Terrorist 'Probing Attacks' Said to be Happening Nationwide

By Scott Wheeler and Heather Wier
CNSNews.com Staff
August 09, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - The terrifying account of a Northwest Airlines passenger, detailing how the suspicious activities of a group of Middle Eastern men aboard the plane had convinced her that it was being hijacked, is one of hundreds, if not thousands of similarly scary events reported to U.S. authorities since the 9/11 attacks.

Counter terrorism experts interviewed by CNSNews.com say these incidents, many of which were "probing attacks" by terrorists methodically casing locations for an actual assault in the future, indicate the extent to which the United States currently finds itself threatened.

"What we have seen all across the country -- at military bases, at critical infrastructure facilities, at soft civilian targets such as schools, shopping malls and sports arenas, and domestic and international airline flights -- are probing attacks" said Peter Leitner, co-founder of the Higgins Counter Terrorism Research Center in Arlington, Va.

"Probing attacks are designed to elicit a response in an effort to map out patterns of reactions by law enforcement, the ease of approaching and withdrawing from a target and to test the reaction of the civilian population to a potential attack situation," Leitner told CNSNews.com.

Leitner said the June 29 Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit to Los Angeles, involving the suspicious activities of 14 Syrian male passengers, "was undoubtedly a probing attack."

Journalist Annie Jacobsen, a passenger on the flight, described the frightening events for Women'sWallStreet.com in an article titled, "Terror in the Skies Again?"

"After seeing 14 Middle Eastern men board separately (six together, eight individually) and then act as a group, watching their unusual glances, observing their bizarre bathroom activities, watching them congregate in small groups, knowing that the flight attendants and the pilots were seriously concerned, and now knowing that federal air marshals were on board, I was officially terrified," Jacobsen wrote.

Government and aviation officials have confirmed the events, indicating that the Northwest Airlines pilot radioed to the ground that there was potential trouble and that upon landing the 14 men were detained, questioned and then released. Authorities confirmed the men were all Syrian.

In another example, the Washington Times quoted an airline pilot describing an incident in which a "man of Middle Eastern descent" locked himself in a lavatory for a long period of time before an air marshal forced his way in. The pilot told the Times that the air marshal found "the mirror had been removed and the man was attempting to break through the wall. The cockpit was on the other side."

Many incidents of suspicious videotaping have also been reported. Last month, two security guards at Iran's mission to the United Nations were expelled by the U.S. State Department after they were caught taping landmarks and infrastructure in New York City. The Iranians, according to State Department officials, were expelled on a technicality related to their official capacity, but most individuals caught videotaping are simply questioned and released.

Another videotaping incident involved a Jewish girls' school near Baltimore, Md., last October. The Baltimore Jewish Times reported that outside the Bais Yaakov School for Girls, "a man described as Middle Eastern in physical appearance was observed videotaping the school.

"A parent chased the man's car, wrote down the license plate and informed the FBI, whose agents later questioned the man," the newspaper reported. The man was not on any terrorist watch lists and no arrests were made in connection with that incident.

Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, a Washington Times article reported that the U.S. Navy was "investigating 11 incidents in which 'Arab' or 'Middle Eastern' males appeared to be conducting surveillance of naval bases, and, on one occasion, a truck loaded with munitions."

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service issued a press release, stating that Arabic males near the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington state "were on the beach with fishing gear; however, they did not do any fishing and their gear was not appropriate.

"The same individuals had been ordered out of a restricted area by park rangers earlier in the day where they were observed videotaping the Deception Pass Bridge," the Naval Criminal Investigative Service stated.

On Aug. 1, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced that the national, color-coded terror threat was being elevated from yellow to orange for specific areas on the East Coast based on "new and unusually specific information about where al Qaeda would like to attack."

According to press accounts and sources interviewed by CNSNews.com, the information was gleaned from the computer used by two al Qaeda suspects who were arrested in Pakistan last month. The computer contained logs of surveillance conducted by terrorists at the Citigroup Center Building and New York Stock Exchange in New York City, the Prudential Building in Newark, N.J., and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, D.C.

It's believed that the author of the surveillance logs, which reportedly referred to the security, construction and other details of the financial buildings, was Abu Eisa al-Hindi, a top al Qaeda operative arrested in Great Britain last week in a raid that netted eleven other suspects.

