Free Republic

<p>For almost two years, intelligence services around the world tried to uncover the identity of an Internet hacker who had become a key conduit for al-Qaeda. The savvy, English-speaking, presumably young webmaster taunted his pursuers, calling himself Irhabi -- Terrorist -- 007. He hacked into American university computers, propagandized for the Iraq insurgents led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and taught other online jihadists how to wield their computers for the cause.</p>

Investigators used a ruse to question a man later charged with aiding terrorists, an FBI agent testified Tuesday at a hearing over admissibility of the conversation and a search of the defendant's luggage. FBI agent Michael Scherck said he and another law enforcement officer approached Ehsanul Sadequee as he got off a flight from Atlanta to New York on Aug. 18, 2005, and told him they wanted to talk to him about passenger complaints that he had acted suspiciously on the plane. Scherck said that in fact there were no complaints, but investigators wanted biographical information from Sadequee as part...

Cheney warns of new attacks Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed. In an interview Tuesday with Politico, Cheney unyieldingly defended the Bush administration’s support for the Guantanamo Bay prison and coercive interrogation of terrorism suspects. And he asserted that President Obama will either backtrack on his stated intentions to end those policies or put the country at risk in ways more severe than...

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

ATLANTA: Investigators initially thought a terrorism suspect may have been using his wedding plans to cloak the real purpose of his overseas travel, an FBI agent testified Friday. . . . Inside the lining of the bag, agents found two CDs, maps of Washington, D.C., and Fairfax, Virginia, and some scraps of paper with writing on them.Previously, prosecutors have alleged that "casing videos" of the Capitol building, the World Bank and a fuel tank farm were sent by computer from a nonprofit where Sadequee worked in Atlanta to a counterpart in London.

ATLANTA - Two U.S. citizens accused of plotting to attack civilian and government targets shot "casing videos" of Washington landmarks that were found on a terrorism suspect's computer in Britain and met with suspects in a Canadian terrorism case, an FBI agent testified Monday. Agent Mark Richards testified that the videos of the U.S. Capitol and other Washington landmarks taken by Syed Ahmed and Ehsanul Sadequee were found on a computer belonging to Younis Tsouli, a Moroccan-born man who pleaded guilty in Britain in July to inciting others to commit acts of terrorism. Richards also said Ahmed and Sadequee, during...

Two Atlanta-area men met with Islamic extremists in Toronto, where they discussed "strategic locations in the United States suitable for a terrorist strike," according to an FBI affidavit made public Friday. Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee -- U.S. citizens from the Atlanta area -- met with at least three other targets of FBI terrorism investigations during a trip to Toronto last month, according to the affidavit. The affidavit said the men discussed attacks against oil refineries and military bases. They also planned to travel to Pakistan for military training at a terrorist camp, which authorities said the 21-year-old...