Feds: Charity Provided Cover for al-Qaida

CHICAGO (AP)--Prosecutors accused an Islamic charity leader of extensive ties with Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, saying he ushered dozens of armed warriors into Bosnia to establish a base there.

Enaam Arnaout ``allowed violent persons both inside and outside of the al-Qaida network to flow to areas of conflict and survive there under the cover of an American charity,'' prosecutors said in court papers made public Friday.

Arnaout, 41, is scheduled to be sentenced Monday on racketeering charges. He admitted defrauding donors to Benevolence International Foundation by sending supplies to military-style units in Bosnia and Muslim rebels fighting Russians in Chechnya.

Prosecutors claim the Syrian-born Arnaout has failed to live up to his promise in a plea agreement to cooperate in the terrorism investigation and give the government information about bin Laden and al-Qaida.

Benevolence, which funneled donations to widows, orphans and the needy across much of the Muslim world, has been largely shut down since Dec. 14, 2001, when federal agents raided its offices in the Chicago suburb of Palos Hills.

Arnaout, who has been jailed since April 2002, acknowledges he was befriended by bin Laden while living in Pakistan years ago. But he denies he is an al-Qaida member and insists he doesn't support terrorism.

Arnaout's lawyers say he knew bin Laden when western Pakistan was a staging area for Afghan fighters who drove occupying Soviet troops from their country. They say he never subscribed to bin Laden's violent views.

The defense attorneys did not immediately return a phone call after the new government filing was made public late Friday afternoon.

Prosecutors said they were prepared to call a former al-Qaida member, Jamal Ahmed al Fadl, to testify at the sentencing.

In the court papers, prosecutors said bin Laden told al Fadl in 1993 ``al-Qaida was using several charities to fund its operations overseas, specifically naming al Birr.''

They said al Fadl met Arnaout and an al-Qaida leader when he went to Croatia in 1992 to gather information for bin Laden.

Prosecutors said Arnaout admitted that Benevolence offices in Bosnia were used to transport dozens of armed men, some from a training camp in Afghanistan, into Bosnia.

Prosecutors said they were prepared to call a former al-Qaida member, Jamal Ahmed al Fadl, to testify at the sentencing. In the court papers, prosecutors said bin Laden told al Fadl in 1993 ``al-Qaida was using several charities to fund its operations overseas, specifically naming al Birr.'' They said that translates into English as ``Benevolence.'' They said al Fadl met Arnaout and an al-Qaida leader when he went to Croatia in 1992 to gather information for bin Laden.

Jamal al Fadl? that's interesting:

* Jamal Ahmad al Fadl :
Bin-Laden has made previous attempts to obtain nuclear materials – according to the FBI’s “supergrass” Jamal al-Fadl. Once a close associate of bin-Laden, al-Fadl made a deal with the FBI that, in return for his life, he would assist them in penetrating bin-Laden’s organisation, Al-Qaeda. He has provided the FBI with hard evidence that he had personally been ordered to offer £1 million for a half-kilo of uranium. Al-Fadl claims that the material came from a nuclear refining plant outside Pretoria, South Africa. His claims formed part of an affidavit for the U.S. Justice Department to extradite two bin-Laden suspects from Britain. And Israeli security sources said this week that they had “credible knowledge” that bin-Laden is planning to buy a tactical “suitcase size” nuclear bomb from Kazakstan, one of the Islamic republics that was once part of the Soviet Union. It was there that Moscow stockpiled a large part of its nuclear arsenal. Osama bin-Laden himself has said: “We don’t consider it a crime if we try to obtain nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.” It is the possibility that he will use the latter that concerns MI5. http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:APNR_aC_LmAC:www.gordonthomas.ie/NUCLEAR.html+%22Serge+Salfati%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 http://www.gordonthomas.ie/NUCLEAR.html

???? : (KHARTOUM, SUDAN : JAMAL AHMAD AL FADL MEETS WITH ABU RIDA AL SURI AT THE IKHLAK CO. IN THE BARAKA BUILDING --- See al Makkee, Basheer, Abu Hajer, WMD : ) After reporting back to al-Makkee, Al-Fadl was sent to speak with a new contact, Abu Rida al-Suri. This meeting took place at the Ikhlak Company in the Baraka building in Khartoum. [My note: Could this be related to Baraka - the Algerian businessman connected to the Iraqi Ambassador to the Vatican, Wissam al-Zahawi?] Al-Suri instructed Al-Fadl to return to Basheer and report that the organization had an “electric machine” capable of testing uranium. Again through an intermediary, Al-Fadl arranged a meeting with Basheer and, in a small house in the town of Bait al-Mal, north of Khartoum, Al-Fadl and al-Suri were shown a cylinder approximately 2-3 feet tall with a lot of words engraved on it. The men were given a note that Al-Fadl was told to deliver to another contact, Abu Hajer, and then await further instructions. Al-Fadl did not recollect exactly what was written on the paper, only that it was written in English, said “South Africa” on it, and contained a serial number.---------excerptred from "Summary Of Al-Fadl’s Testimony: The Star Witness: Jamal Ahmad al-Fadl," via "WMD TERRORISM AND USAMA BIN LADEN," by Kimberly McCloud and Matthew Osborne , CNS Reports, http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/reports/binladen.htm.

The men were given a note that Al-Fadl was told to deliver to another contact, Abu Hajer, and then await further instructions.

Apparently refers to this Abu Hajer, aka M M Salim... need to double check:

1995 before mid year : (BIN LADEN "BEST FRIEND" FORMER IRAQI SOLDIER M M SALIM aka ABU HAJER AL-IRAQI VISITS IRAQ- See WMD, HIKMAT SHAKIR {see Iraq's IIS}) Another facilitator of the relationship [between al Qaeda & Iraq] during the mid-1990s was Mahmdouh Mahmud Salim (a.k.a. Abu Hajer al-Iraqi). Abu Hajer, now in a New York prison, was described in court proceedings related to the August 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania as bin Laden's "best friend." According to CIA reporting dating back to the Clinton administration, bin Laden trusted him to serve as a liaison with Saddam's regime and tasked him with procurement of weapons of mass destruction for al Qaeda. FBI reporting in the memo reveals that Abu Hajer "visited Iraq in early 1995" and "had a good relationship with Iraqi intelligence. Sometime before mid-1995 he went on an al Qaeda mission to discuss unspecified cooperation with the Iraqi government."---- - "The U.S. government's secret memo detailing cooperation between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. ," by Stephen F. Hayes, 11/24/2003, the Weekly Standard, Volume 009, Issue 11

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