Leitner said the information on the computer used by the al Qaeda suspects confirms "that these probing attacks are well planned, systematic and increasingly provocative."

Jason Korsower of the Washington, D.C., counter-terrorism think tank, The Investigative Project, told CNSNews.com that "these events could be dry runs or decoys designed to divert the intelligence community's attention to planes while the next attack might be maritime or a truck bomb."

Another counter-terrorism official, who spoke with CNSNews.com on condition of anonymity, said air passengers must take steps to ensure their own safety in situations similar to the one involving the Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit to Los Angeles.

"The only real line of defense in isolated situations such as on airlines is intentional chaos. Being a compliant hostage in the post 9-11 period will not buy you safety," the official said. "You have a gun at both temples, one wielded by the terrorists aboard the plane and the other by the U.S. Air Force scrambling fighter jets to prevent another disaster on the ground such as on September 11th."

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR], dismissed the reports of suspicious behavior on the part of Middle Eastern individuals.

"In these kinds of situations if the people had not looked -- quote -- Middle Eastern, I doubt the same behavior would have attracted any attention whatsoever," Hooper told CNSNews.com. "Going to the restrooms or other activity somehow becomes suspicious when the person looks Middle Eastern. That's the reality we live in today," he added. Most 'Extreme' Muslims are Arabs. That's the reality we live in today!

It doesn't matter what color you are} when a person locks himself in the bathroom of a plane....manages to remove the mirror off the wall...and is trying to break through the wall that leads to the cockpit - that person is a suspicious person.

Here's one for Hooper of CAIR:

004.094 O ye who believe! When ye 'go abroad' in the cause of Allah, investigate carefully

004.095 Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home). Unto all (in Faith) Hath Allah promised good: But those who strive and fight Hath He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward. [The ones who go out and fight....are the better servants...than the ones who don't fight]

002.216 Fighting is prescribed for you

004.084 Then fight in Allah's cause [even when they "Go Abroad"]

How can any Muslim claim that Islam is a 'religion of peace' and keep a clear conscience?  Isn't it wrong to lie?  [Not with Satan]

 

More Alleged Hamas Operatives Linked to DC-Area Think Tank

By Scott Wheeler
CNSNews.com
August 26, 2004

The Virginia man recently detained after his wife was seen videotaping Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Bridge has ties to a Springfield, Va., Muslim think tank that is an alleged front for the terrorist organization Hamas.

The think tank, the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), is located just fourteen miles from the U.S. Capitol. Counter terrorism analyst Peter M. Leitner has described UASR as one of the "phony organizations that are really terrorist cells and part of the international terrorist network." UASR has been the subject of a CNSNews.com investigation since March.

Ismael Selim Elbarasse and his wife were spotted in their SUV by two Baltimore County, Md., police officers on Aug. 20. Elbarasse's wife was reportedly videotaping the 4.3 mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the main span that connects Maryland's Eastern Shore to the Baltimore, Washington D.C., metropolitan area.

"At the toll plaza, the Baltimore County officers reported what they had seen to Maryland Transportation Authority Police. Its officers stopped the SUV west of the bridge and confiscated the camera," the Baltimore Sun reported. The Elbarasses, accompanied by two children, had reportedly been seen trying to hide the camera, before it was taken by police. The camera showed that close-up images, "atypical for a tourist," had been videotaped, according to the Sun.

It's unclear whether the incident was a so-called "probing attack," efforts by potential terrorists to conduct surveillance and compile information about vulnerable American targets. Hundreds, if not thousands of probing attacks have taken place all over the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist strikes on New York City and the Pentagon, according to counter terrorism experts.

Following the confiscation of his camera, Elbarasse was reportedly taken into custody as a material witness for a case involving the federal indictments of three men allegedly linked to Hamas.

The indictments were unsealed in Chicago on the same day Elbarasse was detained and list Elbarasse as a "high ranking Hamas leader" and an un-indicted co-conspirator in an operation that U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft described as a U.S. based, "terrorist recruiting and financing cell" for Hamas.

CNSNews.com previously reported on the connections that two of the men indicted -- Mousa Abu Marzook and Mohammad Salah -- have to UASR. Internal documents obtained also link the third man indicted -- Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar - and Elbarasse to UASR.

