* Mother Jones: Does an Al Qaeda anthrax operative own four pharmacies in New York City?
Posted by DXer on May 9, 2011
******
******
David Corn writes for Mother Jones (5/9/11) …
- Does an Al Qaeda anthrax operative own four pharmacies in New York City?
- That frightening possibility is raised in one of the 700-plus Guantanamo detainee assessments released recently by WikiLeaks and other sources.
- Recently, a blogger sent me an email pointing out that one of these assessments contains a particularly chilling section. It says that a detainee captured by the CIA in 2003 possessed a diary that contained contact information for a “possible al-Qaida anthrax operative” who then was living in New York City and who owned several pharmacies there.
- The intelligence referenced in the detainee report could be legit—or iffy.
- But, if true, an Al Qaeda op who runs drug stores in an American city could pose a serious national security threat.
- An online search of his name turns up at least four pharmacies in the New York area for which he is listed as an owner.
- this much of the detainee report was confirmed: the man currently does own at least four pharmacies in New York City.
- Mother Jones contacted the FBI in Washington and New York and asked for information regarding this suspect. Each office said that the FBI would not comment on information in a leaked document.
- With the document now in the open—and on the Internet—the public has a right to know whether this potentially dangerous matter has been resolved. (And, if turns out the intel is faulty, the Pakistani businessman deserves to have his name cleared.)
- The critical issue is not the leak, but the nightmarish possibility of an anthrax operative on the loose.
David Corn is Mother Jones’ Washington bureau chief. Read the entire article at … http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/al-qaeda-anthrax-operative-new-york-pharmacies
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CASE CLOSED ... what really happened in the 2001 anthrax attacks? 
DXer said
Abu Zubaydah’s journey from student to mujahedeen
by Jason Leopold @JasonLeopold November 7, 2013 10:00AM ET
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/11/5/no
Al Jazeera America has obtained the U.S. government’s English translation of the diaries that span more than a decade from Abu Zubaydah’s time as a student to just days before his capture in March 2002 in Pakistan. Al Jazeera says it will publish reports and the six volumes of the diaries over the course of multiple installments, the first of which is available today.
DXer said
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/11/5/exclusive-the-secretdiariesofabuzubaydah.html
More than just a Rolodex of marquee names — Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the current leader of Al-Qaeda; Ramzi Yousef, the 1993 World Trade Center bomber; Mohammed Atef, the late Al-Qaeda military leader; Mullah Omar, the spiritual leader of the Taliban; and bin Laden — the diaries are cited by the goverment as the sole evidence on which Zubaydah is being held indefinitely without charge or trial. They are also used by the government to justify the detention of Guantanamo prisoners who, the government claims, were helped by Zubaydah to escape from Afghanistan after the October 2001 U.S. invasion.
When held up against public documents and statements by the U.S. government, Zubaydah’s diaries present a fuller picture of the high-profile prisoner, his role in the “war on terror,” the roles of other boldface names in the lead-up to 9/11 and its aftermath, the training, organization and infighting among their networks, the effectiveness of torture and more.
DXer said
A lot of people chat with their pharmacist. There should be numerous people associated with these four New York City pharmacies who may have pertinent insights.
DXer said
What does Najmut Tariq make of the recent report of mailed anthrax in Pakistan? Who does he think is responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings in the US?
DXer said
The Detainee Assessment posted above explains: “Tariq to anthrax and biological weapons was found on a calendar belonging to Arif Qasmani, a Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LT) member and associate…”
The United States Treasury has frozen the bank assets of Arif Qasmani who the United States alleges was involved in the train bombing in Mumbai, India.
Documents seized from Osama Bin Laden’s residence show that a train bombing in the United States was being planned for the anniversary of 9/11.
Treasury takes aim at Pakistan terror networks
The Treasury Department on Wednesday took action against four Pakistani men suspected of providing support to terror groups in the country.
By JEANNINE AVERSA
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON —
The Treasury Department on Wednesday took action against four Pakistani men suspected of providing support to terror groups in the country.
The department ordered banks to freeze any financial assets found in this country that belong to the men. Americans also are prohibited from doing business with them.
The four targeted are: … Arif Qasmani;…. The department alleges that the men have provide support to terror group al-Qaida and Lashkar-e Tayyiba in Pakistan. The department also alleges that the men “have facilitated terrorist attacks, including the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India.”
Ameen Al-Peshawari is accused of providing assistance, including money and recruits, to al-Qaida’s network. Qasmani, a chief coordinator with Lashkar-e Tayyiba, has worked with the group to facilitate terror attacks, including the 2006 Mumbai train bombing, and has raised money for the group, the department alleges. He also is accused of providing financial support to al-Qaida. Mujahid, heads Lashkar-e Tayyiba’s media department, the department said, and Javaid has been involved in military training for the group.
DXer said
“Tariq to anthrax and biological weapons was found on a calendar belonging to Arif Qasmani, a Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LT) member and associate…” who is subject of a United States Treasury Notice regarding the 2006 Mumbai train bombing.
FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2009
THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF ARIF QASMANI
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR—PAPER NO.542
B.RAMAN
In a press note issued on July 1,2009, the US Department of Treasury gave the personal particulars of four persons— a Pashtun born in Afghanistan, two Punjabis and a fourth person of unclear ethnicity originating from Karachi—-associated with the Lashkare-Toiba (LET),who were designated by the Department under Executive Order 13224 “as providing direct support to Al Qaeda and the LET and as facilitating terrorist attacks, including the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai.”
2. The four persons so designated by the Treasury Department are:
…
(b).ARIF QASMANI, a Pakistani national from Karachi.
…
5. … Arif Qasmani of Karachi has been specifically named by the notification as involed in the Mumbai suburban train blasts of July,2006, and in the Samjotha Express blast of February, 2007. It says of him as follows: “Arif Qasmani is the chief coordinator for Lashkar-e Tayyiba’s (LET) dealings with outside organizations and has provided significant support for LET terrorist operations. Qasmani has worked with LET to facilitate terrorist attacks, including the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India, and the February 2007 Samjota Express bombing in Panipat, India. Qasmani conducted fundraising activities on behalf of LET in 2005 and utilized money that he received from Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian crime figure and terrorist supporter, to facilitate the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India. Since 2001, Arif Qasmani has also provided financial and other support and services to al Qaida, including facilitating the movement of al Qaida leaders and personnel in and out of Afghanistan, the return of foreign fighters to their respective countries, and the provision of supplies and weapons. In return for Qasmani’s support, al Qaida provided Qasmani with operatives to support the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India, and the February 2007 Samjota Express bombing in Panipat, India. In 2005, Qasmani provided Taliban leaders with a safe haven and a means to smuggle personnel, equipment, and weapons into Afghanistan.”
6.From the notification, three significant points about Qasmani emerge: First, he received money from Dawood Ibrahim for the July 2006 bombings in Mumbai; second, he provided financial and logistics support to Al Qaeda and its leaders; and third, he provided safehaven to the leaders of the Afghan Taliban.
***
11.The UN Committee notification has one additional detail which is not there in the Treasury Department notification —- namely, all the three persons were in custody as of June,2009. While it does not mention where they were in custody, it must be in Pakistan. It also does not say when they were arrested.
12. However, in a report on the Mumbai terrorist attack of November,2008, carried by “Asia Times Online” on December 2,2008,Syed Saleem Shahzad, its Special Correspondent in Pakistan, had indicated that Arif Qasmani, whom he described as a millionaire businessman of Karachi, was already in detention in Pakistan because of the ISI’s anger over the double role allegedly played by him—- namely, assisting the ISI in its operations in India through the LET and at the same time assisting the Pakistani Taliban in its operations against the Pakistan Army.
13. Shahzad reported as follows: “The most important asset of the ISI, the Laskhar-e-Taiba (LET), was split after 9/11. Several of its top-ranking commanders and office bearers joined hands with al-Qaeda militants. A millionaire Karachi-based businessman, Arif Qasmani, who was a major donor for ISI-sponsored LET operations in India, was arrested for playing a double game – he was accused of working with the ISI while also sending money to Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal area for the purchase of arms and ammunition for al-Qaeda militants.”
14. Shahzad did not mention when Qasmani was arrested, but from the wording of his article it appeared that he must have been arrested before the 26/11 Mumbai strike. Earlier, the “Dawn” of Karachi had reported on December 29,2005, as follows: “The Sindh High Court asked the federal interior secretary on Wednesday to file, within 10 days, a rejoinder to a petition alleging that a man was being detained by a federal law enforcement agency unlawfully. Petitioner Javeria Arif submitted through Advocate Nihal Hashmi that her husband, Arif Qasmani, was picked up by law enforcement personnel from his KDA Scheme residence on Nov 29 for his suspected links with Al Qaeda and Taliban. No case was registered against him, nor was he produced before a magistrate for remand. The police were informed but was of no help to her. An additional advocate-general informed a division bench, comprising Justices Mushir Alam and Athar Saeed, that the provincial government had nothing to do with the matter but he required more time to make a formal statement on behalf of the police. Adjourning further hearing to Jan 19, the bench expressed its concern that, judging by the number of petitions being filed in this behalf, the incidence of ‘disappearance’ of people was on the increase. It observed that the government agencies were legally obliged to protect the life and liberty of citizens and they should act in accordance with the law.”
15. On December 1,2005,Shahzad reported to the Italian news agency AKI ( Adnkronos International) as follows: “Arif Qasmani is a veteran jihadi, having fought against the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and been associated with the armed struggle in Indian-held Kashmir. He was picked up by Pakistani security forces last October but released a few days later. Now Qasmani is once again missing. According to his family, he was in Karachi and departed for Lahore two days ago but since he left home his whereabouts are unknown.” Around the same time, he reported to “AsiaTimes Online” as follows: “Arif Qasmani was a part of a high-level November 14 meeting in Islamabad held to initiate a process for peace between the Afghan resistance and coalition forces led by the US.”
