← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Blond Knight
Thread ID: 16535 | Posts: 9 | Started: 2005-02-01
2005-02-01 21:30 | User Profile
Seems that Shrub's nominee to head the NKVD ( Dept. of Homeland Security ) has a checkered past.
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[url]http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=4539[/url]
Homeland Security Nominee Chertoff Aided 9-11 Terror Suspect
News/Comment; Posted on: 2005-01-31 19:37:35
Chertoff's anti-American agenda and shocking background require investigation, withdrawal of nomination.
by David Duke
AS INCREDIBLE as this news may seem, it has now been revealed that the nominee of President Bush as the new Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff (pictured), has ties with a man suspected of financing the 9-11 attacks, Dr. Magdy Elamir. There is also convincing evidence that Chertoff, as head of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Justice Department, shielded this financier of 9-11 from prosecution in a terrorist case.
The Record newspaper of Bergen County, New Jersey on June 20, 2000 shows that Chertoff defended Magdy Elamir who was sued by the State of New Jersey for 16.7 million dollars in losses. Over $5.7 million went ââ¬Åto unknown partiesââ¬Â¦by means of wire transfers to bank accounts where the beneficial owner of the account is unknown.ââ¬Â
Who is Magdy Elamir, Chertoffââ¬â¢s important client? On the NBC program, Dateline, on August 2, 2002, Rep. Ben Gilman, R-NY, of the House International Relations Committee was quoted as saying in 1998 that Magdy Elamir had ââ¬Åfinancial ties with Osama bin Laden for years.ââ¬Â
In fact, Elamir even had strong connections with the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.
Magdy Elamir was one of the most important financial supporters of the Al Salam mosque. The Al Salam mosque was where Omar Abdel-Rahman preached, the Muslim extremist who was later arrested for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Former New Jersey police officer Allan Duncan said that ââ¬ÅThe Jersey City area and particularly the Al Salam mosque were allowed to continue as a major hub of terrorist activity in the United States.ââ¬Â During this period, 1990 to 1994, Chertoff was the U.S. Attorney for this area, the District of New Jersey. Amazingly, even after this period, Elamir later became one of Chertoffââ¬â¢s most important clients.
In 1999, Magdy Elamir and his brother Mohammed were named suspects in Operation Diamondback which was an FBI/ATF undercover infiltration of Pakistani arms dealers who sought to arm Osama bin Laden with conventional and nuclear weapons. According to the testimony of officer Duncan and taped transcripts with FBI informant Randy Glass, Elamir was a key player in this operation. According to Dateline NBC Mohammed Elamir tried to purchase small arms and ammunition in a recorded telephone conversation with Glass.
Dateline confirmed that Elamir and his corporation had paid at least $5,000 to Egyptian arms dealer Diaa Moshen. Moshen was sentenced to 30 months for his involvement in Operation Diamondback.
Officer Allan Duncan, who was hired as an investigator by families of victims of the September 11 attacks, said that the reason Elamir was never convicted was because he was never charged with a crime. When Operation Diamondback culminated in arrests in the summer of 2001, Michael Chertoff had become the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the criminal division of the U.S. Justice Department and Operation Diamondback was under his authority.
Chertoff blocked the indictment of his former client, Magdy Elamir.
Chertoff has also blocked the indictment of other Israeli partisans like himself with ties to 9-11.
In a four-part investigative report on the Brit Hume, Fox News program in December of 2001 it was revealed a huge Israeli Mossad spy team of at least 100 members had been arrested by the FBI. The Fox News report revealed that the Israeli spy ring had penetrated FBI, CIA, DEA, U.S. Attorneyââ¬â¢s Offices, Federal judges, even military bases. In addition, the Mossad, through an Israeli company, was and is able to monitor all phone calls made in the United States, including those of law enforcement agencies. It is known that Israeli drug kingpins in the United States escaped prosecution because of this penetration.
It also revealed that Mossad agents had closely shadowed the 9-11 hijackers for months before the attacks. They repeatedly failed lie detector tests. Considering their close monitoring of the hijackers for months, the FBI agents are quoted as saying, ââ¬ÅHow could they not have knownââ¬Â the details of the 9-11 attacks. The report suggests that the Israeli Mossad knew the details of the attacks in advance but did not provide the information to the United States. In one of its most revealing moments, the Fox News report quotes an unnamed FBI source saying that for an agent to expose Israeli spying is ââ¬Åcareer suicide.ââ¬Â
Michael Chertoff freed the over 100 members of a huge Israeli spy ring apprehended in the wake of 9-11, including the Israeli agents who had tapped the telephones and shadowed 9-11 terrorist leader Mohammed Atta and many of his hijacker team for weeks before the attacks.
