Posted on 06/08/2002 6:15:04 AM PDT by It'salmosttolate
Hijackers' money trail traced to Oklahoma
2002-06-06
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The government kept hijacking ringleader Mohammed Atta's roommate from entering the United States on at least four occasions but didn't track his money transfers, including $14,000 in money orders sent to Oklahoma, that led directly to the eventual hijackers, law enforcement officials say.
Ramzi Bin al-Shibh -- named in court papers as an unindicted hijacking co-conspirator and the focus of a worldwide manhunt -- intended to join the hijackers on their mission but shifted to providing logistical support when he couldn't get into the country, the officials said.
Officials said the Yemen citizen was refused a U.S. visa four times in 2000 because of suspicions he wouldn't leave America if he was let in.
FBI money tracking experts have reconstructed wire transfers he made from Germany and Yemen, some under an alias, that went to the eventual hijackers and to one of the flight schools where they trained, the officials told The Associated Press. Two of those transfers were sent to Oklahoma last summer to Zacarias Moussaoui, the man U.S. officials believe was chosen to replace Bin al-Shibh as a hijacker but who was foiled when he was arrested at a Minnesota flight school last August, officials said.
Moussaoui is the lone defendant charged with conspiring with Osama bin Laden, Bin al-Shibh and the hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against him.
Officials said Bin al-Shibh is now listed in the ``tip-off'' computer system that alerts the State Department and Immigration and Naturalization Service about foreigners who are believed to have ties to terrorist activities, countries and organizations.
But they added the CIA had no information before Sept. 11 linking him to terrorism.
Nonetheless, experts said Bin al-Shibh's actions highlight the challenges in stopping future terror attacks.
His repeated failed efforts to enter the country did not trigger an investigation. And there was no effort to track his finances.
When Bin al-Shibh failed to enter, Moussaoui was sent in his place and made it into the country with $35,000 in cash and a plan to train to fly jetliners, officials say.
``This gets stranger and stranger,'' said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., one of the senators investigating the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. ``Why we were able to keep Atta's roommate out but not Atta and the rest of the terrorists is beyond me.''
A State Department official said Wednesday there is still no mechanism, even in the aftermath of Sept. 11, to flag a foreigner who is turned down repeatedly for visas for suspicions like those that surrounded Bin al-Shibh.
``It would be very difficult to draw a distinction between the typical profile of someone desperate to come to the United States for financial and social betterment reasons and is turned down several times for a visa and the terrorist or someone else with ill intent,'' said Edward Dickens, a spokesman for the consular affairs office that approves visas.
Most of the money transfers from Bin al-Shibh came after U.S. officials rejected his first two requests for a visa to enter the country on May 17, 2000, and June 15, 2000, from Germany.
He made at least two additional visa requests that also were rejected on Sept. 15, 2000, in Yemen, and Oct. 25, 2000, in Germany, records show.
The official files show the State Department rejected Bin al-Shibh's visa requests each time because he ``could not overcome the presumption'' he wanted to overstay his visa, according to officials who have seen the file.
Those officials said the suspicions at the time were that Bin al-Shibh:
Could not give a specific reason why he wanted to be in the United States and could not prove he intended to leave when his visa expired.
Was born in Yemen, which is suspected of harboring terrorists and was the site of the 2000 USS Cole bombing linked to bin Laden.
Despite the visa rejections, Bin al-Shibh went undetected as he began wiring money to the eventual hijackers. He kept most of the transfers below $10,000 — a limit that can trigger suspicious money reports to the government. And he used an alias to wire some of the money as Sept. 11 drew closer, authorities said.
According to court documents and authorities who have researched Bin al-Shibh's background, the Yemeni citizen moved to Germany in the mid-1990s and worked at the same computer company as Atta in 1998 and 1999. The two shared an apartment in Hamburg, Germany. Federal prosecutors allege in court papers that Atta, Bin al-Shibh, and hijackers Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah ``formed and maintained an al-Qaida terrorist cell in Germany'' beginning in the late 1990s.
