Posted on 09/17/2002 7:52:22 PM PDT by Shermy
PORTLAND - ABC News reports the FBI is investigating possible al Qaeda terror cells in several major U.S. cities, including Portland.
Agents are reportedly focusing on New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Houston, Detroit, Miami, Buffalo, Seattle and Portland.
The FBI is particularly interested in several dozen U.S. citizens believed to have trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan during the late 90s. The news has piqued interest in Oregon as questions arise about certain members of a mosque in southwest Portland.
First there was the arrest last week of Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, a leader of the mosque the Islamic Center of Portland.
Authorities said Kariye was discovered at Portland International Airport with a one way ticket, several thousand dollars in cash and a suitcase with traces of TNT inside. His fellow mosque members say there is no way he is a terrorist or even someone with terrorist ties.
However, a court document shows that in 1992, Kariye was one of five board of directors for a charity called the Global Relief Foundation. He is listed as Muhamed Abdirahman, a variation of one the several names he's used in the past.
Last December, the charity was shut down by federal authorities, and it's being investigated for possibly funding al Qaeda's terrorist activities.
There is also Fareed Adlouni, another Portland resident and a member of the same southwest Portland mosque.
He has not been charged, but his name surfaces on court documents as well.
A 1996 fax from Osama bin Laden's personal secretary, Wadih el Hage, asks Adlouni and other brothers at the Islamic Center of Portland for donations to an organization called "Help Africa People."
Earlier that year, el Hage sent a fax to a friend in Texas, asking him to transfer $1,000 to Adlouni's U.S. Bank account in Beaverton.
El Hage is serving a life sentence for his role in the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa that killed over 250 people.
A Lake Oswego Rotary group invited Adlouni and other members of his mosque to speak at one of their meetings last year to share their views on the September 11 attacks.
“The first thing that annoyed people was his refusal to stand and salute the flag,” Rotary member Phil Engstrom said. “We begin our meetings with a flag salute and that tipped people off to what they might expect.”
Engstrom says after a brief introduction about Islam, Adlouni went on to point out there was no direct proof Osama bin Laden was behind the September 11 attacks.
Engstrom says Adlouni also criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East, blaming American sanctions for the lack of food and death of a million children in Iraq.
“It was indeed shocking to the whole club, I think,” Engstrom said. “The reaction was quite uniform in one respect--that we didn't like what we heard.”
Ok, I'm trying to connect the dots. Who was the Texas connection here? I know that Adlouni went to UT - Arlington and graduaduated with an Engineering degree in 1986. Adlouni moved to the northwest in 1988, so who did el-Hage send the fax to? The article didn't say and I didn't find another reference in the comments I've seen so far here.A 1996 fax from Osama bin Laden's personal secretary, Wadih el Hage, asks Adlouni and other brothers at the Islamic Center of Portland for donations to an organization called "Help Africa People."
Earlier that year, el Hage sent a fax to a friend in Texas, asking him to transfer $1,000 to Adlouni's U.S. Bank account in Beaverton.
Your idea to let Vera know how much you are not spending in Portland is great!
Nam Vet
Here's an article for you about foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks, or at least knowledge of something big going down.
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