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Posted on 01/22/2003 2:30:57 AM PST by Ranger
It's a trying-to-be-ironic reference to the AMI germ attack in Florida, possibly from a package with items including a "weird" love letter to Jennifer Lopez. Some speculation, naturally, that the mailer was a sicko about her.
Anyway, that's a round-about way of saying I may remember the earliest anthrax news better than most due to the timeline I was constructing. Here are some salient facts about the first attacks:
In addition to the fact that the earliest reports indicated the AMA letter arrived there about three days BEFORE the 9/11 attacks, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that it and at least one other anthrax letter were never recovered. The one sent to Dan Rather was not recovered. His assistant opened it, later discarded it, and only afterward did she contract cutaneous anthrax.
Sorry, got interrupted in my reply to you. To continue:
Based on the memories of AMA employees, the AMA letter was postmarked at a post office in south Florida. The recovered letters to New York and Washington were postmarked in New Jersey. Because the AMA letter was never recovered, there has been some speculation by authorities and the media that the AMA employees were mistaken, and that it also may have been mailed from New Jersey.
Later reports also ignored the fact that AMA employees recalled that the letter arrived before 9/11. Because there was approximately a three-week gap between when they thought the letter arrived and the gentleman who died first reported being sick, authorities and the media have claimed they were mistaken not only about the postmark, but the date the letter arrived. However, I remember reports that there was a postal facility in south Florida that tested positive for traces of anthrax back when all this first started. And roughly three weeks is well within the known range of incubation periods for anthrax infections.
In addition to the facts stated above, TWO 9/11 hijackers presented themselves with skin problems to health care professionals in south Florida in the weeks leading up to the attacks. One was treated for a black skin lesion in by a doctor who is certain it was an anthrax infection. Another went to a pharmacist asking for a skin cream that might help his hands, which were very inflamed.
And let's not forget the "coincidence" that Atta and another hijacker rented an apartment through the rental agent wife of the head of AMA. Atta and several of the other hijackers were living in south Florida and taking flying lessons within a couple of miles of the AMA building.
Granted, all of the above is "only" circumstantial. But how many "coincidences" does it take to weave a pretty convincing case? Last year, we heard a lot about the government's supposed failure to connect some vague "dots." Well, we don't have dots here, we've got boulders, and still the media and FBI don't seem to be connecting them.
And the Boca Raton post office was subsequently found to be contaminated with anthrax spores. No outlying mailboxes were found to be contaminated. Thus, suggesting that the offending piece was deposited in a mail slot at the post office itself.
Irrespective of the date of postmarks on any of the letters, none of them needed to pass through a canceling machine in order to get inserted into the postal mail processing system.
A letter carrier at the Staten Island post office was, in fact, arrested for involvement with the fellows who first tried to knock down the WTC with bombs.
Mail can "get lost" quite readily, particularly when it is single-piece rate First-Class letter mail! I provided detailed information concerning how letters mailed in Florida could get cancelled in New Jersey, and vice versa in numerous threads in FreeRepublic from November 2001 onward. If curious just search for "Anthrax".
I had proposed the letters were mailed on September 7 or 8, in Boca Raton, through the simple expedient of dropping them in letter mail collection boxes in the area. This family disappeared on 9/9. They had ample opportunity to mail the letters as proposed.
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Jan 22, 2003
Agents again refused to say why they searched the abandoned home, which Palm Beach County property records show is owned by Mohammed and Afaf Almasri. The search warrant authorizing the raid was sealed by a judge. FBI and Justice Department officials in Washington also declined comment Wednesday.
Agents could be seen digging holes in the backyard and scanning it with metal detectors. They removed dozens of brown boxes and bags of evidence and removed a silver Mitsubishi Mirage with a flat tire from the garage.
State records show that the car was registered to the Almasris' 22-year-old son, Turki, whom neighbors say had been taking flying lessons before the family left. At least 15 of the 19 hijackers involved in the 2001 attacks had ties to Florida, with some seeking flight training here.
Kristina Daddio said the family left hurriedly on Sept. 9, 2001, when a white minivan pulled into the driveway. The family quickly loaded their suitcases and drove off, she said.
"We were wondering why they were rushing. It was so not in keeping with their normal behavior," Daddio said. "These people are very pristine and proper."
