Lackawanna six plead innocent (Do you think there's any ties between Beltway Sniper and al-Quida?

United Press International ^ | Published 10/22/2002 | By Sylvia Cukan

[USA21]

Lackawanna six plead innocent

BUFFALO, N.Y., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- The six Lackawanna, N.Y., men accused of belonging to a terrorist cell pleaded innocent Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

The charges were originally based on a criminal complaint filed by an FBI agent with the Joint Terrorism Task Force of Western New York on Sept. 13. The next step in the legal process was a grand jury indictment.

Faysal Galab, 26, Shafal Mosed, 24, Yasein Taher, 24, Yahya Goba, 25, Mukhtar al-Bakri, 22, and Sahim Alwan, 29, "together and with others known and unknown to the grand jury, did knowingly and unlawfully combine, conspire, confederate and agree to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization, namely al Qaida," the indictment said. If convicted, the men face up to 15 years in prison.

"We didn't expect the government would give us the opportunity to cross-examine even one of their witnesses in a preliminary hearing so we are not surprised at all that they circumvent that opportunity by returning that indictment," said defense attorney Rodney Personius.

The six are accused of attending an Osama bin Laden terrorist training camp in Afghanistan in 2001, and prosecutors assert that that constitutes providing material support to al Qaida under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.

"It is our position, as it has always been, that they engaged in activities that are in violation of the statute referenced in the indictment; we submitted the proof," said U.S. Attorney Michael Battle. "The grand jury considered it, the grand jury obviously agreed and returned an indictment."

All of the defendants, with the exception of Alwan, have been ordered held without bail. Alwan is still being detained pending his ability to meet stringent bail conditions by U.S. Magistrate H. Kenneth Schroder Jr.

Alwan had cooperated with the FBI and admitted to federal agents that he and others were in the al Farooq training camp from April to June 2001. He also told agents that he wanted to leave the training camp in Afghanistan but was not allowed to do so. But in his second week there, he faked an ankle injury and was then allowed to leave, he said.

Al-Bakri had also admitted to the FBI that the group had attended al Farooq.

Under the bail conditions, Alwan would be freed, but he must be at home 24 hours a day except for appearances at court, at his job or to seek medical attention. He must not have access to faxes, computers or the Internet. He must pay $20 a day for a global positioning system to monitor his movements by satellite.

"Based on the bail conditions -- he can't use the phone, the Internet or a computer -- we sent him a certified letter last week that he is not able to perform his job requirements under the bail terms so he is no longer employed," Frank Williams, the director of the Iroquois Job Training Center in Medina, N.Y., told United Press International.

James Harrington, Alwan's attorney, said his client's family is still working on getting the $600,000 together for bail.

The men were being investigated in the summer of 2001, before the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, after the FBI received information from a member of the Yemeni community in Lackawanna that "a number of individuals had attended and participated in terrorism training in Afghanistan." The six defendants are of Yemeni descent.

The FBI investigated, but the men initially denied going to Afghanistan and said they had gone to Pakistan to learn more about Islam.

The attorneys for the defendants have said that their clients had expected to attend religious training in Islam in Pakistan and were duped into attending the terrorist training camp.

They describe their clients as "good Americans" -- all were born in America -- who had no plans to put anything they may have learned in Afghanistan into practice.

[USA21]

New al-Qaida training tape shows another side of terror Captured video reveals plans for (home break-ins,) killing police, drive-bys, golf course assassinations

Posted: September 4, 2002 1:00 a.m. Eastern

An al-Qaida training videotape, captured in Afghanistan, shows Osama bin Laden's terrorists are not only planning attacks with weapons of mass destruction but are preparing to kill Americans with drive-by shootings and home break-ins, through ambushes of law-enforcement officers and targeted assassinations on golf courses, WorldNetDaily has learned.

The videotape was produced, U.S. analysts believe, for al-Qaida's internal use and did not appear to be an external propaganda device.

U.S. intelligence considers the tape much more significant in what it reveals about al-Qaida's modus operandi than the highly publicized video purchased and broadcast last month by CNN. U.S. forces found a cache of 64 al-Qaida tapes while combing caves and hideouts in Afghanistan. Analysts were surprised by some of what they saw in the latest video and believe they employ terrorist tactics and techniques meant for export to America and other nations.