***
17. He added: “Previously linked with the now defunct Lashkar-e-Toiba, a militant outfit active in the Indian-administered Kashmir, Arif Qasmani is considered close to Javed Ibrahim Paracha, a former member of the National Assembly from Kohat district of the NWFP. Paracha, who is also the chairman of the World Prisoners’ Relief Forum, claimed on November 17, 2005, that he was requested by the Americans during their Islamabad meeting to serve as a bridge between Washington, the Taliban and their Arab comrades for the purpose of ‘reconciliation’. According to Paracha, Arif Qasmani has been picked up by the Pakistani intelligence agencies without any justification. “Qasmani went missing on Tuesday after he had left Karachi for Lahore by plane which was supposed to take off at 8 in the morning. His wife has informed me that Qasmani has not yet reached Lahore where he was supposed to hold a business meeting. I understand that he has been arrested by the sensitive agencies. He was earlier detained in August 2005. His family members now fear for his life”, Paracha said.
18. He further reported: “Paracha, who is also Chairman International Rabita Jehad Council, said those who met the Americans on November 14 and discussed the possibility of negotiating with the Afghan resistance leaders included (besides him) Arif Qasmani, Khalid Khawaja and Shah Abdul Aziz of MMA from Karak district in NWFP. “There is every possibility that Qasmani has been detained for nvestigations in connection with the November 14 meeting”, Paracha added. Khalid Khawaja, a former officer with the (ISI) Inter Services Intelligence said, “I have just met Arif Qasmani’s wife in Karachi. She is much disturbed. She is shocked and believes that Qasmani has been kidnapped by the agencies who had previously detained him in August this year”.Khawaja said the family of the kidnapped businessman is seriously considering approaching the court of law for his recovery. “I appeal to the government to inform his family members about his exact whereabouts. The government should ensure that Qasmani is recovered as early as possible”, he added.”
19. Thus, during his career, Arif Qasmani had helped the LET, the ISI, the TTP and the US State Department. He had helped the LET in its operations in India. He had helped the ISI by acting as its cut-out with the LET in order to maintain the deniability of the ISI’s use of the LET against India. He had helped the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) in its operations against the Pakistan Army and the ISI and he had helped the US State Department by acting as an intermediary between it and the so-called good Taliban. He was also acting as the cut-out of Dawood Ibrahim for funding terrorist attacks in India and of Al Qaeda for using Pakistani jihadi cells in India for its operations. He was also associated with Khalid Khawaja, a retired officer of the Pakistan Air Force who had served in the ISI. Khawaja’s name first cropped up during the investigation into the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, the journalist of the “Wall Street Journal”, at Karachi in
January-February, 2002. Information regarding his alleged role in the Pearl’s case had alleged that it was he who had told the kidnappers that Pearl was Jewish.
20. It is surprising that a man with such a controversial background should be moving in and out of informal custody in Pakistan since August 2005 and at the same time assisting the LET, Al Qaeda and the Taliban in their terrorist strikes, including the Mumbai attack of July,2006, and the blast of February,2007, in the Samjotha Express without ever being prosecuted under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act.
21. The State Department had known about him at least since 2005, if not earlier. Has the US Government now decided belatedly to act against him because he failed to deliver on the question of a peace deal with the so-called good Taliban? ( 4-7-09)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
ANNEXURE
IDENTIFYING INFORMATION AS GIVEN IN THE US TREASURY NOTIFICATION OF JULY 1,2009
Source:
THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF ARIF QASMANI
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR – PAPER NO. 542
http://ramansterrorismanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/07/mysterious-case-of-arif-qasmani.html
DXer said
The fellow’s license in New York State is in an inactive status.
Anonymous said
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/non-fiction/david-willman/mirage-man/
THE MIRAGE MAN (reviewed on May 15, 2011)
An investigative journalist provides an in-depth exploration of the post-9/11 anthrax attacks, finding that quite a few people did not acquit themselves well.
In his first book, Pulitzer Prize–winning Los Angeles Times reporter Willman painstakingly recounts the mysterious mailings of anthrax spores to various media and political figures in the weeks after 9/11. When news of the attacks came to light, they seemed to represent a piece of a larger plot by still-undefined enemies. Willman focuses on Bruce Ivins, an obscure scientist working on developing anthrax vaccines in a military lab in Maryland. On the surface, Ivins appeared to be quirky and socially awkward. But there were disturbing currents running beneath the surface—he suffered from mental-health issues and had longstanding obsessions with institutions such as a national college sorority, whose members he stalked and harassed. Much of the narrative reads like a brief for the prosecution, but in the process of trying to get to the bottom of the anthrax attacks, Willman makes clear that many involved in the investigation acted incompetently, maliciously or irresponsibly, including cocksure but ignorant members of the national media and FBI officials, who seem to have settled on the guilt of another obscure scientist, thus doing harm to the investigation by limiting its purview. Willman also examines another consequence of the anthrax attacks: They helped clear the way for the Bush administration’s war in Iraq. Though less successful in this argument, the author offers finely drawn sketches of the individuals and forensics involved in a case that vexed investigators, politicians and the general public.
A well-told true-crime story with vast ramifications.
