* The Al Hayat letter bombs involved lethal letters sent to newspapers in NYC and DC and symbolic targets relating to the WTC 1993 plotters. Were the Al Hayat letter bombs the model for the Amerithrax letters? Were the same people responsible?
Posted by DXer on November 25, 2010
DXer …
with Saif Adel back in the saddle and Anwar admitting to mailbombs,
the question of modus operandi looms large
******
CASE CLOSED ... what really happened in the 2001 anthrax attacks? 
DXer said
Al-Qaeda’s Soon-To-Be Third Emir? A Profile of Saif al-`Adl
February 21, 2021 Homeland Security Today
https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/counterterrorism/al-qaedas-soon-to-be-third-emir-a-profile-of-saif-al-adl/
DXer said
Mark Kortepeter, in his new book, INSIDE THE HOT ZONE, writes:
“Shortly before 9/11 the biodefense containment laboratory in Canada had conducted a research study testing how quickly spores like anthrax could spread from a room where a letter is opened. The results were shocking: within forty-eight seconds, spores fled the room and crossed the hallway to an opposite room. Within ninety-six seconds they flew into rooms five doors down the hallway. No one could have predicted we were about to experience a real-life validation of the Canadian experiment at the seat of our government.”
Given that Bin Laden had said in 1999 that he felt free to use biological weapons, and Mabruk’s laptop had been seized identifying 100 targets, I beg to differ. It was entirely predictable.
Indeed, why does Mark think the study was done?
DXer said
Envelopes Containing Anthrax Delivered to Major Tunisian Figures
Sunday, 3 March, 2019
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1615976/envelopes-containing-anthrax-delivered-major-tunisian-figures
The Tunisian counter-terrorism agencies have revealed in their preliminary investigations that the envelopes delivered to politicians, journalists and syndicate members contained the Anthrax toxin.
This was the first terrorist plot of its kind in the country, they added.
Twenty public figures were targeted in this horrifying terrorist plot, including 10 prominent politicians, seven journalists and activists in syndicates and human rights, they continued.
Moreover, they said that the terrorist groups have shifted their tactics after security measures against them have limited their activity.
For years, they have relied on armed attacks, but they are now forced to resort to poisoning their victims, said the security agencies.
President of the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) Noureddine Taboubi and assistant secretaries Bu Ali Mubaraki, and Sami al-Tahiri were among the targets, revealed “high-ranking” Tunisian media sources.
Sufian al-Sulaiti, a spokesman for the counter-terrorism apparatus, affirmed that the agencies will listen in the upcoming period to the testimonies of 15 of the targeted figures.
Furthermore, several terrorist group experts said that toxic substance letters is a method that has been adopted by several terrorist organizations in the past.
They urged the need to amend strategies and derive lessons from foreign experiences, such as attacks in Afghanistan, in order to confront terrorism in Tunisia.
Comment: Commonly it eventually is announced that the powder thought to be anthrax proved not to be — that the letters proved to be a hoax. In Pakistan in 2001, there even was a false positive reported by a respected hospital. So it may be a while before we can have confidence in the report.
DXer said
Suspicious packages prompt nationwide security response
Gregory Korte, John Bacon and Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY Published 4:15 p.m. ET Oct. 24, 2018
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/10/24/suspicious-packages-mail-security-response-obama-clinton-holder-soros-cnn/1751077002/
“Apparent package bombs sent to prominent Democratic politicians and a news organization on Wednesday had mailrooms stepping up their mail screening procedures and law enforcement officials scrambling to step up patrols at other potential targets.
It appeared to be the biggest threat of a mail-based terror plot since the 2001 Anthrax attacks that killed five people in the weeks after 9/11.
Those attacks led the U.S. Postal Service and other federal agencies to bolster their mail-screening procedures.
Last year, postal inspectors responded to 2,282 suspicious packages in the United States, the agency said in its annual report.
That’s out of 150 billion pieces of mail sent. Only a few – about 20 a year – end up being hazardous enough to warrant a criminal investigation.”
Comment: The Senate Judiciary Committee should ask that the FBI provide a copy of the 38 pages of the 2000 page summary Amerithrax memo when it is provided to United States District Judge Contreras within the next 30 days.
22 pages is an outline of the Memo and 16 pages is the section on Ivins which explains his alibi. After all, it was a member of the Judiciary Committee that was sent lethal anthrax in Fall 2001.
The Ivins emails that the FBI did not keep — on which it closed the investigation — are mentioned in the Ivins section. Right? So if the FBI threw out those emails, it seems that they should at least provide the factual recounting of those emails. Instead, we have only the for-profit spin of R. Scott Decker who in a new book spins Ivins’ emails and describes the notebook where they were kept. I would think that FBI FOIA head Dave Hardy would simply send someone to look at the place where the former FBI Agent and now book author says they were kept. (CART kept the emails in a separate notebook).
Excerpt:
“But the report is also 2,000 pages long, and the FBI has asserted that the entire thing is deliberative. This contention immediately draws some skepticism, because “the deliberative process privilege does not protect documents in their entirety; if the government can segregate and disclose non-privileged factual information within a document, it must.” Loving, 550 F.3d at 38. FOIA requires the same. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(b) (“Any reasonably segregable portion of a record shall be provided to any person requesting such record after deletion of the portions which are exempt.”). As noted above, then, for the factual information in the IMCS to fall within the ambit of the privilege here, the information must “reflect[] an ‘exercise of discretion and judgment calls.’” Ancient Coin Collectors, 641 F.3d at 513 (quoting Mapother, 3 F.3d at 1539). In other words, the drafters of the report must have “‘cull[ed] the relevant documents, extract[ed] the pertinent facts, organize[d] them to suit a specific purpose,’ and ‘identif[ied] the significant issues.’” Nat’l Sec. Archive v. CIA, 752 F.3d 460, 465 (D.C. Cir. 2014) (quoting Mapother, 3 F.3d at 1538).
In this case, the easiest way for the Court to determine whether the IMCS is the product of such a process is to look at the requested excerpts. Indeed, “[w]here the agency fails to meet [its] burden, a not uncommon event,” FOIA provides courts “a host of procedures” to determine whether the claimed exemption is proper, including discovery, further agency affidavits, and in camera review of the records in question. Allen v. CIA, 636 F.2d 1287, 1298 (D.C. Cir. 1980), abrogated on other grounds by Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, D.C., Inc. v. Smith, 721 F.2d 828, 830–31 (D.C. Cir. 1983). Here, the Court thinks that the last of these options is the appropriate one. The documents at issue are relatively short in length—just thirty-eight pages—and the parties’ “dispute . . . centers on the actual contents of the document[s].” Id.; see also Juarez v. Dep’t of Justice, 518 F.3d 54, 60 (D.C. Cir. 2008). The FBI also has not expressed much, if any, opposition to the Court performing such a review. See, e.g., Second Hardy Decl. ¶ 16 (“If the Court deems it necessary, the FBI will provide copies of the processed records to the Court for in camera inspection.”); cf. Allen, 636 F.2d at 1299 (“[L]ittle basis for . . . concern [over judicial intrusion] exists when the agency itself proposes that the court conduct an in camera inspection of the document.”).
The Court thus exercises its “broad discretion” to order production of the requested IMCS excerpts within thirty days. Id. at 1297. DOJ should, if necessary, produce classified and unclassified versions of the pages.”
DXer said
Mail bombs, synagogue slayings: Using terror for political gain
By
Harlan Ullman, Arnaud de Borchgrave Distinguished Columnist
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/Voices/2018/10/29/Mail-bombs-synagogue-slayings-Using-terror-for-political-gain/6261540739418/
DXer said
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/explosion-injures-indiana-post-office-fbi-investigates-49674876
Explosion injures 1 at Indiana post office; FBI investigates
By The Associated Press
EAST CHICAGO, Ind. — Sep 7, 2017, 8:10 AM ET
The FBI is leading an investigation Thursday into an explosion at a post office in northwestern Indiana that injured a postal worker.
The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports that FBI Special Agent Bob Ramsey said the woman was taken to a hospital after the explosion about 6 p.m. on Wednesday in East Chicago. Details of her injuries weren’t released, but Fire Chief Anthony Serna said they weren’t life-threatening.
An FBI statement to the Chicago Sun-Times said it’s “yet to be determined if this is an act of domestic or international terrorism, but at this time there is no ongoing public safety concern.” The statement said the investigation was in its early stages.
The Associated Press left a message with the FBI Thursday seeking new information.
In addition to federal agents and local fire officials, local law enforcement also assisted in the investigation. The Porter County’s bomb squad responded with a bomb disposal robot. K-9 units from the Lake County Sheriff’s Department were at the scene.
DXer said
“A second factor lowering barriers is the evolving nature of conflict and warfare. The character of military challenges that confront states is changing. Hybrid warfare—which blends conventional warfare with subversive, irregular warfare and cyber warfare—is increasingly likely to complement classic military confrontation. Under these conditions, with uncertainty and insecurity growing, some states may develop novel bioweapons for covert use in small-scale operations; in such instances, it would be hard to confirm or attribute use of biological weapons. Likewise, states may develop novel biological weapons for overt use against unprepared adversaries when they become involved in conflicts so serious that the advantages of using banned biological weapons are perceived to outweigh the political costs and military risks of resorting to proscribed weapons. Also, states outmatched by adversaries in conventional weaponry might see novel bioweapons as a way to gain asymmetric advantages and compensate for strategic imbalances.”
Source:
Analysis
3 July 2017
Ignore Bill Gates: Where bioweapons focus really belongs
Filippa Lentzos
http://thebulletin.org/ignore-bill-gates-where-bioweapons-focus-really-belongs10876
Comment:
In a 1999 letter in response to a call for bioweapons use, Bin Laden said it was a religious obligation to obtain them, but it would be up to them how they would be used.
The hadiths arguably set forth severe limits.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
I disagree with Security Mom’s Juliette Kayyem made passing, casual comments on modus operandi. Just as Bin Laden said he would use anthrax in the manner he saw fit, in a letter read in London mosques in 1999, the anthrax letters fit the pattern of the Al Hayat letter bombs. Instead, the use of the letters pointed to supporters of the Blind Sheikh.
DXer said
Indeed, there was a chapter in the Al Qaeda manual on how to send such a substance in a letter. It advised wiping the interior with a silicone sealant so as to avoid killing the mailman. Here, the letters were taped (to the same intended effect).
DXer said
Paris IMF letter bomb injures one employee
8 minutes ago
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39292671
DXer said
Greek [leftist] militants claim parcel bomb sent to German ministry
by John HADOULIS – AFP on March 16, 2017
https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/34672369/greek-militants-claim-parcel-bomb-sent-to-german-ministry/#page1
DXer said
The plaintiff’s amended pleading of facts discussed in this week’s article by the Broward Bulldog, in para. 160, raises the question in my mind whether Bayoumi was investigated in connection with the Al Hayat letter bombs.
Was Bayoumi investigated in connection with the Al Hayat letter bombs after the package with the wires was discovered by the manager of his apartment complex? He was the fellow who helped the two hijackers who were at the terrorism summit held at Yazid Sufaat’s Kuala Lumpur condo.
