Posted on 10/23/2002 2:39:33 AM PDT by Peach
Let's keep a live commentary thread going again today. The FBI Tip Line #1-888-324-9800.
All seems quiet since yesterday's news the shooter may target children specifically. It was released on various news outlets the shooter's 3-page letter to police was in broken English and threatened extreme violence. Police announced an electronic transfer of $10m as requested by the shooter was not possible but other options for transfer remain open. No one seriously believes police will actually give the shooter $$, but police are trying to keep a dialogue open with the shooter in an effort to capture this monster.
The "Torch" was driving the get away car ?
The property that was searched in Tacoma tonight is a duplex, probably a rental and the people living in the duplex at this time are not suspects.
Please don't do that. We have had enough.
Here is another story:
UK-based Islamic terrorists linked to US training camps
Author: David Leppard and Nick Fielding
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 2, 2002
A group of Briton-based Islamic militants has been linked to two secret training camps in America where suspected Al Qaida terrorists were taught to poison water supplies and given weapons training.
A team of MI5 officers will fly to America in the next few weeks to investigate links between British supporters of Osama bin Laden and ranches in Oregon and Alabama.
At least three men arrested in Oregon earlier this month are followers of Abu Hamza, the Muslim cleric whose radical preachings at a north London mosque have attracted several British men to the Al Qaida cause. These include Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, who tried to blow up a passenger jet last Christmas.
Hamza has already been accused by the British and American governments of being a "terrorist financier". He is also wanted for a string of terrorist- related kidnappings in the Middle East.
During a search at one ranch in Bly, Oregon, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officers acting on information from Scotland Yard uncovered what investigators call "instructions in poisoning water sources".
At a second camp near Marion, Alabama, police found bullet-riddled police cars, school buses and dummies. They were thought to have been used as targets in mock raids.
The discoveries reinforced concerns that the remnants of Bin Laden's terrorist group may be planning a chemical or biological attack on the water supplies of America, Britain or another western country. Al Qaida units have recently been caught while planning to poison water supplies in Italy and Algeria.
One of those held by the FBI is James Ujaama, a 36-year-old American convert to Islam who worshipped with Hamza at the Finsbury Park mosque in London. Ujaama has lived on and off in London for the past three years. At the Finsbury Park mosque, where he helped to build and run Hamza's website, he was known as Bilal Ahmed.
He lived in Forest Gate, east London, with his wife Faria and her family. Chas Singh, the family's landlord, said he first met Ujaama two years ago. "He was a fanatical Muslim. I just used to ignore him ... But there were loads of people coming in and out of there. The ones who knew Ujaama were dressed differently to the family. They would wear white outfits". He said Ujaama lived in America and used to travel in and out of Britain frequently.
Ujaama's name surfaced earlier this year after he was identified as an Al Qaida suspect by one of seven Britons held in Camp X-Ray, the US high-security prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Feroz Abbassi, from Croydon, south London, was captured in Afghanistan while fighting for the Taliban. He is said to have told MI5 that he was escorted to an Al Qaida camp in Afghanistan by Ujaama in 2000.
Last week Hamza, who lost an eye and both arms while supporting the Islamic "holy war" against the Russians in Afghanistan, said Ujaama had worked with him for six months at the Finsbury Park mosque. He denied involvement in terrorism and said attempts by the FBI to link him to the Oregon camp were absurd.
What's your take on all of this? I cannot POSSIBLY read everything posted on this thread. YIKES!!
There were only three between mine. LOL!
Here is a link to the story about the camp. It says the camp was used by police officers.
But, I still ask--why Marion, Alabama?
I guess we'll find out soon...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.