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Thursday, March 27, 2003 - 12:00 a.m. Pacific FBI defends interviews to gather intelligence By David Postman Seattle Times chief political reporter Charles Mandigo E-mail this article Print this article Search web archive OLYMPIA — The FBI says its interviews of Iraqi exiles and immigrants in the United States is part of an intelligence-gathering effort to bolster the search for weapons in Iraq and to gather evidence that could be used in war-crime trials. Sensitive to concerns from the Iraqi community, though, the Seattle FBI office said it is trying to make the interviews more cooperative and less threatening after...

A second man with ties to the University of Idaho has been arrested by federal agents in a widening investigation of a suspected terrorist-related web in the Moscow, Idaho-Pullman, Wash., area, an FBI source confirmed today. Former Idaho student Bassem K. Khafagi was arrested in January at the Marriott Hotel near New York City’s LaGuardia Airport and was returned to Michigan to face bank fraud charges, court documents show. A total of four men with ties to the Moscow-Pullman area and the Michigan-based Islamic Assembly of North America have been implicated in the investigation. They include current University of Idaho...

To the cheers of immigrant-rights advocates, the Seattle City Council yesterday adopted a "don't ask" policy prohibiting police and other city workers from asking about the immigration status of people they come in contact with. The ordinance, sponsored by City Councilman Nick Licata, was touted as a symbolic rejoinder to the Bush administration's war on terrorism, which critics argue has eroded important civil liberties, especially for recent immigrants, both legal and illegal. "It is just an incredibly frightening time," said City Councilwoman Judy Nicastro. While there was no visible opposition to the ordinance yesterday, some police officers have questioned the...

Ressam at times defiant in 2 days of questioning By Mike Carter Seattle Times staff reporter After more than a year of cooperating with federal prosecutors, Ahmed Ressam has become a sometimes difficult and defiant government witness. Ressam was at times surly and evasive during two days of closed-door questioning this week in Seattle by German lawyers who need his help prosecuting Mounir el-Motassadeq, a Moroccan accused of helping the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers. Ressam, convicted of conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism, might be endangering his deal with federal prosecutors to serve as few as 27 years...

Editorials & Opinion: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 Froma Harrop/Syndicated columnist Spare Jews (and others) the cult of victimization A day without reading a quote from Abe Foxman is a day without reading the newspaper. The head of the Anti-Defamation League is in there without fail, purportedly defending Jews against disparagement. Now and then he has something real to discuss, but as often as not he must fill the space by magnifying slights and sometimes manufacturing them. Foxman has become a major irritant to many non-Jews, but he drives Jews even more nuts. I'm Jewish and don't recall voting for any...

Israel running out of money, out of options November 21, 2002 By Michael Rand IsraelForum.com) -- In the past two weeks, large-scale terrorist attacks have demonstrated two tragic facts. First, that Palestinian terrorists will continue to massacre Israelis so long as they are capable of doing so. Second, that Israel's current strategy for fighting terrorism is woefully inadequate. In reaction to each Palestinian atrocity against Israelis, the government responds with the same formula of marching IDF troops into the towns from which a particular terrorist originated. There, the IDF is mired and its soldiers placed in harm's way until pressured...

Irv Rubin by Arlene Peck November 10, 2002 They said he killed himself. Then the news came out that he was brain dead. Today, I heard on the radio that Irv Rubin was in intensive care, but still holding on. They say a lot of things. Frankly, I don’t believe a word of it. I knew Irv. He was a friend. I knew his mentality. There is no way he would commit suicide. Nor would he do so in the violent manner which was described in the press. It makes no sense. None. Irv would not have waited until the...

Monday, November 4, 2002 Muslim community under a lens Sniper suspect's connection to Islam worries some followers By REBECCA COOK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The arrest of John Muhammad in the D.C.-area sniper shootings sent shock waves through the Puget Sound region's Muslim community. Not because they knew him, but because they'd never heard of this guy who called himself a Muslim. For a religious community that started with three Seattle families in the 1960s and has increased to about 30,000 people today, Muhammad's tenuous connection felt like a slap in the face. Muhammad, who lived in Tacoma and Bellingham, converted...

Feds raid homes in South County - Pacific, Federal Way residences searched for drugs and guns 2002-11-06 by Jamie Swift Journal Reporter A 70-member federal task force raided two south King County homes early Tuesday morning searching for weapons and drugs. FBI officials offered little information Tuesday afternoon about the raids conducted in Federal Way and Pacific. Ray Lauer, spokesman for the FBI, would not discuss what may have been seized or the individuals the investigation targets. Agents from the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Secret Service knocked on the front door at 301 Third Ave....

The Reuters News Service instructs its correspondents to eschew the use of the word "terrorist." Correspondents may quote others using the word, but they cannot exercise journalistic judgment and use the term directly. After all, according to Reuters, one man's "terrorist" is another man's "freedom fighter." This is a new policy, since Reuters had no problem accurately characterizing Timothy McVeigh, the person who set off a bomb in a Federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, as a "terrorist." In its defense, Reuters claims it is trying to avoid the use of "emotive" words and employ more descriptive ones....

Tuesday, October 1, 2002 Ujaama ordered held without bail THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A federal magistrate on Tuesday ordered an American Muslim held without bail on charges of trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon, saying the court had no other way of ensuring he would appear for trial. James Ujaama, who grew up in Seattle, was arrested July 22 in Denver. He was held as a material witness until Aug. 29, when a grand jury in Seattle indicted him on one count of conspiracy to provide material support and resources for the al-Qaida terrorist network, and another...

Has anyone else seen the "Allies for Peace" commercials CNBC is running? The arab muslim state terror machine is advertising on CNBC - outrageous! The saudi embassy URL is posted at the end. Nations that sponsor and harbor terrorism are equally culpable - George Bush 9/12.

'I love bin Laden ... I hate Bush': Man connected to Ujaama, hijacking suspect speaks out By David Heath Seattle Times staff reporter A Swedish citizen suspected of conspiring with a former Seattle man to open a terrorist training camp in Oregon also has links to a Swede suspected of planning to hijack an airliner in Europe last week. Oussama Kassir, 36, an unemployed engineer in Stockholm, was an unnamed and uncharged co-conspirator in the indictment of James Ujaama last week. Federal officials say Kassir and another man went to Bly, Ore., with Ujaama in late 1999 to scout out...

By Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard http://www.jewishworldreview.com | A Muslim organization in Denmark announced a few days ago that a $30,000 bounty would be paid for the murder of several prominent Danish Jews, a threat that garnered wide international notice. Less well known is that this is just one problem associated with Denmark's approximately 200,000 Muslim immigrants. The key issue is that many of them show little desire to fit into their adopted country. For years, Danes lauded multiculturalism and insisted they had no problem with the Muslim customs - until one day they found that they did. Some major...