Posted on 05/20/2006 3:52:09 PM PDT by STARWISE
Two Saudi men were arrested Friday after they boarded a school bus and rode to Wharton High School in New Tampa.
Students on the bus became alarmed, as did the bus driver, who called ahead. Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies met the bus at the school and detained the men. No one was injured and nothing out of line occurred on the bus, deputies said.
Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, who lives in Apt. 302 in The Point apartments, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20 Monticello Gardens, Apt. 304-A, each were charged with trespassing on school property. Both remained in Orient Road Jail on Friday evening. Bail for each was set at $250.
"Both defendants gave several versions of the reason they took a school bus to a high school," said Hillsborough County sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway.
"They said they wanted to go to Wharton to look around, and then they said they wanted to go there to have some fun, and then they said they wanted to enroll in the English classes there," Callaway said.
"We're not sure if this was a situation of them just being new to this country, or if they were confused or what it was," Callaway said. "We were unsure as to exactly what the final reason was, but it did cause great concern for the students on the bus and for us. One of the guys was wearing shorts with a black trench coat."
While on the bus, the men laughed and spoke in Arabic, Callaway said.
(Excerpt) Read more at tbo.com ...
Having just attended a trial where a Muslim actually was trying to buy the convenience store on the corner in a complicated money-laundering scheme to defraud a bank and send money to terrorist groups in the ME, I can say that this is not unlikely. Or harmless.
I doubt they gave the police their real addresses.
I understand completely, these stores change hands like I change underwear, especially the non fuel ones. Just try buying one from an Muslim, it doesn't happen. They stay in the family
Muslim actually was trying to buy the convenience store on the corner in a complicated money-laundering scheme to defraud a bank and send money to terrorist groups in the ME,...
That doesn't surprise me in the last and sure it happens a lot more than ever reported.
Where they were picked up by the bus driver, on Fletcher and 42nd, is right across the street from the northern border of USF, which is on the barely civilized fringe of “Suitcase City”. Also there is a city bus stop where the kids usually wait to get picked up by the school bus on that corner, I’ve driven by it too many times coming back from my ex-girlfriends place at six am.
Also, I’m not really suprised that the bus driver didn’t catch them initially. Especially since people usually don’t live in that part of town for more than a couple of years, and there are a lot of people who are Central Asian/Middle Eastern near the college. Just for readers reference, Suitcase City’s a rough section of Tampa. So what does suprise me is that a freaked out parent didn’t jump them while they waited at the bus stop. So the guys must have looked pretty young.
It sounds like the school board needs to make some changes based on this incident -- at least in that area -- for the safety of the kids. Bus passes (school ID) might be a start.
These two Saudis certainly exposed a glaring weakness, and considering they were allowed to continue on what appears to be a 30-minute bus ride, I suspect "fear of profiling" is also in play here.
HELLO!
Talk about a bright red flag!!!
Thanks for the ping. I need to read more because I am having trouble understanding what their agenda was!
Reenacting Beslan?
Saudi men arrested for riding on school bus, court date set for next week
http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=31615
By:
Valerie BoeyTampa, Florida - According to investigators when Mana Saleh Almanajam and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran got on the bus at Fletcher and 42nd Street students became suspicious.
J.D. Callaway, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
“They were speaking in Arabic, they were making funny sounds, it was very unusual. It was alarming for the students on the bus.”
A school district spokesperson says bus drivers normally don’t allow strangers on a bus.
Steve Hegarty, Hillsborough County School District
“The bus driver is a regular bus driver but filling in on someone else’s route.”
However the bus driver did the right thing by calling authroites. Deputies arrested the men as soon as the bus arrived to Wharton High School.
J.D. Callaway, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
“One was dressed in a black trench coat it's 80-degrees out, their attire raised questions, their language raised questions, their evasiveness raise questions with the students that raised questions with us.”
Investigators say the men kept giving them conflicting information. Even telling them they were from Morocco instead of Saudi Arabia.
J.D. Callaway, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
“One of their explanations to us was that they wouldn't say they were from Saudi Arabia cause they say if they tell people that, people become alarmed and somewhat fearful.”
The FBI, FDLE and immigration authorities searched their apartments, but found nothing suspicious. Alsidran’s neighbors say he fit right in.
Michael Sinclair, Alsidran’s Neighbor:
““I seen him around, not like personally. Hey what's up, he didn't look suspicious to me, average guy.” ”
Deputies determined the Muslim men are not a threat. They say this isn’t about racial profiling, it’s about keeping students safe.
J.D. Callaway, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
“Anybody whose an adult, gets on a school bus with students is gonna have to answer questions to law enforcement.”
Both men were charged with trespassing and taken to the Hillsborough County Jail. Deputies say the men are enrolled at the English Language Institute at the University of South Florida. But they thought they could find easier classes at Wharton High. It’s part of their immigration requirements, since they arrived to the U-S six months ago.
