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Al-Qaida Plot Revealed in Sarajevo "in Sarajevo something will happen to Americans similar to 9/11"
AP/Yahoo ^ | Sat Mar 23,10:48 AM ET | ALEXANDAR S. DRAGICEVIC

Posted on 03/23/2002 1:28:30 PM PST by Spar

Al-Qaida Plot Revealed in Sarajevo

Sat Mar 23,10:48 AM ET

By ALEXANDAR S. DRAGICEVIC, Associated Press Writer

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) - Al-Qaida terrorists planned a devastating attack on Americans in Sarajevo after meeting in Bulgaria to identify European targets, a high-ranking Bosnian official said Saturday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that intelligence reports on the meeting in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, prompted a special government session Thursday night to discuss threats against the U.S. Embassy and embassies of European countries. He did not name the countries.

At the Sofia meeting, members of al-Qaida decided that "in Sarajevo something will happen to Americans similar to New York last September," said the official. He did not say when the al-Qaida meeting was held or who attended.

The U.S. Embassy in Bosnia shut down to the public on Wednesday after receiving word of a possible terrorist threat. The embassy closed entirely on Friday.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Karen Williams declined to comment on the situation Saturday. Bosnian special police forces were seen around the compound along with normal U.S. security units.

In Sofia, Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry said it had received no information on such a meeting, either "from Bosnian authorities or from any other official sources." It promised an investigation if "this information proves to be serious."

On Tuesday, just a day before the U.S. Embassy received the threats, Bosnian police raided an Islamic charity, Bosnian Ideal Future, also known as Benevolentia International Foundation, seizing weapons, plans for making bombs, booby-traps and bogus passports.

On Friday, police announced they had arrested Munib Zahiragic, a Bosnian citizen and the head of the Bosnian chapter of the charity. Zahiragic is also a former member of the Bosnian Muslim secret police, AID.

Zahiragic was arrested on charges of espionage, which carries a maximum 10 years in prison. No details on whom he was supposed to be spying for were released.

As a part of the war on terrorism, Bosnia's government in January ordered an investigation into the work of foreign humanitarian agencies. Two weeks ago, investigators reported funds were missing from three Islamic charities, among them Benevolentia.

The United States recently froze the assets of Benevolentia, with head offices in Illinois and New Jersey.

The U.S. and British embassies were closed for several days in October because of terrorist threats. They reopened after local police arrested six naturalized Bosnians, all of them Algerian natives, suspected of plotting post-Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. interests in Bosnia and elsewhere.

The suspects were handed over to U.S. authorities in January, and now are being held at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Five of the six were employed as humanitarian aid workers; one was suspected of being Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s top lieutenant for Europe.

More than 1 million Muslims live in Bosnia, most of them native to the country but also including dozens of former Islamic fighters, or mujahedeen, who came mostly from the Middle East to fight on the Muslim side in the 1992-1995 war against the country's Serbs and Croats.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: balkans; bosnia; campaignfinance; espionagelist; islamicviolence; kosovo; monarchistsonfr; sarajevo; serbia; taqiyyalist; terrorwar
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To: SarahW
LOL. Fantastic job.
41 posted on 03/23/2002 7:12:50 PM PST by Aggie Mama
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Comment #42 Removed by Moderator

To: zandtar
Salon.com outsources content just like every other media service. The source and © for this story Pacific News Service and the author is Thomas Goltz, a long-time foreign correspondent, was a finalist for the Rory Peck Prize for his documentary on the town of Samashki in Chechnya, which was broadcast on PBS in 1996. His book on Azerbaijan, "Requiem for a Would-Be Republic," will be re-issued by ME Sharpe (USA) early next year.

Are you still ROFLOLing?

43 posted on 03/23/2002 7:17:30 PM PST by Spar
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Comment #44 Removed by Moderator

Comment #45 Removed by Moderator

To: zandtar
Trying to force a Roman Catholic backwoods beaurocrat no ones ever heard about on a Buddhist nation doesn't help your cause either,many times America looses because they back no-hopers
46 posted on 03/23/2002 7:28:40 PM PST by Governor StrangeReno
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To: Spar
Are you still ROFLOLing?

Normally, anything posted by Salon I question. So I did a bit of searching around for this author. Found this article written by him as well. Rather interesting read. Interesting Article by Thomas Goltz

47 posted on 03/23/2002 7:32:13 PM PST by zandtar
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To: a_Turk; Lazarus Long
This business this week in Bosnia jogs a memory from May, 1994 at the Commencement of the U.S. Naval Academy in Marine Stadium with the names of the battles on the walls.

The traitor-rapist came in in Marine One and the multimillion dollar bombproof POTUSmobile from the LZ.

