Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !

Home Front: WoT

US court sentences two for conspiring to support attacks

2009-12-16

[Dawn] Two US citizens of Pakistani origin were sentenced Monday to 17 and 13 years in prison for conspiring to support terror groups by videoing American landmarks and sending the tapes abroad. In the latest of a spate of cases that have raised fears that radicalization is gaining momentum in the United States, Judge Willam Duffey was scathing in his final remarks in the courtroom in Atlanta, Georgia. 'I'll say this, our Gods are very different,' Duffey told the first to be sentenced, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee. 'This is a day of reckoning for you, Mr. Sadequee. This is to deter you and to deter others from this conduct.' Sadequee, 23, refused to stand when Duffey, a former US attorney, asked him several times to do so. The judge had allowed him almost 45 minutes to explain why a harsh sentence should not be imposed, but the convicted terror plotter instead used the time to explain his religious beliefs. 'I have not and I will not request any sentence,' said Sadequee. 'It does not matter to me. I submit to no one's authority but to the authority of God.' Sadequee's friend and fellow Georgian Syed Haris Ahmed, a former student at Georgia Tech University, was sentenced to 13 years for conspiring to provide material support for terrorism in the US. Duffey admonished Ahmed in court for not taking responsibility for his actions and suggested that he could have received a lighter sentence if he had repented. 'You and others have distorted the values of your faith. You are a myopic, self-interested person,' the judge said. Ahmed, 24, a thin man, slightly built, tried to interrupt Duffey during sentencing, but the judge scolded him and said, 'the time for speaking is over, the time of reckoning is now.' Both Sadequee, who was born in Fairfax, Virigina and Ahmed, who moved to the US in the mid-1990s, were also sentenced to 30 years of supervised release following their jail time. Ahmed and Sadequee were found guilty, in June and August respectively, of supporting terror groups by videotaping US landmarks, including the US Capitol and the headquarters of the World Bank, and sending the tapes overseas. During the trial, prosecutors said the pair developed relationships over the Internet and maintained contact online, along with other 'supporters of violent jihad' in the United States, Canada, Britain, Pakistan, Bosnia and beyond. If we know where they are, we probably have a good idea who they are... not to mention tracing down their contacts, too. Well done, O Invisible Good Guys! They travelled to Canada to meet other militants, including members of the 'Toronto 18' Al-Qaeda-inspired group, and Sadequee went to Bangladesh, where he sent an email in 2001 when he was only 15 seeking to join the Taliban to fight US and coalition forces in Afghanistan. To Bangladesh? I s'pose someone is going to blame the American school system for that egregious error of geography. Among the suspected terror operatives to whom they sent videos were Aabid Hussein Khan, a facilitator for the Pakistani militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. Prosecutors also told the jury that Sadequee tried to get into a terrorist training camp and that he also tried to recruit a 17-year-old Californian for martyrdom. 'The radicalization of US citizens by jihadist recruiters abroad is a very real and growing concern that the FBI and the US government as a whole must deal with,' FBI Atlanta Special Agent Greg Jones said on Monday. 'The risk posed by men such as these defendants continues, both here and abroad,' Acting US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Sally Quillian Yates said, reacting to Monday's sentences for Ahmed and Sadequee. 'Hopefully, meaningful sentences such as these will make our citizens and our soldiers safer around the world as the message is sent that we will vigorously investigate and prosecute those who would ally themselves with terrorists.' Let us hope for lots more of this in the near future.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Georgia Man Guilty In Terrorism Trial

2009-08-12

ATLANTA -- Jurors found a 23-year-old Georgia man guilty Wednesday of aiding terrorist groups. Bubba Jones Ehsanul Islam Sadequee was charged with sending homemade videos of Washington landmarks to overseas terrorists. Prosecutors also say he journeyed to Bangladesh to pursue "violent jihad." Jurors found Sadequee guilty on all four counts he was charged with. They found him guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, guilty of providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and guilty of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. That's guilty. Guilty, guilty, GUILTY! Prosecutors say Sadequee could face up to 60 years in prison. In June, a judge convicted Sadequee's friend, Syed Haris Ahmed, of one count of conspiracy to provide material to support terrorism in the U.S. and abroad. Prosecutors say the pair took a series of videos of the Pentagon and the Capitol and that Sadequee later sent them to suspected terrorists overseas. Sadequee, who represented himself at trial, dismissed his chatter about jihad as "empty talk" and said he never followed through on any of his boasts. Sadequee told jurors he never helped terrorists. He said the video he shot was "amateurish and useless" and added: "I was not then, and am not now, a terrorist." Jurors began deliberating on Tuesday and reached their verdicts after about six hours of deliberations. Sadequee faces up to 60 years in prison.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Atlanta terror trial verdict: Guilty

