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Hamas member arrested videotaping Maryland bridge
Jerusalem Post ^ | Aug. 24, 2004 | JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP

Posted on 08/24/2004 6:19:42 PM PDT by yonif

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they discovered that Elbarasse was on an FBI terrorist watch list

How could he enter the country if he was on that list? I wonder how many more terrorists are able to get around it.

1 posted on 08/24/2004 6:19:42 PM PDT by yonif
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To: yonif

It only takes one....


2 posted on 08/24/2004 6:24:00 PM PDT by BullDog108 (Islamists are Insane! http://bvml.org/webmaster/islam.html)
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To: yonif

Spies should be summarily shot. That's how it's done in wartime.


3 posted on 08/24/2004 6:25:43 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: yonif

Gitmo bound, hopefully.


4 posted on 08/24/2004 6:25:57 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: yonif
Maryland's most important bridge, used by thousands daily and with enormous traffic for weekend getaways during the summer.

An attack on the bridge could be devastating
5 posted on 08/24/2004 6:26:40 PM PDT by catonsville
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To: yonif

Any minute now someone should be posting the latest whine from CAIR about how Ashcroft is trampling all over the civil rights of innocent Muslim men who just happen to have video cameras and ties to terrorist groups, spreading fear and hate and bigotry just to help his master George Bush get elected.


6 posted on 08/24/2004 6:29:43 PM PDT by CFC__VRWC (Back in business after Charley.)
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To: catonsville

However, the author gets it wrong -- it's not in Baltimore -- it runs from Annapolis to Stevensville on Kent Island.


7 posted on 08/24/2004 6:30:06 PM PDT by expatpat
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To: yonif
I shudder to think how many doing this type of surveillance are never detected. If it's anything like the percentage of drugs seized or illegal aliens apprehended, I fear for the country.
8 posted on 08/24/2004 6:31:21 PM PDT by CedarDave (Viet Nam Vet, USN Coastal Div. 13, Cat Lo, XO USCG patrol boat, 1968: No atrocities on my watch!)
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To: yonif

Grrrrrrrr....he's here with his wife and kids. Deport the family immediately. Bet his kids are in school getting a far better education than in Islamoland.


9 posted on 08/24/2004 6:31:33 PM PDT by spyone
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To: catonsville

I've long suspected that bridges are going to be a real target. Remember Osama's quote that they would "strike at the joints"? IMO, they better be keeping a close eye on the Mississippi River bridges too.


10 posted on 08/24/2004 6:32:47 PM PDT by Arkinsaw
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To: RaceBannon

ping.


11 posted on 08/24/2004 6:32:58 PM PDT by StarFan
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To: Arkinsaw

Makes sense. Think of the economic damage, with low probability of getting caught, as there are usually only whinos hanging aroung the footings of bridges. They could concievably do dozens at the same time accross the country. This jives with bizarre reports of explosives, people found around bridges in recent months.


12 posted on 08/24/2004 6:39:50 PM PDT by spyone
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To: yonif

Why do I suspect an eventual hand slap and a stern warning as they release him with his camera?


13 posted on 08/24/2004 6:40:53 PM PDT by theDentist ("John Kerry changes positions more often than a Nevada prostitute.")
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To: LibWhacker
I couldn't agree more.

Unfortunately, where I live in Northern Virginia, these "peace loving" savages from the Middle East are as common as your garden-variety rodent. Frankly, I think all of them are up to no good and remain suspicious of their behavior.
14 posted on 08/24/2004 6:46:23 PM PDT by Soylent Democrats (President George W. Bush in 2004)
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To: yonif

A major difficulty that these terrorist operations within the U.S. are causing is how to deal with them effectively while still preserving our civil rights.

Fortunately they already had the financing thing in Chicago to pin on the guy. Otherwise, how do you detain someone for taking pics of a bridge?

The terrorists are hoping that their activities will impel us into making our country into a police state. If they can also get us to make life miserable for people who only look like terrorists but are law-abiding, that's all the better.

They would like to arouse the civilians to go overboard to increase tension. Remember when some knuckleheads were attacking Sikhs after 9/11.