He spent 32 minutes lying that he would never put our people in Bosnia, and that he could not unilaterally break the arms embargo and arm the Bosnians.

One, he did put our people in Bosnia, for one year, for an additional 18 months, forever. Two, he was contemporaneously allowing the Iranians to arm the Bosnians.

Subsequent analysis suggested they laid a network of intelligence connections that has remained.

Iran today operates madrasahs and arms Syria--having been the recipient of arms and technical support from Russia, North Korea and China.

Turkey is our ally. The situation worldwide is complex. There are fifth column elements in our congress, useful idiots in our Federal bureaucracy, cells in our cities.

With cool heads we will prevail, as I sense we do share a common cause.

If Daschle would get off the dime we could begin to undo the eight years of intentional degradation of our military's readiness, training, equipment, spares, arsenal, and morale perpetrated by the traitor-rapist.

As I posted last night we do have roughly 6400 warheads in the event anyone gets a case of adventurism.

48 posted on 03/23/2002 7:53:38 PM PST by PhilDragoo
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To: zandtar
I am glad you approve of my source.
49 posted on 03/23/2002 7:57:36 PM PST by Spar
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To: PhilDragoo; a_Turk; Lazarus Long
This business this week in Bosnia jogs a memory..One, he did put our people in Bosnia, for one year, for an additional 18 months, forever. .

US Attacks Put Spotlight on Bosnia Muslim Community ``Osama is our brother''

Two, he was contemporaneously allowing the Iranians to arm the Bosnians. Subsequent analysis suggested they laid a network of intelligence connections that has remained. Iran today operates madrasahs and arms Syria--

Did you write Syria and arms smuggling? Argentina's Menem's is of Syrian origin Argentina's Menem to be freed in arms case (Clinton used him to smuggle arms to Bosnian Muslims)

Turkey is our ally. The situation worldwide is complex. There are fifth column elements in our congress, useful idiots in our Federal bureaucracy, cells in our cities.

5th columns indeed Bin Laden In Turkey Twice

50 posted on 03/23/2002 8:13:43 PM PST by Spar
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To: Spar; Admin Moderator
You were banned, obviously not wanted on this forum, why come back under a different name? You even link to the same articles as your former self, Pericles, with "Bin Laden in Turkey Twice." Still maintaining that the US is the ally of Osama? What a loser!
51 posted on 03/23/2002 10:26:58 PM PST by a_Turk
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To: Spar
Yes, I remember Clark saying that we must establish multiculturism in Kosovo.
52 posted on 03/23/2002 10:37:24 PM PST by Bogie
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To: seamole
Former King Simeon II to become Prime Minister (of Bulgaria)

King Simeon II

Simeon Borisov Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was born in Bulgaria in 1937 and educated in England and America. He was proclaimed King when he was six years old, succeeding his father, Boris, who was killed at the end of world War II. Deposed by the Communists in 1946, he fled to Egypt before settling in Madrid where he became Chairman for 13 years of the Spanish subsidiary of Thomson-CSF (Thales SA) and as a business consultant made many connections in Europe and the Middle-East.

Yes this is THE royal family of Europe. Queen Victoria of England's husband Albert was a member. They had family members ruling in Portugal, Belgium, Bulgaria, and England, among others.

I see a definite pattern here. What was the old Pokemon motto? "You've gotta catch them all." It looks like that is what we are doing. Our people are now in charge in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Georgia, etc. Mohammed Aideed's son (former US marine) ready to take over in Somalia. The Shah's son ready to take over in Iran. Iraq -Saddam to be removed and replaced by one of ours.

Maybe the Devine right of Kings has returned. We commoners just could not handle things so the royal families are returning to rule. Maybe the New World Order is a return to the Old World Order. Not to mention that the Bush family are also descendants of the same royal family and are related to Queen Elizabeth.

53 posted on 03/24/2002 1:12:59 AM PST by JDGreen123
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To: Davea
The Chessboard: There may be roles for Russia & China.


54 posted on 03/24/2002 1:25:50 AM PST by JDGreen123
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To: PhilDragoo; a_Turk; Lazarus Long; zandtar; Black Jade; Hamiltonian; Justin Raimondo
a_Turk, I also posted a link to Bin Laden Gate does that mean I am the member known as Beno who posted that article as well? All those links I found on Free Republic and the Bin Laden in Turkey Twice story is from a Turkish newspaper.

Now back to the subject of this story. Bulgaria (and maybe Turkey).

Look at this connection that I found. I find it curious that the chairman of ALARKO, a company that is in the pipeline building business was assasinated just after his meeting with Bulgaria's Deputy Premier!

