Posted on 07/09/2002 2:05:06 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
With rumors swirling of a possible link to the al-Qaida terrorist network, the FBI insisted Monday that investigators still don't know why Hesham Mohamed Hadayet went on an Independence Day shooting rampage at LAX.
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"We are not confirming or denying investigation of specific rumors that may be floating around," said FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley. "We are looking into all leads and all possibilities, but it would be premature to confirm anything at this point."
FBI officials said it appears Hadayet, 41, an Irvine limousine driver, acted alone when he opened fire Thursday at the El Al airline ticket counter at Tom Bradley International Terminal, killing Yaakov Aminov, 46, of North Hollywood, and Victoria Hen, 25, of Chatsworth.
"At this point we have not identified any accomplices, so as far as we know he acted alone," Bosley said. "We do not have any evidence to indicate he was working on behalf of any kind of group. But that's what we are trying to determine."
The FBI said it could not rule out terrorism but also was investigating the possibility it was a hate crime or whether Hadayet was despondent over his personal or business affairs.
Several reports about Hadayet also surfaced, but have been shot down. El Al officials have denied reports that the airline might have owed Hadayet money, which some speculated might have set him off.
And officials at Mercury Air Cargo, which is based at LAX, say Hadayet never worked for them, despite reports he had been employed by the ground services company during the time he was reportedly meeting with Al-Zawahri.
"We have never employed that person, at least not under that name," said Joe Czyzyk, CEO of Mercury Air Cargo. "I would be interested to know where that rumor started."
As the investigation continued in the United States and Egypt, Hadayet's wife said Monday that her husband is innocent and that he gave no hint of violence in a phone call hours before the shooting.
"My husband didn't do such a thing. This is nonsense," 41-year-old Hala Mohammed Sadeq El-Awadly told The Associated Press in Cairo.
"Hesham called on July 4, it was his birthday. His voice was very beautiful," she said. "He asked about the boys, asked me to take them out a lot and to review their lessons with them in order to be ready for next year."
El-Awadly said she did not believe her husband was responsible for the July 4 shooting.
"He is a victim of injustice," she said three times. "In America, they hate Islam and Arabs after Sept. 11."
Arab-Americans in the Los Angeles area have publicly condemned the killings as a crime, but not terrorism. The Web site of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee posted a statement denouncing the attack in the "strongest possible terms."
Israeli officials have described the attack as an act of terrorism.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
If the FBI comes to the right public answer in a week or two, then this current bad mouthing of them is worth little more than yellow journalism, and we should give them credit for getting something right. If not, then ... well ... not surprising.
 "See no terrorism. Hear no terrorism. Say nothing about terrorism." |
You should pay more attention:
Mercury CEO Greets President Bush At Mercury Air Centers' Ontario, California Fixed Base Operation
Los Angeles, CA (January 8, 2002)—Mercury Air Group (AMEX/PCX: MAX) President & CEO Joseph A. Czyzyk greeted US President George Bush on Saturday when the President’s aircraft, Air Force One, was being fueled and serviced at Mercury Air Centers’ Fixed Base Operation (FBO) at Ontario International Airport in Ontario, California. Mercury has provided fuel and support services to Air Force One at various locations throughout the United States since President John F. Kennedy’s Administration.
“Obviously, Air Force One is the most important airplane in the world,” said Czyzyk, adding, “Our long record of service to Air Force One demonstrates that Mercury is among the top FBOs in the U.S. We are very proud of our service to our country.”
Czyzyk greeted President Bush at the foot of the stairs to Air Force One and spent close to five minutes speaking with the President. He also presented President Bush with a Mercury Air Centers baseball cap. “The President was very personable and we had a chance to talk about Mercury. I was extremely impressed with him and the job he’s doing and I told him that.”
Czyzyk also spoke extensively with Oregon’s US Senator Gordon Smith and US Congressman Greg Walden who waited at Mercury’s Ontario FBO to join President Bush aboard Air Force One for his next stop in Oregon. “We had an in-depth discussion about the Aviation Relief Act and I was able to share my views as the CEO of a company that supports the airline industry. It was a very productive discussion and I think they appreciated hearing my ‘frontline’ comments.”
Mercury Air Group, Inc., provides aviation fuels, private terminals and services for business aviation, air cargo services and logistics, manpower and support services for domestic and foreign airlines, general aviation and for the U.S. Government worldwide.
Statements contained in this news release, which are not historical facts, are forward looking statements as that item is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimated results. Such risk and uncertainties are detailed in the Company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
http://www.mercuryairgroup.com/newwebtrial/newspage.asp
Point very well taken.