160. Bayoumi first caught the attention of the FBI in 1995 in connection with other ongoing investigations at the time. Several years later, on September 8, 1998, the FBI’s San Diego Field Office opened a preliminary inquiry into Bayoumi based on allegations raised by the manager in the apartment complex where he was living. According to the manager, she had been notified by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in March 1998 that a suspicious package had been sent to Bayoumi from the Middle East. The package had broken open and a number of wires were protruding from it. The manager also reported that a maintenance worker for the apartment complex had noticed strange wires protruding beneath the bathroom sink in Bayoumi’s master bedroom. In addition, the manager reported frequent gatherings of young Middle Eastern men at Bayoumi’s apartment on weekend nights. The FBI case agent conducted a limited investigation, but the preliminary inquiry was closed on June 7, 1999 and Bayoumi was no longer actively investigated by the FBI. However, in connection with its pre-9/11 investigation, the FBI identified Bayoumi as an agent of the Saudi government.
Source:
PLAINTIFFS’ CONSOLIDATED AMENDED PLEADING OF FACTS AND EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF THEIR CLAIMS AGAINST THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA AND THE SAUDI HIGH COMMISSION FOR RELIEF OF BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA
DXer said
Over the years, the FBI has had an ever-increasing amount of jihadi threat communication made available for analysis.
See, e.g., Analysis of Jihadi Extremist Groups’ Videos
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/lab/forensic-science-communications/fsc/july2009/index.htm/research_tech/2009_07_research01.htm
The uninformed commentary by talking heads urging that Al Qaeda preferred “big bangs” has been swamped from regular discussion of other methods of operating — ranging from kidnapping intended to free prisoners or the poisoning of individuals in symbolic positions.
DXer said
Richard Esposito of NBC adds fascinating to the story. It is important to understand WTC 1993 in profiling the Amerithrax letters. If profilers were unaware of relevant intelligence, then their product was bound to be less good.
Exclusive: Mole Who Met Bin Laden Killed by Al Qaeda in Bosnia
BY RICHARD ESPOSITO
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/exclusive-mole-who-met-bin-laden-killed-al-qaeda-bosnia-n39306
DXer said
Abu Ghayth’s attorneys are making motions in advance of trial scheduled for as early as February 2014. Attorney Cohen is joined by his longstanding colleague Ashraf Nubani. The motion rejected here involved witness identification.
Ashraf Nubani, one of the attorneys making it, was the attorney for Randall Todd Royer in the Virginia Paintball case along with Attorney Cohen. He and Attorney Cohen, I believe, were disqualified because Ashraf was on the tapes of some of the defendants being investigated.
Filed: 8/20/2003, Entered: 8/21/2003 Order
For the reasons stated in open court and amplified in the accompanying Memorandum Opinion, ORDERED that attorneys Stanley L. Cohen, Esq. and Ashraf W. Nubani, Esq. be and are disqualified from representing defendant Randall Todd Royer in this case; and it is further ORDERED that the Clerk appoint counsel for defendant Royer forthwith. ( Signed by Judge Leonie M. Brinkema ) Copies Mailed: 08/20/03 (retry)
Who does Attorney Ashraf Nubani think is responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings? I have suggested that the sender was Adnan El-Shukrijumah who upon 911 called his mom from KSM’s house to say he was coming to the US. She protested that he would be arrested but he was determined.
Who does Attorney Ashraf Nubani think is responsible for the Al Hayat letter bombs sent to newspapers in DC and NYC and the prison at Leavenworth in Kansas? There is a $5 million reward outstanding. I have suggested that the sender was Dahab, trained by EIJ head of intelligence Ali Mohammed to mail lethal letters.
Attorney Nubani, Am I correct in thinking that you helped arrange the daughter of the former Amerithrax prosecutor Seikaly, Katherine, to represent Ali Al-Timimi pro boon? Attorney Turley in this ABA Journal article below says you were instrumental in arranging for assets and resources. Attorney Seikaly then pled the Fifth about the hyped leaks about the anthrax smelling dogs. Attorney Seikaly was the boss to AUSA Ken Kohl who closed the case.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
The Go-To Lawyer of ‘Northern Virginiastan’ – ABA Journal
http://www.abajournal.com › Magazine › September 2007 Issue
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/the_go_to_lawyer_of_northern_virginiastan/
As a student at the criminal law clinic of the Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, Nubani was part of a team challenging prison conditions for an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute—one of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers.
…
He was a third-year summer intern with late and legendary William Kunstler and still-in-everyone’s-face Ronald Kuby in New York City. They represented three defendants in that bombing.
Out of law school, he returned to New York City to work for a year with the storied, iconoclastic lawyer Stanley Cohen, who has almost as many hate Web sites against him as he does clients. Cohen has represented the Palestinian Authority and Hamas as well as many other unpopular clients. Nubani helped him throughout 1995 in the matter of Mousa Abu Marzook, leader of the political wing of Hamas, who was fighting extradition to Israel.
**
Mostly through the local mosque, Nubani knew some of the men prosecutors called the “paintball terrorists,” part of a suspected jihad network in Virginia. Nubani withdrew from direct representation of one when prosecutors argued there was a conflict of interest because he advised some of them while they were under FBI surveillance. (Nine of the men were later convicted of using paintball games as training for various holy wars in support of Islam.)
[Filed: 8/20/2003, Entered: 8/21/2003 Order
For the reasons stated in open court and amplified in the accompanying Memorandum Opinion, ORDERED that attorneys Stanley L. Cohen, Esq. and Ashraf W. Nubani, Esq. be and are disqualified from representing defendant Randall Todd Royer in this case; and it is further ORDERED that the Clerk appoint counsel for defendant Royer forthwith. ( Signed by Judge Leonie M. Brinkema ) Copies Mailed: 08/20/03 (rtra) ]
“Ashraf has been very visible in many of the northern Virginia cases,” says Jonathan Turley, who teaches at nearby George Washington University’s law school and is handling the appeals of two high-profile Muslims convicted of terrorism-related charges, Sami Amin al-Arian and Ali al-Timimi. “He has either been involved directly in many cases or played a significant role in getting lawyers and resources for these defendants.”
As part of his prevention paradigm, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft made immigration law a major tool for fighting terrorism inside the U.S. Suspected “sleepers”—terrorists living here peaceably until it is time to strike—have been kicked out of the country for the slightest mistaken jot or tittle on immigration paperwork. This has been a bane of troublemakers and law-abiding immigrants alike, as well as a boon to immigration and criminal defense lawyers.
***
Nubani’s mentor, radical lawyer Cohen, who still occasionally works on matters with Nubani, has this to say: “Ashraf is a very principled guy and he doesn’t get intimidated by the moment. The most significant thing about him is obviously his faith, and faith and the practice of law are sometimes like distant cousins not on speaking terms.
“In some ways it has been difficult for him over the years, as he has nuanced his way through the practice of law shaded by his overwhelming commitment to this strongest force in his life—his belief.”
Hearing that, Nubani says he has changed since he worked for Cohen: “I’m better now at reconciling ideals with reality, such as when I see that a judge is prejudiced. I’m better at playing the way of the system.”
Nubani’s devout nature is evidenced by his being occasionally called upon to fill in for one of the imams at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church and deliver the sermon at Friday prayer sessions. ***
On the Friday Nubani was to speak, the noon prayer session was led by Sheik Muhammad al-Hanooti, the mosque’s leader in the late 1990s.
In the early ’90s, al-Hanooti was head of the Jersey City, N.J., mosque where Omar Abdel Rahman, the “blind sheik,” made fiery speeches heard by men involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Abdel Rahman is serving a life sentence for plotting to bomb various landmarks around New York City. The FBI spoke with al-Hanooti in its investigation, but he has not been implicated in any terrorist activities.
***
Nubani’s knowledge of the Muslim-American community developed in part from his involvement in various meetings and conventions around the country over a number of years. That is how he came to be friends with the now-notorious former Palestinian activist and Florida computer science professor Sami Amin al-Arian.
Though he has not represented al-Arian, Nubani is close to him and his family and has assisted them in other matters, including fundraising.
In 2003, al-Arian was indicted on multiple charges that he was a leader in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and handled fundraising for the group. A Tampa jury acquitted al-Arian on eight of 17 charges and hung on the others. It was seen as an embarrassment for the U.S. Department of Justice.
***
Al-Arian’s plight devastated his family and friends, including Nubani, who believes the judge wrongly relied on acts for which al-Arian was acquitted. Nubani wrote a poem, titled “The Good Professor, Dr. Sami al-Arian.” In one stanza, it echoes the political speech defense:
“Death to Israel,” said to be his downfall,
Symbolic words believed since days of yore,
Echoed by Pat Henry in that great hall,
Death to tyranny—it shall be no more.”
Comment:
Montasser Al-Zayat, the Blind Sheik’s Egyptian counsel, said that Dr. Ayman Zawahiri was going to use anthrax to retaliate for the imprisonment of the Blind Sheik Abdel-Rahman and other EIJ officials. What does Ashraf Nubani think? His client, Abu Ghayth (Abu Ghaith) said that Al Qaeda had a right to kill 4 million civilians, including 1 million children, using WMD. Al Qaeda had an active anthrax program. Does Ashraf Nubani think that Abu Ghayth’s speech about the “storm of planes” after 911 or written pronouncement about WMD was morally defensible?
Counsel doesn’t deny that their client is the one on the videotapes, do they? Why make him seem like a lying crybaby? Isn’t it time for Abu Ghayth to man up?
Attorney Clark, a former US Attorney General, who is extremely eminent, also served as the Blind Sheik’s counsel. (Blind Sheik co-counsel Ramsey Clark was due here in Dewitt this past week but couldn’t make it due to the storm.) What does he think?
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/01/drone_protestors_say_in_court_they_were_upholding_law_not_breaking_it.html
DXer said
A WMD claim against Attorney Ashraf Nubani’s client, Abu Ghayth, can be based on his written pronouncement on the subject of WMDs and the videos.
But Abu Ghayth’s attorney, Ashraf Nubani, first grappled with WMD suspicions involving a charity front in representing an Ann Arbor, Michigan man.
Unproven weapons claim led to Islamic charity raid in ’01, Detroit News, September 04, 2004
http://www.islamdaily.org/EN/Contents.aspx?AID=1771
“The CIA feared that an Islamic charity chaired by an Ann Arbor man was plotting to attack the United States with weapons of mass destruction, according to a report by the 9/11 commission. The extraordinary claim was based on intelligence the agency gathered from a separate FBI investigation.
The worries prompted federal agents and NATO troops to raid offices of the charity, Global Relief Foundation, on Dec. 14, 2001, and swab some of them for residues of weapons of mass destruction. None were found, and the attack allegations were never proved, the 9/11 commission review says.”
But the claim led to the arrest of Rabih Haddad, an Ann Arbor cleric who became the center of a national debate over security and civil rights in a post-9/11 world. The commission’s report reveals for the first time why investigators cracked down on Haddad and shrouded details of his arrest from the public. …
Haddad’s attorney, Ashraf Nubani, first heard of the weapons claim when contacted this week by the Free Press. “That doesn’t make any sense,” Nubani said. “How can you be both a humanitarian organization and even remotely involved in weapons of mass destruction? It’s literally impossible.”