Valerie Boey, Tampa Bay's 10
Oh YES! I remember that now! It was horrifying!!!!
Whether these men were really stuck on stupid or as I believe, probing another of our weak security areas, we cannot let this story die until it is known in every corner of our land. The terrorists think nothing of blowing apart Muslim children - would they think twice about infidels' children?
I do not know how the ACLU will actually act allthough I can make a good guess how CAIR will react.
I noticed yesterday in the courtroom footage something that was reflected in their mugshots and I was wondering if anyone else noticed this as well.
One fella seems as cocky and arrogant as Scott Peterson. A smiling mug that seems to think he has the world by the balls and that he is untouchable as the "plan" may have him believing.
While the other fella looks as scared as a particular scene I remember from the movie psycho of a woman being attacked in the shower!
Why is there such a differing reaction from these two guys?
I was happy to see their bail was revoked and I am also happy that at least Foxnews was talking about this a little bit this morning.
I hope noone just forgets about this because we are due for another attack and all we can do for the future is smoke these types of operations out and call them what they are. Test runs for the real thing.
Unless it's your kid on the bus.
Even if it's my kid on the buss. Chuckie is an elemental danger. Besides, my kids rode the bus with children their age who'd already had several years of combat against the Russian Army in Afghanistan.
I remember that! I don't think she was over reacting either. My concern is that her experience will cause other people to remain silent out of fear of public ridicule. I don't believe this was a fluke innocent thing. This really concerns me.
Thanks to STARWISE for this update:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1637319/posts
Foreigners Cleared In Bus Scare (Tampa)
TBO ^ | 5-23-06 | Keith Morelli
Posted on 05/23/2006 11:24:56 PM PDT by STARWISE
TAMPA
Why on earth would a school bus driver allow them on the bus? I realize that a school bus is a form of public transportation but this is insane.
Who's Protecting America's Children?
by Laura Mansfield
When the story broke earlier this week about the two Saudi Arabian men arrested for hitching a ride on a Florida school bus, America cringed. Many of us remembered watching as Islamic terrorists in Russia massacred the children of Breslan. And as we watched, many of us pulled our kids closer to us and wondered if the same thing could happen here.
At first glance, you would think that our children are safe in their schools in America. After all, life is not a Bruce Willis movie. Everyone knows that schools do extensive background checks on the people who work there and who are around our children.
Or do they?
As frightening as the incident in Florida may be to parents, it's just the tip of the iceburg. Believe it or not, Afghanistan-trained terrorists have been driving US school busses; teachers convicted of terrorism in Israel have been teaching in US schools.
Mohamed SALAH: Teaching the Children of Chicago
Take the case of Mohamed SALAH. SALAH, currently under federal indictment in Chicago. US Attorney General John Ashcroft said the following about SALAH and the others named in the indictment: ""This cell allegedly financed the activities of a terrorist organization that was murdering innocent victims abroad, including American citizens."
Ashcroft said the plans go back as far as 1998.
"The indictment ... alleges that the affairs of the enterprise were committed through multiple acts of conspiracy to commit and solicitation of first degree murder, conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim or injure persons in a foreign country, money laundering ... providing material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations" and other crimes. In addition to racketeering, SALAH, 51, was charged with providing material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization and obstruction of justice.
SALAH was arrested by Israeli intelligence in 1993 on a visit to Israel, and confessed to recruiting Islamic militants and then helping to instruct them in the use of poisons, chemical weapons and explosives. The training supposedly occurred in the late 1980s. In 1991, SALAH allegedly served as a financial agent for Hamas, opening accounts at a number of Chicago-area banks. He spent several years in prison in Israel, and upon his release he returned to the US.
What job did the man, who had formerly worked in Arab grocery stores, as a used car salesman, and with the Quranic Literacy Institute, get?
SALAH also worked for a time as a substitute teacher for the Chicago Public Schools. He also applied for a job as a part-time lecturer on computer systems at City Colleges of Chicago's Olive-Harvey College. He was fired in 2003 for failing to disclose the Israel conviction, and was removed from the list of approved substitutes for the Chicago Public Schools at the same time he was fired by Olive-Harvey College.
Mohamed Kamal ELZAHABI: Driving the Children of Minneapolis
Consider the case of Mohamed Kamal ELZAHABI. ELZAHABI was indicted this year on two counts of lying to agents with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in connection with an international terrorism investigation.
According to a criminal complaint filed earlier in the case, ELZAHABI allegedly attended a jihad military training camp and fought in Afghanistan in 1988 and 1989. Later, he acted as a sniper in combat and also served as an instructor in small arms and sniper skills for other jihadists attending the Khalden training camp in Afghanistan.
Records show he passed the school bus driver portion of his CDL on Oct. 17, 2001, a date Pearson said was around the time First Student hired him and he began driving routes.
