Terrorists' Twin Tower Images, Secret Porn Messages

ABC News ^ | 5/8/03

[areafiftyone]

ROME, May 8 — Investigators analyzing computers seized from an Italian mosque say they have uncovered images of the twin towers that were downloaded just days before the 9/11 attacks, as well as a trove of pornographic photos they believe were used to conceal coded messages.

On Sept. 4, 2001, according to investigators, pictures of the World Trade Center were saved as temporary files on one of the computers at the Via Quaranta mosque in Milan — the mosque frequented by Abdelkader Mahmoud Es Sayed, also known as Abu Saleh, an Egyptian currently on trial in absentia in Milan on charges of international terrorism.

Court documents from the ongoing Milan trial, cited by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, say that police discovered images of the World Trade Center along with numerous files that contained images downloaded from the Internet of political leaders such as President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, as well as large quantities of pornographic material, also taken from the Internet.

The images, investigators said, had been manipulated — their colors modified — before being sent back onto the Web.

Police believe this was one of the ways that al Qaeda cell members communicated, encoding, in many instances, pornographic images that were were traded back and forth, an investigative source confirmed.

The practice is known as steganography. Read a Brian Ross report to find out more.

Police confiscated 11 computers from the Via Quaranta mosque in November 2001, according to court documents, after issuing an arrest warrant for its founder, Es Sayed, during an investigation into an Islamic terrorist cell headquartered in Milan that provided logistical support to the al Qaeda network.

Several key members of the cell have been convicted in the Italian courts, and five others are on trial in Milan, charged with association to international terrorist groups, falsification of documents and aiding illegal immigration.

Milan prosecutors believe that Es Sayed was an al Qaeda lieutenant sent to Italy to recruit new members to send to the terrorist network.

During an investigation that lasted more than two years, police recorded conversations between Es Sayed and a Yemeni man who referred to "studying airplanes."

During one wiretapped conversation in August of 2000, the Yemeni tells Es Sayed that "God willing, I hope that I can bring you a window or piece of airplane the next time we meet."

Italian investigators have never determined a direct link between the Milan cell and the Sept. 11 attacks, but the images of the twin towers that investigators say the discovered on the computer hard drive suggest that perhaps at least one of the Milan cell members had knowledge of the attacks before they occurred.

The digital evidence is still being analyzed.

Police say they found material that they describe as "interesting" on several of the confiscated computers. The hard drives of all the computers had all been erased but were reconstructed in part by computer experts collaborating with the Milan courts, the investigative source said.

In conversations recorded during more than two years of investigation, cell members often referred to computers and Web sites, and made frequent use of Internet cafes to exchange information, the source confirmed.

Although the investigators were able to determine how the images were manipulated, they have not yet been able to decode the messages that might have been conveyed by those manipulations.

According to a report in the Corriere della Sera, the Italian investigators have asked for help from experts in the United States.

[Asclepius]

... as well as a trove of pornographic photos they believe were used to conceal coded messages.

Code indeed. It reads like this: terrorists enjoy masturbating.

[ewing]

What a shocker, they downloaded porm from a mosque.

[dead]

Pete Townshend's in on it!

[DoctorMichael]

Bump.

[SaltyDog]

If it was on a porno site, I'm surprised slick willy hasn't solved the crime already.

[areafiftyone]

We should check his credit card for payments made!!!

[areafiftyone]

I hate to say this but you are correct!!! Going to lunch now!!! BARF!!!!

[ppaul]

The religion of peace masturbation.

[Dahoser]

If it was on a porno site, I'm surprised slick willy hasn't solved the crime already.

He would, but his feet are stuck to the floor.

[MEGoody]

Use porn images as a means to communicate terrorist plans. And yet they make their own women wear burkas. These guys are seriously twisted.

[twigs]

Well, if their women weren't hidden behind burkas (by their demand), they would have much healthier desires!

[SpinyNorman]

GO HOME YOU MUSLIM WANKERS!!!