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
Comment:
Yes, Ashraf. It’s impossible. Now you represent Abu Ghayth (Abu Ghaith) involved with the charity, WAFA, which was involved in the procurement of equipment for Yazid Sufaat’s anthrax lab.
You were correct that you can’t be both a humanitarian organization and even remotely involved in weapons of mass destruction.
Attorney Nubani, wasn’t it your client, Abu Ghayth, who explained that the green light had been given for a bioweapons attack? And that the USG had been infiltrated?
My one-time Facebook Friend Yazid Sufaat doesn’t deny to me Al Qaeda’s responsibility for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings or deny that Al Qaeda had virulent Ames.
Your client, Abu Ghayth, OTOH, through his lawyers is complaining that he can’t pee straight. Who is the truth-teller, Stanley?
Rabih Haddad’s attorney, Ashraf Nubani, was the Northern Virginia attorney who arranged for pro bono representation for the Virginia Paintball defendants.
The Go-To Lawyer of ‘Northern Virginiastan’ | ABA Journal – Law …
Muslim-American attorney Ashraf Nubani dreams of building an ordinary law practice. Meanwhile, there are terrorists—alleged and otherwise—to defend.
abajournal.com/…/the_go_to_lawyer_of_northern_virginiastan/
Al-Timimi’s pro bono lawyer, who recently withdrew (in February 2009) from the ongoing criminal matter in which highly classified ex parte proceedings are addressing the issues at bar, was the daughter of the lead prosecutor in Amerithrax (the head criminal guy at the US Attorney DC Field Office). (His sister-in-law and brother were Palestinian activists who on their own time advocated that terrorism should not be attributed to Bin Laden.) The prosecutor, Daniel Seikaly, according to the biography on his present law firm’s webpage, had come over from the CIA in late September 2001.
That lead prosecutor, Daniel Seikaly, pled the Fifth Amendment at civil deposition for all the Hatfill leaks.
Amerithrax represents the greatest failure in counterintelligence analysis in the history of the United States.
DXer said
Attorney Ashraf Nubani has long been a student of history since helping with the defense of the WTC 1993 bombers as a 3rd year intern — and even before that at the University of Wisconsin.
http://www.opednews.com/author/author79358.html
Does he agree that Abu Ghayth wrote the handwritten letter saying a green light for a bioattack? (Or am I mistaken).
Any student of history will want to anchor themselves in the contemporaneous documents.
And anyone holding himself out to be a truth-teller (as co-counsel Cohen does) needs to tell the truth.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/In-Egypt-The-U-S-Will-Be-by-Ashraf-Nubani-120529-457.html
OpEdNews Op Eds 5/29/2012 at 16:42:21
In Egypt, The U.S. Will Be Relegated to Meddling
By Ashraf Nubani (about the author)
Headlined to H2 5/29/12
Since ancient times, Egypt’s riches, fertile land and strategic geographical location have made it a coveted prize for invading armies, including the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Turks, French and British. The US pretends not to be an empire, but until Egypt’s revolution last year, it had dominated all aspects of Egyptian affairs for more than three decades. After the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978, the US dictated the course of Egypt’s economy through IMF control and direct aid, harnessed its military power, ensuring Israel always maintained a qualitative edge, and supported the Mubarak regime as it oppressed its people while serving as an American puppet in the region.
It would be naive to think that the US would give up this un-modern, anti-democratic and inhumane policy of dominance over the Egyptian people in favor of a strategy that would champion their desire for self-determination. Only several months ago, the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) published a report entitled “Presidential Succession Scenarios in Egypt and Their Impact on U.S.-Egyptian Strategic Relations.” Of the many post-Mubarak scenarios presented, a Muslim Brotherhood ascendancy to power was the least desirable. It is therefore no surprise to anyone that the US and Israel are not happy with last week’s election results.
***
If the US continues to support the generals with 1.3 billion dollars in military aid and clandestinely undermines the democratic process, bloodshed in Egypt is all but certain. Not because Islam is inherently violent or the Arabs are backward and resistant to democracy and free modern societies. Rather, Western meddling in the Middle East led by US intervention for ascendancy, oil and Israel carries the price of blood and death.
US posture toward the so-called “Arab Spring” is replete with lip service to the self-determination of the peoples of the region, but actions speak louder than words. After a belated acceptance of Mubarak’s demise, the US still continues to draw upon its long-standing and vast intelligence network to infuse money and affect the outcome of Egypt’s elections and future. In Yemen, it strongly pushed for what it called a “peaceful” transition that ensured the vice president Abd -Rabbu Mansour Hadi would maintain the status quo and perpetuate the US military presence (ostensibly to protect the Saudi monarchy) under the guise of battling al-Qaeda.
DXer said
Let’s consider the evidence that might have been the cause of Rabih Haddad’s deportation to be sealed — and what led to 2-3 pages of redaction after it was forced unsealed in a lawsuit under FOIA.
On August 20, 2001, Saleh Ibn Abdul Rahman Hussayen, who would soon be appointed minister of the Saudi government and put in charge of its two holy mosques, arrived in the United States to meet with some of this country’s most influential fundamentalist Sunni Muslim leaders. He met with officials of the Global Relief Foundation, the charity led by Mr. Haddad. He also met with IANA representatives in Ann Arbor, Michigan according to court testimony by an FBI agent in the unsuccessful prosecution in Idaho of his nephew Sami Hussayen. IANA promoted the views of Bin Laden’s sheiks. On the night before September 11, Hussayen stayed at a Herndon, Virginia hotel where three of the Saudi hijackers stayed.
After an October 2001 bombing raid at a Qaeda camp in Darunta, Afghanistan US forces found 100+ printed, typed, handwritten pages of documents that shed light on Al Qaeda’s early anthrax planning. The Defense Intelligence Agency provided me the documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents confirmed that it was Zawahiri’s plan to use established specialists and the cover of universities and charities as cover for weaponizing anthrax. From early on, the evidence suggested that charity is as charity does. 90 of the 100 pages are the photocopies of journal articles and the disease handbook excerpts. It was not clear whether or they had yet acquired virulent anthrax or weaponized it, but it was clear that the planning was well along. When Vice President Cheney was briefed on the documents in late 2001, he immediately called a meeting of FBI and CIA. “I’ll be very blunt,” the Vice President started. “There is no priority of this government more important than finding out if there is a link between what’s happened here and what we’ve found over there with Qaeda.” At one point, security personnel thought that the home belonging to Elizabeth Cheney, his daughter had been hit by an anthrax attack. Elizabeth had to call her nanny to get her to take the kids to be tested for exposure. A June 1999 memo from Ayman to military commander Atef said that “the program should seek cover and talent in educational institutions, which it said were ‘more beneficial to us and allow easy access to specialists, which will greatly benefit us in the first stage, God willing.’ ”Thus, in determining whether Al Qaeda was responsible for the anthrax mailings in the Fall of 2001, the FBI and CIA had reason to know based on the growing documentary evidence available by mid-December 2001, that Al Qaeda operatives were likely associated with non-governmental organizations and working under the cover and talent in universities.
The government froze the assets of the Global Relief Foundation (GRF”) on December 14, 2001, saying it was a financial conduit to terrorists. No warrant had been obtained before the FBI arrived at Global Relief’s headquarters in Bridgeview, Illinois. The search was done pursuant to a provision in FISA that permitted a warrantless search when the Attorney General declares that an emergency situation .The 911′s Terrorist Financing Monograph notes that GRF’s newsletter, “Al-Thilal” (“The Shadow”) openly advocated a militant interpretation of Islam and armed jihad. The 911 Commission reports that the FBI suspected the Executive Director of being affiliated with the blind sheik’s Egyptian Islamic Group. The 911 Commission explains: “In early 2000, Chicago informed Detroit that GRF’s executive director, Chehade, had been calling two Michigan residents. One of these subjects was considered GRF’s spiritual leader and the other, Rabih Haddad, was a major GRF fund-raiser.” Its Chairman, Ann Arbor, Michigan community leader Rabih Haddad was arrested in mid-December 2001 for overstaying his visa. Haddad taught twice a week at an Ann Arbor school and was an assistant to the leader at Ann Arbor’s mosque. He was an imam there. Rabih Haddad was an effective fundraiser for the mosques in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti and for the Ann Arbor chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). His students have testified that he stated unequivocally that the attacks on September 11, 2001 were not the acts of true Muslims. Congressman John Conyers, Jr, of Michigan joined several newspapers in suing to force the government to open the hearings. Mr. Conyers argued that Haddad was being unfairly targeted as a Muslim cleric. After a visit by Congressman Conyers in March 2002, Mr. Haddad was removed from solitary confinement and placed with the general prison population.” Haddad was allowed to make phone calls and for the first time watch television. Mr. Haddad’s lawyer, Ashraf Nubani, of Northern Virginia, who later arranged for the pro bono representation of the Virginia Paintball defendants, said at the time “The government never established, other than smoke screen and innuendo, that he was linked to terrorism.” Attorney Nubani said that his client travelled mostly to Pakistani as part of his relief efforts. Haddad refused to testify before a grand jury unless granted full immunity. As part of DARPA-funded research, Dr. Bruce Ivins of USAMRIID supplied virulent Ames to Ann Arbor researchers whose office by September 2001 was 2 minutes –1 mile — from the mosque where Mr. Haddad was an imam. Although the evidence is “secret,” most intelligence is open source.
Certainly, former US Attorney Jeff Taylor knew this.
The New York Times reported at the time that “Prosecutors said they were keeping some evidence secret to protect terrorism investigations.” It was Haddad’s lawyer who arranged the pro bono representation for the Virginia Paintball defendants, including Al-Timimi. As a Detroit Free Press headline explained in 2004, “Unproven weapons claim led to Islamic charity raid in [mid-December] ‘01.” Global Relief Founder (”GRF”) cofounder Rabih Haddad was associated with Bin Laden’s Makhtab al-Khidamat, which was headed by Mohammed Islambouli in Peshawar. Mohammed Islambouli was head of a cell with KSM planning the attacks on the United States. Mohammed Islambouli led the faction of the Egyptian Islamic Group that joined Al Qaeda. KSM came to spearhead the attack using anthrax on the United States. It was his assistant, al-Hawsawi, who had the anthrax spraydrying documents on his laptop. Al-Hawsawi was working with Al-Baluchi to get the 911 hijackers into the country. Al-Baluchi would marry MIT-graduate Aafia Siddiqui. An Assistant United States Attorney asserted in passing in open court, without naming her, that Aafia was willing to participate in an anthrax attack if asked. Aafia Siddiqui is associated with Ann Arbor addresses near the mosque where her brother and sister-in-law, an MD, lived. In response to my questions, Al Qaeda anthrax lab director Yazid Sufaat never denied to me Al Qaeda’s responsibility for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings or that Al Qaeda was using virulent Ames.
