Mansoor Ijaz on FNC "9 others captured with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed'

FNC | 03/03/03 | Mansoor Ijaz

[Straight Vermonter]

Fox News contributor on with Brit Hume said, in passing really, that 9 other Al-Qaeda operartives had been captured with KSM. Some reports had listed Saif al-Adel as captured but this is the first that I had heard of a larger group captured. Any FReepers have more information?

[lorrainer]

Mansoor Ijaz is founder and chairman of The Crescent Partnerships, a family of New York investment partnerships between Ijaz, Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson (USAF Ret), former director of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, and Turkey's Global Group, a major Abu Dhabi investment group and the heir of a prominent European shipping family. Former CIA Director, Amb. James Woolsey, serves as vice chairman of Crescent's Board of Governors.

Crescent specializes in the use of quantitative modeling techniques to manage investment portfolios. Crescent's MENARA family of private equity funds, currently in formation, focuses on three strategic investment sectors: national security technologies, including internet security, satellite imaging and air and seaport cargo security, telecommunications, and real estate acquisitions. The firm is headquartered in New York with partner offices in London, Abu Dhabi and Ankara. Ijaz founded Crescent in 1991.

Ijaz received his SM degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985 where he trained as a neuro-mechanical engineer in the joint MIT-Harvard Medical School Medical Engineering Medical Physics Program. He received his bachelor's degree Magna Cum Laude from the University of Virginia in 1983, where he majored in Physics. He has applied the extensive modeling experience he
gained at MIT and Harvard to develop The CARAT System, Crescent's proprietary currency, interest rate and equity risk management system.

Away from Crescent's daily business affairs, Ijaz is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and appears frequently on a variety of financial and political news programs for CNN, CNN International, Fox News, BBC, Germany's RDF TV, Japan's NHK, ABC, NBC, MSNBC and CNBC. He has commented for Public Broadcasting System's Newshour with Jim Lehrer and ABC News Nightline with Ted Koppel, and served as Foreign Affairs and Terrorism Analyst for Fox News during 2002.

Ijaz has been featured twice in BARRON'S Currency Roundtable discussions. He has also contributed to the editorial pages of London's Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, Newsweek International, The Christian Science Monitor, USA Today and the Times of India.

As a private American citizen, Ijaz negotiated Sudan's counterterrorism offer to the Clinton administration*** in April 1997 and proposed the framework for a ceasefire of hostilities between Indian security forces and Kashmiri separatists in the disputed Kashmir region in August 2000.

Ijaz's father, the late Dr. Mujaddid Ahmed Ijaz, a prominent American physicist, was an early pioneer in developing the intellectual infrastructure of Pakistan's nuclear program. Ijaz earned All-American weightlifting status while attending the University of Virginia. Born in Florida in 1961 and raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Ijaz lives in New York City today with his family.

From South Asian Journalists Assn. website.

*** He negotiated to get OBL handed over to X42, who thought he was a kook and ignored the transaction.

[Cautor]

I think it's safe to say a lot of camel-humpers are looking over their shoulders tonight. Some of the other big boys may be treated to a surprise in the very near future.

[lorrainer]

Great! Now if I could just talk the husband to putting up with Alan C. Maybe I have to drive the remote tonight.

[Straight Vermonter]

I can't find any info on the wires about this guy, other than a year old story implication him in Daniel Pearl's death. Let us know if you find out more.

[reformedliberal]

LOL! Sounds like our house! Alan is so annoying!!!

[habaes corpussel]

Hey all just got back from a six month oversea's assignment and I have not had time to get up to speed with FR but it is sure good to be back hooooooome.

I wouldn't get to excited over Mansoor Ijaz. My sources tell me that this is the same guy who screwed up the Daniel Pearl Story by leaking it to Fox like four week before Pearl was killed. Just because he is paid by Fox does not mean he is always right.

Remember trust but verify........

[My2Cents]

The 72 virgins are still waiting, but they look like Madeline Albright.

[Dog]

It is bugging me now to no end....I heard him and now can't find anything......he even stated the guy was named in the Moussaui case.

I hate it when it seems you are the only one to hear something...

[My2Cents]

Mansoor Ijaz is THE most informed, and informative straight-shooter on the international war on terrorism on American television. He's terrific. This report is great news. I don't know anything about Ijaz's background, but he's obviously well-connected. The fact that FNC also has Bill Gertz as a military analyst is also quite a coup.

[swarthyguy]

I do remember him on RitaCosby early last year bragging about he helped setup Pearl's trip to Karachi from Bombay.

But to give credit where it's due, lately, he has become far more honest in decrying Pakistani double dealing lately and exhorting them to ally more closely in deed with the USA.

[Angelus Errare]

Mustafa Ahmed al-Hisawi, aka Sheikh Saiid/Saeed, is bin Laden's brother-in-law and wired money from Dubai to the 9/11 hijackers. Using his connections to Islamic charities and wealthy businessmen worldwide, he brings in about $300,000,000 a year. Originally based in Dubai, he went to Afghanistan several days prior to 9/11 and then fled to Pakistan after the Taliban collapsed.

His al-Qaeda codename is al-Mohtaram ("The Elder") and he is believed to have been hiding in Qatar and assisted several disaffected members of House Thani in a plot to unseat the current pro-US emir back in October. Interestingly enough, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was also said to have been involved in the plot. Following the MMA victories in Baluchistan and the Northwest Frontier Province, he returned there through Iran.

[Dog]

I hate to be such a pain ......but it is this guy..

Sheikh Saeed (Mustafa Ahmed al-Hisawi?)

Lester Holt on MSNBC just reported it again..

We got the top operations guy(KSM) and the top finance guy(Mustafa) in one raid!

[habaes corpussel]

"But to give credit where it's due, lately, he has become far more honest in decrying Pakistani double dealing lately and exhorting them to ally more closely in deed with the USA."

Lately but look at his previous record. Though he down plays the ISI's involvement with the Taliban and he see Iran not as such a big threat......Again as with any of these talking heads you have to listen and then verify what they are telling you.

[blam]

"We got the top operations guy(KSM) and the top finance guy(Mustafa) in one raid!"

Excellent. Thanks for the follow-up, dog.

[Angelus Errare]

Did Lester or Mansoor cite any sources? Additionally (and this is a real pain with Arabic), did they mention him specifically as al-Qaeda top finance guy? Cause if they did, it looks like some bank accounts are going to get closed down real fast.

[Straight Vermonter]

From MSNBC.com:

TWO OTHERS ARRESTED

Mohammed was arrested along with another man, believed to be a Somali, and a Pakistani identified as Ahmed Abdul Qadus, a member of one of Pakistan’s main religious parties, Jamaat-e-Islami.

Pakistani officials also said army Maj. Adil Qadus, described variously as Ahmed Qadus’ brother or uncle, was being held in in Kohat, a northwestern city near the border with Afghanistan, while investigators explore possible links to terrorist organizations.

Officials have been tight-lipped about the other foreigner captured in the raid, although a Pakistani official said he was “also proving to be an important man.”

[Dog]

Pete Williams filed the report on MSNBC shortly after 7pm eastern.. he read the name off real fast...and I had to wait until Lester Holt said it again at 8pm.

All Pete said was government sources......and that he was the top AQ finance guy..

[Angelus Errare]

I hate to disappoint, but if it's a Somali (rather than an Arab), it isn't Saiid/Saeed. He's Saudi/Egyptian.

[Dog]

It's not a Somali...I know what I heard.

This is really bugging me..

I hate it when they don't follow up on a story..

[Elephant in VT]

I have to ask, what is your background with all things Arab/Muslim? You strike me as being very knowledgeable.