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| Terror Networks |
| 2002-08-25 |
| A Saudi Arabian man wanted by the FBI as a suspected associate of the 11 September hijackers has voluntarily surrendered, his father says. Abdulaziz Saudi al-Rasheed says his son, Saud, went to the Saudi Interior Ministry on Thursday, two days after the FBI issued a worldwide alert calling for his arrest. Mr al-Rasheed said his son had learned that he was wanted when he was in Egypt and had immediately returned to Riyadh. "Flight, don't fail me now!" Mr al-Rasheed, who works for the Saudi Red Crescent, told the Associated Press news agency that he was confident of his son's innocence. "He has never held a gun in his life," he said. The Saudi authorities have not commented on the case. Mr al-Rasheed said he believed his son's picture might have reached the US via Pakistani authorities, possibly from his visa application or from his passport. And not in a group photo, standing with a bunch of crazed killers... The US authorities — acting on what they called recently acquired information — said the 21-year-old was armed and dangerous. Mr al-Rasheed denied the FBI's claims, saying his son had no links with terror groups and had never visited the United States or Europe. He said he was concerned for Saud's safety. He's in Soddy Arabia now. He'll be safe until the kingdom falls. Mr al-Rasheed said that Saud had been in Afghanistan carrying out humanitarian work for "fellow Muslims", but had returned to Saudi Arabia long before the 11 September attacks. "He confirmed to me he had no relations with any terror group there, specifically al-Qaeda or the Taleban regime," he said. It's that definition of "humanitarian work" that arouses my suspicion. And whether the lad defines al-Qaeda as a "terror group." (I got something out of listening to Bill Clinton explain things, by golly...) |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |