This guy was studying up on how to poison us with cyanide.
Wonder how Obama would like it if this guy and his buddies visit the next DNC convention and try out what they’ve learned?
The IL General Assembly: terrorist aides
Illinois Leader ^ | December 31, 2003 | JILL STANEK
[snip]...About al-Marri, Newsweek reported:
“During his interrogation, KSM identified a man named Ali S. Al-Marri as ‘the point of contact for AQ operatives arriving in the US for September 11 follow-on operations.’ KSM described Al-Marri as ‘the perfect sleeper agent because he has studied in the United States, had no criminal record, and had a family with whom he could travel.’... The Qatari national had returned to the United States on Sept. 10, 2001, to pick up a graduate degree in computer information systems from Peoria’s Bradley University.... Al-Marri’s apartment was filled with Islamic jihadist materials. His computer included bookmarked Web sites for hazardous chemicals, computer hacking and fake IDs, according to court documents. Bookmarks in an almanac marked entries for dams, reservoirs and railroads.”
Newsweek mentioned another Illinois connection: “The terror network allegedly dispatched... Jose Padilla to scout out the possibility of building a radiological device, a so-called dirty bomb (arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare airport in early 2002, he is being held as an ‘enemy combatant’ in military jail).”
If Luciano is correct that only three alleged terrorists have been named in the U.S. as enemy combatants, two were apprehended in Illinois.
Remember also, in December 2001 the Treasury Department and FBI froze assets and confiscated records of the Global Relief Foundation in Bridgeview and the Benevolence International Foundation in Palos Hills for alleged links to terrorist financing. This marked only the fifth block of assets at that time by the U.S. government post 9-11.
How did the Illinois General Assembly and Governor Blagojevich respond?
In the midst of FBI terrorist arrests in Chicago and Peoria, confiscation of suspected terrorist records in Palos Hills and Bridgeview, an unparalleled state budget crisis, and a corruption investigation of public officials stemming from a van explosion and burning deaths of six Illinois children caused by a driver who couldn’t speak English, they passed a law in May giving in-state tuition status to illegal aliens.
The GA also toyed with giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. Fortunately, public pressure stifled that great idea. The GA might be interested in another tidbit by Newsweek: “Qaeda operatives seem to be dangerous drivers. [Iyman] Faris was busted for speeding in 1996 and for ‘failure to control his vehicle’ in 1997, when he flipped his vehicle on a highway exit ramp, local officials say. An arrest for drunken driving marred the otherwise clean record of another suspected sleeper agent whose story is a chilling example of Al Qaeda’s foothold in the American heartland.”
That “sleeper agent” - the “chilling example of Al Qaeda’s foothold in the American heartland” - was al-Marri.
.....[/snip]
Oh well, at least Governor Blagojevic is in jail.