recently resigned as director of the Venezuelan national guard's border control, Departamento de Extranjeria (DIEX), says that DISIP picked up Fattah directly from the plane and escorted him into a waiting car parked on the runway. - "Terror Threat from Venezuela: Al Queda Involved," by| Martin Arostegui, Militares Democraticos, December 27, 2002 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/813031/posts?page=21
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2003 : (TRINIDAD : FBI VISITS; FINDS AND ASKS TRINIDAD NATIONALS -LATER SAID TO BE ZAINOOL ALI, MUNAF MOHAMMED, IMTIAZ MOHAMMED & NIZAM ALI - ABOUT EL SHUKRIJUMAH'S WHEREABOUTS) four members of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) visited Trinidad last year [2003] to question four nationals about the whereabouts of Saudi Arabian-born, Adnan G El Shukrijumah. ... the FBI agents arrived with the names and addresses of the four Trinidadians, asking for assistance in locating them as part of US authorities’ search for El Shukrijumah. An elite section of the Police Service took the FBI agents around during their investigations. - "Agents drew blanks in T&T — cops," AP via http://www.guardian.co.tt/news1.html 05/27/04, 31770 bytes
JANUARY 26, 2003 : (TRINIDAD & TOBAGO : AFTER BEING TAKEN TO A CHEMICAL LAB BY MILITANTS, SUNDAY EXPRESS NEWSPAPER REPORTS ON THE ISLAMIC GROUP'S WMD TERROR THREAT AGAINST US AND BRITISH INTERESTS IN THE ISLANDS) The Sunday Express team was taken to a secret location, described as a lab, by the group and shown several organic and inorganic chemical compounds which it claimed were being used to make chemical and biological weapons to use against US and British interests , if provoked. A man who was in the lab and dressed in surgical gloves and a gas mask made it clear that the compounds shown were not explosive or toxic in nature by themselves, but that they were being combined with other chemicals to make them deadly and dangerous. The man said he was a chemical engineer who was trained in the US in explosives. The group said they made part of their plans public because, according to them, it would be unIslamic to attack without warning . The trip to the lab was part of a continuing investigation by the Sunday Express, which started last November into reports by US and British intelligence agencies that a radical Mulsim group was planning to launch an attack on foreign interests in this country. ... Several chemical compounds resembling the compounds in the lab were found strewn outside Boodoo’s lab days after the terror threat story was published. Forensic officers took samples of the material and later reported thay were not dangerous. However, the forensic officers admitted to police that the materials found could be combined with other compounds to make them dangerous and that explosives could be made with chemicals bought from a supermarket or pharmacy. -- "Terror Threat against U.S. and UK business interests in Trinidad no hoax," by Darryl Heeralal, TrinidadExpress, 07/28/03
FEBRUARY 2003 early : (TRINIDAD & TOBAGO : SPECIAL BRANCH OFFICERS INTERVIEW CHEMIST VEJI BOODOO) In early February, Special Branch officers interviewed chemist Veji Boodoo, who told them [investigators] his laboratory at Cuchawan Trace, Debe, could be the same lab that the Sunday Express had visited. Boodoo, the director of a company called Petro Lab Ltd, in a recorded statement to police, said almost two and a half years ago he was approached by an Islamic group who asked for information on how to combine certain compounds to make chemical and biological weapons and explosives. Boodoo told police the group approached him several times after the first meeting asking for his help and expertise. He told police he did not co-operate. Boodoo is a chemist and said he had received training from US and British experts who came to Trinidad and conducted seminars and workshops.
Boodoo told police at least six of his employees had keys to his Debe lab, and that anyone one of them could have given access for its use to the Muslim group. He told police that two weeks before the terror threat story was published, the group, with whom he had spoken several times before, approached him again, this time enquiring about how certain chemicals could be used to make deadly weapons. Investigators were told that the chemicals the group had asked Boodoo about were similar to those shown to the Sunday Express.
