Suspect left danger signs in Bellingham (FBI had Terror Tip on Sniper Muhammad, October, 2001!)

Bellingham Herald ^ | October 25th, 2002 | John Stark, Aubrey Cohen, & Mary Lane Gallagher

[Sabertooth]

The people at Stuart's Coffee House remember John Allen Muhammad as a quiet chess player who never wanted to be apart from his big, stuffed, heavy U.S. Army duffel bag.

At this point, nobody can prove that the bag Muhammad was lugging around contained the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle that police found in his car when he and 17-year-old John Lee Malvo were arrested at a Maryland rest stop early Thursday. By the end of the day, ballistics tests had tied that weapon to the bloody East Coast sniping spree that left 10 people dead.

[Sabertooth]

Much thanks to Freeper Eva, for turning this up!

[Sabertooth]

((((((growl)))))

[Judith Anne]

No doubt it was an innocent Islamic charity giving Mohammed all that cash, just to help out.

[SarahW]

Archer grew so suspicious of his odd behavior that he suspected him of being part of a terrorist organization, and he called the FBI. But that was in October 2001, in the aftershock of the World Trade Center massacre, and Archer doesn't think he got the feds' attention.

I felt they probably threw the note in the trash," he said.

When are they going to start taking our tips seriously?

[SauronOfMordor]

Interesting that a transient with no visible job, and who carries his possessions everywhere in his duffle bag, has so much cash to flash.

Either he was a drug dealer on the side, or he was getting financing from some organization...

Anybody got any more info on that training camp in Alabama?

[Jalapeno]

Thx, Saber.

HHL, this reminds me of a Time article I read once....

[randita]

I would be amazed if he were let into a homeless shelter without allowing a search of his bags. In my city, as much as a cigarette or cigarette lighter is not allowed into a shelter. But this shelter was in WA, so they probably allowed anything.

As far as the money goes, anyone know if Muhammad qualified for a military pension? Or he could have just gotten money by stealing things. He obviously didn't trifle himself with obeying the law.

On the news last night, it was mentioned he lived in a Caribbean country (can't recall which one) for a year in the late 90's. If he purchased property during his time there, that would explain his need to revisit to settle a real estate deal.

[SarahW]

Muhammad and Malvo reportedly began talking to people about violent plots

People who make these threats, should be believed.

[Jalapeno]

They can only take it seriously if the have the manpower. I'm sure it was low priority because they were flooded. Remember, it was October, 2001, mere weeks after 9-11.

[Miss Marple]

Thanks for posting this as a separate thread! Where did he get the money? Staying in a homeless shelter, doing odd jobs, and then flashing around wads of cash, wearing expensive gold jewelry, and flying to the Caribbean.

Handing out Islamic leaflets on the street, pretending to be a record producer, talking about anti-government plots....

Nope, not a terrorist, nope. /sarcasm

[phasma proeliator]

ping.

[Eva]

But this is Bellingham, WA, they have an FBI office in town and I don't think that they were overwhelmed with leads following the trade center bombing.

[Ben Hecks]

Good find! Where was Muhammad getting his money for all this travel? Why was he in Marion, AL?

[SarahW]

They can and should take it seriously.
These are the real dangerous people, and they are people that can be stopped.

He could have been locked up for having the gun. (that's the crime they used to hold him early yesterday.)
None of those folks had to die.

[twigs]

One of the better profilers I heard, Candace DeLong, said that she believed the perp would have said in the past the type of statements Muhammad was apparently making. Yes, these statements should be believed! And I hope that you can finally get out and make that trip to Michaels!

[bquick]

"He also passed out pro-Islamic fliers on the street from time to time, she said."

I have heard conflicting reports about the Malvo fingerprint at the Alabama liquor store. First I heard the print was on a "flier". Last night I heard "magazine"-as in ammuntion. Anyone have more info on this?

[Lysander]

Either he was a drug dealer on the side, or he was getting financing from some organization...

Naw, If he was a drug user they would have gone after him. Drug dealers are to hard to convict without sweating out a buyer.

[Bush_Democrat]

Gee, it seems that there were a lot of tips given about these POS, sometimes to different agencies. Wouldn't it be great if there was some greater level of cooperation between agencies dealing the the issue of HOMELAND SECURITY!!! Maybe their own department or agency - with that as their only focus!!!!!

Thanks a lot, D'A$$-Hole

[twigs]

And why in the world would he even want to stay in a Christian shelter? And talk to priests?

[Eva]

Actually, now that I think about it, the FBI probably did look into the pair. They were probably the ones who reported Malvo to the border patrol. The border patrol does not usually venture as far as Bellingham without a tip, but I guess that could have come from the director of the mission, as well.

