Isn't there speculation that another attack is expected this September?
Abdul Malik, right, and Aalim Ammar walk in front of the Masjid As-Salam (House of Peace) mosque at 278 Central Avenue in Albany this morning. (Steve Jacobs / Times Union)
Posted on 08/05/2004 6:18:03 AM PDT by Lady GOP
Isn't there speculation that another attack is expected this September?
Abdul Malik, right, and Aalim Ammar walk in front of the Masjid As-Salam (House of Peace) mosque at 278 Central Avenue in Albany this morning. (Steve Jacobs / Times Union)
Editor's note: As part of its recently published special report on Albany's Central Avenue, the Times Union featured a profile of Mohammed Hossain, one of the suspects arrested Thursday during an FBI raid of the Masjid As-Salam mosque in Albany. Here is the text of that story.
Mohammed Hossain's journey to owning Little Italy pizzeria began in an unlikely place: Bangladesh.
Hossain and his wife, Mossamat, emigrated with their 1-year-old son, Abuhamza, from Bangladesh in 1985 in search of opportunity to lift themselves out of grinding poverty.
Their native tongue is Bengali and they arrived in this country knowing little English. Hossain worked as a dishwasher in diners, where he learned Greek and English. He gradually moved up to a position in the kitchen, with throwing pizzas being part of his repertoire. Nine years of saving allowed the family to rent a small storefront and open a pizzeria he called Little Italy in 1994. Adapting the menu to the neighborhood, they added fried chicken, hamburgers, beef patties, gyros and sweet potato pie. They eventually bought the building and moved into an apartment above the pizzeria with their five children.
When the kids -- who attend Annur Islamic School in Schenectady -- aren't using booths in the pizzeria as study tables, they do small jobs for their parents.
Except for a brief post-Sept. 11 backlash, business has grown steadily, and the couple has bought at public auction and fixed up income properties off Central Avenue.
''I'm proud to be an American,'' Hossain says. ''When I was in high school in Bangladesh, I looked at a map of America and I dreamed of coming to this great land. Since I've been here, opportunity has kissed my feet. Hard work has done the rest.''
Hossain has one regret he hopes to rectify soon.
''I'd like to sell the pizza shop and the houses and let my wife go back to college to get her Ph.D.,'' he says. She arrived in this country with a graduate degree in sociology but couldn't find work in that field, he explains.
''I feel guilty every day of my life,'' Hossain says. ''She has a master's degree and she works all day in a pizza shop. She should be out helping someone. Or teaching. I want to give her the chance to continue her education.''
1990s late : (AL QAEDA REECRUITS IRAQI KURDS) The mountainous tracts near the border with Iran have traditionally held to a strict religious way of life, however, and Iraqi Kurds from these villages were recruited to al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. - "Chemical war threat by Iraq's 'Taliban' ," By Damien McElroy in Nicosia, UK Telegraph , Filed: 12/01/2003 (jan 12, 2003)
1999 : (IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER LATIF aka ABU WA'IL IS IN AFGHANISTAN) Sa'adoon Mohammed Abdul Latif, or Abu-Wa'il, an Iraqi intelligence officer, first visited Afghanistan in 1999. - "U.S. negotiates trade of terror suspects," By Eli J. Lake, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL via The Washington Times, May 9, 2003, http://washingtontimes.com/world/20030509-22822443.htm
1999 late : (SUWEID LEAVES SYRIA FOR JORDAN : SUWEID CONTACTS MILITANTS IN SYRIA & IRAQ, SETS UP TERROR CELL IN JORDAN) Libyan Salem bin Suweid left Syria for Jordan late in 1999 under a fake Tunisian passport. His Jordanian assistant, Freihat, helped him rent a house in Russeifa -- a predominantly Palestinian town, 15 miles northeast of the Jordanian capital Amman, the prosecutor said. - "11 terror suspects charged in Jordan," By Jamal Halaby, Associated Press, via Boston Globe , 5/12/2003 , http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/132/nation/11_terror_suspects_charged_in_Jordan+.shtml
1999 - 2001 ? : (JORDAN : SUWEID RECRUITS FOR HIS JORDANIAN TERROR CELL, GETS FUNDS FROM ZARQAWI) For more than two years, Suweid allegedly contacted militants in Syria and Iraq, enlisted group members to his Jordanian terror cell, sent Yasser Freihat to Syria for weapons and bomb-making training courses and received funds from Ahmed al-Khalayleh aka Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi. - "11 terror suspects charged in Jordan," By Jamal Halaby, Associated Press, via Boston Globe , 5/12/2003 , http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/132/nation/11_terror_suspects_charged_in_Jordan+.shtml