The Express also understands that another Islamic group approached Boodoo following the conviction of Dole Chadee for help with plans to take out a former State official. That plan never materialised. -- "Terror Threat against U.S. and UK business interests in Trinidad no hoax," by Darryl Heeralal, TrinidadExpress, 07/28/03MARCH 20, 2003 Thursday : (FBI ASKS PUBLIC TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR EL SHUKRIJUMAH; MAY BE LINKED TO JOSE PADILLA) WASHINGTON - A Saudi man being sought by the FBI because he may be planning terrorist attacks has been linked to Jose Padilla, an American citizen charged with plotting to detonate a radiological "dirty bomb" in the United States. The FBI on Thursday asked law enforcement agencies and the public to be on the lookout for Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, 27, who senior law enforcement officials said has received flight training and possesses a Florida driver's license. "El Shukrijumah is possibly involved with al-Qaida terrorist activities and, if true, poses a serious threat to U.S. citizens and interests worldwide," the FBI said in a statement. Officials said El Shukrijumah's organizing capabilities are comparable to those of Mohammed Atta, the suspected organizer of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudis and some, including Atta, received flight training in Florida.
A federal law enforcement official, speaking Friday on condition of anonymity, said authorities were tipped to El Shukrijumah by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, al-Qaida's chief operational planner who was arrested March 1 in Pakistan. Information recovered after Mohammed's capture includes references to Padilla and El Shukrijumah, who at one time lived near each other in the Miami area, according to the official.
The FBI previously has said that [Khalid Shaikh] Mohammed met with Padilla in early 2002. Padilla was arrested last May as an "enemy combatant" and is in federal custody. - "Saudi Man Linked to 'Dirty Bomb' Plot," By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer , Fri Mar 21,11:25 AM ETMARCH 2003 late : (MIAMI, FL : FBI CALLS A NEWS CONFERENCE CONCERNING ADNAN GULSHAIR EL'SHUKRIJUMAH ) Federal authorities have another take. They suspect he [Adnan Gulshair El'Shukri-jumah] disappeared in the weeks before the attacks that toppled the World Trade Center to cast in his lot with Osama bin Laden. For more than two years -- even from before the surprise attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 -- federal agents have been trying without success to make a case for terrorism against the elusive and mysterious 27-year-old Miramar man. They interrogated friends and acquaintances, who offered only vague inferences about his allegedly radical views and his capacity to be recruited. They've been searching quietly for him [Adnan Gulshair El'Shukri-jumah] since immediately after Sept. 11, 2001, and became acutely suspicious because he has lost all contact with his family..The federal search for [Adnan Gulshair] El'Shukri-jumah went worldwide following the March 1 arrest in Pakistan of Khalid Shaik Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and a top al Qaeda commander. .... the head of the FBI's Miami office called a news conference to ask for help from the Arab-American community and to say [Adnan Gulshair] El'Shukri-jumah ``has been identified by senior members of the al Qaeda organization as a very, very, very serious threat.'' Federal authorities acknowledge that there is no indictment, no arrest warrant and no evidence that El'Shukri-jumah has ever been involved in an act of violence other than biting his 13-year-old sister in a family squabble five years ago. They have not made public any evidence suggesting El'Shukri-jumah is a threat, and they won't say under what conditions Khalid Shaik Mohammed -- now under interrogation at an undisclosed location -- made the identification. ''Has he been deprived of sleep? Food? We have no idea, and they won't tell us, what measures they have taken to elicit this information,'' said Altaf Ali, local director of the Council on Islamic-American Affairs. ``Yet, they are willing to . . . label this man public enemy No. 1.'' -- "FBI sees terror; family sees good son Ex-resident of Miramar being sought in terror case ," BY DAVID KIDWELL AND LARRY LEBOWITZ (Natalie McNeal contributed), The Miami Herald, 03/31/2003
DECEMBER 2003 : (GUYANA : GEORGE BACCHUS SEES A MAN WHO RESEMBLES ADNAN SHUKRIJUMAH IN A MONEY EXCHANGE OFFICE IN GEORGETOWN) [George] Bacchus [later] said he was “90 per cent” sure he had seen the man in a money exchange office in Georgetown as recently as December [2003]. --- "Terror suspect has close links to Caribbean; FBI keeps tabs on Trini friends ," AP writer Bert Wilkinson, in Georgetown, Guyana, contributed to this report. , Trinidad Guardian, 05/28/04
DECEMBER 2003 : (GUYANA : ACCORDING LATER MAY 2004 INTERVIEW OF GEORGE BACCHUS, EL SHUKRIJUMAH STOPPED AT THE 'SWISS HOUSE FOREIGN EXCHANGE CAMBIO' OWNED BY FAROUK HAZACK IN LATE 2003) George Bacchus, a dairy farmer and businessman, told The Herald he saw Shukrijumah several times late last year [2003] at a money-exchange office in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, a small country on the northern coast of South America....
Bacchus said he was shown photographs of Shukrijumah at the U.S. embassy, where he had gone to try to identify suspects in his brother's murder. His brother was killed Jan. 5 by members of a state-sponsored death squad, he claimed. ''They showed me photos from several angles, at least four -- and I am certain that is the man,'' Bacchus said. ``He used to collect money from a cambio dealer. I could have helped the Americans catch him, but I had to leave town after my brother died.'' An official at the U.S. Embassy confirmed Bacchus visited the mission after his brother's murder, but said she could not confirm or deny the reported sighting of Shukrijumah....
...Sources in Guyana said U.S. intelligence agents focused their search on the nearby Caribbean island of Trinidad because they believed he had links to Muslim extremist groups there. But no known sightings of Shukrijumah occurred until Bacchus went to authorities. Bacchus said he saw Shukrijumah at least three times at the Swiss House Foreign Exchange Cambio, a money-exchange office on Water Street in Georgetown. The last time he saw him was shortly before Christmas, he said....
...Bacchus said Shukrijumah and the owner of the exchange, Farouk Razack, appeared to be friends. Razack told The Herald he had no contact with the terror suspect, but he did say he was acquainted with his father, 73-year-old Shaykh Gulshari Muhammed el Shukrijumah. ''His father and my father are friends,'' Razack said. ``They worshipped at the same mosque together. That was a long time ago.''-- "MIRAMAR : Terror suspect was sighted," BY BERT WILKINSON AND KARL ROSS, The Miami Herald, Posted on Fri, May. 28, 2004, http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/8778914.htm?1cDECEMBER 22 -- ? , 2003 - ...: (NEST TEAMS? : US : TEAMS OF SCIENTISTS FAN OUT ACROSS THE COUNTRY - DC, NY, LAS VEGAS, LA CA & BALTIMORE - WITH RADIATION DETECTION EQUIPMENT) Fear that "terrorists" might set off a dirty bomb prompted US authorities to raise the country's level of alert to "orange" or high, a US newspaper said. Based more on experts' belief that al-Qaeda might attempt to set off a dirty bomb during the end-of-year celebrations than real information, the Department of Energy sent scores of nuclear scientists with detection equipment to five major cities, The Washington Post reported. The scientists were disguised as normal citizens and their radiation detection equipment placed inside luggage, brief cases or golf bags, officials involved in the emergency effort told the daily. Beginning on December 22, the teams covered Washington, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Baltimore around the clock, taking measurements. Only in Las Vegas did the needles spike inside a storage unit on December 29. The radiation, it turned out, came from a cigar-size radium pellet -- used to treat cancer -- that a homeless man had found and stashed away among his meager belongings, the officials said. The homeless man, whose identity was not disclosed, assisted authorities in their search and was not arrested. -- "Dirty bomb was main focus of US' end-of-year high alert: report," Agence France-Presse, 1/07/04
MAY 2004 : (GUYANA : GEORGE BACCHUS SAYS US EMBASSY SECURITY OFFICIALS SHOWED HIM PHOTOS OF SHUKRIJUMAH THIS YEAR- BACCGUS IS 90% SURE HE HAD SEEN SHUKRIJUMAH AS RECENTLY AS DECEMBER 2003) a man in Guyana, George Bacchus, said US Embassy security officials had shown him a photo of El Shukrijumah this year. Bacchus said he was “90 per cent” sure he had seen the man in a money exchange office in Georgetown as recently as December. Bacchus has been at the centre of controversy in Guyana, after accusing the country’s interior minister of directing a hit squad that killed his brother. This month, president Bharrat Jagdeo appointed an independent commission to investigate.-- "Terror suspect has close links to Caribbean; FBI keeps tabs on Trini friends ," AP writer Bert Wilkinson, in Georgetown, Guyana, contributed to this report. , Trinidad Guardian, 05/28/04