[OldFriend]

It is absolutely ludicrous to think that this man could have been arrested for 'behaving' outside the normal bounds of what his acquaintances considered acceptable.

[Tunehead54]

Bump for more concrete evidence of FBI incompetence. Contacted by by individuals and even the local police re possible terrorist profile and ... nothing.

---

Why bother keeping an eye out if you'll likely be ignored until its yesterday's front page news?

[abner]

When are they going to start taking our tips seriously?

They won't.

[OldFriend]

The state of Washington is a world unto itself. When the citizens sent food to the police who had been on duty for 24 hrs. during the anarchist uprising....the Mayor diverted the food to the anarchists. Many of the crazies who attended the WTO protests remained in the Seattle area because they found a welcome.

[bquick]

OK, a black helicopter just dropped off the following from the Montgomery Advertiser:

"State authorities used a special process to lift the print from a page of a magazine investigators found at the site."

[jpthomas]

A laptop computer was found in the Chevy Caprice. Stolen, or purchased? And what use did Muhammed have for it? I'm sure the investigators are digging through its contents. Hopefully it will shed some light on the loose ends suggested by this article.

[HiJinx]

Nega-tory on the military pension angle.

There's no indication he did a full 20 years, which is required before you can collect a pension. The Army was allowing early retirements (15-20 yrs) for awhile, but if he received a less than honorable discharge, he didn't retire.

Even if he did, he wouldn't be receiving much more than 7-8 hundred dollars per month.

[browardchad]

But this is Bellingham, WA, they have an FBI office in town and I don't think that they were overwhelmed with leads following the trade center bombing.

Bellingham has ties to the Wahhabi lobby of Northern Virginia in this 4/02 Weekly Standard report:

Wahhabis in the Old Dominion: What the federal raids in Northern Virginia uncovered.

A major personality on the ground in Virginia is an individual named Jamal Barzinji, whose office in Herndon was a major target of the raids. In 1980, he was listed in local public records as a representative of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), an arm of the Saudi regime with offices in Virginia. WAMY has been deeply involved in providing cover for Wahhabi terrorism. The 2002 entry in the U.S. Business Directory lists the president of the WAMY office in Annandale, Va., as Abdula bin Laden--the terrorist's younger brother.

Barzinji serves as a trustee and officer of the Amana Mutual Funds Trust, a growth and income mutual fund headquartered in Bellingham, Wash., conveniently near the Canadian border. Amana's board also includes Yaqub Mirza, a Pakistani physicist who shares Barzinji's Herndon office address and who is widely described as a financial genius. Another board member and tenant in the Herndon office is Samir Salah. He formerly ran a branch of Al-Taqwa in the Caribbean, heads a financial firm linked to Saar, and directs Dar al-Hijra, a mosque in Falls Church, Va., notable for hardline Wahhabi preaching. Salah is also deeply involved with Taibah International Aid Association, a Virginia charity with a Bosnian branch that is being investigated by authorities in Sarajevo.

[Valin]

When this thing first hit the news I thought there was some sort of radical islamic connection. So imagine my suprise when the nation of islam popped up.

[Eva]

I agree, no pension. He was discharged for hitting an officer over the head and a couple of other incidents. There's no was this guy had any pension.

[rintense]

Oh I'm sure the true links this guy had will be coming forth soon!

[mondonico]

E-mail this to the media. Anyone have a contact at O'Reilly? This mustn't be swept under the rug.

[MissAmericanPie]

He seems to have been a pretty well financed terrorist, wonder which muzzzslum charity front funded him?

[cyncooper]

"I felt like he was part of an organization. I felt like he had some connection with terrorists. ... I said he's got connections somewhere with somebody who's got money," Archer remembered telling the FBI.

PING

[Catspaw]

I'd like to know where he got the money as well.

This guy should've raised sirens all over the place.

[Sabertooth]

...and flying to the Caribbean.

I'm betting many loose ends will be tied together there. You've seen this, but I'm posting it again for others...

This paper deals with the Tablighi Jamaat (TJ), which is the mother of all the Pakistan-based jehadi organisations active not only in the CARs, Chechnya and Dagestan, but also in other parts of the world…

Amongst the alleged members of the TJ (Tablighi Jamaat) in the Muslim community in the US is Mr.Louis Fara Khan, the Black Muslim leader. The TJ operates in the US and the Caribbean directly through its own preachers deputed from Pakistan and also recruited from the Pakistani immigrant community in the US as well as through front organisations such as the Jamaat-ul-Fuqra founded in the 1980s under the leadership of Sheikh Mubarik Ali Gilani, who generally lives in Pakistan, but travels frequently to the US and the Caribbean.
LINK

[Honorary Serb]

We haven't gotten to the bottom of this case by a longshot.

