US lawyer arrested over Madrid bombings

This is London ^ | May 7, 2004 | uncredited

[Cincinatus' Wife]

An American lawyer has been arrested in connection with the Madrid train bombings.

Muslim convert Brandon Mayfield, 37, from Oregon, was taken into custody by the FBI on a material witness warrant, law enforcement sources said.

Such warrants are obtained in cases where people are suspected of having direct knowledge about a crime or to allow time for further investigation into the witness.

Suspects may be held indefinitely without formal charges. Some 191 people were killed and 2,000 injured when bombs ripped through commuter trains on March 11 in Madrid. The attacks have been linked to al Qaida.

Mayfield is the first person in the United States to be drawn into the investigation.

It is understood that Mayfield's fingerprints matched prints found on a bag in the wreckage of the Madrid bombing.

His home in Portland was searched, as was his office, a government official said.

So far 18 people have been charged in connection with the bombings in Spain - six with murder and the others with collaboration or belonging to a terrorist organisation.

Beth Anne Steele, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Portland, confirmed two search warrants had been served yesterday.

Mayfield wife, Mona, said her husband was "a good man, a good father, a good husband".

"It's just unfair. It's unfair to myself and it is unfair to my children," she said.

The couple have two sons aged 10 and 15, and a 12-year-old daughter. Her husband, a former Army officer, was born in the small Oregon coastal community of Coos Bay, she said.

He converted to Islam in 1989, she said, and attends a mosque in the nearby town of Beaverton that was reportedly searched by FBI agents yesterday.

Earlier this year in Portland, the last of six men and a woman were sentenced on charges of conspiring to wage war against the United States by helping al Qaida and the former Taliban rulers of Afghanistan.

Mayfield represented one of those people, Jeffrey Leon Battle, in a custody case involving Battle's son.

Mayfield had attempted to have Battle's son, who went by the Muslim name Esau in Portland, placed in the custody of an uncle who had also converted to Islam, rather than with his mother and Battle's former wife, Angela Rowden, of Houston.

Ms Rowden was awarded custody of the boy.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

AP story

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"It is understood that Mayfield's fingerprints matched prints found on a bag in the wreckage of the Madrid bombing. His home in Portland was searched, as was his office, a government official said."

Earlier in the article, it's noted that no charges need to be filed-- just suspicion. There is a possibility that Mayfield simply touched the same bag at a store. But when you factor in that he's a convert to Islam, then it looks more suspicious.

[jocon307]

"There is a possibility that Mayfield simply touched the same bag at a store."

Yes, but then how did the bag get all the way from Oregon to Madrid? There must be something more than this.

I also like the way he wanted to take a child away from his mother, probably just because she's not a member of the Religion of Peace!

[Preachin']

I also like the way he wanted to take a child away from his mother

His mom disagrees with strapping explosives to his body.

[Veto!]

Mayfield's wife, Mona, said her husband was "a good man, a good father, a good husband".

On tonight's news, Mona Mayfield appeared at her doorstep to answer reporter's questions. She was dressed in full Muslim scarf and robe. A good Oregon Muslim. They live in the Portland area where there has been much al-Q noise and many arrests.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If the guy became an Islamonut, why didn't he also change his name to Mohammed Bin Whatsisface?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

But when you factor in that he's a convert to Islam, then it looks more suspicious.

And who did legal work for someone who was sentenced on charges of conspiring to wage war against the United States by helping al Qaida and the former Taliban rulers of Afghanistan.

[PokeyJoe]

also add that Al Q has been actively seeking "western" muslims to conduct offensive operations.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Muslim lawyer Brandon Mayfield, from Portland, Oregon, was detained by the FBI on May 6, 2004 without explanation, his family said, but Newsweek magazine said he was being held in connection with the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people in March. An FBI spokeswoman refused to confirm or deny the detention, saying only that two search warrants had been issued in connection with an unspecified investigation. Mayfield is pictured in this undated image from video. NO SALES FOR EDITORIAL USEONLY REUTERS/Courtesy NBC/KGW-TV/HO

Mona Mayfield the wife of Portland, Ore., lawyer Brandon Mayfield, 37, speaks with reporters at their home after her husband was taken into custody by FBI (news - web sites) agents Thursday as part of the investigation into the deadly train bombings in Spain Thursday, May 6, 2004 in Beaverton, Ore. Mayfield, a U.S. citizen, was taken into custody on a material witness warrant according to federal officials. The arrest is the first known in the United States with connections to the March 11 bombings in Madrid. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

[MrsEmmaPeel]

There is a possibility that Mayfield simply touched the same bag at a store.