2009-06-12

Moments after his son was convicted Wednesday of a terrorism conspiracy, Syed Riaz Ahmed said the young man never harmed anyone and committed nothing more than thought crimes. “You think something and you’re guilty of something,” said Ahmed, somber and weary as he stood outside a federal courtroom. “He’s not guilty of any crimes in the eyes of Allah. He’s guilty of U.S. laws.” During a brief hearing, U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey pronounced Syed Haris Ahmed, a former Georgia Tech student, guilty of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists here and overseas. He will be sentenced later this year. U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said Ahmed’s case did not involve an imminent threat, “because in the post-9/11 world we will not wait to disrupt terrorism-related activity until a bomb is built and ready to explode.” “The fuse that leads to an explosion of violence may be long, but once it is lit —- once individuals unlawfully agree to support terrorist acts at home or abroad —- we will prosecute them to snuff that fuse out,” Nahmias said. The investigation was connected to the convictions of multiple terrorists around the world, “all before any innocent people were killed,” he said. Ahmed, 24, once a Centennial High student who earned a Georgia Tech scholarship to study mechanical engineering, embarked on a spiritual plunge journey during his college years to learn more about Islam. Upset by how fellow Muslims were being treated across the world, Ahmed turned to the Internet and became besotted with jihadist Web sites espousing violent, radical views. At his trial last week, prosecutors introduced into evidence e-mails and Internet chats in which Ahmed said he wanted to engage in violent jihad. The trial culminated in Ahmed’s refusal to allow his lawyer to deliver a closing argument. Instead, Ahmed waived a jury trial so he could use the allotted 45 minutes for closings to deliver what he said was the message of Islam. Ahmed quoted nine passages from the Quran in Arabic while giving his statement to Duffey, who presided as judge and jury. He said he hoped that by delivering “the message that has been revealed by Allah the promise of protection from evil will also apply to me.” Ahmed also admitted to the court he had been “misguided.” Prosecutors said Ahmed began plotting acts of terror in early 2005, when he and his alleged co-conspirator, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee of Roswell, met with suspected terrorists in Toronto. The men talked big, discussing attacks on military bases and oil refineries, even using lasers to disable the GPS satellite system. A month later, Ahmed and Sadequee drove to Washington and took 62 amateurish “casing videos” of area landmarks, such as the Capitol and World Bank. Some of the recordings were later found on the computers of two men now convicted of terrorism crimes in Great Britain. Prosecutors said Ahmed and Sadequee took the videos to earn the respect of terrorists overseas by proving they could take risks and showing how close they could get to potential targets. Defense attorney Jack Martin countered that Ahmed was an immature college student who had “momentary ideas, childish fantasies” that were never carried out. After Wednesday’s verdict, Martin said, “Perhaps this case all along was about what is the appropriate sentence.” The slight, bearded defendant, who was wearing a white skull cap, showed little emotion and said nothing as Duffey handed down the guilty verdict. He smiled and waved to his father and two of his sisters seated behind him in court as he returned to the defense table. Ahmed will be sentenced after Sadequee’s trial, which is to begin Aug. 3. He faces up to 15 years in federal prison. Outside the courtroom, Ahmed’s 27-year-old sister, Mariam Ahmed, said her younger brother has memorized the Quran and read prodigiously since his arrest. For more than three years, she noted, Ahmed has awaited trial in solitary confinement at the federal penitentiary. “To me, he’s suffered enough already, because he didn’t deserve this,” said Ahmed’s sister, who came from her home in Pakistan to attend the trial. “He’s now a better person. He has his peace of mind.” And now we have ours.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Atlanta terror suspect says he was 'misguided'