Daddio said the family typically spent six months a year in the suburban neighborhood eight miles southwest of West Palm Beach and the other half the year in Saudi Arabia. Daddio said the family typically told them when they were leaving and when they were returning home.
Daddio and another neighbor, Rodney Lamarca, said they became suspicious after the terrorist attacks and called an FBI hot line to report their concern.
"I'm a little disappointed that it took so long. But I really want them to resolve this. Is this something or is this nothing?" Lamarca said.
Neighbors said that after the family left, no one kept the home and the grass grew as high as bushes. Daddio said her husband would mow the lawn when it got out of control.
"There is much ado about something over there," Daddio said.
AP-ES-01-22-03 1807EST
This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/florida/MGASR64W9BD.html
Jan 22, 2003
Rudi Dekkers, owner of Huffman Aviation and president of Dekkers Aviation Group, is charged with felony fraud. If convicted, Dekkers could face five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The criminal complaint is being processed and a warrant will soon be issued for Dekker's arrest, said assistant state attorney Jonathan Greene.
"I don't want to be arrested," Dekkers told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. "I have never done anything in my life that commands criminal attention."
Two of the 9-11 hijackers, Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, took flight lessons at Huffman Aviation in Venice, 70 miles south of Tampa. They obtained multi-engine commercial licenses on December 21, 2000.
Dekkers is now accused of failing to repay a $200,000 loan from business partner Kenneth Jossart. Dekkers signed a promissory note Jan. 15, 2002, to repay the loan.
As president of Dekkers Aviation Group, Dekkers mortgaged a building to secure the loan. But the building's lease with the city was filed under Huffman Aviation. No lien could be recorded against the property because Dekkers Aviation had no legal interest in it.
Dekkers sold the building in August, but hasn't repaid the loan, according to police records.
"If there was some mistake in the agreements, it would have made sense that (Dekkers) just paid the money back," Green said. "But he didn't. The loan has never been repaid. That's the bottom line."
AP-ES-01-22-03 2158EST
This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/florida/MGA10TC4ABD.html
Check out these two articles in MadCow Morning News: Secret Service Got Pre-Dawn Warning on Morning of September 11th Attack and The Mystery of Longboat Key: Bush, Atta Visit Same Florida Island Resort Before Sept 11.
I have no idea whether something called the MadCow Morning News has any reliability. I haven't seen this anywhere else.
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Associated Press
GREENACRES CITY — Federal agents raided a house Tuesday, but wouldn't comment on television reports that the investigation was connected to terrorist threats.
Stations quoted neighbors as saying that the house, which had been searched two other times since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was once the residence of a Middle Eastern family. The TV reports said the family moved within days of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
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From television news helicopters, FBI agents were seen using metal detectors in the front yard and digging in the back yard. Agents were also seen bringing a trailer and a boxes to store evidence.
Neighbors also told the television stations that the family moved out abruptly and paid all of their bills in cash, including homeowner association fees.
Greenacres City is eight miles southwest of West Palm Beach.
At least 15 of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had ties to Florida, with some seeking flight training here.
http://www.naplesnews.com/03/01/florida/d877972a.htm
Neighbors said the house, which had been searched two other times, was once the residence of a Saudi Arabian family that moved within days of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The Palm Beach County Tax Collector's Office Web site lists two owners for the home: Mohammed and Afaf Almasri.
FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela of Miami said from the scene that a sealed search warrant was served. She declined further comment on the warrant, and also declined comment on the media reports.
Wilfredo Fernandez, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami, also declined to comment on the media reports Tuesday night. And in Washington, a Justice Department official familiar with the search said it was part of an ongoing investigation and the department would have no comment.
Neighbors told The Associated Press that the FBI was last there a week or so ago, when agents posted a search warrant and entered the home.
"They must have found something, because they come today and all hell breaks loose," said Rodney Lamarca, who lives across the street with his wife Lorraine.
From television news helicopters, FBI agents were seen using metal detectors in the front yard and digging in the back yard. Agents were also seen bringing a trailer and boxes to store evidence.
The Lamarcas said they and other neighbors have worried about a connection with the hijacked airplane terrorist attacks.
"He bolted just before 9-11; haven't seen him since," Lamarca said of his former neighbor. "He told me he was an engineer in Saudi Arabia and traveled back and forth."
Lamarca said the family usually left for a month or so at a time, but when they left last time they didn't put up their hurricane shutters, which they usually did.