DXer said
Journalism vs. WikiLeaks
— By Kevin Drum
| Mon May. 9, 2011 9:57 AM PDT
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/05/journalism-vs-wikileaks
DXer said
NYC Pharmacy Chain Owner Could be Al-Qaeda Agent: U.S. Document
Monday, May 9, 2011
http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20110509_2736.php
Old Atlantic said
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359231/Pakistan-overtake-Britain-worlds-fifth-largest-nuclear-power.html
“Pakistan to overtake Britain as world’s fifth largest nuclear power
By David Williams
”
5:45 PM on 21st February 2011
This is why the establishment is lying for Pakistan.
DXer said
The establishment is demanding answers from Pakistan about who knew what — and the Pakistan establishment agrees that such an investigation is warranted. The documentary evidence establishes that the connection is with JI and Lashkar — not “Pakistan” as such. For example, the anthrax spraydrying documents were found on al-Hawsawi’s laptop and found in a home of someone connected to JI.
Old Atlantic said
JI?
DXer said
Here is an early blog on the subject from a blog that first explained to us about Dr. Batarfi’s connection.
From the new Gitmo files: Al Qaeda and anthrax
By Thomas Joscelyn April 25, 2011 12:25 AM
http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2011/04/from_the_gitmo_files_al_qaeda.php
DXer said
For another early blog mention of the issue, see J.M. Berger’s Intelwire.
When I click this I also, as an added bonus, you get a backdrop of a photograph of Able Danger’s relationship mapping from before 9/11.
http://twitter.com/#!/intelwire/statuses/62335776716890112
On the left, you’ll see Abdul Yasin’s photo. (He helped make the WTC 1993 bombs with Ramzi Yousef.) Abdul Yasin ($2 million reward) was living at the apartment that was called throughout February 1993 by the subtilis expert. Ramzi Yousef listed the number on Kensington Ave. when in late January 1993 he got in an accident (with bomb chemicals in the trunk).
DXer said
J.M. Berger’s “Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam” is due out at the end of the this week.
DXer said
An early blog on the issue:
WikiLeaks Gitmo doc: ‘Possible al- Qaida anthrax operative residing in New York’
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439×962329
Old Atlantic said
Click to access pr0318_01.pdf
“In pleading guilty to all 12 counts that were brought against him in December and were repeated in a subsequent indictment in January, Headley admitted that he attended training camps in Pakistan operated by Lashkar e Tayyiba, a designated foreign terrorist organization, on five separate occasions between 2002 and 2005.”
“According to the plea agreement, Headley attended the following training camps operated by Lashkar: a three-week course starting in February 2002 that provided indoctrination on the merits of waging jihad; a three-week course starting in August 2002 that provided training in the use of weapons and grenades; a three-month course starting in April 2003 that taught close combat tactics, the use of weapons and grenades, and survival skills; a three-week course starting in August 2003 that taught counter-surveillance skills; and a three-month course starting in December 2003 that provided combat and tactical training.”
”
Regarding the Denmark terror plot, Headley admitted that in early November 2008, he met with a Lashkar member in Karachi, Pakistan, and was instructed to conduct surveillance of the Copenhagen and Aarhus offices of the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten in preparation for an attack in retaliation for the newspaper’s publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
”
“Abdur Rehman previously had told Headley that he had been working with Kashmiri and that Kashmiri was in direct contact with a senior leader for Al Qaeda, the plea agreement states.”
”
In late January 2009, Headley met separately with Abdur Rehman and a Lashkar member in Pakistan to discuss the planned attack on the newspaper and provided them with videos of his surveillance. About the same time, Abdur Rehman provided Headley a video produced by the media wing of Al Qaeda in approximately August 2008, which claimed credit for the June 2008 attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, and called for further attacks against Danish interests to avenge the publication of the offending cartoons.
“
DXer said
Yes, and given the blog’s focus is on the anthrax mailings, you should be posting on Lashkar and its connection to Ali Al-Timimi, who shared a suite with the DARPA-funded Ames researchers.
Old Atlantic said
The indictments by DOJ don’t claim that terrorist acts are each separate and have nothing to do with each other. If there is a so-called war on terror it must be because there is a network behind the separate terrorist acts.
According to the indictment, this network includes organizations other than just al Qaeda and it has links to or acts committed in Pakistan.
Old Atlantic said
If you think that al Qaeda and Lashkar did the anthrax attacks together, then where do al Qaeda and Lashkar meet on the organization chart? They both come out of Directorate S of the Pakistan ISI. The US has named all 3 as terrorist organizations in its threat matrix.
Pakistan ISI is indicated as supporting both al Qaeda and Lashkar. So if the anthrax attacks were an al Qaeda Lashkar combined attack, then those two meet in Directorate S of the Pakistan ISI.
DXer said
You’ll recall that I’m the fellow arguing that Dr. Ayman Zawahiri is behind the anthrax mailings of Fall 2001.
As for the particulars of the Al Qaeda anthrax program, the details of who did what when are all laid out in the Detainee Assessments. I presume you’ve read them. The source of the $5,000 for equipment shipped to Kandahar in May 2001 was WAFA.
DXer said
An overview of the documentary evidence I rely upon is here.