2009-06-05

An Atlanta terrorism defendant used his closing argument Thursday to recite from the Quran in Arabic and tell a federal judge that using U.S. laws to defend himself would put him in rebellion against God. Syed Haris Ahmed said he hoped that by delivering the message of Islam, "the promise of protection from evil will also apply to me." But Ahmed, 24, tacitly acknowledged he faced a likely guilty verdict. Only once during his rambling address did Ahmed appear to offer an explanation to the charges against him. "I was misguided," he said. The former Georgia Tech student is charged with conspiring to support terrorism here and overseas. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Ahmed waived a jury trial so he could give his closing argument --- "the message that has been revealed by Allah." During his allotted 45 minutes, he nervously clicked an ink pen, politely asked the court stenographer if he was talking too fast and said the people of Georgia had not harassed him over his religion during the 10 years he has lived here. Ahmed told U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey that the Quran is more authoritative than the Bible and that "Muslims actually are, I believe, closer followers of Jesus than Christians." Duffey, presiding as a jury, listened intently to Ahmed's address. He did not say when he would deliver the verdict. Before adjourning, Duffey called the United States "a remarkable country" because Ahmed was allowed the extraordinary opportunity to make such a statement at his trial. But the judge also sternly reminded Ahmed that he would be deciding the case on U.S. law. "This is not a case about your faith or a case about my faith," Duffey said. "This is about your conduct." Earlier Thursday, Ahmed's lawyer, Jack Martin, told Duffey the government's charge that Ahmed supported terror in the United States was "very, very thin." Martin made the remarks while asking for a directed verdict of acquittal, a common request by defense lawyers at the close of evidence in a trial. Martin said Ahmed was a confused, immature student who had fallen prey to Web sites espousing extreme views. Ahmed never followed through on any plans to wage jihad, Martin said. As Martin argued, Ahmed cut him off in midsentence, standing at the defense table and raising his hand in objection. Ahmed said he was supposed to give the closing argument. After Martin explained he was merely arguing a motion, the two men smiled and shook hands. Duffey denied the motion. Later, assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney asked Duffey to find Ahmed guilty. "This is not about throwing bombs and shooting soldiers," he said. "It's about providing support for those activities." Ahmed formed his conspiracy when he and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee of Roswell, who will be tried later, met with like-minded extremists in Toronto in March 2005 and began planning to go to Pakistan to join a terrorist training camp, McBurney said. A month later, they went to Washington and took 62 "casing videos" of area landmarks. Some of the videos later were found on the computers of men now convicted of terrorism. In July 2005, Ahmed went to Pakistan, where, he later told FBI agents, he intended to join a terrorist training camp. But he returned to college in Atlanta. Still, McBurney said, Ahmed had second thoughts and, in early 2006, planned to return. "He was angry about the war on Islam and was convinced something must be done," McBurney said. Ahmed's answer, the prosecutor said, was "to engage in violent jihad."

Link

Home Front: WoT

Friend testifies against Georgia Tech 'terrorist'

2009-06-03

A 'supporter' of terrorism on Tuesday testified about his connection to Syed Haris Ahmed, a former Georgia Tech student on trial for similar charges. According to the FBI, Ahmed made a video of the Pentagon and discussed attacks on the United States. Zubair Ahmed, not related to the defendant, entered a guilty plea last January to the charge of providing material support to terrorism. The charge carries a 15-year prison sentence. Zubair, a Chicago resident, said he travelled to Egypt during the summer of 2004 with the intent of eventually entering Iraq or Afghanistan to fight against the United States. Before they could make it out of Egypt, his father found out where he was and brought him home. Zubair said he first met Haris over the Internet. The two often communicated online using code words or in Urdu. FBI Special Agent James Allen testified that coded e-mails spelled out Ahmed's intentions to enter a terrorist training camp during a trip to Pakistan in July 2005. Defence attorney Jack Martin said in Pakistan, Haris's family talked him out of attending a camp. He said there was no established agreement with 'co-conspirators' and that Ahmed's actions were mere "childish fantasies". Haris, 24, and alleged co-conspirator Ehsanul Islam Sadequee are charged with discussing attacks in the United States on targets that include oil refineries and a military base. Prosecutors say they also took videos of landmarks in the Washington DC area. Ahmed has waived his right to a jury trial.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Former friend testifies against terrorist wannabe in Atlanta

2009-06-03

An admitted supporter of terrorism testified in federal court Tuesday about his connection to Syed Haris Ahmed, a former Georgia Tech student who is on trial for similar charges. Zubair Ahmed, who is not related to the defendant, entered a guilty plea in the Northern District of Ohio last January to one count of providing material support to terrorism as part of a plea agreement. The charge carries a 15-year prison sentence, but he said he hopes to get an eight- to 10-year sentence for cooperating with the government. Zubair Ahmed, a 30-year-old Chicago resident, said he traveled to Egypt with his cousin during the summer of 2004 with the intent of eventually entering Iraq or Afghanistan to fight "violent jihad" against the United States. Before they could make it out of Egypt, Zubair Ahmed's father found out about his son's whereabouts and traveled to the country and brought him home. Zubair Ahmed testified he met Syed Haris Ahmed on a Web site that discusses Islamic issues. "We shared the same opinion," Zubair Ahmed said. The two eventually met in Chicago where Zubair Ahmed said they briefly discussed "violent jihad." The two men often communicated online through coded words or the Urdu language, Zubair Ahmed said. He explained a number system they devised to refer to the stages of their faith: 1st, the ideological phase; 2nd, the logistical phase; 3rd, the fight or battle phase. "Last time we met we were 1st. Now we are almost 3rd," Syed Haris Ahmed wrote to Zubair Ahmed in an online chat session during November 2005, according to testimony. Earlier Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney presented e-mail and online chat session evidence seized from Ahmed's hard drive by the FBI, showing Ahmed was referred to as the leader by his alleged co-conspirators. FBI Special Agent James Allen testified that coded e-mails spelled out Ahmed's intentions to enter a terrorist training camp during a trip to Pakistan in July 2005. "The curry place (Pakistan) is our main area for picnic and then spend the night at the mountain hills national park (terrorist camp)," Ahmed allegedly wrote in an e-mail. Syed Haris Ahmed, 24, and alleged co-conspirator Ehsanul Islam Sadequee are charged with providing material support to terrorists and other conspiracy counts. Sadequee is set to go on trial in August. Ahmed and Sadequee are accused of discussing attacks in the United States that include oil refineries and a military base. Prosecutors say they also made casing videos of landmarks in the Washington, D.C., area. The short, shaky videos were allegedly emailed to other co-conspirators and found on the hard drives of at least two men who were arrested on terrorism charges in the United Kingdom. Martin maintains the videos are amateurish and silly, but prosecutors pointed out that the defendant stated during an FBI interview the videos were sent "to prove that, you know, we are something." This story has the following tidbit: In July 2005, Ahmed traveled to Pakistan with the intention of joining a terrorist training camp and then waging jihad on behalf of either the Taliban or Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani-based terrorist group, prosecutors say. But Ahmed later told federal agents that, after talking it over with relatives in Karachi, he decided against it and returned to Atlanta. When Ahmed arrived on his return flight at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, he was flagged and interviewed by customs agents. Apparently alarmed about Ahmed’s intentions, FBI surveillance officials soon began keeping watch over him on the Georgia Tech campus. On Sept. 13, 2005, an FBI official followed Ahmed into the Georgia Tech library, where he sat down to use a computer. Standing on a balcony above the computer console, the officer looked down and saw Ahmed call up a Web site showing how to make explosives, according to Tuesday’s testimony. At this time, Ahmed also was telling a friend in Michigan [Zubair Ahmed] in online chats how he regretted not taking the step toward violent jihad on his trip to Pakistan.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Trial nears for Atlanta terrorist wannabe

2009-05-31

Syed Haris Ahmed was a terrorist wannabe. He's already admitted to that. The former Georgia Tech student contemplated an attack on Dobbins Air Reserve Base, but didn't carry it out. He traveled to Pakistan hoping to die a martyr fighting alongside brother jihadists -- but changed his mind and returned home. He took almost laughably bad "casing videos" of Washington landmarks, taping surreptitiously through his pickup truck window in a city where tourists overtly take pictures of everything. On Monday, after three years in solitary confinement at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, Ahmed will stand trial for conspiracy to provide support for acts of terrorism in the United States and abroad. There will be no jury, and there seems little doubt about the verdict because during interviews with federal agents Ahmed helped outline the case against him. Ahmed, 24, evinces scant concern about the judgment of a temporal court, saying the only laws that matter are the laws of Allah. He agreed to a bench trial so he can deliver what he calls "the message of Islam" during closing arguments. "It is the duty of every Muslim to deliver the message of God to mankind," he said in a neatly handwritten motion filed recently. "I hope that Allah will be pleased with this act of mine and forgive me on the Day of Judgment when only He will be the Judge of all mankind."

