GUANTANAMO BRITON 'PLANNED ANTHRAX ATTACK TO KILL BLAIR'

London Daily Mail ^ | 12/1/2003 | Jane Merrick

[TrebleRebel]

I have to wonder, though, if the 9/11 hijacking plot would have sounded just as stupid on 9/10. Or a man with a bomb in his shoe.

[Shermy]

Cropduster (or similar) ping!

[Shermy]

Just as stupid as his lawyer pretending wome expensive drone was required.

Here's some info on the guy. He left Britain in Dec. 2001, caught in Pakistan.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/07/05/nguan305.xml

[cyncooper]

'Moazzam has agreed to plead guilty to this absurd story that allegedly he was part of an Al Qaeda plot,' he said. 'The Americans must think we're incredibly stupid.'

~snip~

'That Moazzam would blow up the White House? That he would attack Mr Blair? That he was going to blow up the Houses of Parliament? I don't understand that.

'Those sort of allegations are just a joke. He would never think of doing anything like that.

He has pleaded guilty. Who is the stupid one?

He obviously DID think about doing something like that.

[Betty Jo]

Project Bojinka.

A well known plan back in the 90's.

If only all of the criminally incompetents in Clinton and Bush administrations had done their job.....

Will we ever know if this confession is true?

[cyncooper]

A BRITISH terror suspect held by the Americans at Guantanamo Bay has confessed to plotting to kill Tony Blair in an anthrax strike on the Commons, it was claimed last night.

~snip~

...the plot, also said to involve targeting President Bush at the White House,

ping

[Shermy]

To be a cynic, he could have just been fantasizing...jihadis fantasize about mass murder and genocide...

I'd like to see what he said. His lawyer's defense only makes me more suspicious.

[Shermy]

#23 is inaccurate.

IN June 2001 he moved to Afstan.

IN Dec. he moved to Pakistan.

[muawiyah]

It's time for the FBI to clean up it's house as well. They pursued the least productive line of inquiry for entirely too long.

[Grut]

He has pleaded guilty. Who is the stupid one?

Innocent people sometimes do plead guilty, even to serious charges, just to escape the pressure of interrogation. I'm not saying that's the case here, but it is one possibility.

[RIGHT IN LAS VEGAS]

Begg's father Azmat, who lives in Birmingham, spoke of his shock at the alleged deal. 'My son is a very simple, ordinary citizen,' he said.

Like father like dog crap.

[Consort]

'My son is a very simple, ordinary citizen,' he said.

I Begg to differ.

[Prodigal Son]

The Queen, asked to comment upon her disloyal subject said:

"Feed the wanker to the sharks."

[genefromjersey]

Excellent point !

Let's see: For a long time, the Russians kept tons of very nasty stuff-anthrax,smallpox, plague, and shit I don't even want to hear about-sitting in barrels, on an unguarded island. Just walk in and help yourself, if you had the cojones to die a horrible death. Presumably, somebody could have snitched some anthrax and brought it home proudly to the Imams or Mullahs.....

[cyncooper]

Of course I've heard of such, but was reacting to the "Americans must think we're stupid" comment.

Plus, it is not that someone can just up and claim guilt, but there must be corroborating evidence.

[swilhelm73]

What do you want to bet the fact that an AQ agent admits they were planning an anthrax attack gets little press coverage?

I'm sure had it gone down we would have heard it was a disgruntled right wing Brit too...

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[TrebleRebel]

More on Begg...either this guy is being protected by the seeming absurdity of the whole thing, or he's the biggest patsy since Oswald.


Copyright 2003 Midland Independent Newspapers plc
Birmingham Post

December 1, 2003, Monday

HEADLINE: CAMP X-RAY FATHER HAPPY AT RELEASE DEAL

BYLINE: SOPHIE BLAKEMORE

BODY:
The father of a Birmingham man being held under terrorism laws in Guantanamo Bay last night welcomed news that his son could be home by Christmas.

Azmat Begg, the father of Moazzam Begg, who has been detained at the American military prison in Cuba since 2002, said his whole family was 'very happy' he could soon return to Britain as part of a deal being brokered between the US and Britain.

The negotiations could secure the release of nine British prisoners including Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Ruhal Ahmed from Tipton, Sandwell, being held at the detention centre -dubbed Camp X-ray -which was set up after the September 11 terror attacks.

It was claimed yesterday that Begg, aged 36 and from Sparkhill, had confessed under duress to taking part in an al Qaida plot to attack the House of Commons with anthrax.

His lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, said the statement was completely implausible and the alleged plot 'laughable'.

Mr Begg, a 65-year-old retired bank manager from Moseley, said: 'I think it's a good move, provided the deal is fair.

'A confession without a lawyer is of no value and it's not right.

'I hope they will have a very fair deal -it then depends on what they have agreed. We just don't know the terms of the deal but we are all very happy that he is coming back to Britain.'

Begg was arrested in the Pakistani capital Islamabad in February 2002. Mr Stafford Smith, a British lawyer based in New Orleans, claimed Moazzam Begg admitted under intense pressure to being part of a plot to get an unmanned aircraft, fly it over London and drop anthrax bombs on the House of Commons.

But he labelled the confession 'absurd' and said it was obtained following months of interrogation and segregation in Camp Delta.

He said the deal to return the detainees to the UK would most likely consist of the 'British having to plead guilty on some nonsense charge and come back here to serve their sentence'.

But he suggested that Rasul, aged 24, and Iqbal, aged 20, could be freed outright.

'It seems highly improbable that Iqbal and Rasul will be charged with anything,' he said. 'There simply is nothing there.'

A leading human rights campaigner welcomed the claims that the prisoners could be repatriated by Christmas, but also expressed fears it could be under a 'shabby' deal which included forced confessions.

Stephen Jakobi, director of Fair Trials Abroad, said the 'devil was in the detail'.

He said that while it was 'pure speculation', there was a real possibility detainees could be forced to confess to terrorist activities.

'Anything that stops the prisoners coming under the laws and fundamental rights of Britain will be a shabby deal. There is a real risk that they could be put under a special category when they arrive back in Britain which puts them under emergency legislation brought in quickly by the House of Commons.

'Whatever deal is brought in -it must be under the legislation of the European Court of Human Rights.'

Other Europeans held at Camp Delta include six French, one Spaniard, one Dane and one Swede. Tariq Mahmood, aged 30, from Birmingham could be the tenth Briton being held in Guantanamo.

Mr Jakobi said his whereabouts are unknown but it is thought he may have been taken to the camp after being arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of involvement with al Qaida in October.

During President George Bush's visit to the UK last month, Tony Blair told reporters a decision would be made soon on the viability of bringing the men back to Britain.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office last night said the Government's position remained the same.

'Discussions with the US are continuing,' she said. 'There are many complex legal issues to be considered.'

LOAD-DATE: December 1, 2003

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!