Global Relief Foundation (“GRF”) and Benevolence International Foundation (”BIF”) attorneys in unison explained that the US had supported Makthab al-Khidamat in Afghanistan in the 1980s and Bosnia in the 1990s. (BIF head Arnaout, a Syrian, was at the meeting at which Al Qaeda was founded.) Investigation of the two charities was well underway prior to 9/11, although plagued by lengthy unnecessary delays emanating from headquarters. The 9/11 Commission Report notes that on April 21, 1999, upon weekly dumpster diving, FBI “agents had recovered from BIF’s trash a newspaper article on bioterrorism, in which someone had highlighted sections relating to the United States’ lack of preparedness for a biological attack.” As University of Maryland researcher Milton Leitenberg has pointed out, “[u]nfortunately, ten years of widely broadcast public discussion has provided such groups, at least on a general level, with suggestions as to what paths to follow.”
The FBI had a better relationship with the CIA in the investigation of BIF than with GRF. The 9/11 Commission noted that “[t]he Chicago agents believed the CIA wanted to shield certain information from the FBI because of fears of revealing sources and methods in any potential criminal litigation in the United States.” Chicago agents benefited from the New York Office files on the two charities but the New York FBI office personnel were overwhelmed and working their own leads. The Illinois-based investigations remained an intelligence gathering exercise with no thought given to a criminal prosecution to disrupt the financing of Al Qaeda until after 9/11.
In January 2003, the Chairman of Ann Arbor-based Islamic Assembly of North America, which promoted the views of Bin Laden’s sheiks, was arrested for bouncing a $6,000 check. Al-Timimi’s good friend, Dr. Bassem Khafagi, operated International Media Group out of his home. Before 911, according to the counsel for Falls Church scientist Ali Al-Timimi, Ann Arbor resident Khafagi was asked about Al-Timimi “purportedly at the behest of American intelligence. [redacted ] He was specifically asked about Dr. Al-Timimi’s connection to Bin Laden prior to Dr. Al-Timimi’s arrest. He was later interviewed by the FBI about Dr. Al-Timimi. Clearly, such early investigations go directly to the allegations of Dr. Al-Timimi’s connections to terrorists and Bin Laden — [redacted]”
In September 2006, federal agents investigating the Muslim charity Life for Relief and Development seized more than $134,000 in cash from the Ann Arbor home of Mujahid Al-Fayadh, a board member and founder of the organization. Dr. Mujahid Al-Fayadh has a Ph. D. in the field of Food Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Al-Fayadh also maintains a B.Sc. and M. Sc. in Dairy and Food Technology. He was the imam and project manager of the Hidaya Muslim Community Association in Ann Arbor. The association operated the Michigan Islamic Academy at Plymouth Road in Ann Arbor where the Global Relief Foundation founder taught twice a week. One mile down the road at Plymouth Park was the company whose researchers Bruce Ivins had supplied the virulent Ames years ago for DARPA-funded biodefense research. The company was called NanoBio. In late August 2001, it had moved in to its new offices from less impressive digs in the basement of a bank. Bruce Ivins had supplied its University Of Michigan researchers Ames strain a couple years earlier for DARPA-funded biodefense research. The Ann Arbor researchers in December 1999 went to Dugway, a military installation in the remote Utah desert to demonstrate the effectiveness of their biocidal cream on an aerosolized anthrax surrogate.
The lead researcher, Tarek Hamouda (Cairo Medical, MD, PhD) thanked Bruce Ivins for supplying virulent Ames and thanked Kimothy Smith (who typed the attack anthrax) for providing space at LSU to do the research. This question of distribution of Ames from Bruce Ivins is very important to the correct analysis of Amerithrax.
NanoBio received $80 million in investment — $50 million has been from a DC venture firm led by Richard Holbrooke. NanoBio even helped decontaminate the Senate office buildings and pitched a hand cream to postal workers.
Certainly, as a return on the taxpayer investment in our civil servants, we can at least expect our legislators to share answers to questions sent by those involved in governmental oversight. As taxpayers, we can expect answers to questions relating to the distribution of virulent Ames by Bruce Ivins. Despite the well-intentioned efforts by Senator Leahy, Senator Grassley and others, oversight of the Department of Justice on the issue seems totally ineffective.
Moreover, if activists are going to claim to be truth-tellers, we can expect them to tell the truth.
DXer said
The fellow I suggest is the anthrax mailer, Adnan El-Shukrijumah, was a fundraiser for Global Relief Foundaiton. His garage sales might not have raked in the cash but it was the thought that counted.
Adnan El-Shukrijumah was closely connected with Al Qaeda/ 911 operatives Al-Hawsawi and KSM, both of whom are associated with Al Qaeda’s anthrax planning through the documentary evidence. El-Shukrijumah was also closely connected to Mohammed Atta. There is a $5 million reward for Adnan’s capture. In 2010, he was indicted in connection with a NYC subway plot.
By way of background, Hambali introduced Al Qaeda anthrax lab technician Yazid Sufaat to Zawahiri at Al Qaeda’s Media House. (see above) Yazid in Facebook email and chat does not deny to me Al Qaeda’s responsibility for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings. Instead, he pleads the Fifth Amendment. Nor does he deny that he was working with virulent Ames. Yazid had assured KSM that he and his assistants were safe because they had been vaccinated. After our exchanges, Yazid was arrested for terrorism in connection with his conversations with some young men leaving for Syria.
Al-Hawsawi had worked there at the Media House before working to help the 911 hijackers into the US — he was KSM’s assistant. Al-Hawsawi’s laptop had the anthrax spraydrying documents on it. The night Atta was copying and cutting at KINKOS and Maryland (see film that has not been disclosed by the FBI), Atta returned unused funds to Al-Hawsawi. (see record of wire transfer)
According to Al-Hawsawi, American Adnan El-Shukrijumah aka “Jafar The Pilot” lived with Al-Hawsawi in safe houses in Karachi from February 2002- April 2002. See detention report that is uploaded.
The anthrax letters are in a handwriting consistent with Atta’s handwriting — at least that is what the FBI handwriting opinion still being withheld concluded. I have uploaded the exemplar and handwriting comparison.
El-Shukrijumah was seen with Atta by an INS employee 2001. (see 911 Commission Report). Atta prayed at the mosque where El-Shukrijumah, which was next to his house and where his father Gulshair led prayers. Gulshair had been at the Brooklyln mosque where he translated for Blind Sheik Abdel-Rahman. El-Shukrijumah used to raise funds for Global Relief Foundation which was involved in Al Qaeda’s WMD aspirations. An FBI undercover informant says he was told to stay away from El-Shurkijumah in 2001 because it was thought that El-Shukrijumah was suspicious of him — and instead the informant, interviewed in 2009 by ABCNews — was directed to concentrate on the 19-year-old who seemed like an easier target. That young man then too grew suspicious and said he wanted to withdraw from the suggested plan to target electrical substations. The prosecutors initially declined to prosecute because he had been entrapped by an earlier freelance undercover. But then the prosecution proceeded in May 2002. That young man says he saw El-Shukrijumah, who attended the same mosque, as late as July 2001.
KSM says he directed El-Shukrijumah to case targets in NYC, Washington, DC. and throughout the US in 2001.
In the Spring of 2002, Adnan El-Shukrijumah, was living with Al-Hawsawi in Karachi. Al-Hawsawi had the anthrax spraydrying documents on his laptop. The process would take 30 days. Al-Hawsawi was captured in the home of bacteriologist Qadus Khan. About the same time, Ali Al-Timimi’s townhouse was raided and 100 agents came here to simultaneously interview 150 people at the very minute Ali Al-Timimi’s townhouse was raided.
Intelligence analysis often involves tracing back through time who knew who.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Randall Royer, Attorney Stanley Cohen’s client until he and Attorney Nubani were disqualified in August 2003, testified before the grand jury in testimony that was 86 pages long.
The FBI interviewed Mr. Royer, for example, on
July 26, 2004 (4 pages)
July 20, 2004 (9 pages)
June 28, 2004 (2 pages)
June 24, 2004 (4 pages)
June 10, 2004 (7 pages)
April 23, 2004 (4 pages)
April 20, 2004 (5 pages)
March 24, 2004 (7 pages)
March 23, 2004 (2 pages)
March 18, 2004 (2 pages)
February 4, 2004 (1 page)
The documents and briefing relating to anthrax are classified and sealed.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
What’s behind timing of terror threat
By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst, and Bailey Cahall, Special to CNN
updated 10:15 AM EDT, Sat August 3, 2013
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/02/opinion/bergen-terror-embassy/?sr=google_news&google_editors_picks=true
Compare:
In 2007, in an article for Newsmax I argued that the letter bombs to DC and NYC were sent by these same folks working to free blind sheik Abdel-Rahman. There is a $5 million reward for the Al Hayat letter bombs to the media outlets in DC and NYC. In that context, I noted the coincidence in timing as it related to “Night of Decree.” Although I am not at all qualified on the subject of religious holidays or any religion even generally, today Peter Bergen ventures what may be behind the timing of the current threat (relating it to the “Night of Power”). Congressman Peter King did say that the intel was specific as to timing. It will be interesting to learn more about the intelligence that led to the current threat.
I wrote:
“The tactic of lethal letters was not merely the modus operandi of the militant Islamists inspired by al-Zawahiri, it was their signature. The Islamists sent letter bombs in late December 1996 from Alexandria, Egypt to newspaper offices in New York City and Washington, D.C. and people in symbolic positions. Musical Christmas cards apparently postmarked in Alexandria, Egypt on Dec. 21, 1996 (which is Laylat al-Qadr, literally the “Night of Decree”) contained improvised explosive devices.”
DXer said
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/186617/report–intercepted-communications-between-al-qaida-operatives-prompted-global-travel-warning
8/03/2013 02:08 PM
Report: Intercepted Communications Between Al-Qaida Operatives Prompted Global Travel Warning
By: NY1 News
Intercepted communications between senior al-Qaida operatives apparently prompted the U.S. government to issue a global travel warning, according to the New York Times, which says terrorists discussed attacks against sites in the Middle East and North Africa.
The State Department travel alert is in effect for the rest of the month.
Anyone traveling is urged to pay attention to their surroundings, especially when using public transportation and visiting tourist spots.
DXer said
Al Qaeda leaders ‘wanted to do something big’ on Muslim holiday, sources say
SITE via AFP – Getty Images; IntelCenter via AP
From left: al Qaeda’s chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and Nasser al-Wahishi, leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
By Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito and Robert Windrem
NBC News
An intercepted electronic communication in which two of al Qaeda’s top world leaders agreed they “wanted to do something big” this past Sunday is what caused the U.S. government to shut nearly two dozen diplomatic posts around the world, according to intelligence sources.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s successor as the head of al Qaeda, and Nasir al-Wahishi, leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, wanted to time a significant attack to a Muslim holiday known as Laylat al-Qadr, the 27th night of Ramadan and the day the Koran was revealed to Mohammed. This year the holiday, also known as the “Night of Destiny” or the “Night of Power,” fell on the weekend of August 3 and 4.
DXer said
Wednesday is the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, as well as the 15th anniversary of the deadly terrorist strikes on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
What was the cause of the huge fire that shut down Nairobi’s International Airport?
