Indictment expected in hijackings: Suspect is called would-be pilot; anthrax tie seen to conspiracy

NEW YORK - A French citizen of Moroccan descent who has been held as a material witness since shortly after the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings will probably become the first person to be indicted on charges that he took part in the conspiracy that led to the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, according to law enforcement officials involved in the investigation.

I was waiting for this article because I heard Judge Napalitano talk about it on FOX. He also said something that I thought was going to be in the article. What I heard (and I could be mistaken) was that the FBI has a theory about the anthrax attack being directed by binLaden. When binLaden made that first video after the attack, the first finger on his left hand was raised. (He had the mike in his other hand.) The FBI thinks that was a signal. It is kind of wierd when you look at the video. The way that finger is raised up in a very stilted way. Well I don't want to spread rumors. If anyone saw that on FOX mabye they can verify what I thought I heard the Judge say.

He performed badly in training before he aroused suspicion in Minnesota by telling a flight instructor he wanted to learn how to fly a commercial airliner but was not interested in landing or taking off, according to officials close to the FBI task force here that is heading the investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks.

The instructor whose suspicions were raised deserves a big thank you from all of us.

German authorities also told the FBI that they know that Moussaoui had at least one conversation, and possibly more, with the man who rented an apartment in Hamburg to Atta. German police say that apartment became a gathering spot for Islamic extremists in Hamburg.

I'll bet Atta and his terrorist friends loved to visit the Sankt Pauli district in Hamburg. It's had a reputation as a world-class red light district for years.

Even if you can't read German you'll understand the words in bold letters here..."In Chromkäfigen räkeln sich die leicht bekleideten Tänzerinnen zwischen den Stahlstangen. Table-Dance neben dem Tresen oder der Bar." from Hamburg Magazine

Theories, theories, theories...

"...However, two senior law enforcement officials familiar with the work of the antiterrorism task force said the FBI is leaning toward the theory that the anthrax was obtained in the United States, but was sent by someone who was sympathetic with the Sept. 11 attackers or was a ''sleeper'' connected to Al Qaeda awaiting a signal to begin sending the letters.

An FBI profiler who analyzed three letters - sent to Daschle's office, NBC News, and the New York Post - concluded that whoever wrote the letters had learned English as a second language, law enforcement officials said.

''It's 60-40 [percent] that it's connected to Sept. 11,'' said one federal official.

One theory officials hold is that the Sept. 11 attacks were a signal to begin sending anthrax in the mail.

''It's not [Osama bin Laden] picking up the phone and telling the guy to do it,'' said one official. ''The potential is for a longtime sleeper here, or someone sympathetic to the cause, someone who may have been told to sit tight with his anthrax, that somebody told him, `You'll know when the right time is.' That is very much in keeping with the cell structure'' of Al Qaeda, in which terrorists in the same conspiracy don't know what other conspirators are doing. The cell structure is aimed at guarding against infiltration and informers.

But even the federal officials who said it was more likely the anthrax letters are connected to Sept. 11 than to American right-wing extremists acknowledge that the FBI has not yet identified an individual suspect behind the letters.

Mawn said he could not discuss assertions by some federal officials that a federal grand jury sitting in New York will soon be asked to return charges against Moussaoui.

The officials said that German authorities have told the FBI that Moussaoui received $15,000 in two Western Union transfers from Germany in August, when he had signed up for an $8,000 course at a flight school in Minnesota.

German authorities also told the FBI that they know

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