2000 : (ZARQAWI RETURNS TO AFGHANISTAN TO OVERSEE TERRORIST TRAINING CAMP) Zarqawi, aka Khalayleh, who fought with Afghan guerrillas against Russian forces in the late 1980s, returned to Afghanistan in 2000 to oversee a terrorist training camp. Jordanian officials have said Khalayleh later took refuge with a militant Islamic group Ansar al-Islam in Iraq's northern Kurdish region. - "11 terror suspects charged in Jordan," By Jamal Halaby, Associated Press, via Boston Globe , 5/12/2003 , http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/132/nation/11_terror_suspects_charged_in_Jordan+.shtml
APRIL 2000 : (MUJAHIDEEN KHALQ VS IRAN) Mujahideen Khalq tried to assassinate the chief of Iran's paramilitary Nasr Command in April 2000 and has launched a series of strikes against Iranian forces since the early 1980s, when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini placed several of its members in jail. - "U.S. negotiates trade of terror suspects," By Eli J. Lake, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL via The Washington Times, May 9, 2003, http://washingtontimes.com/world/20030509-22822443.htm
AUGUST 2001 : (SOME IRAQI KURDISH LEADERS VISIT AL QAEDA LEADERSHIP IN AFGHANISTAN : ANSAR AL ISLAM WOULD BE THE RESULT) In August 2001, leaders of several Kurdish Islamist factions reportedly visited the al-Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan with the goal of creating an alternate base for the organization in northern Iraq. Their intentions were echoed in a document found in an al-Qaeda guest house in Afghanistan vowing to "expel those Jews and Christians from Kurdistan and join the way of Jihad, [and] rule every piece of land . . . with the Islamic Shari'a rule." Soon thereafter, Ansar al-Islam was created using $300,000 to $600,000 in al-Qaeda seed money, in addition to funds from Saudi Arabia. Today, Ansar operates in fortified mountain positions along the Iran-Iraq border known as "Little Tora Bora" (after the Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan). There, the group's Kurdish, Iraqi, Lebanese, Jordanian, Moroccan, Syrian, Palestinian, and Afghan members train in a wide array of guerrilla tactics. Approximately 30 al-Qaeda members reportedly joined Ansar upon the group's inception in 2001; that number is now as high as 120. Armed with heavy machine guns, mortars, and antiaircraft weaponry, the group fulfills al-Qaeda lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri's vision of a global jihad. Ansar's goal is to disrupt civil society and create a Taliban-like regime in northern Iraq. To that end, it has already banned music, alcohol, photographs, and advertising in its stronghold. Girls are prevented from studying; men must grow beards and pray five times daily. - "Ansar Al-Islam: Iraq's Al-Qaeda Connection, " By Jonathan Schanzer, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, via FrontPageMagazine.com , Friday, January 17, 2003
2001late : (IRAQI KURDS FORMERLY RECRUITED BY AL QAEDA TO TRAIN IN AFGHAN CAMPS RETURN HOME TO PUK TERRITORY IN NORTHERN IRAQ, WILL EVENTUALLY MERGE INTO ANSAR AL-ISLAM & SET UP ANTI-PUK ENCLAVES) On their return home to PUK territory, they merged a variety of radical organisations into the Ansar movement in 2001 and established their breakaway anti-PUK enclave. Following the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, scores of Arab al-Qaeda fighters have joined them after escaping through Iran - "Chemical war threat by Iraq's 'Taliban' ," By Damien McElroy in Nicosia, UK Telegraph , Filed: 12/01/2003 (jan 12, 2003)
SEPTEMBER 1, 2001 : (JUND AL ISLAM ESTABLISHED) Jund al-Islam, was established on 1 September 2001, controlled a strip on the Iranian border, comprising several villages and two townships, Biyara and Tawela. The group immediately declared “holy war” on Iraqi Kurdish secular ruling parties. - "Ansar al-Islam’s leader arrested - Jordan asks his extradition," Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch, news, 15 September 2002
