Posted on 12/19/2002 6:04:38 PM PST by kattracks
The Clinton-Reno Justice Department refused to allow two veteran FBI agents assigned to the anti-terrorist probe to investigate a key figure tied to Osama bin Laden.
According to ABC News correspondent Brian Ross today, the two agents told him they were ordered to stop investigations into a suspected terror cell linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and the Sept. 11 attacks.
FBI special agents Robert Wright and John Vincent told Ross they were called off criminal investigations of suspected terrorists linked to the deadly bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. U.S. officials say al-Qaeda was responsible for the embassy attacks and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
"September the 11th is a direct result of the incompetence of the FBI's International Terrorism Unit. No doubt about that. Absolutely no doubt about that," Wright said. "You can't know the things I know and not go public."
Noting that, with growing terrorism in the Middle East in the mid-1990s, Wright and Vincent, then based in Chicago, were assigned to track a connection to a suspected terrorist cell that would later lead them to a link with Osama bin Laden. Wright told Ross that when he pressed for authorization to open a criminal investigation into the money trail, his supervisor stopped him.
Let Sleeping Dogs Train
"Do you know what his response was? 'I think it's just better to let sleeping dogs lie,'" Wright told Ross. "Those dogs weren't sleeping. They were training. They were getting ready."
"Truthfully, if 9/11 had not occurred, we wouldn't be here" giving the interview, said Vincent, a 27-year veteran at the bureau until he retired a few days after being interviewed by ABC News. "Because of 9/11, we're here because we see the danger."
The suspected terrorist cell in Chicago was the basis of the investigation, yet Wright, who is still with the FBI, says he soon learned that all the FBI intelligence division wanted him to do was to follow suspected terrorists and file reports - but make no arrests.
'I Forbid You'
"The supervisor who was there from headquarters was right straight across from me and started yelling at me: 'You will not open criminal investigations. I forbid any of you. You will not open criminal investigations against any of these intelligence subjects,'" Wright said.
Ross says that despite the fact that the agents were on a terrorism task force and said they had proof of criminal activity, Wright reported he was told not to pursue the matter.
Saudi Connection
Ross recalled that after al-Qaeda terrorists bombed two American embassies in Africa in 1998, Wright and Vincent said that some of the money for the attacks led back to the people they had been tracking in Chicago and to a powerful Saudi Arabian businessman, Yassin al-Kadi. Al-Kadi is one of 12 Saudi businessmen suspected of funneling millions of dollars to al-Qaeda and who had extensive business and financial ties in Chicago.
Chicago federal prosecutor Mark Flessner was assigned to the case despite efforts Wright and Vincent say were made by superiors to block the probe. Flessner told Ross that the two agents were helping him build a strong criminal case against al-Kadi and others.
"There were powers bigger than I was in the [Janet Reno] Justice Department and within the FBI that simply were not going to let it happen. And it didn't happen," Flessner said.
He added that he still can't figure out why Washington stopped the case - whether it was Saudi influence or bureaucratic ineptitude.
"I think there were very serious mistakes made," said Flessner. "And I think, it perhaps cost, it cost people their lives ultimately."
"Perhaps most astounding of the many mistakes, according to Flessner and an affidavit filed by Wright, is how an FBI agent named Gamal Abdel-Hafiz seriously damaged the investigation," Ross reported.
'A Muslim Doesn't Record Another Muslim'
Wright told him that Abdel-Hafiz, who is Muslim, refused to secretly record one of al-Kadi's suspected associates, who was also Muslim. Wright says Abdel-Hafiz told him, Vincent and other agents that "a Muslim doesn't record another Muslim."
"He wouldn't have any problems interviewing or recording somebody who wasn't a Muslim, but he could never record another Muslim," said Vincent.
P.C. Mania
Wright told Ross he "was floored" by Abdel-Hafiz's refusal and immediately called the FBI headquarters. Their reaction surprised him even more: "The supervisor from headquarters says, 'Well, you have to understand where he's coming from, Bob.' I said no, no, no, no, no. I understand where I'm coming from," said Wright.
"We both took the same damn oath to defend this country against all enemies foreign and domestic, and he just said no? No way in hell."
Far from being reprimanded, Abdel-Hafiz was promoted to one of the FBI's most important anti-terrorism posts, the American Embassy in Saudi Arabia, to handle investigations for the FBI in that Muslim country.
And on Sept. 11, 2001, Wright and Vincent watched in horror at a deadly terrorist attack that could have been foreseen and prevented had the FBI and the Clinton-Reno Justice Department listened to them back in the 1990s.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Al-Qaeda
Clinton Scandals
Homeland/Civil Defense
Janet Reno
Middle East
War on Terrorism
15 May 2001
Ali Mohamed: The Defendant Who Did Not Go to Trial Pled guilty to conspiracy in African embassy bombing case
By Judy Aita
Washington File Staff Correspondent
New York -- As a jury deciding the fate of four men charged in the bombing of two U.S. embassies in East Africa completed its third full day of deliberations May 15, another member of the group waited in an undisclosed location for his sentencing later this year.