Nothing points to Pakistan in the documentary evidence. But I would be glad to send a CD with the 100+ actual graphics containing the documentary evidence to anyone who wants one. No charge.
Aafia used to cook meals in Boston for the son of the former top religious fellow in Pakistan. She says she was detained for years by ISI. No one ever said that life wasn’t complicated.
As a general matter, note that there was a $25 million dollar reward for Bin Laden. There is no reason to share information beyond a reason to know. Everything else literally occurs behind closed doors. To talk about a “government” knowing defies common sense. OBL wouldn’t be very good keeping a secret if more than he needed to know knew. The topic of this forum is anthrax and the rule of the blog is to rely directly on cited sources.
Old Atlantic said
I am not familiar with this blog Lashkar? Do they expose Pakistan’s role with terrorism?
Old Atlantic said
Click to access pr0114_01.pdf
“Also indicted were Ilyas Kashmiri, an allegedly influential terrorist organization leader in Pakistan who is alleged to be in regular contact with leaders of al Qaeda, and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed (Abdur Rehman), a retired major in the Pakistani military, both of whom were charged in two conspiracy counts relating to the Denmark terrorism plot.”
Old Atlantic said
“In July 2006, unnamed Person A in Pakistan gave Headley approximately $25,000 to establish and operate the Mumbai office of First World and to pay for living expenses while Headley carried out his assignment for Lashkar, the charges add.”
Old Atlantic said
“According to the indictment, in June 2008, al Qaeda, through its media wing known as “As Sahab Media,” took credit for an attack on the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan,”
Abbottabad where bin Laden was staying at the time is not far from Islamabad.
Bin Laden from the computer hard drives was involved in operational planning at this time. So Bin Laden likely was involved in planning this attack in Islamabad while he was in the ISI safehouse in Abbottabad.
DXer said
1. What does Najmut Tariq say about suggestion that his name on a document links to him the anthrax vaccine and biological weapons. Was his pharmaceutical business simply where Al Qaeda hoped to purchase items such as Cipro?
Posted by Lew Weinstein on April 28, 2011
DXer said
2. The FBI has previously explained that it ruled out various scientists alleged to have connections to Al Qaeda and Ansar Al-Islam and/or its anthrax program. Among those who the FBI is confident could be excluded, is Najmut Tariq the “foreign-born scientist with particular expertise working with a Bacillus anthracis simulant known as Bacillus subtilis, and against whom there were allegations that s/he had connections with several individuals affiliated with the al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Islam terrorist networks”? Or is that someone else?
Posted by Lew Weinstein on April 28, 2011
DXer said
3. Did NYC pharmacist Najmut Tariq know Dr. Batarfi?
Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi: Unclassified Summary of Evidence For Administrative Review Board
Posted by Lew Weinstein on April 25, 2011
DXer said
4. For an overview:
Ayman Zawahiri, Anwar Awlaki, Anthrax, and Amerithrax: The Infiltration Of US Biodefense
Posted by Lew Weinstein on April 12, 2011
DXer said
5. The 2010 Amerithrax Investigative Summary only mentions subtilis in connection with a foreign born scientist alleged to be affiliated with the al-Qaeda and Answer al-Islam anthrax program. Given that the Summary was supposed to summarize the investigation for decision-makers, why didn’t the summary address the potentially crucial issue of this bacteriological contaminant and detail the extent of searches conducted?
Posted by Lew Weinstein on April 22, 2011
DXer said
7. Does this Najmut Tariq mentioned in the Detainee Assessments know Mr. Paracha or Aafia Siddiqui?
DXer said
8. Did this Najmut Tariq mentioned in the Detainee Assessments know KSM?
Old Atlantic said
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-files-isi-inter-services-intelligence
“Guantánamo Bay files: Pakistan’s ISI spy service listed as terrorist group
Anyone linked to Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate should be treated like al-Qaida or Taliban, interrogators told
”
Jason Burke
guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 April 2011 10.46 BST
“US authorities describe the main Pakistani intelligence service as a terrorist organisation in secret files obtained by the Guardian.
Recommendations to interrogators at Guantánamo Bay rank the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) alongside al-Qaida, Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon as threats. Being linked to any of these groups is an indication of terrorist or insurgent activity, the documents say.”
Old Atlantic said
“One example is found among reasons given by Guantánamo officials for the continued detention of Harun Shirzad al-Afghani, a veteran militant who arrived there in June 2007. His file states he is believed to have attended a meeting in August 2006 at which Pakistani military and intelligence officials joined senior figures in the Taliban, al-Qaida, the Lashkar-e-Taiba group responsible for the 2008 attack in Mumbai and the Hezb-e-Islami group led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
The meeting was to discuss operations in Afghanistan against coalition forces, says the memo. It cites an unidentified letter in the possession of US intelligence services describing the meeting which, it says, ended with a decision by the various insurgent factions “to increase terrorist operations in the Kapisa, Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar provinces [of Afghanistan], including suicide bombings, mines, and assassinations”.”
Old Atlantic said
2006 was when bin Laden started to be in the safe house next to the Pakistan Military Academy and when Musharraf did his book tour in the US with a chapter on his time at PMA and a map showing Abbottabad.