Huge Fire Shuts Down Nairobi’s International Airport
New York Times (blog)-42 minutes ago
NAIROBI, Kenya — The Kenyan authorities ordered the closure on Wednesday of Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the busiest in …
Big fire closes Nairobi airport; flights rerouted
Yahoo! News-4 hours ago
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A massive fire destroyed the arrivals hall at Kenya’s main international airport early Wednesday, forcing the closure of East Africa’s …
Wednesday, Aug. 7, is the anniversary of the 1998 coordinated bombings of United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, attacks that killed more than 200 people.
But Kenya’s antiterror police boss, Boniface Mwaniki, told The A.P. that he wanted to wait for the fire to be extinguished before making a judgment about whether terrorism had been involved. Kenya is a key Western ally, abutting troubled areas of neighboring Somalia.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Al Qaeda now is formally urging that lone wolves send poison letters.
Adnan El-Shurkijumah, whose father was imam at al Farouk, would have known Dahab, who was trained by Ali Mohammed to send lethal weapons. Ali Mohammed was EIJ’s head of intelligence. He and Dahab went to Bin Laden to report that they had recruited 10 sleepers.
Dahab ran the Blind Sheik’s Services Organization that started at Farouq and then I believe moved next door.
Anthrax letter suspect Adnan El-Shukrijumah would also likely have known Abdel Sattar, the blind sheik’s paralegal — given that Adnan’s father was a translator for the blind sheik.
And then these others pictured above were in Afghanistan and London. There are some FBI experts who have put together a detailed timeline for Adnan El-Shukrijumah — as best as it can be divined. The FBI should consider whether Adnan was complicit in the Al Hayat letter bombs. I believe there is still a $5 million reward for the Al Hayat letter bombs which i have long urged involved the same cast and crew for the most part as the anthrax letters.
http://www.thegame730am.com/common/more.php?m=58&ts=1370280002&article=D33318AECC7111E286DEFEFDADE6840A&mode=2
New Al Qaeda Video Urges Boston-Like Homeland Attacks
8:50AM Tuesday
June 4, 2013
“(WASHINGTON) — Al Qaeda’s most dangerous franchise is threatening the U.S. with renewed attempts at homeland terror attacks, while urging radicalized Americans to launch … poison mail cases on their own. ”
———–
It seems there need to be strong, constructive, life-affirming voices to drown out pointless suggestions like the Al Qaeda video that urges jihadists to launch poison mail cases on their own.
I don’t see such incidents helping these combatants at all under any scenario. They are pointless. If these angry young men working at menial jobs perceive injustice in the world, they should take a cell phone, capture it on film, and upload it to YouTube.
All they are accomplishing is generating a loathing toward them — when instead they want to be winning hearts and minds.
Besides, it’s becoming great sport to make fun of castor bean pounders.
DXer said
Newly minted Department of Justice attorney Courtney Grafft in “Analysis of the Search Warrants of the Amerithrax Investigation” in the new Journal of Biosecurity writes “the FBI struggled to figure out where to begin to find the culprit of such a malicious, unfocused biological strike.”
Is a campaign of lethal letters sent to the Senators in charge of appropriations to Egypt and Israel — and the media — unfocused? Or does the highly targeted campaign follow the same pattern of letters sent earlier by the Vanguards of Conquest. That group (consisting of members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad living in exile) had threatened to use anthrax against US targets to retaliate for the rendering of senior EIJ leaders, to include the Blind Sheik Abdel-Rahman. Shouldn’t FBI analysts have immediately thought of the Al Hayat letter bombs and the announcement by senior EIJ leaders that Dr. Zawahiri was going to use anthrax?
DXer said
As for those people who think that letter bombs were not the modus operandi of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, ask them what they got on their history exam back in school.
The most prolific commentator on anthrax who supports the FBI’s anthrax theory, Ed, just took down his pornography site of 15 years.
Looking at naked pictures of women is how he spent most of his waking hours.
Reading relevant sources is not what he is known to do.
http://web.archive.org/web/20110202092310/http://www.fake-detective.com/
DXer said
Various news outlets –
An al-Qaida-linked website has posted a potential hit list of targets that include names and photos of several U.S. officials and business leaders, calling for terrorists to target these Americans in their own homes, NBC New York has learned.
The FBI has sent out a new intelligence bulletin to law enforcement agencies, warning that this new web-based threat, while not a specific plot, is very detailed. The bulletin said the list includes leaders “in government, industry and media.”
The list includes Wall Street firms, political leaders, leaders with think tanks and contractors who do business with the military.
One jihadist called for sending package bombs to any listed address as just one possibility.
DXer said
In Mirage Man, in an Appendix after the Epilogue, David Willman writes:
“Why the particular high-profile list of intended victims?”
Mr. Willman answers:
Ivins did not appear to have a firsthand connection with any of the addresses of the letters — Brokaw, Senators Daschle and Leahy, “Editor” of the New York Post, or anyone at the parent offices of the National Enquirer. Yet Ivins was a longtime student of the news media and national politics. (p. 348)
DXer said
Did I mention that Saif Adel, pictured above, is now planning to attack the United States?
DXer said
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/04/egypt-vp-targeted-assassination-attempt-killed-bodyguards-sources-tell-fox-news/
Egypt VP Target of Assassination Attempt That Killed Two Bodyguards, Sources Tell Fox News
Published February 04, 2011
| FoxNews.com
Before becoming Egypt’s vice president in late January, Omar Suleiman was known for his strong-arm tactics as one of the region’s most feared and revered intelligence chiefs.
A failed assassination attempt on Egypt’s vice president in recent days left two of his bodyguards dead, sources tell Fox News.
Contrary to the pundits who just associate Al Qaeda with a “big bang,” a key modus operandi of the EIJ/Vanguards of Conquest was targeted assassination. It was widely known known among intelligence analysts that Zawahiri was seeking to weaponize anthrax for use against US targets, had threatened to use anthrax if the EIJ #2 was not released, and then sent anthrax to those responsible for the appropriations the next day.
The Vanguards of Conquest said that the attempt on Prime Minister Sidki’s life in November 1993, in which a schoolgirl was killed, was to avenge the mass arrests and executions of militants seeking to topple Mubarak’s government. The Egyptian Islamic Jihad group specializes in armed attacks against high-level Egyptian government officials, including Cabinet ministers. The group had a “hit list” that included tens of Egyptians to be killed by the group, including journalists. Targeted assassination of people in symbolic position was the modus operandi of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad — not the “big bangs” characteristic of Al Qaeda. Al-Jihad has had a role in most foreign terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies over the past 20 years. The group is most well known for its first, the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
In May 1987, a Major General was shot outside his home in Cairo. Several EIJ members and two Islamist Group members were arrested in connection with the attack. In November 1990, six members of EIJ were arrested in connection with the murders of People’s Assembly Speaker and five security men on October 12, 1990.
In September 1993, a Lebanese newspaper reported that EIJ plan to kill Yasser Arafat was uncovered by the Egyptian police. In 1992, Islamic Jihad activists murdered an author, Faraj Fodah, who had openly supported Israeli-Egyptian peace. The secular columnist in his last article had suggested that the militants were motivated by sexual frustration more than politics.
In August 1993, the same year as the bombing of the World Trade Center, al-Jihad attempted to assassinate Egyptian Interior Minister by firing on his motorcade and detonating a homemade bomb. The group also made an attempt that year against Prime Minister with an explosion which occurred about 500 yards from his home as his motorcade passed.
In March 1994 Egypt’s higher military Court passed death sentences in absentia that included Tharwat Salah Shehata, Yasser al-Sirri, ‘Isam Muhammad ‘Abd-al-Rahman for the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Atef Sedki on November 25, 1993. In 1994 al-Jihad militants were linked to two unsuccessful attempts to bomb the Israeli and U.S. embassies in Manila. In June 1995, the Vanguards of Conquest claimed responsibility for a failed assassination attempt on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to kill Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In December 1995, the Vanguards of Conquest sent a communiqué warning Pakistan to stop extraditing militants to Egypt, or “it will pay a heavy price.” That month, Egyptian Security forces arrested 56 terrorists after being tipped off by an EIJ informer. The group was accused of planning to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak on 1995 using 550 pounds of explosives to blow up the President’s motorcade.
In June 1998 Egyptian security authorities arrest seventeen members on charges of forming an Al Jihad cell in east Cairo. Resulting confessions revealed that Al Jihad was planning to assassinate a number of public figures and security officers. That month, Jihad members al-Najjar (head of Al Jihad in Albania), and Majed Mustapha are arrested in Albania, reportedly with the aid of the Central Intelligence Agency, and extradited to Egypt in late June 1998. An August 1998 Statement issued by the Information Office of the Jihad Group in Egypt vows revenge on the United States for the extradition of three Al Jihad members from Albania to Egypt.
In September 1998, a number of senior EIJ and IG leaders in London were arrested, including the EIJ cell members who had faxed the claim of responsibility for the embassy bombings. In April 1999, after verdicts in the “Returnees from Albania,” the Vanguards of Conquest and Al Jihad issue separate threats of retaliation. Of the 107 accused, 87 defendants were found guilty, including Canadian Mahmoud Mahjoub.
The group was involved in October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, and then in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. US Post Office employee Sattar was told that supporters of the blind sheik Abdel-Rahman were responsible for the blast, the purpose of which was to negotiate his release. Abdel-Rahman advised that Sattar should stay out of the negotiations which should be left to the lawyers.
Throughout these years, an estimated 70 Egyptian militants were rendered by the US to Cairo prior to 9/11 and the anthrax mailings. The fact that targeted assassination was the modus operandi of the US-based islamists — and that the motivation was retaliation for the detention of senior leaders and to create leverage aimed at their release — was established by the first of a series of terrorist attacks in the US — the assassination of radical rabbi Meir Kahane by Egyptian Nosair, who had emigrated from Egypt in 1981.
The commentators like Ed who argued that Al Qaeda just goes for the “big bang” were overlooking the modus operandi of the Vanguards and what was known about Ayman’s biological program through “open source” materials. Ed, has never purported to know anything about the Egyptian Islamic Group or Egyptian Islamic Jihad. If it does not fit with his assumptions of the day, he deems an issue legally irrelevant.
In his March 2007 confession to a military tribunal, KSM admitted to having been involved in a plot to assassinate a number of former American presidents (including Jimmy Carter), Pope John Paul II and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. In December 2007, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. In January 2008, it was revealed that Jabarah, the go-between KSM and Hambali had vowed to avenge the death of a friend by killing FBI agents and prosecutors he knew and apparently intended to use some steak knives he had secreted. To suggest that Zawahiri and his colleagues do not use targeted assassination as their modus operandi — indeed, to not appreciate that it is the EIJ’s key modus operandi — totally misses the mark.
The attempted assassination last week of the newly appointed VP is just another example of EIJ’s modus operandi. (In making the choice, by the way, Mubarak perhaps did not consult his public relations department).
DXer said
The Al-Qaeda Banking Threat
The government warns of economic terrorism.
by John Hayward
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=41531
This is actually not the first time intelligence agencies have become concerned about such an attack on Wall Street. A virtually identical terror warning was described by a Washington Post story from August 2004, differing only in that the weapon of choice was thought to be truck bombs. Al-Qaeda had been “methodically casing” high-value targets like the World Bank headquarters, New York Stock Exchange, and Prudential Financial building.