Questions: Did Hadayet fight in Afghanistan in the 1980? Was he brought to America as a "thank you" and given job through "connections" - but was to nutty to hold onto?
More About the LA Terror Assailant
(Continued from first DEBKAfile Report of July 5 on this page)
From DEBKAfile’s Exclusive counter-terror sources
7 July: Hesham Mohamed Hadayat was no stranger toEl Al’s Los Angeles airport office.
According to DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources, the man who murdered two Israelis on the El Al ticket line at Los Angeles airport on July 4th worked for the American Mercury ground service company from 1993 (one year after he arrived in the US) until 1998, when he left to set up his own limousine service for air passengers.
Exactly what he did at Mercury is vague, but during his five years in their employ, this former bank clerk from Cairo was free to move around Los Angeles international airport. Our sources reveal that during that time, he aroused the suspicions of El Al security personnel who warned airport security. When no action was taken, they put him under surveillance. El Al asked Mercury to rearrange Hadayat’s shifts for periods when none of its planes were scheduled, which Mercury agreed to do
After the 4th of July attack, in order not to clash directly with the US authorities which refused to identify it as a terrorist assault, El Al and Israeli security spokesmen said that even if the Egyptian gunman was not a proven member of a terrorist group, his crime ranked as an act of terror.
However, Sunday, July 7 the influential Arabic London-based Al Hayat followed the original DEBKAfile disclosure of July 5 - that Hadayat was a member of the Egyptian Jihad Islami - and took it a step further. According to the Arabic paper, the Egyptian gunman met Dr. Ayman Zuwahri, the Jihad Islami chief who is Osama bin Laden’s deputy, twice in California – once in 1995 and again in 1998.
According to DEBKAfile’s sources, it was at that second encounter that Hadayat was told to leave his job with Mercury and given capital to set up his small limousine firm, so as to take advantage of his access to airport facilities and airline personnel contacts, while at the same time shaking off any watchers.
The Al Hayat report places Dr. Zuwahri in California unobserved less than three years before the 9/11 hijacking attacks in America and a year and a half before the Egyptair disaster (see first DEBKAfile story).
The Hadayat family lives in Cairo. His father, a retired Egyptian army general, and his uncle, a former minister of science, admit that Hesham was a fervent Muslim who did what he could to encourage everyone to read the Koran. They say he was happy in Irvine, California. His neighbors in that Los Angeles suburb tell a different story, that he hated Israelis and Jews and asked one of them to take down the American and US Marine flags put up after 9/11.
From all the foregoing, our counter-terror experts cite Hesham Hadayat as a classical a Qaeda plant. He was positioned at Los Angeles airport in the early 1990s to bide his time for the right moment to carry out a terrorist attack against an El Al flight. When Hayat’s handlers saw he was under observation, they made him lower profile. His assignment was revised to fit his role as a limousine driver familiar to the Tom Bradley terminal staff and free to move around - namely to shoot down a line of passengers waiting to board an El Al flight.
Although from 1994 or 1995 at the latest, Hadayat was brought to the notice of American security, was under the eye of El Al security, and the Egyptian authorities must have known about him, he was never investigated - even after 9/11. The FBI has admitted he figured on no watch list for terrorists. This left him perfectly free to carry out his mission on behalf of the extremist Islamic organization – all of which raises some hard questions about the way in which the war against terror is carried out in the United States.
Point very well taken.
It may be more obvious to me; I've been a newspaperman covering the transportation beat on and off since 1975 and an airline employee a couple of times in there as well; the reference immediately rang my chimes. The idea of Hadayet servicing Air Force One is not a happy one; no wonder Merc Air is not exactly overjoyed at the possibility of an employment connection.
Questions: Did Hadayet fight in Afghanistan in the 1980? Was he brought to America as a "thank you" and given job through "connections" - but was to nutty to hold onto?
Good questions, and I don't know, but somebody had better start checking, including the Secret Service. And while they're at it, it might be interesting to know if Hadayet had any known connections to Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Fathi al-Shaqaqi, killed in 1995, and where Hadayet was, with whom, and what he was doing on 6 October 1981.
Please keep telling this to other Arabs. If they believe it maybe they will stop coming here.
They never cease to insult our intelligence.
Didn't this guy's half-brother use to work for Al Capp?
WMD seems to be enough.
That might be true because there seems to be confusion on the spelling of the last name. Different media reports use Hadayet , others are spelling it Hadayat!
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