DXer said
9. Did this Nasmut Tariq mentioned in the Detainee Assessments know Ayman Zawahiri?
DXer: With Bin Laden’s death, it is important to understand Dr. Ayman Zawahiri
Posted by Lew Weinstein on May 2, 2011
Old Atlantic said
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/09/pakistan-spy-agency-mumbai-terrorist
“Two weeks ago the Guardian revealed that the ISI had been categorised with al-Qaida, Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah and other militant Islamic groups in a 2007 “threat matrix” compiled to help interrogators at Guantánamo Bay.
Links with all these entities were indicative of involvement with terrorism, the document said. Intelligence reports used for assessments of detainees in Guantánamo Bay reveal scores of references by captured militants to ISI support for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Documents dating from 2002 to 2005 qualify many of these references with the warning that any such assistance to insurgents fighting western troops was thought to be the work of “rogue” ISI operatives. From 2006, there are no such caveats as US analysts appear to have decided that assistance for some militant factions was official policy.”
Old Atlantic said
“The Threat Indicator Matrix is used to decide who among the hundreds of Guantánamo detainees can be released. The ISI is listed among 36 groups including Egyptian Islamic Jihad, led by al-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri; the Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs; the Iranian intelligence services; and the Muslim Brotherhood.”
DXer said
10. The 302 interview statement on the subject advises that checking the health of the animals typically would take 2 hours and was a one person job.
Other 302s, for example, explain it would take a couple hours to autoclave a dead animal.
DXer said
11. The US Attorney and AP created the impression that the Federal Eagle stamp was uniquely sold in Ivins’ post office (near USAMRIID) when it in fact was sold throughout Maryland and Virginia (and that is credits the FBI’s scientific study of the stamps).
DXer said
12. Why didn’t the FBI disclose that the photocopy mentioned in the Amerithrax Summary could be excluded as the source of the Amerithrax letters based on the toner (as distinguished from track marks)?
DXer said
13. General John Parker’s claim that USAMRIID did not make dried powder was mistaken — the FBI’s own expert had dried powdered aerosol using Ames using Ames from Ivins’ flask 1029… something that the FBI apparently did not tell NAS judging from the documents disclosed.
DXer said
14. Who was the colleague with whom Dr. Heine says he did research regarding antifoam in creating aerosols?
DXer said
15. The FBI did not disclose the email withheld for 2 years that shows Dr. Ivins knew that 5 ml of virulent Ames had been taken from Building 1412.
DXer said
16. Will it take Congressional or GAO subpoena to fill in the blanks in the email asking about weaponized anthrax that came to Detrick and then was shipped out and some was missing?
DXer said
17. Given that the FBI estimates that up to 377 had access required elimination (allowing for some duplication who had access in both 1425 and 1412), why did US Taylor think that only 100 needed to be eliminated — only those with access at Building 1425?
DXer said
18. When was the location of the flasks (initially there were two flasks) carefully whited out so as to change its location from Building 1412 to Building 1425?
DXer said
19. Who was Dr. Ivins writing about the Ames missing from building 1412 and the autoclaving of samples there?
DXer said
20. What happened to the other slant sent from Texas?
Old Atlantic said
http://www.propublica.org/podcast/item/sebastian-rotella-discusses-the-man-behind-mumbai/
“Dafna Linzer: Sebastian, one of the things that really interested me in this piece was the professionalism of Lashkar i Taiba. How did they become so organized and effective? Take me through some of their growth
Sebastian Rotella: Well, they grow out of the late 1980s when a lot of jihad groups are formed fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan and based in Pakistan. But in the case of Lashkar, one of the reasons they have become so professional and paramilitary is because, from the beginning they were used as a proxy army by the Pakistani armed forces and intelligence against India in the battle for Kashmir. And throughout the ’90s and into the early 2000s, they are pretty openly funded, trained, equipped and directed by the Pakistani security forces. So you have testimony in multiple cases, from the late ’90s and early 2000’s, of Pakistani military instructors and intelligence people screening, training, talent spotting in these complex of camps that this group ran. ”
So Pakistani ISI S Directorate managed this group in parallel with al Qaeda. US has never been allowed to meet with any person working for Pakistani ISI S Directorate 10 years on from 9/11 and with a trial to start next week in Chicago by US DOJ against those involved who say it was a Pakistan ISI operation.
DXer said
21. Who was Dr. Ivins corresponding with about Ames spores who was going to Arlington to speak to DARPA?
DXer said
22. When did SRI first obtain virulent Ames and from whom?
DXer said
23. Where was the research on the corona plasma discharge and sonicator on Ames spores supplied by Bruce Ivins conducted for DARPA? Anywhere else? Where were aerosol studies done using dried powder?
DXer said
24. Didn’t the only expert interviewed by the FBI about the code in the letters for which documents were produced disagree with the FBI’s theory of code in the letters? And point out that not all the letters suggested by the FBI to be double-lined in fact were?