In addition to the economic damage, a major strike on New York’s financial institutions would wear the perfume of nostalgia, an intoxicating scent for people who are still bent out of shape about the fall of Andalusia. It’s good to know our counter-terrorism experts take the intersection of motive and opportunity seriously.
DXer said
Those who do not think that lethal letters are not the modus operandi of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad/Vanguards of Conquest need read the FBI’s webpage. There is an up to $5 reward offered under the Rewards for Justice for the unsolved Al Hayat letter bombs.
Exclusive: Wall Street Execs On New Terror Threat Info
By JONATHAN DIENST
Updated 11:00 PM EST, Mon, Jan 31, 2011
Security officials are warning the leaders of major Wall Street banks that al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen may be trying to plan attacks against those financial institutions or their leading executives.
Intelligence officials stress the threats are general in nature and there is “no indication of a targeted assassination plot” against any Wall Street executive. But NBCNewYork.com has learned officials fear the names of some top banking executives have been discussed by terror operatives overseas.
Intelligence analysts added they have a general but growing concern that operatives in Yemen may again try to send package bombs or biological or chemical agents through the mail to Wall Street bankers.
In recent weeks, the FBI’ Joint Terrorism Task Force and NYPD officials have been briefing bank executives and their security departments on the nature of the threat information. Much of it gleaned from al Qaeda writings like ‘Inspire’ magazine that recently warned of attacks targeting financial institutions.
The latest “Inspire” issue also made reference to trying to use Anthrax in an attack, officials said.
NBC terror consultants also point to the web writings of al Qaeda blogger Abu Suleiman Al-Nasser who recently wrote,”Rush my Muslim brothers to targeting financial sites and the program sites of financial institutions, stock markets and money markets.”
Al-Nasser is a blogger who has written about some previous al Qaeda plots – including a recent bombing attempt in Sweden – before much of the information was publicly known.
Banks like Goldman Sachs, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays and others have received updated security briefings from the FBI’s JTTF, security officials told NBCNewYork.
Spokesmen for numerous banks declined to comment instead referring all calls to law enforcement agencies.
Spokesmen for the NYPD, FBI and homeland security offices also declined comment about the recent briefings.
Wall Street banks do get regular security updates but one official familiar with the latest briefings said there was added concern even though the threat information is non-specific.
As a precaution, police are urging Wall Street banks to further increase security in and around mail rooms and delivery of packages – especially those that might be addressed to those firms’ top executives.
Part of this warning also comes as the result of last October’s failed plot by Yemen terrorists to exploded package bombs on airliners bound for U.S. cities.
Since 9-11, the NYPD has greatly stepped up security around Wall Street. Terror suspects have been caught scouting targets like the Citicorp Center and the New York Stock Exchange.
Congressman Peter King (R-Long Island), who himself has extra security after his name appeared in a recent issue of”Inspire,” said when al Qaeda terrorists publish threats – those threats should be taken seriously. “Whenever a name is included … it’s always a cause for more concern because again the fear is that that’s sending a specific signal to specific operatives in this country to take action,” King, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said.
Security officials said any banking executive whose name may have been discussed by al Qaeda-linked operatives overseas has been notified.
DXer said
Purporting to speak for the Vanguards of Conquest, Saif Adel specifically denied the letters to NYC and DC newspapers and people in symbolic positions sent in connection with detention of the blind sheik. But then he was roundly rebuked by the London-based spokesman for the Vanguards of Conquest, Al-Sirri, who denied responsibility for the letters on behalf of the Vanguards and said Saif Adel was not authorized to speak for the group unless he went through formal channels.
The same sort of counterintuitive theory (a bioevangelist theory) — with or without being dressed up by panties — was raised in connection with the earlier letter bombing of newspapers to DC and New York City and people in symbolic positions. (Al Hayat letter bombs for which there is up to a $5 million reward under the rewards for justice program) But that time it was US Post Office worker Ahmed Abdel Sattar who noted that the bombs were mailed on December 20, 1996 one day before the brief in support of the blind sheik on appeal. He questioned whether someone (like the FBI) was trying to undermine the appeal’s prospects. This time, Mr. Sattar did not need any help making the argument with respect to the anthrax letters — numerous people with agendas rushed to do it for him.
NPR set the scene. It was January 2, 1997, at 9:15 a.m. at the National Press Building in Washington, D.C. The employee of the Saudi-owned newspaper Al Hayat began to open a letter. It was a Christmas card — the kind that plays a musical tune. It was white envelope, five and a half inches by six and a half inches, with a computer-generated address label attached. It had foreign postage and a post mark — a post mark in Alexandria, Egypt. It looked suspiciously bulky, so he set it down and called the police. Minutes later they found a similar envelope. These were the first two of four letter bombs that would arrive at Al Hayat during the day.” A fifth letter bomb addressed to the paper was intercepted at a nearby post office. They all looked the same. Two similar letter bombs addressed to the “parole officer” (a position that does not exist) arrived at the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth. It seemed evident how some Grinch had spent the holidays in Alexandria, Egypt.
Egyptian Saif Adel (Makawwi) was involved in military planning. Adel was a colonel in the Egyptian Army’s Special Forces before joining Al Qaeda. He helped plan the 1998 attacks on the US embassies in Africa. He was also a planner in the attack on the USS Cole and has served as the liaison officer between Hezbollah and Al Qaeda. Adel assisted Atef, who had overall responsibility for Al Qaeda’s operations. There was part of a long-running disagreement with Saif Adel (Makawwi) and Ayman, however. As Attorney Al-Zayyat has said, Makkawi had many times claimed responsibility for operations that were carried out inside Egypt but when the perpetrators were arrested, it would be al-Zawahiri’s name whose name they shout loyalty to from the docks. Some would even say they did not know a person named Makkawi. After the letter al-Hayat letter bombs were sent in January 1997, Saif Adel (Makawwi) gave a statement denying responsibility on behalf of the Vanguards of Conquest. He got admonished by the unnamed but official spokesman for the Vanguards organization (Al-Sirri) — chastising him as not being authorized to speak for the organization (or even being a member).
On January 7, 1997 Col Muhammad Makkawi purporting to be speaking for the Egyptian Vanguards of Islamic Conquest denied responsibility for sending the letter bombs. He said: “Those are messages of admonishment. There is no flirtation between us and the Americans in order for us to send them such alarming messages in such a manner.” Makkawi said that “the Vanguards of Conquest “are heavyweight and would not embark on such childish actions.” US press and political commentaries had hinted at the Vanguards of Conquest organization’s involvement in these attempts. In his statement to `Al-Hayat, Makkawi added “I am surprised that we in particular, and not other parties, should be accused of such an operation.” (He would have been referring to the Egyptian Islamic Group).
But then someone else credited with being the Vanguards official spokesman denounced Makkawi’s authority to speak for the group, referring to the January 5th statement it had made denying responsibility. This other claimed spokesman said “We welcome any Muslim who wants to join us, and if Makkawi wants to [join us], he will be welcomed to the Vanguards march, but through the organizational channels. But if words are not coupled with actions, we tell him: Fear God, and you can use a different name other than the Vanguards to speak on its behalf.” The spokesman for the Vanguards of Conquest was Al-Sirri, who US Post Office worker Sattar would have upload a fatwa to kill jews that he wrote with the Islamic Group head Taha in September 2000. Sattar issued under Sheik’s Abdel-Rahman’s name, without him even knowing of it until after the fact.
The FBI would not speculate as to who sent the letters or why. But this was your classic “duck that walks like a duck” situation. As NPR reported at the time, “analysts say that letter bombs are rarely sent in batches, and when they are it’s generally prompted by politics, not personal animus.” Al Hayat was a well respected and moderate newspaper. It was friendly to moderate Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt — just as, say NBC and CBS. That, without more, was accurately discerned by observers at the time as sufficient to make the newspaper outlet a target of the militant islamists. The newspaper, its editor explained, does not avoid criticizing militant islamists. The Al Hayat Editor-in-Chief explained: “We’ve been opposed to all extremists in the Arab world, especially the fundamentalists.” Mohammed Salameh, a central defendant in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was sent to Leavenworth in 1994. The other three Egyptian extremists convicted in the bombing were sent to prisons in California, Indiana and Colorado. Like the blind sheik, Abdel Rahman, Salameh had complained of his conditions and asked to be avenged. The Blind Sheik was particularly irked that the prison officials did not cut his fingernails.
Rahman was convicted in 1995 of seditious conspiracy, bombing conspiracy, soliciting an attack on an U.S. military installation, and soliciting the murder of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. His followers were indicted for plotting to bomb bridges, tunnels and landmarks in New York for which Rahman allegedly had given his blessings. The mailing of deadly letters in connection with an earlier attack on the World Trade Center, was not merely the modus operandi of militant islamists, it was the group’s signature — it’s their calling card. Khaled Abu el-Dahab, a naturalised American, from Silicon Valley in a confession detailed in a state security document from Egypt’s defense ministry dated October 28, 1998, explained that he was trained to make booby-trapped letters to send to important people, as well as asked to enroll in American aviation schools to learn how to fly gliders and helicopters. He was a friend of Ali Mohammed, a former special forces officer in the Egyptian army and former US Army Sergeant. He ran the Blind Sheik’s Services Organization in Brooklyn. Islamic Group member Islambouli, the brother of Sadat’s assassin, headed the organization in Peshawar.
After the Al Hayat letter bombs to newspapers in DC and NYC and people in symbolic positions, in January 1997, both the Blind Sheikh and his paralegal, Sattar, were quoted in separate articles in Al Hayat (in Arabic) denying that they or their supporters were responsible. The Blind Sheikh commented that al Hayat was fair and balanced in its coverage and his supporters would have no reason to “hit” them. Sattar noted that the bombs were mailed on December 20, one day before the brief in support of the blind sheik on appeal. He questioned whether someone (like the FBI) was trying to undermine the appeal’s prospects. For its part, al Hayat reporters, editor and owner were not expressing an opinion — though the owner did lay out various possibilities (e.g., Iraq, Iran etc.). The owner of the paper had commanded Saudi forces during the Persian Gulf War, when Bin Laden was so upset about American troops on the Arabian peninsula. Moreover, al Hayat had recently opened up a Bureau in Jerusalem, giving it a dateline of Jerusalem rather than al Quds, which some thought blasphemous. But none of the possibilities would plausibly explain why the letter bomb was sent to Leavensworth where three of the WTC 1993 defendants were imprisoned, including Ramzi Yousef’s lieutenant who had asked that his mistreatment be avenged. (That was the criminal genius who returned to Ryder to reclaim his deposit after blowing up the truck at WTC). Egyptian security officials claimed that said that the letters were sent from outside of Egypt, the stamps were not available in Egypt, and that the postmark was not Alexandria as reported. Whatever the place of mailing, the sender likely was someone who was upset that KSM’s and Ramzi Yousef’s associates had been imprisoned, to include, most notably, the blind sheik. Whoever is responsible for the anthrax mailings, it is a very good bet that they are upset the blind sheik is detained. That should be at the center of any classified profile of the crime.