Link

Home Front: WoT

Media groups seek access to terrorism evidence

2009-05-29

News organizations asked a federal judge on Thursday to grant the media access to copies of audio and video court records key to the upcoming trial against a terrorism suspect. The motion seeks access to about 12 hours of an audiotaped FBI interview with Syed Haris Ahmed, who is set to go on trial Monday on charges that he aided a terrorist group. It also seeks videos that prosecutors say he and another suspect filmed of potential terrorist targets in Washington. Ridiculous! They can observe the material presented at trial, just like everyone else. "The public is entitled to understand the basis for the government's prosecution of Defendant Ahmed, and these audio and video exhibits are essential to properly appreciate the evidence in this case," wrote Thomas Clyde, an attorney who represents The Associated Press, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CNN and WSB-TV. The audio and video tapes were submitted as evidence by federal prosecutors in January 2008, and Ahmed's attorney asked that the exhibits be sealed. A federal magistrate denied the request, but said the order was pending a review by a federal judge. The motion contends the judge has yet to address the order. Clyde said providing the press with a transcript of the tapes won't suffice. The audio tapes, he argued, help portray the "demeanor, tone and conduct" of Ahmed shortly before his arrest and indictment. He contended the videos will show the "sophistication - or lack thereof - of the defendants' planning efforts, which cannot be conveyed properly to the public through a transcript." Ahmed, a 24-year-old former Georgia Tech student, and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee were indicted in July 2006 on charges of providing material support to terrorists and related conspiracy counts. Both have pleaded not guilty to all charges. Sadquee's trial is set to begin in August. Since the charges were filed, the government has sought heightened secrecy surrounding elements of its case against the men. They are accused of discussing terror targets with Islamic extremists and undergoing training to carry out a "violent jihad" against civilian and government targets, including an air base in suburban Atlanta. Prosecutors say the two traveled to Washington to film possible targets, including the U.S. Capitol and the headquarters of the World Bank, and shared the recordings with another suspected terrorist based in Britain.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Terrorism charges against Georgians detailed

2008-12-11

Atlanta terrorism defendants Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee communicated with and gave information to terrorists bent on waging violent jihad, according to new indictments by a federal grand jury. In newly amended indictments against each man, prosecutors added information on the breadth of the defendants’ communications before their arrests two years ago. Both men are charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. That includes their trying, in 2005, to join Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group that India blames for the bloody three-day siege of Mumbai last month. Ahmed and Sadequee have pleaded not guilty and will be tried separately. Ahmed’s trial is set for June 1 in federal court in Atlanta. Sadequee is to stand trial next August. They are being held without bond. Ahmed’s lawyer, Jack Martin, said the new indictment does not substantially change the allegations against Ahmed or his defense. “And, once again,” Martin added, “it’s quite clear from the indictment there’s no allegation he committed any terrorist act or act of violence whatsoever.” Don Samuel, a lawyer for Sadequee, said his client will plead not guilty to this indictment as well. “Nobody’s heard our side yet,” he said. “The grand jury hears only the government’s side of the story.” During an April 2005 trip to Washington, Ahmed, a former Georgia Tech student, and Sadequee, of Roswell, recorded amateurish videos of “symbolic and infrastructure targets for potential terrorist attacks,” said the indictment. In one video, Ahmed and Sadequee pass the Pentagon as they drive toward Washington. “This is where our brothers attacked the Pentagon,” Sadequee says on the video, the indictment said. The videos were sent to Aabid Hussein Khan, who is in prison in England for possessing articles for terrorism. According to Tuesday’s indictment, when he was arrested in June 2006, Khan had the videos recorded by Ahmed and Sadequee. Khan also had maps and timetables for the Washington and New York public transit systems; information on truck routes into New York; schematics of the financial district in lower Manhattan; aerial photos of the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and information on paramilitary training camps in Pakistan, the indictment said. Separately, the new indictment said, between August 2005 and April 2006, Sadequee was in contact with a number of supporters of violent jihad. They included Mirsad Bektasevic, who was arrested in Bosnia Herzegovina in October 2005 after being found with more than 20 pounds of plastic explosives, firearms, bomb-making materials and a manifesto promising an attack on Western interests, the indictment said.