We cannot trust the likes of John Kerry to handle this. He would be more inclined to put PC above security. This is a delicate balance.


15 posted on 08/24/2004 6:47:51 PM PDT by walford (http://utopia-unmasked.us)
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To: spyone
His kids are likely in a Madrasa school run by the Saudis here in Northern Virginia. There was a story in our local news a few weeks ago on this school and its backers.

I'm confident the students are being taught Sharia law and to sacrifice themselves to kill American Christians and Jews. I have a great distrust for the Islamic community in Metro DC.
16 posted on 08/24/2004 6:52:02 PM PDT by Soylent Democrats (President George W. Bush in 2004)
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To: yonif

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/sns-ap-hamas-bay-bridge,0,4102792.story

Man Arrested After Videotaping Md. Bridge
By GRETCHEN PARKER
Associated Press Writer
August 24, 2004, 8:59 PM EDT

BALTIMORE -- A man described as a high-ranking Hamas operative was arrested after he drove across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge while his wife videotaped close-up shots of the structure, authorities said Tuesday.

Ismael Selim Elbarasse, long suspected by authorities of having financial ties to the Palestinian extremist group, was taken into custody last week and held as a material witness in an unrelated terrorism case in Chicago.

Neither he nor his wife was charged with any wrongdoing in connection with the videotaping.

Gov. Robert Ehrlich said the arrest "shouldn't be a generator of fear. It should serve as a reminder that there is a war going on around the world."

A federal grand jury in Chicago last week described Elbarasse as an unindicted co-conspirator in a 15-year scheme to finance terrorist activities in Israel. Hamas has carried out suicide bombings and other attacks in Israel.

Court documents allege he and defendant Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook -- considered one of the highest-ranking Hamas leaders internationally -- shared a Virginia bank account that was used to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars for Hamas.

Federal public defender Franklin W. Draper, who represented Elbarasse in court Monday, did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment.

Elbarasse's private attorney, Stanley L. Cohen, did not return calls either. A woman reached by phone at Elbarasse's home identified herself as his wife but declined to give her name or to comment.

Elbarasse was spotted Friday -- the same day the Chicago indictment was made public -- by police officers on the 4.3-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Authorities said Elbarasse was in an sport utility vehicle with his wife and their three children, ages 14, 19 and 21. He allegedly said they had gone to the beach but could not specify what beach they had visited.

According to the FBI, the tape in the camera shows the cables and upper supports of the main section of the bridge and zooms in on bridge joints. The tape also shows the Elbarasse family packing for vacation and on vacation.

Authorities said officers saw the wife try to hide the camera as officers approached.

Elbarasse is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday for a hearing on whether to turn him over to federal officials in Chicago.

Elbarasse was jailed for eight months in 1998, after failing to testify before a federal grand jury that was investigating Hamas fund-raising.

* __

Associated Press writers Stephen Manning in Silver Spring, Md., and Tom Stuckey in Annapolis, Md., contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press


17 posted on 08/24/2004 6:54:41 PM PDT by RaceBannon (KERRY FLED . . . WHILE GOOD MEN BLED!!)
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To: expatpat

GOOD LORD, THAT'S MY BRIDGE!!!! I live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, but work in D.C. I cross that bloody bridge twice a day.


18 posted on 08/24/2004 7:14:11 PM PDT by freepertoo
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To: Soylent Democrats

Madrasa is the arabic word for school --- any school.
So he went to a school school. Literally "madrasa" translates to "place of books".

Just like Omar,the tent maker. Omar is the arabic word for
"Tent Maker". Tent maker the tent maker.

As for the distrust you have for the Islamic Community,
your distrust is well founded! The Islamics are out to convert the world to Islam either by teaching or the sword.

Look at the flag of Saudi Arabia --- crossed swords!!


19 posted on 08/24/2004 7:16:26 PM PDT by TaMoDee
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To: yonif

Can someone please explain to me how groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad are considered enemies by our government, yet the same government insists on an "even-handed approach" with respect to Israel and these same enemies?


20 posted on 08/24/2004 7:18:53 PM PDT by montag813
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