On December 31, 1996 Mohammed Youssef was in Egypt — having gone to Egypt months before. The al Hayat letter bombs related to the detention and alleged mistreatment of the blind sheikh and the WTC bombers were sent 10 days earlier — on the Day of Measures. In 2006, he was named as co-defendant with Hassoun, Daher, Padilla and Jayyousi. Youssef was born in Alexandria. Do authorities suspect the “Florida cell” of being involved in the al Hayat letter bombs? Kifah Jayyousi’s “Islam Report” over the years — distributed by Adham Hassoun in Florida and Kassem Daher in Canada — expressed outrage at detention/extradition due to terrorism law and also what he perceived as attacks on his religion by some newspapers. His headlines on the internet groups blazed “Just In! First Muslim Victim of New Terrorism Law!: US Agents Arrest Paralegal Of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman Without Charge Prepares To Hand Him To Egyptian Regime,” soc.religion.islam, dated April 27, 1996 and “Islam Report (Newspaper Attacks Our Religion! Act Now!,” soc.religion.islam, Apr. 16, 1996
In connection with the January 1997 letter bombs, Ayman got the know-how to send sophisticated electronic letter bombs from Iraqi intelligence according to one item from the highly controversial Feith memo. In the al Hayat letter bombings, Ayman allowed the finger to be pointed at Libya. In the Amerithrax letters, he allowed the finger to be pointed to a United States biodefense insider. Tenet in his May 2007 book included Saif Adel as among “al-Qa’da’s leadership to the group’s highly compartmentalized chemical, biological, and nuclear networks.”
In September 2006, in a Sahab Media production called “Knowledge is for acting,” there is a clip in which Al Quds editor Atwan refers to his visit with OBL in 1996 (see his 2006 book The Secret History of al Qaeda) and he says that Bin Laden was planning to attack America “and America prisons in particular.” That was an apparent reference to the Al Hayat letter bombs sent to newspapers and prisons in January 1997. There were recurrent references to Abdel-Rahman in the tape.
Given that the EIJ/Vanguards of Conquest people (such as Al-Sirri and Zawahiri) are working with the Egyptian Islamic Group leaders (such as Taha and Islambouli, the brother of Sadat’s assassin), it seems that Amerithrax can be thought of as a joint operation. After the merger between Al Qaeda and EIJ, and the joining of Al Qaeda by some of the Islamic Group leaders, the group responsible can be thought of as by the code name Zawahiri used — the Greendale School. He used “school” in May 2001 correspondence announcing to his followers the course he had embarked upon. Saif Adel had led the “Green Team” to Somalia organized by Atef.
DXer said
http://treesaver.publicintegrity.org/daniel_pearl#-/node/65
The Pearl Project has learned KSM’s version of the story, as told to FBI agents who interviewed him in Guantanamo Bay as he awaits trial. He said that he was initially pleased by the 9/11 attacks, but then alarmed. “When he saw the planes hit the World Trade Center, he was happy, but when the towers collapsed he was worried,” a person familiar with the interview said. When the towers collapsed, he told investigators, he said, “Shit.” He was concerned how President George W. Bush, whom he called “the cowboy” would respond, he told investigators.
KSM told FBI agents: “I think we bit off more than we could chew. We had no idea what the cowboy would do.” When the towers fell, KSM told the FBI he thought, “We’ve awakened a sleeping bear.”
But then, one day in Karachi soon after the Pearl kidnapping, KSM told FBI agents, he got a phone call from a trusted senior leader in Al Qaeda, Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian who is on the FBI’s Most Wanted list with a $5 million reward; his name means “sword of justice” in Arabic. KSM wasn’t sure who had contacted al-Adel, but his colleague told him about Pearl. “He says, ‘Listen, he’s been kidnapped. These people don’t know what to do with him. They want to know if we want him.’ He thought this was an opportunity. We can take advantage of it. He said he wanted to make sure it’s an Al Qaeda thing,” according to sources familiar with the interview.
Rohan Gunaratna, an Al Qaeda expert based in Singapore, who has knowledge about KSM’s interviews, believes his confession. After the 9/11 attacks, as U.S. bombs dropped in Afghanistan taking out Al Qaeda operatives, “Khalid Sheikh Mohammed at that time wanted to send a message to the United States that we go tit for tat,” Gunaratna said.
KSM didn’t implicate his relatives or anyone else by name. He said he just took the one trip that day to the secret hideout where Pearl was being held captive, and he picked up two random men to help him. But he told FBI agents, he had a purpose: “I wanted to make sure I got the death penalty,” if the U.S. caught him, and so he wanted blood, literally, on his hands.
Another reason, he cited: “Propaganda” He told the FBI, “Conveniently, Danny was Jewish.”
***
U.S. documents identified Choudhary [the person who delivered the tape of the murder in anticipated exchange for $200,000] as a U.S. citizen with an extensive drug-related criminal record in New York City going back to 1992. The Pearl Project confirmed his identity with a brother of Choudhary, who lives in Orlando, Florida. In Karachi, Pakistani police interviewed Choudhary, as did FBI agents, but former FBI agent Tarine “Ty” Fairman called Choudhary “one of those no-touch people.” Fairman last saw Choudhary leaving the U.S. Consulate in Karachi with a Pakistani police escort.”
DXer said
Game on!
“Report Suspicious Activity! Total [expletive]! You Have Created A Self Fulfilling Prophecy. -X- -”
Shaken workers return to postal plant
By Carol Morello, Kafia Hosh and Ed O’Keefe
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, January 9, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/08/AR2011010803709.html
Scrabble helper for 4-letter “X” words
http://www.hasbro.com/scrabble/en_US/34LetterList.cfm
Thank goodness DXer isn’t a word in the The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary and Ed doesn’t know this weekend 7/24 I’ve been studying words blank, X, blank, blank. At 6 p.m. on Denny’s, I am meeting a group studying “-X-”words.
Maybe it is signed Love and Kisses, Ed. OXO, rather than DXer.
And damn! In disagreeing with Barry at the conference, I said the word was “infiltration” — built out from “rat”. Barry responded, “Oh, you’ve got a word, alright,” presaging the fact that the national scrabble association accepted my membership last night once I got my zipcode right!
Possible Motive Probed for “Flare-Up” Packages
Updated 8:39 PM EST, Fri, Jan 7, 2011
Sources said the devices were designed to ignite rather than explode. The devices are similar to devices sent out five or six years ago to governors around the country. They were inside a small shipping box.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/Possible-Motive-Reported-for-Flare-Up-Packages-113065639.html
If the devices prove to be similar to the letters to the governors, that would be very significant forensically. See, e.g., PRIORITY MAIL, about the similarity discerned with an earlier bomb and its importance.
Former FBI Director Freeh handled the case described in the great book PRIORITY MAIL as an AUSA. It involved Walter Leroy Moody at trial While he purported to have a political motive investigators understood to have petty personal motives — one involving the purchase of a used Corvette, I think, and another criminal matter involving a federal judge.
The FBI — perhaps it was at Quantico — determined that there was a unique signature in the construction of the bomb.
Ultimately the key evidence in the case was a single sentence spoken to his wife over the pillow — picked up on a spike mike in the wall.
Great drama with him moving in the dark in a field followed by agents while they kept him under surveillance.
It would be fascinating to reread that book in light of the Ivins Theory and Dr. Ivins experience.
DXer said
Anthrax and Al Qaeda: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1443811
http://www.anthraxandalqaeda.com
DXer said
This report from Baltimore County suggests that block letters were used.
http://dundalk.patch.com/articles/state-police-packages-had-potential-to-injure-if-not-kill
(Given the discrepancy in reports about what letters were capitalized, that’s an open question presently).
Inside each box was a note—one an original, with block hand-printing that said “REPORT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY! Total BULLSHIT! You Have CREATED A SELF FULFILLING PROPHECY. -X-” In another box was what appears to be a copy of that original note, Sheridan said.
The article states that one was an original and another was a photocopy.
This is notable because it gives investigators both the ink and toner to identify.
DXer said
“Match-rigged envelopes reach state governors,” September 10, 2004
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=79hEAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8rYMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1164,1529193&dq=governors+letter+bombs&hl=en
“All the letters were postmarked as if they had sent from a maximum-security in Ely, Nev., authorties said.”
What was the postmark of the recent letters?
DXer said
Nevada inmates questioned about booby-trapped letters sent to several governors
7 years ago
• CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) – Federal and state investigators questioned Nevada prison inmates Friday after at least 13 governors received letters rigged to catch fire when the envelope was opened.
The letters apparently did not contain writings but bore a return address from Nevada’s maximum-security Ely State Prison. In three cases, a match inside the envelope flared when the letter was opened, but no one was hurt.
The other letters were intercepted Thursday and Friday during screening or because of an alert issued by the Homeland Security Department. In addition to the governors of Nevada and at least 12 other states, Nevada’s corrections director received a booby-trapped letter.
The letters listed one or the other of two Ely inmates as the sender, but authorities are not sure if either prisoner was involved, said Glen Whorton, assistant director for the Nevada Corrections Department.
“We’re not assuming the names on the envelopes are simply the end of the matter,” he said. “Investigators are not just talking to the two inmates.”
The Montana Capitol was partly evacuated Thursday when the match burned the letter opened there, but there was no further damage. The letter sent to the office of Nevada Corrections Director Jackie Crawford contained blank paper and a match, which ignited as the paper was pulled out.
Whorton said there was nothing unusual-looking about the envelope. He said letters leaving Nevada prisons are not opened unless there is something out of the ordinary, such as a bulky envelope or an inadequate return address.
The letters received in Montana, Hawaii and Nebraska were addressed to “Executive Chambers.” Another was addressed to the Colorado governor, but did not specify Bill Owens. Letters also were sent to governors in New York, Texas, Massachusetts, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and Utah.
Of the 13 governors whose staffs confirmed receiving the suspicious letters by Friday afternoon, 10 are Republicans and three are Democrats.
DXer said
Although there was only a passing mention of a similarity between the current letter to the September 2004 match letters to the governors, let’s credit for a moment that it is a hot lead.
That would permit a bonanza of possibly fruitful forensic leads:
(1) paper composition, (2) handwriting, (3) typewriting, (4) photocopy toner, (5) DNA, (6) fingerprint etc.
not only as to the recent letter but the 2004 letters.
It seems that in a prison environment access to writing utensils, for example, and computers would be limited. Did those letters have an address done in handwriting instead of a typed label?
If the lead checked out — which is a big if and there should not be any assumptions, only direct evidence relied upon — you would start with a list of former inmates released from the Ely facility within driving distance of the postmark in the recent letters.
But so far we don’t know enough about the forensic similarity between the mailings — or the apparent motive of the earlier letters — to judge. There the paper inside was blank.
One possible theory: It was as if the mailer wanted to draw attention to the two named inmates and get them in trouble.
As possible leads go with respect to the letters last week, though, it seems like it should be zealously pursued by grown-ups carrying badges that we rely upon daily to keep the country safe.
And, of course, a large reward should be offered given how clueless you agents and beautiful Quantico-types would be without the help of internet posters. :0)
This matter may involve a paradox within a paradox within a conundrum.
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 13, 2004; 12:18 PM
RICHMOND, Sept. 13 — Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) is the latest state chief executive to receive a letter rigged to ignite, apparently sent from a prison in Nevada, state officials said.