SEPTEMBER 2001 : (ANSAR AL-ISLAM BECOMES ACTIVE AL QAEDA AFFILIATE) Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaeda affiliate active in Iraqi Kurdistan since September 2001, is a prototype of America's enemies in the "war on terror." The group serves as a testament to the global spread of al-Qaeda affiliates, achieved through exploitation of weak central authorities and a utilitarian willingness to work with seemingly differing ideologies for a common cause. Lengthy reports on Ansar have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, and Kurdish leaders have given Washington a plethora of intelligence on the group. Nevertheless, Ansar has yet to appear on official U.S. terrorism lists. Meanwhile, political complexities would make military action against the group difficult, at best. Hence, this small force of 650 fighters is a textbook example of the ongoing challenges posed by the war on terror. - "Ansar Al-Islam: Iraq's Al-Qaeda Connection, " By Jonathan Schanzer, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, via FrontPageMagazine.com , Friday, January 17, 2003
SEPTEMBER 23, 2001 : (JUND AL ISLAM ATTACKS PUK FIGHTERS) On 23 September 2001, they attacked and slaughtered more than 40 fighters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUK, which led to a wide range armed confrontation between the two sides. Jund al-Islam was reported, by PUK officials and London-based Arabic newspapers, to have Afghan Arabs in their ranks, as well as Kurds who served in Afghanistan and Chechnya. It was also reported that the group was financed by Al-Qaeda organization and its members were trained in Afghanistan. - "Ansar al-Islam’s leader arrested - Jordan asks his extradition," Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch, news, 15 September 2002
SEPTEMBER 2001 late : (FOUR JORDANIAN FIGHTERS FORMERLY IN AFGHANISTAN WERE KILLED IN IRAQI KURDISTAN : THEY BELONGED TO JUND AL-ISLAM) The Saudi newspaper, Al-Watan reported on 23 November 2001, involvement of Jordanian nationals in the Islamic radical group. The newspaper said four Arab afghans of Jordanian origin were killed late September 2001 in Iraqi Kurdistan. They were members of Jund al-Islam group, or Soldiers of Islam, which became Ansar al-Islam later in December of the same year.- "Ansar al-Islam’s leader arrested - Jordan asks his extradition," Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch, news, 15 September 2002
2001 fall : (ANSAR AL ISLAM PERSONNEL SMUGGLED VX NERVE GAS THROUGH TURKEY in 2001, WASHINGTON POST SAYS) Some Bush administration and PUK officials claim that Ansar has established chemical weapons facilities in Iraqi Kurdistan. Reports allege that Baghdad helped to smuggle these weapons from Afghanistan and that Ansar has tested substances such as cyanide gas and the poison Ricin. Salih has cited "clear evidence" that such tests have been performed on animals. The Washington Post reported that the group smuggled VX nerve gas through Turkey in fall 2001. - "Ansar Al-Islam: Iraq's Al-Qaeda Connection, " By Jonathan Schanzer, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, via FrontPageMagazine.com , Friday, January 17, 2003
DECEMBER 2001 : (JUND AL ISLAM MERGES INTO OR BECOMES ANSAR AL ISLAM) Jund al-Islam group, or Soldiers of Islam, became Ansar al-Islam in December - "Ansar al-Islam’s leader arrested - Jordan asks his extradition," Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch, news, 15 September 2002
DECEMBER 2001 : (KREKAR LEAVES IMK & JOINS NEWLY ESTABLISHED JUND AL-ISLAM : THE TWO GROUPS WOULD FORM ANSAR AL ISLAM UNDER LEADERSHIP OF KREKAR) Following splits in the Islamic Movement in Kurdistan (IMK) movement last year [2001], Mala Krekar and his followers left IMK in December 2001 and joined the newly established Kurdish Islamic radical group, Jund al-Islam. The two groups formed Ansar al-Islam, with Mala Krekar as the group’s leader. - "Ansar al-Islam’s leader arrested - Jordan asks his extradition," Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch, news, 15 September 2002
FEBRUARY 2002 : (IRAQ : ANSAR AL ISLAM ASSASSINATES HARIRI, A KURDISH CHRISTIAN, ATTEMPTED MURDER OF PUK LEADER SALIH) In February 2002, the group assassinated Franso Hariri, a Kurdish Christian politician. That spring, Ansar attempted to murder Barham Salih, a PUK leader; five bodyguards and two attackers were killed in the ensuing gunfight. Fazel Inzal al-Khalayleh (a.k.a. Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi) had sought refuge with Ansar after escaping from Afghanistan. The al Qaeda operative Khalayleh/Zarqawi had ordered the spring 2002 attack on Salih - "Ansar Al-Islam: Iraq's Al-Qaeda Connection, " By Jonathan Schanzer, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, via FrontPageMagazine.com , Friday, January 17, 2003