Link

India-Pakistan

Mumbai Terror Group Trained American Jihadists

2008-12-10

A growing chorus of intelligence officials in the U.S. and in south Asia have pinned the Mumbai attacks on the Kashmir-based militants Lashkar-e-Taiba. But there's been hardly any mention of the extremist group's deep ties to American-based jihadists. Since 2003, at least five U.S. citizens have been convicted in federal court of conspiring to provide material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba. At least nine more men, considered to be in the same larger circle, have been convicted of firearms violations and other felonies. (A partial list is here.) Several other cases are still making their way through the legal process. Islamic extremists in America have used Lashkar-e-Taiba ("LeT") as a "stepping stone" into the broader world of global terror, says Evan Kohlmann, a senior investigator at the NEFA Foundation. With easy-to-access training facilities, English-speaking recruiters, and connections to militants around the world, a Lashkar camp is "the best way for emerging jihadist to get trained." In April, 2000, for instance, Virginia native Randall Todd Royer (pictured) went to a LeT camp in Kashmir. The place wasn't hard to find, according to an opinion from U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema. Online newsletters gave out the group's phone number and e-mail address, with the assurance that "requests for information about the jihad in Kashmir are welcome." A recruiting center operated openly in Lahore, one of Pakistan's largest cities. Royer spent a month at the LeT camp, firing AK-47s and other weapons, and going through endurance training. In August, Seifullah Chapman made a similar trip, arranged by Royer, who called it a "straight path" to global jihad. There, Chapman spent thirty days in "weapons training" and "performing military drills." Then, on September 16, 2001, Royer and several of his would-be militant friends gathered to decide what to do in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. When the meeting broke, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, Yong Ki Kwon, Muhammed Aatique, and Khwaja Mahmood Hasan had all "agreed to go to LeT for training," according to Judge Brinkema. "Each of them had the intent to receive training that would allow him to proceed to Afghanistan and fight on behalf of the Taliban and Mullah Omar against United States troops." Days later, all four were in the LeT office in Lahore, where they saw posters of a boot trampling the American flag, and the U.S. Capitol in flames. They traveled on to a Lashkar camp, where they fired AK-47s, anti-aircraft guns, and rocket-propelled grenades. None of them made it to the Afghan fight. But in December 2001, two of the men, Khan and Kwon, were asked "to return to the United States, gather information, and spread propaganda." A year later, Khan was purchasing drone aircraft parts, and gave them to a LeT operative. Nobody in this Virginia-based circle was about to be confused with Osama Bin Laden. These were newbies with violent intentions, not master terrorists. But Lashkar served as a kind of filter for the broader jihad movement -- sorting out who should stay wannabe, and who should go to the next level. One of the people who was moved up was Australian David Hicks. The group trained him, and then provided him "with a letter of introduction to Al Qaeda in 2000," the L.A. Times notes. Hicks went on to fight for the Taliban regime. "He was released from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, last year after pleading guilty to providing material support for terrorism." American investigators continue to find domestic links to the Kashmir-based group. In 2007, Mahmud Faruq Brent was convicted of providing material support to LeT, after he admitted to attending one of their training camps. Federal prosecutors in Atlanta are still trying Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee for aiding LeT. They trained the Kashmiri group's camps, and then tried to get other Americans to do the same -- two more strands in Lashkar's network of ties to the United States. "If you're hard-core about global jihad, you eventually outgrow what Lashkar has to offer -- unless you want to fight India, of course," Kohlmann says. But the group is "still being used by individuals around the world to start their jihad training."

Link

Home Front: WoT

Ex-Ga. Tech student pleads innocent in terror case

2006-07-29

A former Georgia Tech student allegedly involved in planning attacks against U.S. targets, including Marietta's Dobbins Air Reserve Base, pleaded not guilty Thursday to additional federal terrorism charges. Pakistan-born Syed Haris Ahmed, 21, appeared with his attorney Jack Martin before U.S. District Court Judge E. Clayton Scofield III to answer the new charges contained in a recently filed expanded indictment. The U.S. attorney's Atlanta office tacked on three additional counts having to do with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and foreign terrorist organizations. It also has added alleged co-conspirator Eshsanul Islam Sadequee, 19, to the indictment. Sadequee is in custody in New York, but is expected to appear in federal court here Aug. 18. Sadequee, who was born in Virginia and is of Bangladeshi descent, was charged in March with making false statements to federal agents after his arrest in Bangladesh. Ahmed originally was indicted in March on one count of providing material support to terrorist. Neither U.S. Attorney David Nahmias nor Martin would comment on the case Thursday. Federal officials accuse Ahmed, a naturalized citizen, and Sadequee of engaging in acts in support of a jihad, or holy war, against the United States. Those acts, they allege, include participating in paramilitary training, sizing up possible targets, communicating with supporters of violent jihad and like-minded extremists, and traveling abroad in support of their plot. Federal authorities, however, say the men had not gotten far enough along in their planning for attacks on U.S. targets, also including oil refineries and the U.S. Capitol, to be an imminent threat.