Yeah, maybe. But there was enough of the print there and in good condition to lift it, study it and match it. I reckon if it just was a casual touch they wouldn't have enough to analyze.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

LA Times:***Mayfield's brother Kent, reached at his home in Halstead, Kan., told Reuters that his brother was a vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy but no terrorist.

"I think the reason they are holding him is because he is of the Muslim faith and because he is not super happy with the Bush administration," the brother said. "So if that's a crime, well, you can burn half of us."***

[Jet Jaguar]

Thanks for the reply. Read my tagline.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***His father, Bill Mayfield, of Halstead, Kan., called the allegations “asinine.”

“He's completely innocent,” Mayfield said of his son, who grew up in the town, about 30 miles northwest of Wichita, and attended Washburn University in Topeka before moving to Oregon. A Portland television station reported that Brandon Mayfield graduated from Washburn's law school in 1999.

“I'd consider it a joke, if it wasn't so serious,” Bill Mayfield added. *** Kansas City Star

[HiTech RedNeck]

Had Mayfield visited the area?

BTW, that's pretty good for the Alphabet Soup crowd to have spotted this fellow's fingerprint in the wreckage, whether or not there ultimately is a link. FBI and CIA getting their acts together.

[rdb3]

If the guy became an Islamonut, why didn't he also change his name to Mohammed Bin Whatsisface?

Yeah, or how about Osama Ya-Mama?

A.K.A. Sleepy Brown

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***.......... a former Army officer,........***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Rescue workers cover up bodies alongside a bomb-damaged passenger train, following a number of explosions in Madrid, Spain, March 11, 2004 AP

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***WASHINGTON - Acting on leads generated from the Madrid train bombings earlier this year, FBI agents yesterday arrested a Portland, Ore., man on a material witness warrant and searched his home, authorities told Newsday.

They would not identify the man, other than to say he is a U.S. citizen born in America. The Associated Press, quoting an anonymous law enforcement official, said he is a lawyer named Brandon Mayfield. His wife, who was not arrested, also is a U.S. citizen but was born in Egypt.***New York Newsday

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Newsweek***The Portland Seven case was among the significant-and to some, controversial-cases brought by the Justice Department since September 11. Attorney General John Ashcroft hailed it as a "defining day in America's war against terrorism," asserting that the FBI had "neutralized a suspected terrorist cell within our borders."

Critics later charged that the Justice Department produced no evidence that any of the suspects had engaged in acts of terrorism. But prosecutors did establish that the six men arrested had traveled through China trying unsuccessfully to cross into Pakistan in early October 2001. Their stated goal was to join Taliban forces in Afghanistan to help defend fellow Muslims against U.S. soldiers. (A seventh man was never arrested and prosecutors later said he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan.)

On the tapes, Battle, a former Army reservist, expressed his hostility to U.S. interests in Afghanistan and his desire to attack a local Jewish religious school or synagogue with automatic weapons. Battle and another main codefendant, Patrice Lumumba Ford, later pled guilty to conspiracy to levy war against the United States, but both refused to agree to cooperate with federal prosecutors. The remaining four also pled guilty.***

[MrsEmmaPeel]

No idea if Mayfield visited the area or not.

But, I'm pretty convinced that he was involved simply for the fact that they were able to lift good, identifiable prints off the bag. I suppose the bag could have been couriered to that location, but that doesn't absolve Mayfield from involvement. If a lot of other people were touching the bag at the same location as Mayfield, their prints would have been on top, and thus harder to isolate and lift Mayfield's.

They didn't say where on the bag the prints were found. And they probably won't.