The letter, bearing a return address for the Ely State Prison in Nevada, was intercepted by the person who delivers the governor’s mail from an off-site processing location to the state capitol, the governor’s press secretary, Ellen Qualls, said Monday morning.
It was similar to the letters sent to at least 15 other governors, all of which included a match device designed to flare when opened along the flap. The letter sent to Warner was opened along the bottom and did not catch fire, Qualls said.
“The guy who delivers mail to our offices spotted the correctional center stamp that he was looking for,” Qualls said. “Kenny went to pick it up, and said this is one of those letters.”
The letter never got close to Warner, who is leading the annual meeting of the Southern Governors Association in Richmond.
Qualls said the state police have taken custody of the letter and will turn it over to the FBI as part of their ongoing investigation.
The envelopes to the governors apparently did not contain any letters, but were addressed by an inmate, according to officials at the Nevada prison. In three cases, the match flared when the letters were opened, but no one has been injured.
DXer said
Mapquest of lcoation of Ely State Prison – note that many of the governors were from surrounding states. Then there are some outliers.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&expIds=17259,17311,28061&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&cp=6&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=ely+state+prison&fb=1&gl=us&hq=ely+state+prison&ei=_JspTeb6MYO88gbr3byPAg&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=image&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQtgMwAQ
DXer said
At one time personal typewriters were permitted to prepare appeals of their sentences. If the 2004 governor letter addresses were typed rather than handwritten, that would have permitted a slam-dunk.
Aug 29, 2008 | Posted by: roboblogger
Judge: No typewriters for prison inmates
Full story: Daily Sparks Tribune
A ban on personal typewriters for Nevada prison inmates, who have used them for decades to prepare appeals of their sentences, has been upheld by a federal court judge.
DXer said
FBI in charge of mail room bombs
Published: Jan. 8, 2011 at 10:08 AM
ArticleComments (0)
WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) — Washington, D.C., Mayor Vincent Gray said he hopes the incendiary parcel that briefly ignited in a District mail room isn’t part of a “broader terrorist act.”
A package addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ignited in a district postal facility Friday, a day after two similar parcels flashed in Maryland government buildings, The Washington Post reported.
“I hope this is just one individual,” said Gray. “We hope it’s not part of some broader terrorist act.”
No one was injured in Friday’s incident at the mail processing facility created to screen packages sent to Congress and federal agencies following terrorist attacks and the anthrax scare of 2001.
The package sent to Napolitano flashed after being tossed into a bin. The incendiary packages in Maryland singed the fingers of the two people opening them.
The FBI’s Joint Terrorist Task Force in Baltimore is leading the investigation, but it has not classified the incidents as acts of terrorism, the report said.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/01/08/FBI-in-charge-of-mail-room-bombs/UPI-28201294499310/#ixzz1AV9mU912
Comment:
It seems that the more pertinent question is the motive. Here, it doesn’t seem that there would be any reason to involve a second person — whatever the motive. (And if there were more than one sending the equivalent of sparklers in the mail, who cares?)
It doesn’t seem that it would require more than 1 person.
In the case of the Goldman Sachs letters (100 letters sent threatening that 100s would die), I once told an FBI agent that it was fascinating that the writer purported that there were 6 parents involved and 3 young high school age children.
I explained that from Law and Order, we know that when so many people are involved, the secret would get out and so the scenario seemed curious, if not implausible. The FBI agent’s further point was that it seemed surprising (or unlikely) that three kids would join in writing 100 letters.
(Even if they were photocopied, addressing 100 letters is beyond the concentration of many 17 year-olds.) (If they were photocopied, that’s another reason for the NAS to have reviewed the photocopy examination science).
The professed motivation in the Goldman Sachs case was that the young person was angry over his parent’s treatment of his parent by the company.
There, the letter was written in red ink, double-spaced and written in block letters. Then the next explanation was this lengthy letter written in a distinctive cursive asking that the investigation be called off and apologizing. By the mother? Perhaps.
My daughter is doing a science project on hand writing analysis and has just ordered all the texts. I expect that the studies will show that the block letters can easily be faked (and Ed’s theory that it is 99 percent that a First Grader wrote the letters is really stupid and has no basis in the literature, which he’s never read).
In the Amerithrax matter, at most, the handwriting in the letters (in the only 302 interview statement produced on the subject) might be suggestive that someone just learned English. The expert interviewed by the FBI said that the writer appeared to normally write from right to left (and so may have just learned English). (That expert thought that the FBI’s theory of the code in the letters was unsound).
In the Goldman Sachs case, the cursive in the long follow-up letter was very distinctive. Or at least someone with bad handwriting would find it very hard to fake that cursive writing.
For block handwriting, I explained my prowess at submitting multiple entries to the Oscar contest in the names of family when I knew who was going to win. You just hold your pen differently.
(The key to winning the Oscar contest is to wait until the last minute and the WSJ has conducted a telephone poll of voters. :0) )
DXer said
What was the postmark in the recent incendiary bombs in Maryland and in DC?
Sometimes even the postmark is in dispute.
The Al Hayat letter bombs involved lethal letters sent to newspapers in NYC and DC and symbolic targets relating to the WTC 1993 plotters.
The Egyptian security claimed the Alexandria postmark had been faked.
DXer said
So now the US reports that Awlaki is behind the Yemeni mailbombs and is linked to 9/11.
And Ali Al-Timimi’s defense counsel says that the Awlaki is central to understanding the allegations against “anthrax weapons suspect” Ali Al-Timimi.
Those who did not appreciate that lethal letters are within the group’s modus operandi were mistaken.
Saif Adel and Bin Laden disagreed as to modus operandi.
Mailbombs have reemerged now that he is back in charge.
Analysis of modus and motive should be rooted in documents and not surmise.
Yemeni radical cleric behind parcel bombs: U.S. ambassador
English.news.cn 2010-11-26
SANAA, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) — U.S. ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein accused the U.S.-born Yemeni preacher Anwar al-Awlaki of being behind the detected parcel bombs mailed from Yemen to the U.S. late October, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news website reported Wednesday.
***
Feierstein confirmed in an interview with Al Arabiya that “al- Awlaki was behind the two al-Qaida-made package bombs shipped through cargo planes bound for the United States late October, a plot that was foiled at the airports of Dubai and London following tip-offs from Saudi intelligence officials.”
DXer said
Sending poisonous letter bombs is also fairly understood as consistent with Al Qaeda’s modus operandi in that the Al Qaeda operations manual, a version on CD-ROM, had a chapter on “Poisonous Letter.” As with the insertion of biologicals into food, the key is mass panic, not mass casualty.
The Belgian Prime Minister and the US, British and Saudi Arabian embassies have been sent letters containing hydrazine and an arsenic derivative used in nerve gas in May 2003. Some argue that islamists would never merely send lethal substances through the mail (though the risk of significant casualty is low) to send a message or warning. One of the ingredients is hard to obtain, suggesting one Health Ministry spokesman to remark that “We’re not dealing with a small-time joker.” A trial of 23 suspected al-Qaeda members was in its third week. “Set our brothers free. Bastards.” Couldn’t be a threat by islamists because they only go for mass casualties — not threats. Right? One of the defendants in that trial allegedly sought hydrazine for use in producing a bomb. A 45- year old Iraqi man was arrested.
A similar modus operandi was followed in New Zealand with cyanide in early 2002 and early 2003 by a sender purporting to be islamist.
A December 2004 report on terrorism in the European Union noted that in July 2004, eight letters arrived at several official locations in Brussels that contained an ochre-coloured chemical substance that caused itchy eyes and breathing problems. Tests indicated that the substance was adamsite (phenarsasine). Some of the letters included “a threat letter written in (very poor) English, demanding that two recently convicted Islamic extremists are released within that month.”
Zawahiri feels that in the usual case, the best to them how to use them.
As Dr. Jane A. Alexander of DARPA once explained at DARPA Tech, 1999:
“Small scale attacks may be adequate to immobilize national will with panic unless reasonable defenses are available. Terrorists do not need the technological sophistication of a military offensive biological warfare program. A military offensive BW program strives for predictable effect so that military operations can be planned. Terrorists could actually benefit from the variation of the onset and outcome of the illnesses creating added panic in the public.”
The Ann Arbor NanoBio researchers thanked Dr. Alexander for her support of the DARPA research they were doing involving the Ames strain supplied by USAMRIID’s Bruce Ivins.
The Al Qaeda shura (policy-making council) in 2001 deemed that Al Qaeda needs to choose the methods of attack carefully so that they are both are effective and calculated to gain the support of others. (Gassing the Kurds ultimately was a public relations debacle for Saddam once the world stopped looking the other way).
DXer said
Poisonous letter bomb killed a close associate of Bin Laden’s Ibn Khattab (with whom Moussaoui was associated).
An April 1, 2001 note to FBI Director Freeh, titled “Bin Laden/Ibn Khattab Threat Reporting, read: “Director Freeh: This note is to advise you of recent threat reporting deemed significant and urgent by the United States Intelligence Community.”
“The U.S. Government has received information indicating that serious operational planning has been underway since late 2000, with an intended culmination in late Spring 2001. These plans are being undertaken by Sunni extremists with links to Ibn al Khattab, an extremist leader in Chechnya and to Usama Bin Laden. There are several planning channels, some with connections to Afghanistan, all within a large shared mujahideen recruitment network.” [This note by the way demonstrates the information that they had about Ibn al Khattab; thus, given Moussaoui’s connection to Khattab was known, Harry Samit’s request for a warrant should have been granted). Meeting Harry Samit would be a proud moment indeed.
“It is not known whether there are different parallel plans or whether all activity centers on one major operation since all the players are heavily intertwined.”
Ibn Khattab was killed by a poisoned letter in 2002. The trusted courier had retrieved the contents of a post office box in Baku, Azerbaijan, to include some small presents and money. The man, named Ibragim, brought a coded Sony video-camera, a watch and a letter. After Ibn Khattab opened the envelope, he went into his tent. He came out a half hour later. His face was pale — he was, rubbing his face with the stump of his arm. He then fell into the arms of his bodyguards. Feeling temporarily better, Khattab gave an order to let Ibragim, who, along with five others, had been put under arrest, could go. “He has to get back to Baku.” An hour later Khattab fell ill again. He fell into some bushes, and a short while later was dead. Khattab’s people searched for Ibragim in Baku for a month. His bound body was found in the city outskirts with five bullets in the head. In an interview with the Prima News Service, Shamil Basaev, who reportedly had personally ordered Ibragim’s execution, confirmed his opinion that Khattab had been poisoned by the Russian special services: “They slipped him a poisoned letter,” Basaev told the interviewer.
What was the motive of the islamist who delivered a poison letter to Bin Laden’s friend, Khattab, in March 2002? The letter was delivered by a messenger who he knew — someone he trusted who had was delivering mail from a P.O. Box in Baku, Azerbaijan sent from the Middle East. Was the islamist who carried the letter that killed Khattab working for the Russian intelligence services? Was he an unwitting dupe? Or was it all an internal feud such as when Zawahiri (some speculate) killed Azzam years ago?