DXer said
25. Prior to 9/11, when did USAMRIID’s John Ezzell, the FBI’s anthrax expert, who made a dried aerosol using Ames supplied by Bruce Ivins, send the dried spores to Johns-Hopkins Applied Physics he had made at the request of DARPA? Did those spores show a silicon signature?
DXer said
26. Why was the FBI asking everyone whether they had seen olive oil in one of the aerosol rooms.
DXer said
27. Is olive oil what the bloodhounds smelled at Denny’s when the FBI assume they were tracking Steve Hatfill who had visited the day before? Was olive oil implicated by the forensics?
Old Atlantic said
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/14/AR2010111404515.html?wprss=rss_world&sid=ST2010110505086
“In 2006, U.S. counterterrorism agencies still viewed Lashkar primarily as a threat to India. But Headley’s mentor, Sajid Mir, had widened his sights to Western targets years earlier. Mir, a mysterious Lashkar chief with close ties to Pakistani security forces, had deployed operatives who had completed missions and attempted plots in Virginia, Europe and Australia before being captured, according to investigators and court documents. ”
“Mir’s ally in the plot was a man known to Headley only as Maj. Iqbal, who investigators suspect was an officer of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) and a liaison to the Lashkar terrorist group.”
“ProPublica has tracked the rise of Lashkar through Mir’s career as a holy warrior. It is a story of a militant group that used political clout and support from Pakistani security forces to develop global reach and formidable tradecraft, according to investigators and court documents. ”
This is the new al Qaeda being run by S Directorate of the Pakistani ISI.
Old Atlantic said
Another part of this series at WaPo by Sebastian Rotella.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-prosecutors-indict-4-pakistanis-in-mumbai-attacks/2011/04/26/AFaDLhsE_story.html
Old Atlantic said
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/15/AR2010101505090.html
“Before ’08 Mumbai attacks, U.S. was warned key figure in plot had terror ties
By Sebastian Rotella
ProPublica
Saturday, October 16, 2010; 2:47 AM
Three years before Pakistani terrorists struck Mumbai in 2008, federal agents in New York City investigated a tip that an American businessman was training in Pakistan with the group that later executed the attack. “
Old Atlantic said
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/05/AR2010110507063.html
“By Sebastian Rotella
Saturday, November 6, 2010
A review being conducted for the director of national intelligence has found at least five cases in which U.S. agencies were warned that David Coleman Headley, who became a central figure in the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, was training or working with Pakistani militants. ”
Militants managed by S Directorate of the Pakistani ISI as the other articles state.
DXer said
28. The documentary evidence showing that the key 16 pages was not obtained by the FBI until February 2005 suggests that Amerithrax is the biggest FBI/CIA intelligence failure in the history of the United States.
DXer said
29. The GAO review include a review of the documents from peer reviewed literature in Ayman Zawahiri’s possession.
DXer said
30. The GAO probe should include a technical review of the spraydrying documents on Al-Hawsawi’s laptop.
DXer said
31. The GAO review should include a technical review of Rauf Ahmad’s notes and handwritten letter (he was one of the scientists working for Ayman Zawahiri).
DXer said
32. The GAO review include a technical review of the later typed correspondence from a later visit by Rauf Ahmad indicating that he had successfully achieved the targets.
DXer said
33. Ali Mohammed, the head of intelligence for Egyptian Islamic Jihad who had a document on his computer seized by the FBI that outlined principles of cell security that would be followed, trained Dahab, a Cairo medical drop-out, to make deadly letters. Who does Ali think is responsible?
Old Atlantic said
http://tribune.com.pk/story/163799/us-demands-pakistan-disclose-names-of-operatives-report/
“Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said members of the US administration had expressed deep frustration with the Pakistani military and intelligence for their refusal to identify members of the agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, who were believed to have close ties to bin Laden.
In particular, US officials have demanded information on what is known as the ISI’s “S directorate”, which has worked closely with militants since the days of the fight against the Soviet army in Afghanistan, the report said.”
So the Pakistan ISI has a directorate S to work with militant groups. The US does not know their names and evidently has not met with them. If ISI and US were working together to fight terrorism, then our people would meet regularly with Directorate S that has direct contacts with the militant groups. Instead, our people have never met with anyone from Directorate S.
This subtle point can’t be emphasized enough. Directorate S must be part of terrorism not part of fighting terrorism if its members have never met with the US 10 years after 9/11. So Pakistan ISI has this Directorate S whose mission is terrorism.
And this is known to the head of the ISI and to the Pakistan military.
Old Atlantic said
It seems to me that the Mumbai attacks were out of the S Directorate. It was likely S Directorate that housed in Laden. It seems to me likely that 9/11 and the anthrax attacks were managed out of S Directorate. No wonder, they won’t let the US meet with them.
Old Atlantic said
Al Qaeda contacts were and are likely managed by S Directorate. This is like the central terrorist agency.
Old Atlantic said
Directorate S probably is hosting Ayman Zawahiri now.
DXer said
There is no support for your unsupported assertions. 700 Detainee Assessments have been uploaded providing numerous witness accounts relating to the planning of 9/11 and Al Qaeda’s anthrax program. There is no support in the 700 Detainee Assessments — many of which have been uploaded here — for your suggestions. The rule of the blog is to provide support for factual statements. By all means, if you have support, cite it. For example, sources of funding are detailed.