MAY 2004 a Thursday : (GUYANA : EL SHUKRIJUMAH'S RELATIVES TELL THE MIAMI HERALD THAT HE WAS THERE IN JANUARY 2004 BUT THEY DON'T KNOW WHERE HE WENT) Relatives living in a Georgetown suburb said Shukrijumah had been in the country as recently as January [2004] , but said they had no idea where he went. ''We don't want to talk about this,'' one of two female relatives said Thursday outside the family home. ``We have had enough and are tired.'' The two women would not give their names. In the past, relatives acknowledged Shukrijumah had stayed in Guyana, where his father was a prayer leader at the Peters Hall mosque. The father later traveled to Saudi Arabia to study theology. The elder Shukrijumah was in that country when Adnan was born, relatives said.-- "MIRAMAR : Terror suspect was sighted," BY BERT WILKINSON AND KARL ROSS, The Miami Herald, Posted on Fri, May. 28, 2004, http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/8778914.htm?1c
MAY 2x, 2004 : (TRINIDAD : ZAINOOL ALI SPEAKS WITH ADNAN EL SHUKRIJUMAH'S FATHER) [Zainool] Ali said he spoke last week with El Shukrijumah’s father, who lives in Miramar, Florida. His parents had not heard from him [Adnan el Shukrijumah] and did not know where he was, Ali said. -- "Terror suspect has close links to Caribbean; FBI keeps tabs on Trini friends ," AP writer Bert Wilkinson, in Georgetown, Guyana, contributed to this report. , Trinidad Guardian, 05/28/04
MAY 26, 2004 : (ASHCROFT PRESS CONFERENCE : SHUKRIJUMAH) On May 26, Director Mueller and Attorney General Ashcroft held a press conference to call renewed attention to 7 individuals we believe pose a real and present danger to U.S. interests around the world--perhaps most especially this summer and fall, a time of high profile public events that may well serve as a lightening rod to terrorist attacks. Director Mueller spoke frankly about the heightened threat to U.S. interests during these months, and equally frankly about strong FBI efforts to prevent attacks. "This summer and fall our nation will celebrate a number of events that serve as powerful symbols of our free and democratic society." he said. "Unfortunately, the same events that fill most of us with hope and pride are seen by terrorists as prime vehicles for sowing fear and chaos." "We need the support of the American people," he said. First to cooperate when called upon, as agents will be reaching out to many across the nation to help gather information and intelligence. Second, to be aware of your surroundings and report anything suspicious. Third, to "BOLO" for those pictured above. In Director Mueller's words: "Have you seen them in your communities? Have you heard that someone might be helping them to hide? Do you have any idea where they might be? If so, we need you to come forward." Please click on each of the pictured photos or go to Seeking Terrorism Information to find out things like: Age, physical description, and distinguishing marks. Aliases Reward offered. If you have any information that might lead to locating any of these individuals, please contact us. You may report information to your nearest FBI field office or law enforcement agency. If you are located overseas, you may contact your closest FBI Legal Attaché office in U.S. Embassies. You may also send information through our Submit a Tip site. -- "FBI Most Wanted Terrorist Photos," KNEW 910 AM • com, 5/26/04
