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| Defense says Buffalo Boyz aren't linked to al-Qaeda |
| 2002-09-21 |
| One of the six men suspected of being part of a New York terror cell grew afraid after being taken to an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan and repeatedly asked to leave, his lawyer said Thursday. "Please, Mr Custer! I don't wanna go..." During a bail hearing, lawyer James Harrington said Sahim Alwan had asked several people at the camp if he could leave. "Kin I go home, please? I miss my Mom!" "No! Shuddup and get that turban on straight!" He could not get out until a few days after Osama bin Laden spoke at the camp, Harrington said. Alwan then got a ride to Kandahar. "I was scared and missed my family. I did not agree with the mentality of some of the people at the camp," Alwan, 29, told FBI investigators. "After realizing the crazy, radical mentality of people at the camp, I decided to leave." "And, boy, am I glad I did! They're all dead now..." Alwan spoke to the FBI several times before his arrest, according to the criminal complaint, which disclosed details from the interviews. "It's profiling, see? Just cuz I'm an Arab and I went to Afghanistan and trained with terrorists and get filmed jumping up and down and rolling my eyes, shaking an AK47, they think I'm some kind of terrorist..." Prosecutors said the men are a flight risk and also should remain in jail because some claimed tiny net worths while carrying thousands of dollars. Defense attorneys have moved to dismiss the charges. The men, accused of supporting bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network, are all American citizens. That would seem to make them traitors, wouldn't it? William Clauss, who represents Yahya Goba, 25, said prosecutors had no evidence suggesting Goba took orders from al-Qaeda or linking him to an e-mail prosecutors said was from one suspected cell member to another. "I mean, just because he went to school to learn how to kill large numbers of people doesn't mean he was actually gonna kill large numbers of people, does it?" At their arraignments, U.S. Magistrate H. Kenneth Schroeder entered innocent pleas for Alwan and Goba, as well as for Faysal Galab, 26, Shafal Mosed, 24, Yasein Taher, 24, and Mukhtar al-Bakri, 22. They could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. They should also be counting themselves as lucky if they get that — which they probably won't. Defense attorney Patrick Brown said Mosed's family got pledges for real estate valued at about $600,000 for bail if needed. "These are people of rather modest means, I think, who are willing to risk it all. That says something." Actually, it just says they called a bail bondsman... Brown and Rodney Personius, Taher's lawyer, questioned Alwan's credibility and disputed the claim that their clients ever visited Afghanistan. Joseph LaTona, representing Galab, said there isn't any proof his client went except the statements of Alwan and al-Bakri to the FBI. "And they're on trial for treason, so what's that say about their credibility, huh?" Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hochul said a July 18 e-mail sent by al-Bakri to an uncharged co-conspirator uses language similar to that used by bin Laden in a December 2001 videotape and discusses an attack using explosives. Hochul said other evidence found at al-Bakri's last known residence in Lackawanna included a rifle, a telescopic sight, and a cassette tape that "asks Allah to give Jews and their enablers (U.S.) a black day." Ummm... Actually, that's pretty thin. I hope they've got more than that... John Molloy, al-Bakri's lawyer, conceded his client went to Afghanistan. He said the hunting rifle and scope belong to al-Bakri's father, the cassette dates from about 1980 and refers to Russia's invasion of Afghanistan, and the e-mail quotes hearsay al-Bakri gathered from an old man and a taxi driver at dinner in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, in May. See what I mean? Officials have said they had no evidence of any pending attacks planned by the cell but became alarmed this month when conversations among the men intensified. Two other suspected cell members, identified as Jaber Elbaneh and Kamal Derwish, are believed to be in Yemen. Authorities say they believe Derwish is the ringleader. The prosecutor said the defendants and Elbaneh traveled to Pakistan last year for religious training before heading to Afghanistan for instruction by terrorists linked to bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network. It was the same camp attended by American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh. Who also traveled to Pakistan for religious training before heading off to jihad in Afghanistan. But that's just coincidence, ain't it? |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #3 You mean American Lebanese, dontcha? |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-09-22 09:06:06 |
| #2 By far, the majority of American Muslims are Christians. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2002-09-21 20:51:23 |
| #1 The defense lawyers, and NPR, have spent the past two days calling these guys "pillars of the community." The Lebanese-American neighborhood of Lackawanna may be different, I wouldn't know, but every place I ever lived, all the pillars of the community had jobs and worked. That would include the Lebanese-American community in Atlanta, which I do know about. |
| Posted by: Harry 2002-09-21 12:40:54 |