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More about the President of Mayfield's mosque:

Portland Tribune

Mosque leader: Brothers' plan was 'beyond stupid'
Muhammad and Ahmed Bilal admit to trying enter Afghanistan to fight against U.S. forces

By JIM REDDEN AND JANINE ROBBEN Issue date: Fri, Sep 19, 2003
The Tribune

The president of the Beaverton mosque where two members of the so-called Portland Seven worshipped said Thursday that he feels "personally betrayed" by their involvement in a conspiracy to help the Taliban fight against American forces in Afghanistan.

"This is a big disappointment," Shahriar Ahmed said Thursday, when Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal, 25, and Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, 23, each pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to charges of conspiracy and firearms possession.
"It was beyond stupid," Ahmed said of the now-admitted conduct by the brothers, whom he called "well-liked" worshippers at the Bilal Mosque (no relation). "It was beyond -- anything."

As part of their plea agreements, the brothers admitted to possessing firearms in the United States for training purposes.
They also admitted to traveling to Asia in October 2001 to take up arms and die as martyrs, if necessary, to defend the Taliban, the former fundamentalist government of Afghanistan. At the time, the Taliban was under attack by U.S. forces because of its support for the terrorist organization al-Qaida.
Three other charges against Ahmed Bilal were dropped, and two against Muhammad Bilal were dropped.

Only an event beyond their control -- their inability to enter Afghanistan via Pakistan -- kept them from achieving their objective of fighting with the Taliban, both men acknowledged in written plea agreements.

In his agreement, Ahmed Bilal said that after the group's failure to reach Afghanistan he went to Indonesia, where he obtained contact information -- from a person from Portland -- for an Indonesian-based terrorist organization. The agreement said he was trying to decide whether he wanted to participate in a violent "holy war" by other means.
The person who gave Bilal the contact information is not named in the agreement. None of the Portland Seven was in Indonesia at that time, according to previously released information about the case.

In accepting their pleas, U.S. District Judge Robert Jones sentenced Ahmed Bilal to 10 to 14 years in prison. Muhammad Bilal, who entered into a virtually identical agreement, was sentenced to eight to 14 years. If they had gone to trial and been convicted on all charges, they could have received stiffer sentences.

Raised money at mosque

The brothers -- American-born Muslims who spent part of their childhood in Saudi Arabia -- collected thousands of dollars from other worshippers at the Bilal Mosque for their trip to Asia by falsely representing that they needed the money to help their parents in Saudi Arabia, according to mosque President Ahmed.

(yeah, right)

"They said the Saudi government was getting ready to throw their parents out," Ahmed said. "They said their father had told them, 'You have to come back. We're collecting the entire family to decide what to do.' We (the mosque members) felt very angry at the Saudis."

Ahmed said the Bilals were well-liked and admired for their ability to speak both English and Arabic. "Their reading of the Koran (in Arabic) was extremely nice," he said.

(I wonder if they taped some of their lovely readings?)

Ahmed said he knew both brothers "fairly well" personally. "It's my job," he said, adding that he and other worshippers were questioning why they apparently had not been able to influence the young men in more positive ways.
"The community feels utterly disappointed by them," he said. "Such a stupid waste of time on their part. What a waste."

Three set for trial

In entering the pleas, the Bilals joined another of the Portland Seven, Maher Mofeid "Mike" Hawash, in agreeing to cooperate in the investigation and prosecution of "other individuals involved in criminal and terrorist activity."
The 38-year-old Hawash, who apparently was not involved in the firearms possession and training activities, pleaded guilty in August to the less serious conspiracy charge, in exchange for a likely sentence of seven years.

The Bilals' pleas mean that only three of the Seven are scheduled to go to trial in January: Jeffrey Leon Battle; his ex-wife, October Martinique Lewis; and Patrice Lumumba Ford. They are charged with conspiring to levy war against the United States, providing material support and resources to al-Qaida and contributing services to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Ford and Battle also face firearms-related charges, and Lewis and Ford are charged with money laundering for allegedly wiring money to other co-defendants who were in Asia as part of the alleged conspiracies.

One of Ford's attorneys, Marc Sussman, was present when the Bilals entered their pleas Thursday. Asked what the pleas meant for his client, Sussman replied, "Two more witnesses against him."

Unlike previous court appearances, there were no supporters present in the courtroom.
The indictment against the Bilals and Hawash also had included allegations that they had conspired to help al-Qaida; however, none of the three made any admissions concerning al-Qaida as part of their guilty pleas.

A seventh defendant, Habis Abdulla Al Saoub, has not been apprehended.

According to Ahmed Bilal and Hawash, it was Al Saoub -- whom both knew personally -- who solicited them to join a group of individuals planning to travel from Portland to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban. Ahmed Bilal then asked his younger brother to join the group, according to Muhammad Bilal's plea petition.
According to an associate of Ahmed Bilal's, Muhammad Bilal was reluctant to leave to fight in Afghanistan because he had a new baby. The associate said that his older brother persuaded him to do so after speaking to him at great length and "manipulating Islamic scriptures to make him think it was the right thing to do."
The associate, whose statements appear in an arrest affidavit for Hawash, was not quoted by name. She was interviewed by the FBI in March 2002.