MAY 27, 2004 Thursday : (CONFIRMED REPORT : FBI SENT AGENTS TO QUESTION FOUR TRINIDADIANS ABOUT THE WHEREABOUTS OF ADNAN EL SHUKRIJUMAH; EL SHUKRIJUMAH HAD BEEN TO TRINIDAD AND HED LEFT ON A BWIA FLIGHT TO LONDON, UK) Police confirmed yesterday [May 27, 2004] that four members of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) visited Trinidad last year [2003] to question four nationals about the whereabouts of Saudi Arabian-born, Adnan G El Shukrijumah. Police said the FBI agents arrived with the names and addresses of the four Trinidadians, asking for assistance in locating them as part of US authorities’ search for El Shukrijumah. An elite section of the Police Service took the FBI agents around during their investigations. AP reporter Michael Smith yesterday identified the four as Zainool Ali, Munaf Mohammed, Imtiaz Mohammed and Nizam Ali. However, police said the FBI agents were unable to gather useful information from the four on the whereabouts of El Shukrijumah, whose father once lived here and taught at an Islamic school.
However, police said they were able to tell the FBI agents that El Shukrijumah visited Trinidad sometime ago and left for London via a BWIA flight. Law enforcers here said the Saudi national was in possession of several passports including a T&T one. They could not say how he obtained the T&T document. “We don’t know where he got it from,” a senior officer said. -- "Agents drew blanks in T&T — cops," AP via http://www.guardian.co.tt/news1.html 05/27/04, 31770 bytesMAY 27, 2004 : (ADNAN EL SHUKRIJUMAH IS IN HONDURAS) [Honduran security ministry spokesman Leonel Sauceda] said he [Adnan Guishar El Shukrijumah aka Jafar al-Tayar] was in Honduras on May 27. -- "Suspected al-Qaeda member planned to blow up Panama Canal: Honduras," AFP via DrudgeReport, Wed Jun 30 2004 14:53:29 ET
[* My note: Honduran officials would later say he was plotting to attacks along the Panama Canal]MAY 28, 2004 : (UK : FINSBURY PARK MOSQUE'S CLERIC ABU HAMZA ARRESTED- MOSQUE HAD ONCE BEEN ATTENDED BY ZACHARIAS MOUSSAOUI, SHOEBOMBER RICHARD REID AND JAMES UJAAMA) Banned from preaching in the notorious Finsbury Park mosque, Hamza, until arrested early Thursday morning, was preaching his message of hatred and destruction of his Western hosts out on the sidewalk instead – mainly to crowds of impressionable young Muslims born in Britain. Among those who previously attended his mosque were Zacarias Moussaoui, whom the US has accused as being the intended 20th hijacker on Sept. 11, Richard Reid, the so-called “shoe bomber,” and James Ujaama, who was arrested in Seattle and accused of attempting to set up Al Qaeda training camps in the U.S. When police raided Finsbury Park mosque in 2002, they seized hundreds of documents, including a number of fake French passports and stolen or counterfeit credit cards. -- "Snatching Captain Claw," by Val MacQueen, FrontPageMagazine.com 5/28/04
MAY 28, 2004 : (PANAMANIAN OFFICIAL SAYS EL SHUKRIJUMAH HAD BEEN IN PANAMA FIVE MONTHS BEFORE 9/11 2001 ATTACKS) "...Even Panama, a country known more for its canal than terrorism, has been included in the search. Officials said Wednesday they are trying to track down a man identified as Adnan Gulshair El Shukrijumah, of Saudi Arabia. Panamanian Security Council Chief Ramiro Jarvis said El Shukrijumah arrived in Panama legally from the United States in April 2001 — five months before the Sept. 11 terror attacks — and stayed in Panama for 10 days. He also visited Trinidad and Tobago for six days the next month. "We don't know exactly what he did during his stay and it is important to find out," Jarvis said. ..." -- CBS, May 28, 2004," http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/07/terror/main621523.shtml
