Free Republic

Introduction and Part One Part Two Part Three PARIS, Feb. 20, 1994 -- My name is Tahar Medjadi. I was born in France. My birthday is Dec. 25, 1970. Details Ahmed Ressam had committed to memory. Details he undoubtedly reviewed as he waited nervously in line, counterfeit passport in hand, at Charles de Gaulle Airport. That first month in Marseille, September 1992, had passed all too quickly. When his visa expired, his desire to stay in France did not. Ressam became an illegal immigrant. Without proper papers, he drifted to Corsica, a French island that has long absorbed expatriate North...

The Turkish Islamic charity behind a flotilla of aid ships that was raided by Israeli forces on its way to Gaza had ties to terrorism networks, including a 1999 al-Qaida plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport, France's former top anti-terrorism judge said Wednesday. The Istanbul-based Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, known by its Turkish acronym IHH, had "clear, long-standing ties to terrorism and Jihad," former investigating judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.