Lamarca said he became suspicious after 9-11 and had called the FBI three times. Other neighbors said they had called as well.
Neighbors said that before moving out abruptly, the residents of the home paid all of their bills in cash, including fees to their homeowner association for the gated neighborhood, part of Greenacres City, which is about is eight miles southwest of West Palm Beach.
At least 15 of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had ties to Florida, with some seeking flight training here.
http://www.local6.com/orlpn/news/stories/news-192750720030122-040152.html
| Posted on Thu, Jan. 23, 2003 |   |
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FBI agents are investigating whether a Saudi man whose family abandoned their Palm Beach County home within days of the Sept. 11 attacks has links to Muslim groups they suspect helped bankroll that terror plot and others. Three federal sources told The Herald that agents searching the home of Mohamad Almasri were trying to trace possible financial ties to religious charities that authorities charge have secretly supported extremist attacks over the years. ''We're looking to see if there is any connection, financial or otherwise, to any terrorist organization, including the 9/11 hijackers, but it is all very preliminary,'' said a federal investigator familiar with the probe. The sources said agents -- who swarmed the house Tuesday to execute a sealed search warrant -- are looking into a range of possible ties, including whether one of those groups helped buy the home in Greenacres, a town in Palm Beach County. Almasri, 57, who told neighbors he was an engineer, paid $144,500 in cash to buy the new three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in June 2000. Neighbors say he lived half the year in Saudi Arabia and the other half in Greenacres with his wife and several children, including son Turki Ma Almasri, 22, who had been enrolled as a student at a Lantana flight school. Nail Al-jubeir, a spokesman for the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, D.C., said the FBI had not contacted the government about Almasri. He said he had inquired with Saudi authorities but they had no information about Almasri's background or whereabouts and could not confirm whether he was, as he told neighbors, a Saudi citizen. ''Once we're requested to by the FBI, we'll look into it,'' Al-jubeir said. HOME VISITS Agents quietly visited the home several times in recent months but Tuesday night they mounted an all-out search reminiscent of the aftermath of Sept. 11 and revelations that South Florida had been the staging area for the worst terrorist attack in American history. At least 15 of the 19 hijackers had ties to South Florida, included a handful who, like Almasri's son, had trained at area flying schools. Working through the night into Wednesday morning, more than a dozen agents, including some wearing biohazard suits and gloves, searched the home and yard. The case drew national media attention because of the high-profile search that came so long after the terrorist attacks. While agents donned the protective gear as a precaution, FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said the search was not related to the anthrax investigation. That probe began with the death of Sun tabloid photo editor Bob Stevens, who lived within miles of the Almasri home. ''There are no public health issues related to the scene,'' Orihuela said. Agents cordoned off the home, dug holes in the lawn, scanned with metal detectors, hauled off a computer and disks, brought in a large trailer, and removed from the garage a silver Mitsubishi Mirage with a flat tire, which state records show is registered to Turki. EVIDENCE At 4:55 p.m. Wednesday, with the search seemingly close to wrapping up, agents loaded dozen of brown evidence bags, several boxes and three flat portrait-sized containers. Orihuela refused to say what prompted the timing of this week's search, which happened 16 months after the family left town. Most neighbors said Almasri and his family seemed pleasant, sharing details about their son's flight training and even inviting some over for tea. But the quick exit of the clan -- they apparently vacated the home so fast that they left food on tables -- aroused wide suspicions as South Florida's role in the terrorist attack became clear. Several neighbors told newspapers they contacted the FBI not long after the attack. Kristina Daddio saw some family members leave hurriedly on Sept. 9, 2001, when a white minivan pulled into the driveway. The family quickly loaded their suitcases and drove off, she said. ''We were wondering why they were rushing. It was so not in keeping with their normal behavior,'' Daddio said. ``These people are very pristine and proper.'' Days later, Almasri and his oldest son, Turki, also left town. A Yellow Cab driver told FBI agents Wednesday that he drove Turki to Miami International Airport. NEIGHBORS' TIP David Remsen, president of the Fairway Isles Homeowner Association, where the family lived, said the association lawyer contacted the FBI seven months ago ``because of who they were and the circumstances around the time they left.'' Neighbors complained about a badly overgrown lawn. One federal investigator agreed the agents could have moved faster. ''We were doing some checks before. I can't get into it,'' the investigator said. ``Should we have been on it earlier, yes. The fact that the family immediately split should have triggered a quicker response.'' Palm Beach County records show Almasri paid his property taxes on Dec. 5, 2001, by mail, but has not yet paid the 2002 bill for $2,795.91. He last paid his biannual Greenacres garbage bill in April 2001 but is now $154.92 in arrears. Last October, the city filed a lien against the property for $67.75. Employees at Kemper Aviation, a flight training school in Lantana, say that Turki was a Saudi Air flight attendant and flight student for six months. He was issued a student pilot's license in June 2001. ''He was a good student, very respectful,'' she said. ``Nothing stood out as far as a negative attitude.'' Two hijackers rented practice planes at the same Lantana airstrip, but Kemper employees said they never dealt with them. Turki was there on Sept. 11, one employee said, but withdrew a week later without completing his training. Herald staff writers Alfonso Chardy and David Kidwell contributed to this report. |
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/5009677..htm
Terrorism financing concern behind search
By Antigone Barton, Eliot Kleinberg and John Lantigua, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 23, 2003
GREENACRES -- The FBI Wednesday concluded an intense search of a home that was hurriedly abandoned by a Saudi family just two days before the Sept. 11 attacks. Federal sources said they are investigating whether the homeowner was involved in financing the terrorists.
