'DIRTY BOMB' SUSPECT DRAWN TO FLA. MOSQUE USED BY OTHER TERRORISTS

Boston Globe via Dan Stein Report ^ | 6/13/02 | Tatsha Robertson

[Enemy Of The State]

EMBROKE PINES, Fla. - The American citizen suspected of planning to detonate a radioactive bomb worshiped and studied Islam at a local mosque known by authorities to have been frequented by a number of Muslim extremists.

The Darul Uloom Institute is one of South Florida's largest and most liberal Islamic centers, but center leaders say its size and reputation may be attracting extremists who want to avoid attention.

[aristeides]

Mohamed said Muhajir attended study sessions at the mosque around 1995. Yesterday, Mohamed showed reporters a photograph of Muhajir surrounded by other worshipers. In the photograph, the young man is wearing dark pants, a T-shirt, and a red shawl around his head.

This guy Mohamed seems to be the sole source for any claims about what Padilla was doing in '95. I will remain skeptical until he can somehow document the dating.

No mention in this article of the other Florida mosque Padilla attended, the radical one, Masjid al-Iman.

[L_Von_Mises]

Shimikh Sahadat, an assistant to Mohamed, said he is angry that some people might be using the mosque to spread extremism. ''It's sad to know all these radicals are coming through here. It puts us in a position where people think we are breeding terrorists,'' he said.

If not breeding them, certainly feeding the fire. My question is - Who is funding it?

[neutrino]

If a Christian church were to be a similar hotbed of terrorism, I wonder how long it would be permitted to function? Ah, well....another question I'm not supposed to ask....

[Fred Mertz]

I'd be willing to bet Padilla has at least one tattoo on his left arm, like some reports of JD#2 allege. This is speculation on my part, but I'd bet on it.

[Nita Nupress]

I'd be willing to bet Padilla has at least one tattoo on his left arm, like some reports of JD#2 allege. This is speculation on my part, but I'd bet on it.

There's a tattoo on his right arm, but I can't find anything about his left arm.

 

THE ORLANDO SENTINEL 
June 11, 2002 Tuesday, FINAL 
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A4 

SUSPECTED 'DIRTY BOMB' PLOTTER TURNED VIOLENT EARLY AND OFTEN; JOSE PADILLA HAD THREE FELONY CONVICTIONS BY THE TIME HE MOVED TO FLORIDA IN THE EARLY 1990S. 
John-Thor Dahlburg, National Correspondent 


FORT LAUDERDALE -- By the time he moved to Florida, Jose Padilla had a tattoo of his given name on his right arm and three felony convictions -- for armed robbery, attempted armed robbery and aggravated battery. 

---

The Times (London) 
June 12, 2002, Wednesday 
SECTION: Overseas news 

Many faces of lost boy on odyssey of violence 

BYLINE: James Doran in Washington 


But as he grew up he fell in with perhaps the roughest crowd in the city: the Latin Disciples street gang. His initiation is still visible in a badly gouged tattoo of "Jose" on his right forearm. 

---

 

The Independent (London) 
June 12, 2002, Wednesday 
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 2 

STATE BY STATE, POLICE CHART MUHAJIR'S DESCENT INTO WORLD OF CRIME 
Andrew Buncombe In Washington Abdullah al-Muhajir: Has lived a life of violence 


But such childhood innocence was not to last. Police in Chicago, where his family moved when he was four, and where he later made his home in Florida, paint a picture of a hardened gang member with a long record of violence and a taste for fast cars and guns. He regularly carried a silver .38 revolver in his waistband and his forearm bore the tattoo "Jose".

[Dialup Llama]

Mueller says FBI has no plans for surveillance of mosques

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/695363/posts No time like the present.

[cgk]

This is a different statement, it seems, that Mohamed, (the leader of the Mosque), is making now than he did in the Washington Post story from June 11th about Padilla/"Ibrahim".

Here's the original story link, to the Washington Post, as I cannot post the entire story:

Al Muhajir Alleged to be Scouting Terror Sites

Here is his quote from that story:

Al Muhajir's journey to the Middle East may have begun at two mosques in Florida's Broward County. Darul Uloom Institute was one of the places where he attended Saturday morning courses in 1995. "He used to dress with a shawl over his head. He always had his head covered," said Maulana Shafayat Mohamed, leader of the institute. "It is very unique. It is one out of a million who would do that." Al Muhajir used the name "Ibrahim" during the three to six months that he attended, Mohamed said; the name also appears on marriage records. "He used to come, but he just disappeared. I am so baffled," he said. "He was a very quiet, quiet guy." The institute is known for its liberal approach to Islam. It is more inclusive of women than mainstream Islam and encourages more interaction with the community at large. Mohamed said he was contacted last May by al Muhajir's former wife, Cherie Stultz, who requested counseling. Mohamed said that Stultz told him that she and al Muhajir had divorced, and that he had married an Arab woman and moved to Egypt. His former wife also went by the name Marwah, Mohamed said. Mohamed said he did not know when al Muhajir converted to Islam, and Florida officials said they were uncertain as well.

So, according to Mohamed's own statements, it looks like Padilla/Ibrahim goes from studying/worshipping at the mosque in 1995 for about 3-6 months on Saturday mornings to then studying there for about 2 years, from "around 1995" until 1997, when he "disappeared."

Bizarre.

Mrs Kus

[spycatcher]

Looks like a story that fits someone who was active but went to laying low around 1995.

[Mo1]

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[RaceBannon]

bump

[browardchad]

This guy Mohamed seems to be the sole source for any claims about what Padilla was doing in '95

IMO, this guy Mohamed is trying (or being used) to deflect attention from the Fort Lauderdale mosque -- Masjid Al-Iman. In another story (I'll try to find the exact quote), Mohamed says that Padilla's wife phoned him last year for some vague reason and made a point of reminding him that Padilla attended the Pembroke Pines mosque. How convenient, and how odd -- since she and Padilla were divorced by that time, and he had remarried in Cairo, so the reports say.

Note that the year 1995 keeps popping up in connection to the Pembroke Pines mosque. Also note that the second man arrested, Hassoun, had no connection to the Pembroke Pines mosque -- but instead was connected to the Holy Land Foundation, which is in turn connected to the Fort Lauderdale mosque. Another point -- on the day Padilla was apprehended, the leader of the Fort Lauderdale mosque immediately called a press conference (with the sheriff) to annouce that "there was no record" of Padilla attending services in jail. Meanwhile, there are plenty of witnesses to his having attended the Fort Lauderdale mosque after his "conversion" in '93 -- the same mosque which had a "ministry" in the prison.

[browardchad]

Ping to response #13

[doug from upland]

Mohamed said he encourages the police to visit the mosque, and he knows he could be targeted by people who are not happy with his openness and his public criticism of radicals. `You never know who is watching,'' he said.

============================================

We are watching you, pal. Get used to it.

[elcaudillo]

Each of these mosques needs to be boarded up or razed and the rag-heads deported. They're infesting America with these edifices.

The last time I was in Ohio I saw one large, new mosque at the south end of I-75 at Sharonville and another one at the north end at Perrysburg.