By Ryan Mauro for Pajamas Media
The United States may have narrowly missed a repeat of the 9/11 attacks in June — and, apparently, even the FBI doesn’t realize it.
On June 4, a 24-year-old Muslim man named Raed Abdhul-Rahman Alsaif was arrested for trying to bring a seven-inch knife on board a U.S. Airways flight at Tampa International Airport, destined for Phoenix. The blade was seen by a screener and Alsaif was caught before he could get onto the airliner. Of course, he says he is innocent, as some forgetful friend gave him the luggage bag and failed to mention that a knife was embedded inside the material, which the criminal complaint states was “artfully” concealed in such a way as to allow for it to be retrieved once the flight took off.
Alsaif graduated from the Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia in 2003. For those that don’t remember, this school has been embroiled in a little bit of controversy the past two years. In October 2007, the U.S. Commission on International Religion Freedom requested that the State Department close the school, citing the use of textbooks filled with extremism. The commission again reported on the school’s radical curriculum in June 2008. One graduate has been convicted of working with al-Qaeda, while two former students were kicked out of Israel upon landing due to clear signs they were planning suicide bombings.
Private investigator Bill Warner notes that when Alsaif was booked and photographed by police in October on his second arrest on drug charges, he had a beard — a beard that was shaven off before he attempted to board the U.S. Airways flight. For those that think this is all attributable to coincidence, there’s another key element to consider.
On the same day, June 4, two other individuals, Roshid Milledge and Damien Young, were arrested in Philadelphia after sneaking a handgun onto a flight. The airline? U.S. Airways. The destination? Phoenix. The departing time? About 35 minutes from the flight Alsaif attempted to board, using the same airliner and with the same destination.
The FBI immediately cast doubt on questions that the two were part of a terrorist plot or even connected to Alsaif.
“This investigation represents an isolated incident, involving only these two individuals,” the FBI press release following their arrest states.
Alsaif’s father is a former diplomat from Saudi Arabia, the prosecutor said. Alsaif told agents he planned to call the consulate because his father knows the king. He also recently told a friend he planned to flee the country because he wanted to get away from requirements imposed on him by Hillsborough County courts relating to a drug charge. -- Bill Warner
I don’t know what’s more frightening: the fact that the FBI so readily dismissed the remarkably similar arrests as unconnected, or the fact that in the latter case, the handgun actually made it on board the aircraft and the suspects were only apprehended after another passenger reported them as engaging in suspicious behavior. The aircraft was then turned around and brought back to the gates.
Luckily, the FBI does appear to have common sense and the tone has changed. A spokesperson has said, “We don’t know if there is a connection, but we are checking it out.”
However, the fact remains that the FBI prematurely dismissed a possible connection, reflecting a desire to immediately squash speculation about a wider plot. Either the FBI was aware of the similarities in the arrests and deliberately misled the public, or they failed to look into other data indicating a wider conspiracy before making a conclusion. Either way, it does not reflect well upon the FBI.
The hit-or-miss Israeli website DebkaFile reported on July 7 that U.S. and German intelligence believes that 15-20 al-Qaeda terrorists have been trained in Pakistan and Algeria and are now hiding in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, and Egypt. Their mission, according to the report, is to hijack and bomb Western airliners headed to Israel and the United States.
Are we really to believe these three events are unrelated — the arrest of Milledge and Young, the arrest of Alsaif, and the reported warning about attacks on airliners?
The good news is that a 9/11 plot may have been thwarted. The bad news is that the public and possibly the FBI are unaware that they even have had a success, failing to connect obvious dots. If the coincidences of these cases are not addressed and if they are attributed to chance, then we’ve truly fallen out of the post-9/11 mindset and only a disaster will wake us up. -- ###
Ryan Mauro is the founder of WorldThreats.com and the director of intelligence at the Asymmetrical Warfare and Intelligence Center (AWIC). He’s also the national security researcher for the Christian Action Network and a published author. He can be contacted at TDCAnalyst@aol.com.