[USA21]

Al Qaeda Agents Received Sniper Training, Plotted U.S. Attack

[smokegenerator]

No to your answer in the heading.

[Tunehead54]

They describe their clients as "good Americans" -- all were born in America -- who had no plans to put anything they may have learned in Afghanistan into practice.

---

Riiiiiiight! (Bill Cosby intonation here, please.)

Yes I think its AQ and yet haven't seen something from the Glenn Beck program which suggests that 50 cities have been warned of similiar attacks? Help?

[antivenom]

NO to your question...MHO...it is a LONE NUT white honky cracker....

[copycat]

I think the sniper may be Al Queda...70 percent probability in my mind. The Portland OR cell being caught practcing shooting is too much coincidence for me.

I'd like to know if any of the Lackawanna Six were found to have military style rifles in their domiciles.

[swarthyguy]

Depends. Is this the "big meal" or like 9/11, the "big match"?

[areafiftyone]

I agree. No ties.

[Professional]

NO to your question...MHO...it is a LONE NUT white honky cracker....

He probably can't dance. Or jump for that matter. Hey, maybe we're on to something!

[X-FID]

NO to your question...MHO...it is a LONE NUT white honky cracker...

That is a blatant racist remark.

[Professional]

James Harrington, Alwan's attorney, said his client's family is still working on getting the $600,000 together for bail.

James, when you get them out of prison, please come to my place for barbeque. I'll supply lots of lighter fluid, you bring the meat.

[areafiftyone]

This Sniper wants $10 Million dollars!!!

[Professional]

That is a blatant racist remark.

No it's not. Nothing bad was said about minorities, heck, I read it twice to doublecheck.

[X-FID]

No it's not. Nothing bad was said about minorities, heck, I read it twice to doublecheck.

Oh hell, I forgot...you are correct.

[concerned about politics]

They describe their clients as "good Americans" -- all were born in America -- who had no plans to put anything they may have learned in Afghanistan into practice.

Yeh , right. It's believable - NOT!.
Why bother training with AlQuata if they're not going to use it?

[FreeTheHostages]

Hey, guys, I normally *hate* to do this but on the theory that most Freepers would want to know, it does appear that CSPAN may carry Saturday's Support-our-Troops counter-rally (a countervoice to the anti-war crowd). So, with apologies for going offtopic, here's the link to that thread. We now return you to our normal programming.

As a reward for listening, here's my schtick on what they should put on Chief Moose's phone -- they're asking the sniper to call Moose -- for an answering machine message when Chief Moose is out. It's obvious that the sniper is responding to communicating with Moose, so that leaves Moose on stage for this drama. So what's he gonna do when he can't be at the phone? (I know, I know, someone else will man that phone 24/7, but just play along:)

Hello, you've reached Chief Moose's phone. If you're the sniper. Press 1. Everyone else, Press 2. **1** Welcome, Sniper. Please listen carefully as our menu options have changed. If you would like to leave a message taunting me, Press 1. If you would like to leave a higher audio quality replay of a previous scarey message, Press 2. If you would like to leave a new threatening message in the voice of Satan, Press 3. If you would like to speak to Chief Moose, Press 4 or hold the line and an FBI Special Agent will speak to you as soon as we finish tracing your call.

[LibWhacker]

I've always thought there is an excellent chance al Qaeda is involved. And if not them someone from another group that is an equally vicious assemblage of murderers, car-jackers, rapists, and thieves: a democrat.

[evad]

..al Qaeda is involved. And if not them someone from another group that is an equally vicious assemblage of murderers, car-jackers, rapists, and thieves: a democrat.

LOL!!

Yer right...very little difference between the All Queers and the RATs.

[ellery]

The cell's leader was found with a rifle/scope:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/buffalo_arrests020920.html

Key paragraph: "Investigators also recovered a rifle with a telescope and a cassette entitled "A Call for Jihad" at Al-Bakri's home."

[cricket]

"Key paragraph: "Investigators also recovered a rifle with a telescope and a cassette entitled "A Call for Jihad" at Al-Bakri's home."

. . .guess the Media thinks it would be irresponsible to 'head talk' over this. . .better, to theorize on the pattern of the non-pattern. . .calculated vs the random. . .et al. . .