Ali A. Mohamed was charged in the almost simultaneous bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam on August 7, 1998, and with conspiring to kill Americans, along with Wadih El Hage, Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali, and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed. However, just months before their trial was to begin in Federal District Court in Manhattan on October 20, 2000, Mohamed pled guilty to five counts of conspiracy to kill nationals of the United States and officers or employees of the U.S. government on account of their official duties, to murder and kidnap, and to destroy U.S. property.
In his plea before Judge Leonard Sand, Mohamed linked Usama bin Laden with the embassy bombings and said he worked with El Hage and others indicted in the bomb plot.
Mohamed, 48, is a former Egyptian intelligence officer who became a United States citizen and a U.S. Army sergeant assigned to a Special Forces unit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He left the U.S. Army in 1989 and in the early 1990s became involved in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization, which also worked with al Qaeda. He then trained fighters in surveillance techniques at al Qaeda camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Observers had expected Mohamed to be a key government witness against the four defendants during the trial, which began in January 2001. However, while his name was mentioned during testimony on contacts with El Hage and documents taken from his California home were entered into evidence, the former surveillance instructor never took the stand.
Mohamed's plea agreement with the government remains secret. In his October court appearance, Mohamed told the judge that the objective of his activities with Islamic Jihad and al Qaeda was "to attack any Western target in the Middle East, to force the governments of the Western countries just to pull out from the Middle East."
Mohamed explained to Judge Sand that that "based on the Marine [barracks] explosion in Beirut in 1984 and the American pull-out from Beirut," the group planned to use the same method to force the United States to leave Saudi Arabia. Was it true that the plans "included conspiracy to murder persons who were involved in government agencies and embassies overseas?" the judge asked. "Yes, your honor," Mohamed said. "And to destroy buildings and properties of the United States?" the judge said. "Yes, your honor," Mohamed answered.
Detailing his activities with the alleged terrorist organizations in the Middle East and Africa, Mohamed said that during those activities he "understood that I was working with al Qaeda, [Usama] bin Laden, Abu Hafs [and] Abu Ubaidah, and that al Qaeda had a shura council which included Abu Hajer al Iraqui." Mohamed told the judge that in the early 1980s he became involved with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization and in the 1990s was introduced to al Qaeda through the Egyptian organization. In the early 1990s Ayman Al Zawihiri made two visits to the United States to raise funds for Islamic Jihad, Mohamed said, and he helped Zawihiri do that. Zawihiri was also indicted in the bombing but remains at large, as does bin Laden.
"In 1991 I helped transport Usama bin Laden from Afghanistan to the Sudan," Mohamed said. "In 1992 I conducted military and basic explosives training for al Qaeda in Afghanistan," training among others Harum Fadhl and Abu Jihad, and also conducted intelligence training for al Qaeda, teaching trainees how to "create cell structures that could be used for operations." He described his work in helping al Qaeda set up "a presence in Nairobi" and enumerated work done by different individuals.
Mohamed said that:
Abu Ubaidah was in charge in Nairobi until he drowned in a ferry accident in Lake Victoria;
Khalid al Fawwaz set up the office and a car business was opened to create income;
Wadih el Hage created a charity organization to help provide al Qaeda members with identity documents; and Khalid al Fawwaz paid for his surveillance expenses and photo enlarging equipment when scouting possible bomb targets. "I personally helped El Hage by making labels in his home in Nairobi. I personally met Abu Ubaidah and Abu Hafs at Wadih's house in Nairobi," he said.
"We used various code names to conceal our identities. I used the name 'Jeff;' El Hage used the name 'Norman,' Ihab used the name 'Nawawi.'" After having been asked by bin Laden to conduct surveillance of American, British, French, and Israeli targets in Nairobi, Mohamed said, he looked at potential targets: the American Embassy in Nairobi, the U.S. Agency for International Development Building in Nairobi, the U.S. Agricultural Office in Nairobi, the French Cultural Center and the French Embassy in Nairobi. "These targets were selected to retaliate against the United States for its involvement in Somalia," he said. "I took pictures, drew diagrams, and wrote a report.
"I later went to Khartoum, where my surveillance files and photographs were reviewed by Usama bin Laden, Abu Hafs, Abu Ubaidah, and others," he said. "Bin Laden looked at the picture of the American Embassy and pointed to where a truck could go as a suicide bomber." In 1994 bin Laden also sent him to Djibouti to do surveillance on several facilities, including French military bases and the American Embassy, Mohamed said.