Sources said investigators are trying to establish whether Mohamad Almasri, 57, who owned the white, one-story home in a gated community, might have financial ties to Muslim charities suspected of funneling money to the Al-Qaeda hijackers.
"We're looking to see if there is any connection, financial or otherwise, to any terrorist organization, including the 9/11 hijackers, but it is all very preliminary," a federal investigator familiar with the probe told The Miami Herald.
On Wednesday agents hauled away a car that apparently had been stored in the garage at 1606 Doral Drive in the Fairway Isles community since the home was abandoned 16 months ago. They also carted off cardboard cartons and paper bags full of unknown materials.
The vehicle, a 2001 silver Mitsubishi Mirage, was registered to Almasri's son, Turki Almasri, 22.
A flight instructor at the nearby Lantana airport said Wednesday the younger Almasri took classes from his company for six months in 2001. That, combined with the sudden departure by other family members, might have attracted the FBI's attention.
Many of the 19 men who participated in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were Saudis and several of them took flying lessons in Florida, leaving the state just before the hijackings. Mohamad Atta, the alleged ringleader of the Al-Qaeda hijackers, rented planes for practice flights out of the Lantana airport during his stay in South Florida.
But David Allison, chief flight instructor at Kemper Aviation, said Almasri was still at the school when armed hijacked airliners flew into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.
"On 9/11 he was right here taking a lesson," Allison said. "He stopped coming about a week later."
Allison said Almasri told people at the school that he had been a flight attendant for Saudi Airlines and that he wanted to be a commercial pilot. He took lessons about two or three times a week and needed about another year of training to complete the course, the instructor said.
"He was a pleasant, respectful young man," Allison said, adding that Almasri was an "unremarkable" student and that there was nothing unusual or suspicious about his request for training.
Turki Almasri, according to neighbors, apparently stayed in the house for at least several days after most other family members departed. But he, too, apparently eventually left in a hurry -- leaving behind the car agents removed Wednesday.
One of its tires was flat and the trunk and doors were sealed with investigators' tape. The license plate had expired in March 2002 and was not renewed, state records show.
On the other hand, county records show that 2001 property taxes were paid on the house Dec. 5 of that year, almost three months after the family left. Property taxes for 2002 have not been paid. In October 2002, the town of Greenacres put a lien on the house for a $67.75 municipal trash pickup fee.
Mohamad Almasri bought the three-bedroom, two-bath house in June 2000, apparently for cash. Almasri told neighbors he was an engineer.
Other family members who lived there, according to state records and neighbors, were the older Almasri's wife, Alaf I. Arif, 47; a daughter, Madawi Almasri, 26; and two younger children, a boy and a girl.
A search of national records revealed no previous addresses in the United States for any of the Almasri family, and no subsequent addresses.
Dozens of agents, some of them in FBI windbreakers, worked at the scene for a second day Wednesday. On Tuesday, some of the agents wore biohazard jumpsuits, but those precautions were absent on Wednesday.
FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said she did not expect the searchers to return. She said the agents were not looking for anthrax or any other toxic substance. According to local residents, agents had been to the house about two weeks ago and removed a computer and disks. Agents also visited the house several months ago.