[anymouse]

ping

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[The Great RJ]

I suppose there is an office in the Department of Homeland Security that reviews all the pornographic pictures on the Internet looking for hidden messages from terrorists. Does anyone know where one can apply?

[RightWingConspirator]

From 1975 to 1977 I was stationed in Jordan at the US Embassy. One of my colleagues, a civilian USAF employee, was friends with a Jordanian doctor. One Friday they drove to Damascus to shop. On the way back they passed a Saudia Airlines billboard atop a hill along the road. My colleague saw a sight that completely shocked him. He asked the doctor, "Did I see what I thought I saw behind that billboard?" The doctor said, "Yes, you saw two men with a donkey, one holding its head and the other at its rear with his pants down sodomizing it." The doctor went on to tell my colleague that that sort of thing was very common there because of the absolute prohibition of premarital sex with women, which would result in "honor" killings of women by family members.

[kcvl]

Western intelligence officials say they have learned that instructors at Osama bin Laden's camps in remote Afghanistan train his followers in the high-tech secret-messaging technique.

And French investigators believe that suspects arrested in an alleged plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris were to get the go-ahead for the attack via a message hidden in a picture posted on the Internet, former French defense official Alexis Debat told ABCNEWS.

One of the men in custody, described by French officials as a computer nerd well-versed in the messaging technique, was captured with a notebook full of secret codes. "This code book is major breakthrough in the investigation," said Debat.

[areafiftyone]

LOL - I am a female! But I have a few muslim women that live in my apartment building and they are very attractive but they seem always so sad!!! They always give me a sad smile when I say hello to them!!

[mabelkitty]

It's okay.

As long as they weren't gambling.

[twigs]

Oh, my! So sad, isn't it?

[Ralph the Hun]

Note to Mrs. Hun:

All of the porn my computer is in fact secret work documents encoded using steganography and NOT for 'other' use.

[lurky]

Code indeed. It reads like this: terrorists enjoy masturbating.

Nice one.

[LayoutGuru2]

The was a lot of talk right after 911 about the use of steganography by the terrorists. I haven't heard much about it since then. Here is a pre-911 warning:

Bin Laden: Steganography Master?
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41658,00.html

[kcvl]

Thanks!

[Pikachu_Dad]

Might explain the large quantity of porn being downloaded by the previous white house

[Publicus]

Solve it?!?! What do you mean solve it, his immoral behavior and weakening of our defense/intelligence capabilities are the main reasons why the attacks took place!

[Publicus]

That's really something. But how did they actually embed the message behind an image of music file?

[I'm ALL Right!]

This picture is off a bit...the legs are too thin...uh, the everything is too thin...and willy is looking as if he cares... of course the control thing is right on.

[Genesis defender]

Aaaaaaaaggghh!! My eyes! It BURNS! BURRRRNS!!!!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

What a shocker, they downloaded porm from a mosque.

"Porno in my bar? I'm shocked. Shocked!"

[Criminal Number 18F]

I can honestly say that none of the 600 books that I read about Afghanistan, Islam, etc. prepared me for the, er, sexual mores of the Afghans.

We had a guy come in with a neighbour girl. He had raped her and she was pregnant. He wanted our docs to abort. We told him to get lost, and within two weeks we heard that the girl had been stoned by the men in her family when they learnt she was knocked up.

The guy lit out for Pakistan and abandoned his wife and kids. Because his stigma was on them, no one in the village would help them or even give them food.

Women are treated absolutely horribly there. Girls are half the size of their kid brothers because they aren't "worth" feeding. Meanwhile, the guys are committed to... buggery. They thought that we were weird for wanting to have sex with women. "Women are OK for reproduction," one told me, "ah, but a nice young boy! That is where you find pleasure." Sick, sick, sick. They said a lot of other stuff that's inappropriate for repeating here.