On September 11, 2001, ELZAHABI applied with First Student of Minneapolis, to become a school bus driver. ELZAHABI spent four months as a First Student school bus driver in late 2001, transporting students for the Minneapolis Public Schools. The company fired him in January of 2002 after he failed to report to work, said Jeff Pearson, region vice president with First Student, Inc. First Student is based in Cincinnati, OH, and employs 19,000 drivers on 15,000 school buses nationwide.
ELZAHABI also held Commercial Driver's Licenses in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Minnesota, and also had a HAZMAT certification.
Shaping the Minds of Our Children Sets the Future Course
Article 15 of the charter of Hamas states as follows: It is necessary that scientists, educators and teachers, information and media people, as well as the educated masses, especially the youth and sheikhs of the Islamic movements, should take part in the operation of awakening (the masses).
Rafiq JABER agrees, saying: "Formerly most Muslims were doctors and engineers. Now more are getting into political science, law, teaching and journalism."
Jaber was an award-winning salesman with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company until his retirement in 1997.
But Jaber also served as president for two years of the Bridgeview Mosque. He also is a founder of the Chicago chapter of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) and a past IAP national president and national chairman.
The IAP was founded by Mousa Abu MARZOOK, the head of the political wing of Hamas, who is currently under federal indictment on terrorism charges (According to the US Justice Department, Abu MARZOOK is a senior commander of the Islamic terrorist group HAMAS. From his current residence in Syria, Abu MARZOOK openly advocates and celebrates suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.) . The Islamic Association for Palestine openly sends out Hamas communiqués, and in filings in federal court cases, federal agents have described IAP as the propaganda arm for Hamas in this country. . IAP has reproduced and distributed Hamas's charter (which calls for the total destruction of the State of Israel) across the United States, has produced training material for terrorists on how to interrogate suspected "collaborators," and has even sponsored a Hamas-affiliated music troupe whose theme song includes the lyrics "We Buy Paradise with the Blood of the Jews."
Jaber's other credentials include co-founder of the Chicago chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC); a co-founder with Omar Ahmad of San Jose, CA and Nihad Awad of Washington, DC of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR); and a member of the American Muslim Alliance (AMA) and the Arab American Institute (AAI).
In an interview with the Washington Report for Middle East Affairs magazine, Jaber is quite open about how he expects change to occur:
"The problem is that we've been looking to start from the roof instead of the foundation," he explains. "If we start from the grassroots, senators and presidents will come to us. When you go to visit a member of Congress, he'll listen to you if he knows you can bring him votes or donations."
"Politicians don't get elected to Congress because they're dummies. They're practical and they're realistic. You can see that the IAP is one of the most effective organizations. We don't compromise our principles."
Preventing a Tragedy
In a letter to the editor in today's New York Post, Robert Lewis says the following:
Anyone who thinks that a massacre like the one in Russia couldn't happen here is living in a fool's paradise.
All of our schools are gun-free zones.
If just one radical Islamist with an automatic rifle walked into one of our schools, what would the teachers do? To borrow from Zell Miller, would they throw spitballs at the terrorists?
Are any schools ramping up any training programs, providing instruction to teachers and administrators on how to handle a terrorist attack? Or do they respond as the administrator I spoke with, who said: "Come on, we're in a small town, hours from a major city. The terrorists don't even know where we are. This is not New York or Washington, DC."The people of Breslan, a small rural farming village probably felt the same way two weeks ago.
Teachers certainly know how to handle a fire drill; domestic events like Columbine show us that that they need to be equally prepared for a terror threat, whether it comes from within or from foreign groups.
The training is available. Groups like Operation Shiloh offer extensive counter terror training for civilians. According to OpShiloh.com: After September 11, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft called on Americans to establish "anti-terrorism neighborhood watches." In that vein, the OpShiloh team has been urging you to form a Volunteer Security Committee (VSC) in your church, synagogue, school or organization. Every church, synagogue, school and community center should have a security committee, and those people should take the OpShiloh course. If your organization does not have a security committee, we will show you how to start one. While the Department of Homeland Security is doing a great job, it must be understood that they are focused on protecting hard targets and critical infrastructure such as nuclear power plants, bridges & tunnels, and the transportation, electrical and communications grids. There literally hundreds of thousands of unprotected, high-value soft targets in the US - places like churches, synagogues and schools. Your VSC can help fill this security.
We need to start by making sure that those who are with our kids for 1/3 of their day have the best interests of the children at heart.
Now with all fairness, most of the Muslims teaching and working with our children are equally horrified at what happened in Breslan. But can we afford to have those with ties to violent terrorist groups working with our kids?
I don't think so.
Permalink: BLOG.LAURAMANSFIELD.COM/2006/05/24/whos-protecting-americas-children.aspx
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