Posted on 03/20/2002 3:41:59 PM PST by TheOtherOne
FBI Agents Say Phone Records Link Illinois Student to Sept. 11 Terrorists
Published: Mar 20, 2002
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Ali Salem Kahlah Al-Marri has not been charged with any role in the Sept. 11 attacks and his lawyer, Richard Jasper Jr., questioned the link.
Al-Marri was arrested Jan. 28 and is being held in New York on a federal charge of unlawful possession of more than 15 credit cards, which were found in his West Peoria home during a Dec. 11 search.
When questioned by federal agents following the search, Al-Marri denied any knowledge of terrorism, the court papers say.
The basis for the suspicions of investigators is spelled out in an affidavit accompanying an application for a search warrant for Al-Marri's home. Agents were seeking evidence of several crimes, including "material support for terrorism."
The document filed in federal court in Peoria, first obtained by the (Peoria) Journal Star, details how suspected Sept. 11 hijackers used a telephone number in the United Arab Emirates before the attacks.
It also says Al-Marri, using calling cards, attempted to call the same number three times after Sept. 11 - on Sept. 23, Oct. 24 and Nov. 4.
According to court documents, Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta sent a Federal Express package from the United States to the UAE on Sept. 4 and gave the phone number as a contact point for the recipient.
According to the affidavit, the number was also used a day earlier by an unidentified individual for a transfer of money to Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh, an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal indictment against Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker now in custody in Virginia.
The first of the "attempted calls" on cards traced to Al-Marri was made on a pay phone in a Peoria store through a calling card issued by Network IP.
The same card was used five days later in a call from Al-Marri's cellphone and again on Oct. 24 in a call from the Al-Marri home in West Peoria, 130 miles southwest of Chicago.
The second call to the UAE number was made from a pay phone in a Springfield service station, using the same card.
The third call was made from the Summit Hotel in Chicago, using a card issued by Qwest Communications. The same day, the card was used to place four calls from the Al-Marri home in West Peoria.
Herbert Hadad, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, declined comment on the case. At a hearing Wednesday in federal court on the credit-card charge, Al-Marri was denied bond.
Jasper, the defense attorney, said the affidavit alleged only that his client attempted to make calls.
"Attempted - I don't know what that means, do you?" he said. "It's the thinnest of inferences, actually. If you read the affidavit carefully there's no direct or indirect evidence he made the calls.
"How do we know there wasn't some kind of mistaken call or some flaw in recovering the numbers?" Jasper asked.
Al-Marri was a student at Bradley University in Peoria from 1987 until 1991, when he received a bachelor of science degree. He enrolled for the fall term last year as a graduate student in computer science, university spokeswoman Cath Conver said.
AP-ES-03-20-02 1918EST
You make me sick.
Islam = The Religion of PeaceTM
I live near Sandburg High School, and this is the first I've heard there were problems there. Now STAGG High School (same school district, in Palos Hills) is another story entirely. There are many reported incidents of Arab & Palestinian students causing problems, "Arab Gangs" and post Sept. 11th there was plenty of taunting by the Arab kids against American kids and lots of death threats against American kids and teachers. These were in the local papers (Daily Southtown, Copley, STAR newspapers)
I graduated Stagg High school in Palos Hills back in 1980. I lived walking distance from school. The neighborhood I used to live in more than 20 years ago now, is commonly referred to as "little palestine" and it's a complete craphole.
I'm also very familiar with Bridgeview and the Mosque that was built there about 7-9 years ago now. The place that was busted by the Feds was a convenience store (no joke) and the guy the Feds arrested said he'd been waiting for days for the Feds to come get him. When he was identified, it turned out he was Bin Laden's chief recruiter in the United States. He had recruited more than 20 terrorists from the Bridgeview Mosque. Sure wish I kept that Chicago Tribune article handy, which documented this story in great detail.
Three different times?
And it will be very hard to charge him. Some of the actual 19 terrorists supposedly did not know what was going on. I highly doubt a person outside of the 19 would if that is in fact true.
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