In 1994, he said, while in Nairobi, he met with Abu Hafs and another man "in the back of Wadih El Hage's house" and "Abu Hafs told me, along with someone else, to do surveillance for the American, British, French, and Israeli targets in Senegal in West Africa."
"At about this time, in late 1994, I received a call from an FBI agent who wanted to speak to me about the upcoming trial of United States v. Abdel Rahman. I flew back to the United States, spoke to the FBI, but didn't disclose everything that I knew," Mohamed said.
"I reported on my meeting with the FBI to Abu Hafs and was told not to return to Nairobi," he said. He added that in 1995 he obtained a copy of the co-conspirator list for the Abdel Rahman trial and sent the list to El Hage in Kenya "expecting that it would be forwarded to bin Laden in Khartoum." After an attempt to assassinate bin Laden, Mohamed said he went to Sudan in 1994 to train bin Laden's bodyguards and security detail working in the interior of the bin Laden compound and coordinated their activities with the Sudanese intelligence agents who were responsible for exterior security. While in Sudan, Mohamed said, he also did surveillance training for al Qaeda. One of the people he trained was Ihab Ali, also known as Nawawi, who was supposed to train others. Nawawi is also in U.S. custody, but did not testify in the current trial.
In 1996 Mohamed learned from El Hage that Abu Ubaidah had drowned, he said. He said that in January 1998 he received a letter from Ihad Ali that said El Hage had been interviewed by the FBI in Kenya and gave him a contact number for El Hage.
"I called the number and then called someone who would pass the message to Fawwaz for bin Laden," he said.
"After the bombing in 1998, I made plans to go to Egypt and later to Afghanistan to meet bin Laden," Mohamed said. "Before I could leave, I was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury in the Southern District of New York. I testified, told some lies, and was then arrested."
Mohamed's arrest on September 10, 1998, was kept secret for eight months, apparently while he and the government attempted to negotiate a deal. However, he was publicly indicted in May 1999 and joined the four currently on trial, along with another defendant who will stand trial in July for attempted murder of a prison guard, in public arraignments and hearings. Nevertheless, Mohamed remained distant from the rest of the group, including remaining in solitary confinement after the others were allowed to rotate as cellmates.
Mohamed faces the possibility of life in prison. His sentencing date has been tentatively set for July 2001.
Where's Ali Mohamed today?
But wait, they're not all bad. It's not like they burned a bunch of children alive with tanks and Delta Force, oh wait,,,
Nevermind.
According to Al-Qabas,(Khalid) Mohammed never returned to Kuwait after graduating from university (North Carolina A&T State University Class of 1986), but traveled to Afghanistan and worked as a secretary for a professor identified as Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf.
By George, you've got it! Check Saudi campaign contributions and/or personal money gifts to either Clinton, too.
Now you're going to spend the next two years whining about how "unfair" it is that the media and the Dems have SUCCESSFULLY painted the entire GOP with the "racist" brush.
The degree of success will be measured by the fact that, by the next election, the Senate will have passed more "landmark civil rights legislation" (read "quotas, set-asides and wealth-transfer schemes") than at any time since the Great Society.
You will be "shocked, shocked" as some of this finds its way into passage by the House--who also have to be careful since the brush will be aimed at the House Republicans, especially Tom DeLay as well. THEN, you will be angered that almost all that is passed WILL be signed into law by Pres. Bush, who is also a politician after all.
THEN you will look on in horror--even as you participate--as conservatives stay away from the polls in droves in 2004, to show their disgust. You can draw the inevitable conclusions.
And I will be here to scornfully remark that I told you so.
FBI and DOJ Connivance Permeates, Interconnects Terror Attacks
Far from clap-trap. by going public, these SAs have put careers and reputations on line. If they can not substantiate all of this, they are in deep kim chee.
With the way the Bureau keeps records, they can undoubtably account for each and every detail of this revelation. ABC did not use names to prevent libel, etc.
Clinton and Reno. It happened on their watch. It was a complete failure and a departure from policy.
The big question is WHY? Follow the money; follow the crime. Nothing like thus happens without someone having a huge vested interest. Don't ask what.... ask why?
Maybe, maybe not.
But that shouldn't stop them from being punished.
To cut off the connection would do harm Clinton/Albright's efforts in the Balkans of supporting Islamic armies:
As described in Accuracy In Media: BIN LADEN GATE
To cut off the connection would do harm Clinton/Albright's efforts in the Balkans of supporting Islamic armies:
As described in Accuracy In Media: BIN LADEN GATE
should have read further
INS deporting "Magic Dutch Boy" Rudi Dekkers
At the instigation of Bush administration officials the Immigration and Naturalization Service is preparing to deport the man whose Venice, Fla., flight school served as a magnet for Mohamed Atta's terrorist cadre, effectively placing him beyond the reach of the upcoming 9/11 investigation, the MadCowMorningNews has learned
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