JUNE 30, 2004 Wednesday : (HONDURAN OFFICIALS REPORT THAT EL SHUKRIJUMAH aka JAFAR AL-TAYAR, PLANNED TO ATTACK A TOARGET OR TARGETS ALONG THE PANAMA CANAL) A man believed to be a member of al-Qaeda plotted to blow up the Panama Canal, a spokesman for the Honduran security ministry told the AFP Wednesday. Leonel Sauceda confirmed Security Minister Oscar Alvarez's comments to local media that the 38-year-old suspect -- identified as Adnan Guishar El Shukrijumah, or Jafar al-Tayar, who was in Honduras late last month -- "planned to plant explosives in the Panama Canal to hamper boat traffic in the area." Alvarez's remarks were published in the daily La Tribuna on Wednesday, along with four photos of the suspect. International intelligence officials have offered a five-million-dollar reward for information leading to his capture.
Alvarez did not say when Shukrijumah entered or left the country, nor through which country he had traveled. But Sauceda said he was in Honduras on May 27. ...Developing...-- "Suspected al-Qaeda member planned to blow up Panama Canal: Honduras," AFP via DrudgeReport, Wed Jun 30 2004 14:53:29 ET
Venezuelan Arabs Stung by U.S. Charges Like Arab nations and communities around the globe, most of Margarita's well-established Muslim traders bitterly oppose the U.S.-British invasion of Iraq, seeing it as an unlawful and unjustified attack against their race and religion. But the Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians who have made this tropical resort and duty-free zone their home for decades are even more angry about what they see as another American affront, this time leveled directly against them.
Allegations by a top U.S. military chief that Margarita is a base for radical Islamic groups posing a potential terrorist threat have angered both the 12,000-strong Arab community and the government of Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez. "We have nothing to do with terrorism here. Pure business, that's what we do," Naim Awada, who emigrated from Lebanon 20 years ago, told Reuters in his clothing store in Porlamar. All around him, shop names like Nabil Import, El Laden Mustafa and Flower of Palestine attest to the strong Arab presence on Margarita, an island of tourist hotels, arid hills and abundant beaches off Venezuela's eastern Caribbean coast. Arab community leaders and Venezuela's government say the allegations by the Pentagon's top soldier for Latin America, Gen. James Hill, are really part of a wider campaign by foes of Chavez to try to discredit the populist president abroad. They say Chavez' opponents, who have failed to topple him over the last year despite a short-lived coup and a crippling two-month anti-government strike, are seeking to paint him as a dangerous anti-U.S. maverick collaborating with terrorism. The debate is more than just academic for Washington because Chavez, a former paratrooper and coup plotter elected in 1998, rules over the world's No. 5 oil exporter that is also one of the top suppliers of crude oil to the United States.***
9 posted on 04/22/2003 9:37:27 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Also
Speaking at a conference labelled "The Middle East Terrorist Connection in Latin America and the Caribbean," Bishop indicated that the tri-border area shared by Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, in addition to Margarita Island off Venezuela, Colombia, and Trinidad & Tobago are among the places in the hemisphere where international terrorist groups are engaged in illicit activities. Bishop said that international terrorist groups in these areas are engaged in laundering money, forging documents, and transporting drugs, arms and illegal aliens. These activities, he noted, generate millions of dollars for terrorists around the world. -- "U.S. Officials Outline Counterterrorism Cooperation in Western Hemisphere ," US Dept of State, International information programs, Washington File, 03 March 2004, via http://www.iwar.org.uk/news-archive/2004/03-03-3.htm
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radioactive dirtybump
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