Ashqar worked at the UASR office in Springfield, Va., as a "research associate" in 1998, according to a source who did not want to be identified. A June 1999 document making direct reference to Ashqar at the UASR office in Springfield was also obtained by CNSNews.com .

Elbarasse, who served eight months in a New York prison in 1998 for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating terrorism, was seen on a regular basis and photographed by CNSNews.com at UASR's Springfield, Va., office between April and early August when UASR moved files to an undisclosed location and appeared to be shutting down its identifiable operations. UASR records that included Elbarasse's contact information while he was in prison in New York State were also obtained by CNSNews.com .

Leitner, managing director for Criterion Strategies, a New York City based counter terrorism and emergency response company, said the videotaping incident involving Elbarasse is disturbing.

"When the U.S. invaded Iraq, both Hezbollah and Hamas avowed to bring terrorism to the United States, as a reprisal for the invasion of Iraq. Then we have (Jamal) Akal, the guy who was arrested in Israel, saying he was part of a new Hamas organization that was specially designed to target in North America," Leitner said.

"Now we have Elbarasse, engaged in operational activities in North America, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, a very big strategic choke point, a spectacular target. And he is part of UASR, which shows the quickness and the ease with which a support cell, the fundraising, propaganda and recruitment cell of Hamas, can become an operational cell," Leitner added. [they move their shop, change their name....and carry on]

"There is no real demarcation between support cells and operational cells. When they get the call, they become operational," Leitner said.

Stanley Cohen, an attorney for Elbarasse, told CNSNews.com that the videotaping of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was a benign activity and that Elbarasee's wife had also videotaped the Grand Canyon and Ft. Lauderdale Beach in the past..

"She is an inveterate video taper," Cohen said. If Elbarasse's wife "had blonde hair and blue eyes and her name was Rosie, it would have been no problem," [the times have changed] Cohen added. However, "it became a crisis," he said, because Elbarasee's wife "had a hajib on and they are Palistinian or Muslim." and for good cause.  Most of the 3000 families in America alone -- will agree. So will most other American families.

Cohen initially said Elbarasse's links to UASR amounted to "nothing," then added that his client stored "about thirty boxes of books" in his garage when UASR ran out of room during its "downsizing."

Cohen also said he could not rule out the possibility that Elbarasse had performed accounting services for UASR.

Tuesday, CNSNews.com sought comment directly from Elbarasse at his home in Annandale, Va. Elbarasse's wife said the family would have nothing to say and referred the news organization to Cohen.

According to a Justice Department press release regarding the federal grand jury indictments in Chicago, "Abu Marzook and Ashqar, together with Elbarasse and other unnamed co-conspirators, allegedly used various accounts at banks in such places as Cleveland, Milwaukee, New York, Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia, to transfer amounts ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time into the United States from various sources abroad, including Saudi Arabia and Switzerland and then between banks in the United States before transferring funds out of the country" to finance Hamas activities in Israel.

Marzook founded the UASR and later left the U.S. to become a leader of Hamas. He is currently believed to be in Syria and the Justice Department now considers him a fugitive.

The last known executive director of UASR is Ahmed Yousef, who has repeatedly refused to return telephone calls seeking comment for articles related to the CNSNews.com investigation.

The UASR office telephone number in Springfield, Va., was recently disconnected. Yousef, according to sources close to UASR, has been out of the country for several months and is believed to be in Algeria.

Muhammad Salah, another of the men indicted on Aug. 20 and a U.S. citizen, was arrested in Israel in 1993 for helping to organize terrorist attacks for Hamas. Salah reportedly told Israeli interrogators that the Hamas operation in the U.S. was based at UASR and that Ahmed Yousef was its leader.

Alleged Terror Threat Operates in DC Suburb
By Scott Wheeler
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
July 12, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - Fourteen miles from the U.S. Capitol, a basement-run organization with alleged ties to Hamas and al Qaeda is a crucial link in the planning of any future terrorist attacks against the United States, according to several terrorism experts who analyzed documents and other information obtained in a CNSNews.com investigation.

The United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), based in Springfield, Va., is publicly identified as a Muslim think tank but has multiple ties to the terrorism underworld, according to the CNSNews.com sources, who are both inside and outside government.

"UASR is a front organization for a terrorist group," said Peter Leitner, president of the Higgins Counterterrorism Research Center. Leitner, who is also a professor at the National Center for Biodefense at George Mason University, said UASR is "part of a shell game of international terrorism - phony organizations that are really terrorist cells and part of the international terrorist network."