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In Feb. 2009, Saudi Arabia released a list of 85 wanted militants whose world-wide whereabouts are unknown:
2- Ibrahim Suleiman Hamad Al-Hablain, Saudi
3- Ibrahim Salman Mohammed Al-Rubeish, Saudi
4- Ibrahim Mohammed Abdullah Al-Mudian, Saudi
5- Ahmad Ibrahim Mohmmed Al-Tuweijiri, Saudi
6- Ahmad Saleh Ali Al-Shiha, Saudi
7- Ahmad Abdullah Saleh Al-Zahrani, Saudi
8- Ahmad Ali Barakat Al-Zahrani, Saudi
9- Ahmad Ali Atallah Al-Farhood, Saudi
10- Ahmad Kuteim Mohammed Al-Huzali, Saudi
11- Osama Hamoud Gharman Al-Shihri, Saudi
12- Osama Ali Abdullah Damjan, Saudi
13- Bassil Ayed Ali Al-Qahtani, Saudi
14- Badah Mukhis Badah Al-Kodari Al-Qahtani, Saudi
15- Badr Saud Owaid Al-Aufi Al-Harbi, Saudi
16- Badr Mohammed Nasser Al-Shahri, Saudi
17- Baheej Abdulaziz Abdullah Al-Baheeji, Saudi
18- Turki Mashouy Zayed Assiri, Saudi
19- Thamir Mohammed Ghiram Al-Omari, Saudi
20- Jaber Jabran Ali Al-Fifi, Saudi
21- Hassan Ibrahim Hamad Al-Shabaan, Saudi
22- Hassan Ayed Badah Al-Saad Al-Qahtani, Saudi
23- Hussein Mohammed Abdu, Saudi
24- Hamad Hussein Nasser Al-Hussein, Saudi
25- Khaled Ibrahim Ahmad Al-Sunbul Al-Assiri, Saudi
26- Khaled Saleem Owaid Al-Luhaibi Al-Harbi, Saudi
27- Khaled Saleh Ali Al-Samiti, Saudi
28- Khaled Ghallab Fari Al-Rouki Al-Otaibi, Saudi
29- Rayed Abdullah Salim Al-Zahiri Al-Harbi, Saudi
30- Rayyan Mohammed Humeidi Al-Zayedi, Saudi
31- Saeed bin Ali Jaber Al-Shahri, Saudi
32- Sultan Radi Sumeilil Al-Otaibi, Saudi
33- Saleh Suleiman Hamad Al-Hablain, Saudi
34- Saleh Abdullah Saleh Al-Qaraawi, Saudi
35- Saleh Naif Eid Al-Makhlafi, Saudi
36- Tuleihan Mutlaq Tuleihan Al-Muteiri, Saudi
37- Adel Fileih Salim Al-Jaffari Al-Anazi, Saudi
38- Abdul Ilah Mustafa Mohammed Al-Jubeiri Al-Shahri, Saudi
39- Abdul Rahman Abdullah Abdu Rahman Al-Dossari, Saudi
40- Abdullah Hassan Tali Assiri, Saudi
41- Abdullah Salem Duheim Al-Qahtani, Saudi
42- Abdullah Abdul Rahman Abdullah Al-Murshid, Saudi
43- Abdullah Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al-Harbi, Saudi
44- Abdullah Abdul Karim Ibrahim Al-Salloum, Saudi
45- Abdullah Othman Abdul Rahman Al-Dubeikhi, Saudi
46- Abdullah Farraj Mohammed Hamoud Al-Juweir, Saudi
47- Abdullah Mohammed Abdullah Al-Ayed, Saudi
48- Abdullah Nasser Suleiman Al-Rayaei, Saudi
49- Abdul Mohsen Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Sharikh, Saudi
50- Obaid Abdul Rahman Abdullah Al-Otaibi, Saudi
51- Obaid Mubarak Obaid Al-Kufeil, Saudi
52- Ateek Faraj Sati Al-Hassanani, Saudi
53- Othman Ahmad Othman Al-Omeira Al-Ghamidi, Saudi
54- Othman Suleiman Dakheel Al-Suweid, Saudi
55- Adnan Mohammed Ali Al-Sayegh, Saudi
56- Azzam Abdullah Zureik Al-Maulid Al-Subhi, Saudi
57- Oqail Omaish Oqail Al-Mutairi, Saudi
58- Ali Saud Omair Al-Shanbari, Saudi
59- Ali Abdul Aziz Ali Al-Omar, Saudi
60- Fayez Ghuneim Hameed Al-Hijri Al-Harbi, Saudi
61- Fahd Rikad Sameer Al-Ruwaili, Saudi
62- Fahd Saleh Suleiman Al-Jutaili, Saudi
63- Fahd Mohammed Saad Al-Ajlan, Saudi
64- Fahd Mohammed Ali Al-Juaithin, Saudi
65- Fawaz Al-Humaidi Hajid Al-Habradi Al-Otaibi, Saudi
66- Fawaz Owaiz Ateeq Al-Zahimi Al-Salami, Saudi
67- Faisal Jassim Mohammed Al-Omari Al-Khaledi, Saudi
68- Qassem Mohammed Mahdi Al-Rimi, Yemeni
69- Majed Mohammed Abdullah Al-Majed, Saudi
70- Mohammed Saad Saeed Al-Siam Al-Omari, Saudi
71- Mohammed Abdul Rahman Suleiman Al-Rashid, Saudi
72- Mohammed Abdullah Hassan Abul-Khair, Saudi
73- Mohammed Otaik Owaid Al-Aufi Al-Harbi, Saudi
74- Mohammed Ali Mohammed Al-Mutlaq, Saudi
75- Mohammed Hilal Thawab Al-Makati Al-Otaibi, Saudi
76- Murtada Ali Saeed Mukram, Saudi
77- Mishaal Mohammed Rasheed Al-Shadoukhi, Saudi
78- Mujab Atiyyah Abdul Karim Al-Zahrani, Saudi
79- Mukad Qaed Mukad Al-Mukati, Saudi
80- Nasser Abdul Karim Abdullah Al-Wihaishi, Yemeni
81- Naif Mohammed Saeed Al-Kodari Al-Qahtani, Saudi
82- Waleed Abdullah Ibrahim Bin Barghash, Saudi
83- Waleed Ali Mishafi Al-Mishafi Assiri, Saudi
84- Yousuf Mohammed Jameel Abdullah Al-Takroni, Saudi
85- Yousuf Mohammed Mubarak Al-Jubairi Al-Shahri, Saudi
1 comments:
11 Former Gitmo Detainees Turn al-Qaeda Upon Release
The Saudi government included these 3 former Guantanamo detainees – Jutayli, Shehri, and Ghamdi - on a list of the Kingdom’s 85 most wanted terrorists. After being released from Guantanamo, they graduated from Saudi Arabia’s rehabilitation program and joined 8 other former Gitmo detainees in fleeing south to Yemen. All 11 joined al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Story at The Long War Journal
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