DXer said
34. Dr. Bruce Ivins hosted one Egyptian visitor in the B3 who was the lifelong friend of a former Egyptian Islamic Jihad member, a schoolmate, recruited by Ayman Zawahiri. Who does he think is responsible?
DXer said
35. Dr. Bruce Ivins hosted one Egyptian visitor in the B3 who was the lifelong friend of a former Egyptian Islamic Jihad member, a schoolmate, recruited by Ayman Zawahiri. Why did the FBI not obtain the relevant documents until February 2005?
DXer said
36. This document seized in Afghanistan pointed to infiltration n of US biodefense. To what was the author referring?
DXer said
37. This Zawahiri correspondence with infiltrating scientist was part of parallel compartmentalized cell operation. Who else did Ayman attempt to recruit (besides the schoolmate and close friend of Bruce Ivins’ DARPA-funded co-worker)?
DXer said
38. The documents dating from April 1999 show that Ayman Zawahiri’s plan was to recruit a specialist. Who else did Ayman Zawahiri succeed in recruiting?
DXer said
The lifelong friends of Dr. Tarek Hamouda, supplied virulent Ames by Bruce Ivins, actively denounce their former medical school associate Ayman Zawahiri as a fanatic – one serving as President of CAIR-St. Louis and the other as author of INSIDE JIHAD. After the FBI first obtained in 2005 the documents relating to Dr. Hamouda’s work with Dr. ivins, did they contact Dr. Hamid who reports he was recruited into the Egyptian Islamic Group by Ayman Zawahiri while in medical school? Did they contact his brother who publicly announced that he could not identify a sleeper cell if he did not know about it?
Old Atlantic said
ISI Chief Pasha traveled to DC in April 2011.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-04-13/news/29413739_1_rana-and-headley-tahawwur-hussain-rana-isi
Old Atlantic said
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trial-in-mumbai-attacks-could-strain-us-pakistan-relations/2011/05/06/AFbSGlKG_story.html
Sebastian Rotella , Pro Publica (The Washington Post)
“But detailed allegations of ISI involvement in terrorism will soon be made public in a federal courtroom in Chicago, where prosecutors late last month charged a suspected ISI major with helping to plot the deaths of six Americans in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.”
“The first public airing of the ISI’s alleged involvement in the Mumbai attack will begin May 16 with the trial of Tahawwur Rana, owner of a Chicago immigration consulting firm. ”
“Headley described an almost symbiotic bond between Lashkar and the ISI, which helped create the group as a proxy army against India. His account has been corroborated through other testimony, communications intercepts, the contents of his computer and records of phone and e-mail contact with ISI officers, anti-terrorism officials say.
Senior ISI officers served as handlers for Lashkar chiefs and provided a boat, funds and technical expertise for the Mumbai strike, according to a report by India’s National Investigation Agency on its interrogation of Headley last year in Chicago.
Headley trained in Lashkar camps before being recruited in 2006 by an ISI officer, Maj. Samir Ali, who referred him to Iqbal in Lahore, the report says.”
Old Atlantic said
David Headley and Rana linked to former Pakistan ISI and military officials in the plot for the Mumbai attacks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Headley#Associations_with_Pakistani_serving_and_ex-military_officers
DXer said
40. The FBI did not disclose that Jdey was detained and released as the same time as Moussaoui.
DXer said
41. Ayman Zawahiri had an extensive recruiting network for his anthrax planning and the announcement of his plans in March 1999, including the blind sheik’s son who spoke alongside Ali Al-Timimi and was on Al Qaeda’s 3-member WMD society. Did the blind sheik’s son recruit Ali Al-Timimi?
DXer said
42. Wasn’t the interpretation of the code crock given all those letters in fact were not underlined?
DXer said
43. Isn’t it Ayman Zawahiri who used “school” and not Bruce Ivins who used “school” as code and had reason to do so?
DXer said
44. While US government focuses on Anwar Al-Aulaqi, why does it continue to overlook Aulaqi’s connection to fellow Falls Church imam, a scientist sharing the suite with the leading bioweapons Ames anthrax researchers with whom defense counsel says Aulaqi was coordinating?
DXer said
45. Ali Al-Timimi, who was coordinating with Sheikh Anwar Awlaki, shared a suite with DARPA-funded Ames anthrax researchers at the DARPA-funded Center for Biodefense? That is where he had unfettered access to the largest microbiological repository in the world. A bacteriology collection scientist from ATCC served as head of the Amerithrax science investigation and guided the NAS review and the production of documents from the FBI to NAS. Who does Ali Al-Timimi think is responsible for the anthrax mailings?
Old Atlantic said
Pakistan has retaliated already for capturing bin Laden.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-05-09-pakistan-cia_n.htm
Pakistan media have outed the name of the alleged CIA station chief. After the Mumbai attacks were blamed on Pakistan in a lawsuit in the US naming the ISI chief as a co-conspirator, they outed the CIA station chief.
DXer said
Where is Yazid Sufaat?