I was just going to visit Northwest Trek, yeah, that's it. That's the ticket.
Posted on 12/30/2002 8:44:10 AM PST by jimbo123
With the New Year's holiday approaching, the FBI is searching for several men of Arab ancestry after receiving intelligence they crossed illegally into the United States from Canada and may have connections to others under watch in terrorism investigations, law enforcement officials said Monday.
The FBI has no specific information the men are plotting a terrorist attack, but they want to question them about possible connections to individuals who are involved in terrorism, the officials said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
In Seattle, Dan Harrington told the FBI he rode a Greyhound bus across the border with one of the men whom agents want to question, reports Rick Price of CBS News affiliate KIRO.
"Now he was definitely on the same bus as me down from Canada," Harrington said, pointing to a photograph of Mustafa Khan Owasi. "And it was definitely Christmas Eve,"
Harrington said federal agents detained Owasi during an unusually long delay at the border:
"I could hear the INS guy saying, 'Well basically that's not what you told me, your story keeps changing.' And they ended up leading him away," Harrington said.
Though he says Owasi never got back on that bus, which then continued to Seattle, Harrington finds it all disturbing. It's unclear what happened to Owasi after Harrington claims he last saw him.
Among the locations authorities were focusing their search on is New York, based on information received from at least one intelligence source, the officials said.
Because of the large gathering of Americans in New York City on New Year's Eve, authorities were taking the information seriously and pursuing the men even though there is no specific information that they are planning any activities, the officials said.
On Sunday, the FBI enlisted the public's help by putting out photos and names of five of the men they are seeking: Abid Noraiz Ali, Iftikhar Khozmai Ali, Owasi, Adil Pervez and Akbar Jamal, all born between 1969 and 1983.
The FBI warned that the names and birth dates may be false.
The FBI said it had "no specific information that these individuals are connected to any potential terrorist activities, but based upon information developed in the course of on-going investigations, the FBI would like to locate and question these persons." It also said the men are believed to have entered the United States illegally on or around Christmas Eve.
Officials said the intelligence indicated the men crossed from Canada but that there was no specific information on what port of entry.
One official said U.S. authorities' interest in them was heightened when an intelligence source provided information that some of the men being sought were connected to others who are the subjects of terrorism investigations.
The FBI said it was working with the Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Transportation Security Administration to find the men.
INS spokesman Dan Kane said his agency has "implemented additional measures to look for these individuals."
crossed illegally into the United States
crossed illegally into the United States
crossed illegally into the United States
crossed illegally into the United States
crossed illegally into the United States
crossed illegally into the United States
crossed illegally into the United States
Repeat until the lesson is learned.
---
1) The border crossings are packed; there are hundreds of thousands crossing per day on the I-5 corridor between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.
2) The immigrant (non-white) population of both Washington and British Columbia is large. There are so many folk who look like Arabs that the terrorist guy will look just like thousands of other legitimate folks that crossed that day.
3) Racial Profiling in Washington will get you arrested, written up in the local papers, and condemned by community leaders. Border Patrol Agents will be stopping blue haired grandmothers, not Arab males 17 to 40. This just helps to ensure their sinecures.
4) Enforcing the law in Seattle doesn't happen. One black officer I know refuses to make traffic stops: "If I've got to fill out forms on my perception of the driver's ethinicity every time I make a stop, I'm not going to make a stop. You people in Seattle are nuts. I live in Maple Valley and vote Republican."
5) There is general support for any Anti-American cause in Seattle. I am quite sure the place is riddled with safe houses. Heck, I'd go so far as to say that within the city limits, Osama would have more than a 50/50 chance of knocking on a door and getting invited to spend the night. Bush would be assaulted at the same doors.
6) The Muslim community has the protection of the political elite. Witness the "Intern" of the former Portland mayor who was arrested by the Feds when he returned from China, having failed to get to Afghanistan in time to fight with Mullah Omar. Portland was outraged that he was arrested.
7) The Political Elite in the PNW refuse to cooperate with the Feds. I believe it is Portland that has officially refused to assist Federal Law Enforcement in the War on Terror.
I could go on, but I've got a day job. Suffice it to say that Al-Quaeda will be very happy in Seattle or Portland.
1. CongressTraitor Jim "Bagdad" McDermott travels to Iraq and badmouths the USA. He comes back and gives speeches calling Bush Hitler.
2. Traitor PoS Senator Patty Murray praises UBL and raises 'questions' about the USA in front of impressionable schoolchildren.
3. King County Executive Ron Sims and Seattle City Councilman Larry Gossett openly praise the terrorist Ujaama brothers as upstanding citizens and community role models.
4. FBI Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Seattle office - Mandigo - spends his time *appeasing* muslims instead of rounding them up.
5. The local INS is unbelievably inept (see Malvo case). They spend time travelling to 'community forums' orchestrated by the radical "Hate Free Zone" group, again to appease muslims and illegal aliens.
6. The Seattle PD will not ask about one's immigration status as a matter of POLICY.
7. The media is overwhelmingly anti-American, anti-Bush, and socialist. They ignore anything that would put anyone or anything to the right of Marx or Lenin in a positive light.
There's lots more but that's a start.
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.