Our docs treated unspeakable combinations of venereal diseases, and we had a kid (maybe 11 years old) brought in... he had been gang raped by some quantity of men, and he was a wreck both physically and psychologically.

I don't know why the Afghans are so perverted a race, or why there seem to be similar problems in other Middle Eastern nations, but I have to suspect their degradation of women, and stark terror of female sexuality, is involved.

600 books in four languages, all the articles I could find, and the reams of government documents and studies I read before going over. And I swear that not a one of them mentioned, "Oh, by the way, the Afghans are all butt pirates." It would have been nice to know.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Tamzee]

"That's really something. But how did they actually embed the message behind an image of music file?"

There are always amounts of "empty space" in the groups of 1's and 0's that make up any file. Steganography just squeezes the hidden file information into those scattered empty spaces. The larger the container file, the less degraded the container appears. The software to set this up has become increasingly sophisticated and easy-to-use in the last few years.

[El Gato]

Code indeed. It reads like this: terrorists enjoy masturbating.

Well you know it's hard to find a goat or even a sheep in Milan. the Italian prostitutes probably wouldn't have anything to do with these guys and they were too busy to go to France, where the French whores aren't so discriminating.

[El Gato]

600 books in four languages, all the articles I could find, and the reams of government documents and studies I read before going over. And I swear that not a one of them mentioned, "Oh, by the way, the Afghans are all butt pirates." It would have been nice to know.

You didn't ask, so they didn't tell.

[goldstategop]

Its funny in a way; back home viewing porn would get them executed but in the libertine West the devout of Allah see nothing wrong with using Satan's worship of the body to spread along their puritanical messages. Along with instructions to incinerate building full of living and breathing people. Even the Religion Of Peace can't resist a Jimmy Swaggart shtick: we just can't help it if we use a passel of nude beauties to do the Almighty's work even though we think women should be hidden behind burqas and be men's obedient chattels. The infidels don't really appreciate the irony behind our transparent hypocrisy.

[Erasmus]

All of the porn my computer is in fact secret work documents encoded using steganography and NOT for 'other' use.

Well, Mr Hun, the idea is to encode the porn in the work documents and not the other way around.

[MD_Willington_1976]

I met a Persian girl at a local mall, olive skin, dark waist length hair and green eyes, she was drop dead gorgeous... We also have several muslims where I live, I have only seen a few that wear the whole get up, most just cover there heads with a shawl around here.

[bigj00]

I'm Blind!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Joseph_CutlerUSA]

If this is true...Then damn, our guys are good or lucky for finding this.

[piasa]

milan cell bump

[piasa]

FEBRUARY 2001 : (MILAN CELL, SALEH {aka Sayed} CONVERSATION ABOUT GETTING TERRORISTS INTO US) Abu Saleh, unaware of the microphone hidden in his Citroen ZX, mentions to a passenger that "three brothers" will soon need dual-citizenship passports, including one with both Syrian and American nationalities. "Make sure the passports bear stamps," he admonishes the young man, a Tunisian. "The higher-ups want the job to be done properly, to make sure that they won't get caught as they reach their final destination." Six months earlier, in August 2000, a suspected al-Qaida organizer, Abdulsalam Ali Ali Abdulrahman, had paid a brief visit to Abu Saleh in Milan and was overheard referring to "some brothers who entered America thanks to a mail-order-bride magazine trick," but who "claimed to be Egyptians and kept their true identity concealed." It was in the same conversation that Abdulrahman made several cryptic remarks about an impending attack that "will wreak such a great havoc" and "leave them all dumbfounded." - "Milan cell linked to al-Qaida operatives, " By John Crewdson and Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune via Seattle Times June 30, 2002