Since the early 1990s, UASR has conducted business from a townhouse in an office park of condominiums in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Springfield, Va. Late last year, according to sources and documents, the group sold the upper two floors of the townhouse, moved out what one source described as "a lot of boxes" and then located itself in the basement.

The windows are covered with a false brick contact paper that matches the facade of the building blocking the view from the outside. CNSNews.com's investigation found meetings convening at the midnight hour on many occasions. From time to time, day or night, the occupants emerge from the office to make cell phone calls in the parking lot. Government investigators say that is for privacy in the likely event that a government counter-terrorism unit has placed listening devices inside the building.

Government investigators also say the use of pre-paid disposable cell phones make it virtually impossible for them to obtain a wiretap. It all adds up, investigators say, to indications that the group may be taking a more active role in terrorist activities.

UASR, Hamas and al Qaeda

Hamas, which the U.S. government has designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), has claimed responsibility for bombings that have killed scores of civilians throughout Israel, including American citizens. Historically Hamas has limited its deadly acts of terrorism to Israel. But now, according to a senior government terrorism official, who spoke with CNSNews.com on condition of anonymity, Hamas is merging with elements of Osama bin Laden's "all inclusive military arm ... that will carry out military strikes" against the U.S.

004.094 O ye who believe! When ye 'go abroad' in the cause of Allah, investigate carefully

009.005 When the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, [even when they "Go Abroad"] and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war.   

008.067 It is not fitting for a prophet that he should have prisoners of war [slay them] until he hath thoroughly subdued the land.

047.004 Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers in fight, smite at their necks. [Behead them]

002.191 Slay them wherever ye catch them

002.193 And fight them on until there is no more Tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah

These words are what they study...regularly.  [Is it a good idea to hand such a book to teenagers? in America?  Then neither is it a good book...period!]

Bin Laden's military arm, widely known as al Qaeda, may have philosophical differences with Hamas and other terrorist organizations, but the groups are cooperating tactically in a kind of global holy war, operating under the banner, "International Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders," according to the government official who also warned of more deadly attacks on U.S. soil.

"They have operations planned for here, they have the capabilities to strike at will and when the time is right they will do it," the anonymous source said.

Brian Fairchild, a former CIA operative, told CNSNews.com that "evidence indicates that there is networking between the terrorist organizations."

"At the very minimum, organizations like UASR can act as a political lobby group on American foreign policy," but also further the global terrorist agenda by "recruiting new members, [even teenagers?] raising funds to support international terrorism and can actually support a terrorist attack in the U.S.," Fairchild said.

The complicated trail of terror

The nexus between international terrorist suspects, terrorism financiers and the UASR runs deep, [deeper than the voices of this world are admitting to] according to government documents obtained by CNSNews.com .

UASR was incorporated in Illinois in 1989 by Mousa Abu-Marzook. Six years later, the U.S. government asserted that Marzook constituted a threat and included him on its "Specially Designated Terrorist" list. Later, while in U.S. custody, Marzook "expressly acknowledged his position as the leader of the political branch of HAMAS," according to documents filed in 1995 by the U.S. attorney's office in the Southern District of New York.

Also in 1995, during an attempt by the Israeli government to get the U.S. to extradite Marzook back to the Middle East so he could face charges of plotting terrorist attacks in Israel, U.S. District Court Judge Kevin T. Duffy found that "Marzook knew about the terrorist activities and promoted them."

Further documentation, filed this past March by the U.S. attorney's office in Cleveland, alleged a link between UASR and another terrorist.

Mohammad Salah, whom the U.S. also later dubbed a specially designated terrorist, "was employed at UASR when it was still located in Oak Forest, Illinois, in the early 1990s," according to U.S. Attorney Gregory White. Israeli authorities apprehended Salah in 1993, White stated, because they suspected him of being a military operative for Hamas. "In January of 1995, Salah pled guilty in an Israeli military court to belonging to HAMAS and illegally channeling funds to the outlawed HAMAS organization," the documents stated.

A 1993 New York Times article reported that Salah was cooperating with Israeli prosecutors and providing information on Hamas operations in the U.S. The article quoted from Israeli transcripts of their interviews: "Mr. Salah said the political command of Hamas in the United States is at the United Association for Studies and Research, in Springfield, Va. He identified the Hamas leader in the United States as the head of the institute, Ahmed Yousef, a writer whose code name he said was Abu Ahmed."