JUNE 2002 : (KURDS REPORT THAT IRAQI INTELLIGENCE FUNDS JUND AL ISLAM :CAPTURED IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER SAYS THE LEADING FIGURE OF JUND AL ISLAM WAS A SENIOR IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER BY THE NAME OF ABU WA'IL) Earlier this year, Kurdish media sources reported that Iraqi intelligence services are involved in guiding Jund al-Islam, through its agents, who operate secretly in the region. An Iraqi intelligence officer, who was arrested by PUK forces, and interviewed last June in a PUK prison in Suleimaniya, told “Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch” that a leading figure of Jund al-Islam was actually a senior Iraqi intelligent officer. He said, “following the fighting between the PUK and Jund al-Islam, the Mukhabarat [Iraqi intelligent Service] instructed me to search for someone. I don’t know his full name, but they said that he is called Abu Wa’il, an Iraqi national, and that he is a high-ranking officer, who belongs to our service; and that in addition to your usual mission, we want you to let us know what has happened to him, has he been able to escape, has he been killed, or has he been captured [by the Kurds] and handed over to the Americans? … Through my network I could discover that he escaped. I passed the information to the Mukhabarat. It seemed that the liaison network between Abu Wa’il and Baghdad was cut. Abu Wa’il’s case was dealt with by Mukhabarat at the highest level [in Baghdad]. His case was not like an ordinary agent getting missed … The general director of Mukhabarat was personally following the issue”. Another prisoner, a Kurdish member of Ansar al-Islam, arrested by PUK last spring, also signalled the presence of Abu Wa’il among the group. He told “Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch” that Abu Wa’il, “was a leading figure of Jund al-Islam, and was, among other missions, in charge of organizing the Afghan Arabs of the group who came from Afghanistan. As far as I know, Abu Wa’il, along with Abdullah al-Shaf’i [leader of Jund al-Islam before the merger with Mala Krekar’s group] travelled at least twice to Afghanistan”.- "Ansar al-Islam’s leader arrested - Jordan asks his extradition," Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch, news, 15 September 2002
2002 summer : (ZARQAWI WAS IN IRAQ) A "top 20" al Qaeda planner was in Baghdad several months ago, giving further credence to the Bush administration's assertion of linkage between Saddam Hussein's regime and Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization. U.S. intelligence agencies have verified reports that Abu Musab Zarqawi met with people in Baghdad in the summer after fleeing Afghanistan when the US began strikes to dislodge the ruling Taliban and kill al Qaeda members. A U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said intelligence agencies are trying to learn more about Zarqawi's visit to Iraq and with whom he met. He is believed to still be in the Middle East, possibly in Syria. "We know he was in Iraq for a period of time several months ago," the official said. "Zarqawi plans terrorist operations. He is in al Qaeda's top 20." - "U.S. tracked top al Qaeda planner's visit to Baghdad," By Rowan Scarborough THE WASHINGTON TIMES October 4, 2002
SEPTEMBER 2002 : (ANSAR AL ISLAM) Ansar al-Islam is also believed to be behind the recent series of bomb attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan. The two major political parties, which rule over the Kurdish-controlled region of Iraq, the PUK and Kurdistan Democratic Party, KDP, have recently established a joint anti-terror operation command centre to combat terrorist attempts in Kurdistan region."Whoever is behind this group, it is widely believed here in Iraqi Kurdistan that the sudden emergence of this radical faction is meant to destabilize the Iraqi Kurdish experience of self-rule”, a Kurdish source told Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch, on condition of anonymity. "It is more than four years now that the [Iraqi Kurdish-administered] region witnesses stability and a significant degree of economic development. So, one should look at the sides which have interest in destabilizing this situation. I don’t see why Al-Qaeda wants to undermine our region if it is not with the support of the enemies of Iraqi Kurds”, said the source.- "Ansar al-Islam’s leader arrested - Jordan asks his extradition," Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch, news, 15 September 2002