Link

Great White North

Terrorism's 'new guard'

2006-05-04

Secret Canadian intelligence documents written in the aftermath of last summer's suicide bombings in London warn that Canada has its own cadre of "homegrown" Islamic extremists. Just as the four bombers who killed 52 commuters last July 7 were British, Canada is home to militants who are angry about the "oppression" of Muslims and support terrorism, the reports say. "The attacks in London highlight the threat of 'homegrown' extremism. Canada is home to Islamic extremists, both homegrown and immigrant," says one of the reports by the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre (ITAC). "A small number of extremists in Canada advocate violent jihad in pursuit of their political and religious aims. The reasons for radicalization are varied, and include a general sense of anger at what is seen as oppression of Muslims throughout the world [and] parental influence." The reports are part of a flurry of intelligence documents circulated by Ottawa in the weeks after the London bombings. Declassified versions were obtained by the National Post under the Access to Information Act. They reflect the shift in focus of Canadian counterterrorism efforts that has been underway: While in the past Canada's main concern was "homeland" terrorists such as the Sikh militants who bombed two Air-India flights in 1985, today's top security concern is the emerging generation of homegrown extremists. Unlike the old guard of terrorists, who were immigrants and refugees who brought to Canada the conflicts of their homelands, the new generation consists largely of Canadian-born radical Muslims of various ethnicities, as well as converts who have adopted the extremist interpretation of Islam. The documents also support recent claims by U.S. counterterrorism officials that extremists are operating inside Canada's borders. The presence of Islamic terrorists in Canada was noted two weeks ago, when the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrests of two Georgia youths. Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, 19, and Syed Haris Ahmed, 21, are accused of travelling to Canada last March for "terrorism-related planning and co-ordination" with local radicals. The FBI says while in Toronto they discussed terrorist training and plots to bomb U.S. military facilities and oil refineries. Similar concerns surfaced last Friday, when the U.S. State Department released its annual report on global terrorism, which said, "Terrorists have capitalized on liberal Canadian immigration and asylum policies to enjoy safe haven, raise funds, arrange logistical support and plan terrorist attacks." Yesterday, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day responded to the report for the first time, saying it concerned the period when the Liberals were in office and "when relations with the United States were strained and less than productive." He said the Conservatives were taking terrorism more seriously and had allotted an extra $1.4-billion for security in the budget, outlawed the Tamil Tigers and forged "a new spirit of collaboration" with the U.S. on fighting terror. "This government does not tolerate security breaches and will restore our reputation as a leader and dependable partner in defending freedom and democracy in the world," a statement from Mr. Day's office said. "This new government is clearly determined to take decisive steps to ensure the safety of Canadians against terrorism." The post-London intelligence reports claim that Canada remains a potential target in the eyes of the al-Qaeda leadership and their followers. "Canada has been named on at least three occasions, most recently in July 2005, by al-Qaeda or its affiliates and is viewed as a legitimate target," the ITAC report says. Notes another of the reports, "on Nov. 12, 2002, Osama bin Laden specifically named Canada as a nation that he believed extremists should attack due to its participation in the fighting in Afghanistan." The report lists 20 major terrorist plots disrupted in Europe, some of them the work of homegrown cells. They include plans by the Hofstad gang in the Netherlands to bomb the Dutch parliament, the headquarters of the security service and the Schiphol airport. Meanwhile, a 46-page RCMP intelligence study also warns of the potential for an attack in Canada, calling al-Qaeda "a significant threat to Canada and Canadian interests." Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan "may provoke retaliatory terrorist attacks in Canada as well as further attacks in Afghanistan," it says. It adds, "The war in Iraq has resulted in an increase in the operational tempo of al-Qaeda and its sub groups. Disrupted and successful attacks have occurred against some coalition countries and their interests, including Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany among others. "Coalition interests in Canada continue to be at risk of attack. Furthermore, with greater Canadian participation envisioned in the rebuilding of Iraq, we may see Canadian interests in the Middle East attacked as well." The RCMP report, titled Project Sentry, is dated May, 2004, but was only recently declassified.

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More