FEBRUARY 2001 : (MILAN CELL, SALEH CONVERSATION ABOUT FAILURE TO GET TERRORISTS INTO US) Abu Saleh had a conversation with a man who answered Abdulrahman's telephone in Yemen. "I have heard you are getting into America," Abu Saleh is heard to say. "I'm sorry," replied the voice on the other end, "but we did not manage to get in ... ." "How come, man?" Abu Saleh asked. "This is our goal," the voice replied, "and we have no greater desire. ... We hope and wish to enter clandestinely by land. ... ." Within days of that conversation, however, the electronic and physical surveillance of Abu Saleh was discontinued. One investigator explained that, under the Italian laws, it was necessary to either stop the surveillance after one year or to notify Abu Saleh that he was the target of an anti-terrorism investigation. Fearing that any notification would imperil a concurrent investigation of one of Abu Saleh's alleged lieutenants, the police simply turned off the microphones in Abu Saleh's house and automobile. After Sept. 11, 2001, the law was changed to extend the prenotification period to two years. - "Milan cell linked to al-Qaida operatives, " By John Crewdson and Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune via Seattle Times June 30, 2002

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for the excerpts and heads up!

[Cindy]

FR Discussion: "AL QAEDA AND THE INTERNET: THE DANGER OF 'CYBERPLANNING'" (February 27, 2003)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/853448/posts

FR Discussion: "HOW TERRORISTS HIDE MESSAGES ONLINE" (October 4, 2001)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/539924/posts

FR DISCUSSION: "HOW AL QAEDA PUT INTERNET TO USE - FROM BRITAIN, WEBMASTER KEPT 'THE BROTHERS' ABREAST ON TERROR" (November 12, 2002)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/787433/posts

FR DISCUSSION: "TERRORISTS MAY HAVE USED INTERNET TO PLOT ATTACK" (October 5, 2001)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/541099/posts

FR DISCUSSION: "DRUDGE REPORT - WHITE HOUSE CONVINCED: BIN LADEN GIVING ORDERS OVER INTERNET" (October 7, 2001)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/542354/posts

FR DISCUSSION: "DRUDGE TITLE - WHITE HOUSE CONVINCED: BIN LADEN GIVING ORDERS OVER INTERNET" (October 7, 2001)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/542301/posts

[piasa]

thank you, Cindy

[Cindy]

re post no. 44:

GOOGLE Search Term: "ABU SALEH"
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Abu+Saleh%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&filter=0

[Cindy]

re post no. 19...

LINKS OF INTEREST:

FOX NEWS.com (AP): "STUDY: NEW 9/11-STYLE ATTACK LIKELY" ARTICLE SNIPPET: "LONDON - Another Sept. 11-style terrorism attack is "highly likely" in the United States, which ranks fourth in an index assessing the risk to 186 countries, a research company said Sunday.") (August 17, 2003) (Read More...)

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001: "ATTACK ON AMERICA!" (Updated) (Read More...)

An Interesting Discussion on FREEREPUBLIC.com regarding a REUTERS article: "CANADA ARRESTS 19 IN CASE WITH SEPT. 11TH PARALLELS" (August 22, 2003) (Read More...)

An Interesting Discussion on FREEREPUBLIC.com regarding a CanWest News Service Article by Brian Krebs and Joseph Menn, with files from Jason Fekete: 'SOBIG' VIRUS TRACED TO CANADIAN COMPUTER" (August 23, 2003) (Read More...)

An Interesting Discussion on FREEREPUBLIC.com regarding an ABCnews.go.com article by Alexandra Salomon: "Terrorists' Twin Tower Images, Secret Porn Messages" (May 8, 2003) (Read More...)

FBI.gov - War On Terrorism: "SEEKING INFORMATION"

FBI.gov: "MOST WANTED TERRORISTS"

[SSN558]

The software to set this up has become increasingly sophisticated and easy-to-use in the last few years.

yes, but it old technology. U.S. hackers and anarchists were doing this as far back as 1990 that I am aware of. They would put files on phreaking and such on bulletion boards, and the highly illegal stuff was imbeded in GIF and AVI files. You could open them up with a text editor and find strings of information for hacking into TRW and such.

Hidden in plain sight, while the feds were having hissy fits over public use of PGP.