2002 : (UK TELEGRAPH REPORTS THAT REPUBLICAN GUARD WAS SPOTTED IN ANSAR AL ISLAM TOWNS BY WESTERN INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS) The Telegraph reports that members of his Republican Guard had been seen in two Ansar-run villages by Western intelligence officials on a reconnaissance mission. - "Chemical war threat by Iraq's 'Taliban' ," By Damien McElroy in Nicosia, UK Telegraph , Filed: 12/01/2003 (jan 12, 2003)
OCTOBER 2002 : (JORDAN : MURDER OF US OFFICIAL FOLEY : LINKED TO AL QAEDA / ANSAR AL ISLAM) Fazel Inzal al-Khalayleh (a.k.a. Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi) , who had sought refuge with Ansar in Iraq, . had ordered the October 2002 murder of U.S. Agency for International Development officer Laurence Foley in Amman. - "Ansar Al-Islam: Iraq's Al-Qaeda Connection, " By Jonathan Schanzer, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, via FrontPageMagazine.com , Friday, January 17, 2003
...and so on...APRIL 2003 : (ANSAR AL ISLAM : RICIN : ZARQAWI) U.S. and Kurdish officials say the group [Ansar al Islam] received support from al Qaeda and coordinated activities through Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian identified by the US as a lieutenant of Osama bin Laden. They also said the group ran a factory that made the poison ricin and a topical cyanide poison and maintained ties with Hussein. U.S. officials say an intelligence team has collected cyanide-based compounds from a former Ansar base and is awaiting test results to see if the group managed to concoct a larger selection of poisons. The evidence collected at Ansar's bases also suggests collaboration with al Qaeda. Some of the papers were gathered by journalists, and others were provided by Kurdish intelligence officials before being translated by a private language institute in northern Iraq. Textbooks and bomb or poison recipes in Ansar custody were identical to those contained in al Qaeda's records from Afghanistan, including the bomb manual for the Jihad Encyclopedia and computer files on Western intelligence collection and ways to evade it. Other documents were strikingly similar in tone or content to al Qaeda papers found in Afghanistan, like military training materials. The curriculum is the product of a detailed collection and translation effort. A special forces officer flipped through the Ansar explosives manual found here, noting, as other U.S. officers have, that it included page after page of instructional diagrams from U.S. Army publications. He recognized almost every one. "This one is from our improvised munitions manual," he said. "That's from the booby trap manual. This is almost photocopied from our books." A few documents also promoted social practices reminiscent of those imposed by the Taliban, including a memo forbidding the passage of vehicles carrying television sets because they might import immorality to the Ansar villages. - "Terrorist manual may link Iraqi group to al Qaeda Information found at Ansar al-Islam training center in Kurdish enclave ," by C.J. Chivers, New York Times , via ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, April 27, 2003
...
APRIL 17, 2003 : (SYRIA & ANSAR AL ISLAM) Syria has functioned as a hub for al-Qaeda operatives who moved Islamic extremists and money from Italy to north-eastern Iraq, where the recruits fought alongside the recently defeated Ansar al Islam terrorist group, according to an Italian investigation. The investigation, which began last year, could intensify the growing debate about Syria's alleged ties to terrorism. - "Italian police uncover al-Qaeda link in Syria, " Australian News , April 17, 2003
...
APRIL 2003 late? : (ZARQAWI LINKED TO RICIN PLOT TO POISON FOOD OF MILITARY PERSONNEL AT BASES THROUGHOUT EUROPE) Zarqawi, 36, is considered something of an expert on chemical and biological weapons, including ricin, following training he is purported to have undergone in Afghanistan under the aegis of Al-Qaeda in the 1990s. He has also been linked to an abortive plot to use ricin to poison food at a British military base and other allied military facilities across Europe. - "The biowar threat: Jordanian ‘mastermind’ sought," by Ed Blanche, The Daily Star , April 29 2003
...
yeah...scrutiny...and finding they wanted to buy surface to air missiles is unfair...right?
...(sigh)...
How ya been anyways??
Islam, It's not a religion. It's actually an induced mental disorder!
Thanking the Patriot Act for allowing us to go to the Mosques to catch these scum.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.