Where did this "homeless loner" get all that cash? How did he get to do all that traveling? How did he get from Washington state to Washington, DC to do his dirty work? How did he learn, in such a detailed way, to navigate around the suburban MD-DC-VA area, and elude the police to kill and kill again?

The simplest explanation is that he was backed by an islamic terrorist network!!!! It will take a lot more investigtion both to prove that, and to nab Muhammad's terrorist and fifth columnist acomplices. This must be done before they can set up another series of sniper attacks, perhaps in multiple cities!!

Meanwhile, the establishment press is starting to cast Muhammad as a victim--of the military, of Gulf War syndrome, and of who knows what other situations, people, and groups. These guys will do ANYTHING to whitewash islam, even in the face of the growing danger to all of us from extremist muslims!!!! It's time for us all to WAKE UP, and to stop the lemming march to civilizational suicide!!!!

[Eva]

Geez, that's amazing.

I was in a restaurant with my daughter on Sunday, telling her about my suspicions about a Muslim Algerian who stayed at a friend's house for a few months. He married her neice in Hawaii and talked her into moving to WA. She found a job in Seattle and they moved, but the Algerian did not find work, he just started hanging out with other Muslims and divorced the wife. One of the suspected terrorist cells in Seattle is Algerian. So, I was telling this story to my daughter, when I noticed that the man at the near-by table was listening to my conversation and that he was Middle-eastern, himself. It kind of spooked me, like they were suddenly, everywhere.

[Eva]

Is Falls Church near the shootings? Could this be where Mohammed was getting his money?

[Honorary Serb]

Washington State and stop islam BUMP!!!!

[blam]

I'm worried that we'll never be allowed to know the 'whole' story on these guys. It sounds like Mohammad was a queer terrorist.

[Miss Marple]

I am so grateful you found this article. Between the connections browardchad found, and the connections to Farakhan and the Caribbean that Sabertooth found, I think there is a good reason for suspicion.

We need a chart showing all the connections, but I am not capable of doing that on the computer. Darn!

[Sabertooth]

ping

[gubamyster]

Archer grew so suspicious of his odd behavior that he suspected him of being part of a terrorist organization, and he called the FBI. But that was in October 2001,

He also contacted Bellingham police with his concerns.

immigration agents were waiting to take her into custody. She eventually got back to Bellingham and was reunited with Malvo,

He was sketchy on details, but at some point James and Malvo were arrested again in Seattle, and Malvo eventually was released and wound up with Muhammad again. James eventually made it back to Bellingham

In June, when Singh was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge, he told police about the conversations with Muhammad and Malvo, Lackie said. The police told the FBI, he said.

According to federal court records, Muhammad told a former Army buddy four months ago that he tried to equip an assault rifle with a silencer.

In summary:

Bellingham Police Chief Randy Carroll …."It was pretty much just general information and certainly did not give us any indication that Mr. Malvo or Mr. Muhammad's future would lead them to where they are today," Carroll said. "The information he gave us did not lead us to a criminal investigation and in fact did not lead us anywhere."

Barney Fife could have connected these dots.

[FreedomPoster]

I'd suggest you should get your friend to provide details to the local FBI/INS. I'd like to hope they'd be interesting in knowing about that.

[Eva]

What is that girl's name that was on Hannity, the one who uncovered the INS involvement with Malvo? I am going to e-mail her with some of this information. I think that this is a definite terrorist connection. It looks like Mohammed could have been working as a runner for these guys.

[Valin]

Ain't hindsight wonderful.
Something needs to be understood here about streetpeople (which is what he is). They are for the most part schemers and scammers and big talkers. They have all these great connections and they're going to do this or that blah blah blah. And for the most part all it is, is talk by lifes losers. So what most likely happened was the cops took a look at these two and saw what they expected to see a couple of steertpeople a little weird but then so are 90% of streetpeople, so they blew it off.
Oct. 2001 the FBI ATF...etc were still operating in a pre 9-11 mode for the most part. Sad to say we can still find this going on.

[Eva]

My friend would never report it. She thinks I am the most conservative person that she ever met and I don't think she meant that as a complement.

[Miss Marple]

One thing they really, really need to do is find out where this guy got that money. If he has a legitimate source of income, it should be easy to prove from W-2 forms, check stubs, etc.

Bet you $100 that it is not legitimate.

I would also check around at jewelers and pawn shops to see if he bought any jewelry thee and how he paid for it.

[aristeides]

The people at Stuart's Coffee House remember John Allen Muhammad as a quiet chess player who never wanted to be apart from his big, stuffed, heavy U.S. Army duffel bag.

A witness at Bowie the morning of Oct. 7 (the day of the shooting there) reported seeing a suspicious man carrying a duffel bag through the woods outside the school to a vehicle.