Yousef is listed on some recent documents as the director of UASR. According to sources familiar with the organization's operations, Yousef is also in charge of day-to-day activities at UASR.

Salah's laptop computer also allegedly contained the information necessary for Israeli and American investigators to form a financial link and other operational connections between al Qaeda and Hamas, according to government documents filed in August of 2003 by the U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of Virginia.

The computer included contact information for Yousef Nada and Ghaleb Himmat, both of whom the U.S. State Department had included on its list of specially designated global terrorists in November of 2001 for their roles with the Al Taqwa Bank. Because the Al Taqwa group had "long acted as financial advisors to al Qaeda," according to the U.S. Treasury Department and Salah had the names of the two operatives on his laptop, investigators believe there is a distinctive link between al Qaeda, Hamas and UASR.

Marzook, UASR's founder, is also allegedly tied to al Qaeda.

The Wall Street Journal reported in June of this year that Marzook "was a major investor" in a New Jersey corporation called BMI Inc. Documents filed in August 2003 by the U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of Virginia addressed an alleged money laundering/global terrorism operation being conducted by BMI.

"A BMI accountant contacted an FBI Agent and stated that 'funds the accountant was transferring overseas on behalf of the company may have been used to finance the embassy bombings in Africa,'" the documents stated, a reference to the 1998 al Qaeda bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 220 people. If investigators are correct, that would link the founder of UASR, Marzook, to a major al Qaeda attack against the U.S.

According to documents filed with the State of Virginia Corporation Commission, UASR's board of directors also includes Abdurahman Alamoudi, who was indicted last October for alleged illegal dealings with Libya.

Court documents filed in Virginia and obtained by CNSNews.com indicate that a government investigation of Alamoudi has uncovered evidence linking him to al Qaeda through a non-profit called the Taibah International Aid Association (TIAA), based in Falls Church, Va.

"According to TIAA's 2000 IRS Form 990, Abdurahman Alamoudi is the Vice President of TIAA," the court documents stated. TIAA, founded in 1991, also "lists Abdullah A. bin Laden, as founding officer." He is the nephew of Osama bin Laden, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

The court documents filed by the U.S. attorney's office in Virginia stated that Mohammed El-Nagmy, an employee of TIAA and its sister organization Taibah in Sarajevo, Bosnia, served simultaneously as the Bosnian representative for the Global Relief Foundation (GRF).

GRF is also on the State Department's list of specially designated global terrorist groups.

"GRF ... personnel had multiple contacts with Wadih El-Hage, UBL's [Osama bin Laden] personal secretary when UBL was in Sudan," according to the U.S. Treasury Department. El-Hage was convicted in May 2001 for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings.

The convoluted trails of personal associates and organizations add layers of deniability for key individuals involved in terrorist planning, Leitner told CNSNews.com , and make tracking the flow of money and assistance difficult for investigators.

"When you have compartmented organizations where audit trails are to be intentionally broken as part of their normal operations, you can't follow individuals, you have to look at the organizational structure," Leitner said.

Marzook, now believed to be in Syria, could not be reached for comment. Neither Yousef nor anyone else at the UASR office in Springfield, Va., would speak with CNSNews.com in person or return repeated phone calls seeking an interview.

2Cr 10:4 The weapons [Scriptures] of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.

Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb [Islam calls the Son of God an abomination]

Isa 53:1 Who hath believed our report?

Isa 50:2 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is My Hand [His Word] shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Why have so MANY 'churches' dotted all across the land if the people don't believe?   What good are they?

Mar 1:11 There came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou [Jesus] art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. [He delights...in His Son]

2Jo 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine of Christ], receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed.

Isa 53:1 Who hath believed our report?

Isa 65:12 Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.

The Lord of the Bible would not delight in Islam.  Islam calls the Son of God an abomination....and teaches men to slay each other...and to steal land that is not theirs. That is exactly what these Islamic groups are up to...and they believe it is a command for them. No one with a voice -- is willing to dispute their Koran before the world.  It breaks ALL humanitarian laws.  It thoroughly violates the U.S. Constitution.  It is FULL of Treason!

Introduction