Al Qaeda Plea (Ohio sleeper cell)

ABC ^ | June 19, 2003

[Prodigal Son]

June 19 — An Ohio truck driver who lived a "secret double life" has admitted to meeting with Osama bin Laden and plotting with al Qaeda to launch new attacks in the United States, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today.

Iyman Faris, a U.S. citizen, has pleaded guilty to two counts of providing material support to terrorists, stemming from a variety of plots against targets in the United States, including the Brooklyn Bridge.

"From late 2000 to March of this year, Faris worked in concert with al Qaeda, our enemies, to plot potential attacks against America and its citizens here in his adopted homeland," Ashcroft told a news conference where he announced the indictment against Faris.

Faris worked as an independent truck driver and lived for nearly two decades in Columbus, Ohio. But in recent years, he visited an al Qaeda terror training camp in Afghanistan, met personally with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and assisted the terrorist network with several plans and plots.

"On any given day Iyman Faris appeared to be a hardworking independent truck driver," Ashcroft said.

"But Faris led a secret double life. He traveled to Pakistan and to Afghanistan, covertly met with Osama bin Laden, joined al Qaeda's jihad against America."

The 34-year-old Faris was working closely with the terror network's No. 3 commander, officials claim.

That al Qaeda commander is believed to be Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a top al Qaeda officer who was captured in Pakistan earlier this year.

The indictment also claims Faris was involved in moving money into the United States to fund terrorist activity.

Faris was instructed to get equipment including "gas cutters" to be used to cut suspension wires in the Brooklyn Bridge, a famed New York landmark.

Faris, who was also know as Mohammad Rauf, approached an acquaintance about getting the tools and did Internet research on them, Ashcroft said.

"Faris was instructed to refer to them in code as gas stations," Ashcroft said.

Authorities claim Faris was also supposed to get tools to damage train tracks and cause a derailment.

Eventually Faris traveled to New York to examine possible targets, but concluded the bridge plan was unworkable, Ashcroft said.

"He sent a coded message that 'The weather is too hot,'" Ashcroft said, meaning increased security and the bridge's design were problematic.

Faris was also involved in transferring money to al Qaeda operatives, the indictment says. He also sent numerous coded e-mails discussing the terror plans, and inquiring about the arrest of the al Qaeda commander with whom he was working.

The Ohio resident, who was born in Kashmir, pleaded guilty to the terror charges on May 1, but the indictment was sealed while law enforcement agents pursued related leads, Ashcroft said.

Faris, who became a U.S. citizen in 1999, was also told to spend hours studying ultra-light aircraft for use in a possible attack.

Faris also discussed driving an explosives-laden truck onto an airport tarmac to blow up aircraft on the ground.

Faris reportedly had several previous run-ins with the law, including a citation after he flipped his vehicle on a highway ramp, and a drunken driving arrest.

Targeting ‘Sleeper Cells’

The guilty plea represents another step in the attempt to uncover terrorist sleeper cells in the United States. In May, six men living in the Buffalo, N.Y., suburb of Lackawanna pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism.

The men admitted attending an al Qaeda terror training camp in Afghanistan in the summer of 2001.

The so-called "Lackawanna Six" — all of Yemeni descent — face sentences of between seven and 10 years in prison.

ABCNEWS' Pierre Thomas and Jason Ryan contributed to this report.

[Only1choice____Freedom]

OH NO!!!! Another incident of racial profiling!

[weegee]

Faris, who became a U.S. citizen in 1999

Ask The Imam

To become a citizen of US one has to take an oath of allegiance. is it ok to take the oath?

The oath of allegiance is as follows:

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.

They also ask on the citizenship form the following questions:

If the law requires it, are you willing to bear arms on behalf of US?
If the law requires it, are you willing to perform noncombatant service in the US Armed Forces?
If the law requires it, are you willing to perform work of national importance under civilian direction?

My question is can we answer yes to these questions? is there anything wrong in doing that. what should the answer be: yes or no? could you please kindly give an urgent answer. jazakallah.

Answer: As Muslims, we are duty bound to follow our lives strictly according to Shari’ah. Whatever Shari’ah allows us to do, we will abide by that and whatever Shari’ah has restricted us from, we will refrain from it. Hence, we are not allowed to obey anybody if it is resulting in the disobedience of the Creator, Allah. Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) said, ‘There is no obedience for the creation by disobeying the Creator.’ (Mirqaat vol.7 pg.217; Imdadiyyah).

Hence, keeping this in mind if one is forced to sign the above in order to become a citizen or the only way of attaining citizenship is by acknowledging the above, then one may sign it with the intention that Shari’ah and Deen will always be his yardstick and that he will never sacrifice any of the teachings of Deen.

and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best

Mufti Ebrahim Desai

Also from Ask The Imam

Is it allowed to obtain United States Citizenship so that travelling for deen becomes easier?

They require you to promise to bear arms for the country. The oath of allegiance is as follows:

The Oath of Allegiance I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.

If they require or ask you to bear arms against a muslim country, what should be the response. Their laws are against 4 marraige law of Islaam. Does the pledge cause any "Ilhaad" or any such anti-islamic view? Please answer according to Hanafi Fiqh.

Answer:

1. If your intention is solely to facilitate easier travel, you are permitted to obtain US citizenship. Although the oath of allegiance is un-Islamic in nature, it will not be treated as an 'Islamic oath'. Therefore, you are not compelled to execute the oath.
2. If you are called up to bear arms against Muslims, you are not permitted to do so by Islamic law.
3. The pledge does not constitute Ilhaad.

and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best

Mufti Muhammad Kadwa
FATWA DEPT.

CHECKED AND APPROVED CORRECT: Mufti Ebrahim Desai

Beware the fifth column in our midst.

[CatoRenasci]

Kill him and his family

We don't work corruption of the blood in this country, so unless his family members have committed crimes provable beyond a reasonable doubt, we have to leave them alone. However, I see no objection to executing him once we have squeezed everything he knows out of him.

[MattinNJ]

Absolutely. It's the only thing those animals understand and respect. If Dubya isn't careful, there will be a major attack and Hillary will say "I told you so". She will ascend to the throne on the backs of our dead families.

[Bikers4Bush]

I never said that we had to do it publicly. Whether we work it or not is not relevant to whether we should.

The only thing that stops those animals is the threat to their families. They have no regard for themselves or anyone that is non-muslim, they do however value their own.

We would only have to do this a few times before none of them would be able to stomach the cost. The way I'm beginning to see it, it's a few of their innocents compared to a few thousand of ours.

[Bikers4Bush]

And by them and they I mean terrorists not all muslims even though I do believe that an all out religious war is on the horizon based on the current direction of things.

[commandante_zero]

KSM gives up unimportant schlubs...or is he singin' like a canary?

This one looks like he was way down the food and brain chain.

[weegee]

To hear the left spin it, there is no domestic threat. The only attacks since 9-11 have been "lone nut" muslims.

Good to be assured that progress is being made but I'd rather not hear about it if a supressed report meant that other fifth columnists would proceed as if the agent was still active.