Orihuela emphasized that the searchers were not members of the FBI's terrorism task force, but were agents from South Florida offices.
An official at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington who is a liaison with the FBI has not been contacted by the agency, said embassy spokesman Nail al-Jubeir.
Several neighbors said they called the FBI soon after the Sept. 11 attacks to report the sudden and suspicious departure of the family.
Kristina Daddio, whose mother Martha Ruth lives next door to the Almasris' former home, remembered vividly that the family left on Sept. 9, 2001, with the adults throwing suitcases into a white minivan she had never seen and hurriedly ushering the children into the vehicle.
Daddio, echoing others in the neighborhood, said the Almasris were always courteous and always stopped in to say goodbye when they were about to leave on one of their frequent trips to Saudi Arabia.
But that day was different. Mohamad Almasri called a hurried goodbye and they drove away.
"They were just booting out of there," Daddio said.
Martha Ruth had been in the house next door just once, to clear up a misunderstanding about a gate between their properties, Daddio said. Turki Almasri had come home to find the gate between the two yards open, allowing entrance to his family's side and back yards. It was usually closed.
"He was frantic," Daddio said, "Saying, 'What happened? Who has been here?' "
He was so upset that Ruth later visited him, to find the family watching an Arabic news program.
"He had calmed down completely," Daddio said, "He told her not to worry, that everything was fine."
Staff writer Scott McCabe contributed to this story.
antigone_barton@pbpost.com, eliot_kleinberg@pbpost, john_lantigua@pbpost.com.com
http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/thursday/news_e3f2b80ff3e281e100c3.html
| GREENACRES -- The FBI notified a congressional committee investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks before searching a house this week that was vacated within days of the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in New York, according to sources on Capitol Hill. FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said the bureau tipped off "appropriate" members of Congress about this week's search. More than a dozen agents examined the gray single-family house on Doral Drive on Tuesday and Wednesday, scanning the ground with metal detectors, digging in the yard and towing a car away. Orihuela said the agents were serving a sealed federal search warrant at the house, which, according to property records, belongs to Mohammed al-Masri. "The public is not in danger," Orihuela said. "It's not a safety hazard issue." The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Embassy in Washington, D.C., is aware of the investigation because of media inquiries but has not been contacted by the FBI, a spokeswoman said. As the FBI agents worked, some neighbors said it was about time they showed up. Lisa Dickerson, 43, whose mother lives next door to the al-Masri house, said she called the bureau about the family just days after Sept. 11, 2001. The Capitol Hill source said the FBI conducted the search based on reports by neighbors. Neighborhood association President Dave Remsen said he learned a few months ago that FBI officials were looking at the house al-Masri bought in June of 2000. Neighbor Kristina Daddio said she saw a locksmith at the house last week. Some neighbors are suspicious the al-Masris could be connected to terrorism. The al-Masri family -- Mohammed, his wife, and four children -- was from Saudi Arabia, neighbors said. Mohammed and his wife were proud their oldest son, Turki, was training at Lantana Airport to be a private pilot, said Martha Ruth, 70, Dickerson's mother. On Sept. 9, 2001, Mohammed al-Masri and his eldest son hurriedly put the rest of the family into a car and sent them away, Dickerson said. When hijackers crashed jets into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon two days later, neighbors called the FBI and suggested they visit the Doral Drive house, she said. For about a week after the terrorist attacks, Turki al-Masri kept going to his flight school classes at Kemper Aviation, said an employee at the school. He was a diligent student, she said. Then Turki al-Masri and his father left Greenacres, neighbors say. The family had their tax bill sent to an address in Jaddah, Saudi Arabia, tax records at the Palm Beach County Assessor's Office show. On Dec. 5, 2001, the office received $2,264.93 for taxes on the Doral Drive house, according to tax records. The next payment is due in April. The electricity was still on but the water had been shut off when the FBI arrived at the house last week, Orihuela said. After Sept. 11, information about the hijackers began to trickle out that fed neighbors' suspicions about the al-Masris: Most of the hijackers had lived in South Florida, some trained at local flight schools, many were Saudi Arabian. Someone called the Greenacres Police Department on Aug. 15, 2002, to ask an officer to check out the al-Masri house. Staff Writers Kathy Bushouse, C. Ron Allen and William E. Gibson contributed to this report. Sam Tranum can be reached at stranum@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6522. |
Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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