Jewish-Turkish Tycoon Stabbed to Death

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - The chairman of one of Turkey's largest business holdings and a prominent member of its Jewish community was found stabbed to death Saturday, police said.

Garih headed the ALARKO group, a heating, ventilating and air conditioning company that also does construction in Turkey and central Asia.

Garih had left his office around noon Saturday after meeting with Bulgaria's Deputy Premier Nikolay Vassilev, said Seyit Mehmet Buruk, a spokesman for ALARKO.

``His assassination stunned us,'' the Anatolia news agency quoted Vassilev as saying at a news conference. ``We had our picture taken together. But I could not imagine that (his life) would have been over a few hours later.'' Cash and credit cards were found in his wallet, an unconfirmed news report said.

--------

I also found it curious that the Turkish authorities tried to blame the killing on a patsy Turk police release boy suspected of tycoon murder

Turkish police have released a 13-year-old boy from detention after arresting him on suspicion of killing leading Turkish-born Jewish businessman Uzeyir Garih, state-run Anatolian news agency said on Monday. Garih, an outspoken liberal, was found stabbed to death on August 25 in an Istanbul graveyard.

The agency quoted the teenager as saying that police forced him to confess to the murder by making him take off his shirt and trousers and putting him into a cold room. "They [police] brought me to an air-conditioned freezing place.... They told me that I should tell the truth that I had done it or otherwise they would cut off my head.

"I swore to them I had not done it," he said.

The boy said Garih had given him and a friend 200,000 Turkish lira ($0.14) outside the cemetery and they had not seen him again. Anatolian said a police search of the graveyard on Sunday turned up a sack with the word "Allah" (God) spelled out in blood.

Garih was the co-chairman of Alarko Holding, a major construction group active in Turkey, Russia and Central Asia.

Reuters

----

Later on Turkish authorities arrested another suspect The suspect is a Turkish soldier who fled from his unit. Garih's blood was found on the suspect's shirt, left behind on his military base. It was not readily apparent to police whether the murder was nationalistically or criminally motivated.

The soldier, 26-year-old Yener Yermez, was released from prison in December last year after serving a sentence for manslaughter and robbery. Police say they found Garih's blood on a T-shirt belonging to Yermez taken from the barracks where he was doing compulsory military service. Opposition politicians and media have blamed Garih's killing on the amnesty, pushed through parliament by the government last year, which has seen some 35,000 prisoners freed. Muhammed Tokcan, another prisoner freed in the amnesty, led a band of gunmen who stormed a luxury Istanbul hotel this year and held 120 staff and guests hostage for 12 hours to protest Russia's actions in Chechnya.

But during the trial of murder suspect Yener Yermez, suspicion that Yermez may have been also been a patsy for the crime came up:

NO EVIDENCES COULD BE FOUND ON THE KNIFE

ANADOLU AGENCY NEWS 07 SEPTEMBER 2001 Friday

Neither the blood of businessman Uzeyir Garih, nor the finger prints of suspect Yener Yermez could be found on the knife which Yermez said he used to kill Garih. Experts said, ''the finger prints can be erased, but the blood prints had to be on the knife.''

----------------

Intriguing isn't it?

55 posted on 03/24/2002 1:44:24 AM PST by Spar
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To: JDGreen123
Thanks for the map. #55 fyi.
56 posted on 03/24/2002 1:47:18 AM PST by Spar
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To: seamole
Detective bump for your links # 55 fyi.
57 posted on 03/24/2002 1:52:28 AM PST by Spar
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To: PhilDragoo
If Daschle would get off the dime

And the voters too. Tommy-boy will probably never change his ways, but the voters can make him nothing more then a speed bump in the Senate this Nov.

58 posted on 03/24/2002 2:38:49 AM PST by zandtar
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To: Spar
Intriguing isn't it?

If you're into that sort of thing, I guess. However if you're using that are some sort of argument to base a support that Turkey is supporting Al-Qaeda, you're stretching beyond what the world's largest bungie cord maker could do. The same 'arguments' you posted about the suspects being set up were also the same ones used by OJ, the Clintoon's, that guy who shot all those people on the Long Island subway (forgot his name), etc... Interview convicts in US prisons and you'll find they're stuffed full of "innocent" victims of "conspiracy".

As for Turkey, they're at least arresting known Al-Qaeda members of their population. More then we can say for some of our "allies" within the EU, who are refusing to recognize known terrorist organizations within their own countries, who have assassinated US representatives as well as those from other nations as well.

59 posted on 03/24/2002 2:49:49 AM PST by zandtar
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To: Spar
any idea what the dates were of the meetings in sofia?
60 posted on 03/24/2002 4:49:13 AM PST by thinden
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