According to court records and interviews, Bin al-Shibh:
Wired money July 26, 2000, from Germany to al-Shehhi in Florida, where he was attending flight school.
Arranged Aug. 14, 2000, to wire money from his account in Germany to the account of a Florida flight training school where Jarrah attempted to enroll Bin al-Shibh for pilot lessons.
Sent money Sept. 25, 2000, via wire transfer from Hamburg, Germany, to al-Shehhi in Florida.
Received on July 30 and 31, 2001, two wire transfers from the United Arab Emirates in the amount of $15,000 and then on Aug. 1 and Aug. 3 wired $14,000 in money orders to Moussaoui in Oklahoma. For these transactions, Bin al-Shibh used an alias, Ahad Sabet, according to U.S. officials.
None of the transactions were flagged by financial institutions, officials said.
The above factoid was released by the India newspapers who are not at all friendly to Pakistan.
Moussaoui's Oklahoma roommate connected to OKC bombing and WTC 1993 in court testimony
HELLO WASHINGTON - is anybody listening? Can you say CLOSE THE BORDERS - ISSUE NO MORE VISAS?? G*D, government is STUPID!!
Richard Armitage is supposed to work for us.
Senator Schumer:
You are quoted in the AP:
``This gets stranger and stranger,'' said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., one of the senators investigating the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. ``Why we were able to keep Atta's roommate out but not Atta and the rest of the terrorists is beyond me.''
A State Department official said Wednesday there is still no mechanism, even in the aftermath of Sept. 11, to flag a foreigner who is turned down repeatedly for visas for suspicions like those that surrounded Bin al-Shibh.
``It would be very difficult to draw a distinction between the typical profile of someone desperate to come to the United States for financial and social betterment reasons and is turned down several times for a visa and the terrorist or someone else with ill intent,'' said Edward Dickens, a spokesman for the consular affairs office that approves visas.
Why is Congress so STUPID and out of the "loop" that you can't see the simple solution. CLOSE THE BORDERS, ISSUE NO VISAS until the terrorists hiding in America are found, tried or deported? Do 3000 or MORE citizens have to die before Congress acts?
DO YOUR JOB - PROTECT AMERICA.
Let us pause a moment and take the following test.
1. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were massacred by:
a. Olga Korbut
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwarzenneger
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
2. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
3. During the 1980s a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
4. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Geraldo Rivera making up for a slow news day.
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
5. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old wheel-chair-bound American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard by:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davie Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
6. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver was murdered by:
a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
7. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
8. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
a. Richard Simmons
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
9. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems
c. The World Wrestling Federation villain: "Mustapha the Merciless"
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
10. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked and destroyed and thousands of people were killed by:
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr. Bean
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
11. In 2001 the United States began to fight a war in Afghanistan against:
a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
12. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
a. Bonny and Clyde
b. Captain Kangaroo
c. The Beastie Boys
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
By the way, I had read initial reports that Gen. Ahmed was in the Pentagon on 9/11 meeting somebody when the plane hit. I posted here on FR asking for confirmation. Turns out, Gen. Ahmed was on Capitol Hill meeting the heads of the congressional intel committees. I have long wondered why that plane hit the Pentagon, when I would have thought the Capitol would be an easier -- and more vital -- target. But Gen. Ahmed's whereabouts may well have been the reason. And, being where he was, Gen. Ahmed was in a very good position to gauge the reaction of the U.S. government to 9/11.
Someone should take a few hours to explain to Chuckie that the culture he helped to create, one in which the only group that can be profiled or vilified without recrimination is WASP, also helped to make it very difficult for INS or FBI or CIA to keep out the scum.
If it turns out that OKC was a Middle Eastern job, I think they'll have nervous breakdowns. Too much cognitive dissonance.
Richard Armitage was meeting with the ISI the entire week and the day of 9/11....the same fellow that sent Atta his money...what kind of coincidence is that?
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