Chertoff also freed five Mossad agents who had been arrested and detained for months by the FBI on the day of the 9-11 attacks. They had been caught in New Jersey filming and cheering the attacks on the World Trade Center. Interestingly enough, they were apprehended with large sums of cash, false passports, and boxcutters (the same devices used in the hijackings). The FBI also found self-taken photos of very happy Mossad agents grinning and flicking their lighters with the World Trade Center burning in the background. Chertoff also allowed all of the apprehended Israeli spies to return to Israel -- out of the reach of American investigators.
Israel and the Jewish supremacists could not afford these revelations of Israelââ¬â¢s spying and treachery. They had to put one of their own in position to protect their interests. They found him in Michael Chertoff.
Michael Chertoff is the son of a rabbi and a long-time radical Zionist and Jewish supremacist. After the first apprehensions of the massive Israeli spy ring occurred, this dedicated Zionist was quickly put into the position of head of the Justice Department Criminal Division. The United States State Department, Justice Department and Executive branch are honeycombed with Israeli loyalists. President Bush was and is surrounded by them. In the popular vernacular they are called Neocons, but they are simply Jewish supremacists who put the agenda and interests of Israel over that of the United States. Two of them, Wolfowitz and Perle, were the chief architects of the Iraq War, a war good for Israel but an unmitigated disaster for the people of the United States. The Zionist network has many avenues by which they can get almost any appointment in government they want. They put their man in a position to quash this story of Israeli treachery, and he in fact did so.
After freeing the Israeli spies involved in 9-11 and other espionage activities, and despite having never served in the judiciary, Chertoff was given the high position of a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals whose jurisdiction includes Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Virgin Islands. After 19 months as judge, President Bush nominated Chertoff to the position of Secretary of Homeland Security.
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a government watchdog group, has noticed Chertoffââ¬â¢s advancement from Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice to Secretary of Homeland Security nominee over the past four years.
ââ¬ÅItââ¬â¢s an exceptional rise to power,ââ¬Â said Fitton.
Indeed, Chertoffââ¬â¢s rapid rise was exceptional, but one completely understandable with the risks of exposure presented by the Israeli spy ring and involvement in 9-11. Their man had to be put in very quickly.
Michael Chertoff could not allow the prosecution of Magdy Elamir because it would have revealed his own close connection to this bin Laden supporter who was one of the financiers of the 9-11 attacks.
In 2002, I was speaking all over America and the world, exposing the Israeli connections to 9-11 and the over 140 members of the Israeli spy ring that was then held in FBI custody. Zionists in the U.S. State Department attempted to prevent my appearance on a prime time program broadcast over the worldwide Al-Jazeera network. (Newsweek: Periscope). They failed, and the program aired to millions around the world and received a tremendous response. I was offered hundreds of invitations to speak on the matter before influential organizations, media and groups all over the world. Within 60 days of my appearance on Al-Jazeera, Mr. Chertoff as head the criminal division of the U.S. Justice Department authorized prosecution against me on tax and financial charges. This is the same Michael Chertoff who freed the same Israeli spy ring that I helped to expose!
And now it turns out that Chertoff himself has aided one of the financiers of bin Laden and the 9-11 attack! It is also clear that he has obstructed justice in preventing this terroristââ¬â¢s prosecution.
And now, our Jewish-Neocon-dominated government seeks to make a man who aided one of the 9-11 terrorists the head of Homeland Security.
Under control of the Jewish supremacists, our nationââ¬â¢s government has gone insane.
Sincerely, David Duke
I want to acknowledge that some of my wording and excerpts came from a superb article ââ¬ÅSecurity Riskââ¬Â in The University Star newspaper of Texas State University. They are credited with the flow chart of the time line showing Chertoffââ¬â¢s involvement with the terror figure and his subsequent obstruction of justice.
It is vital that you post this article on every forum you can find. Go to Web sites that deal with some of these issues and send the article to pundits, newscasters, commentators, reporters. You can go on the Internet and send a short paragraph on the article to hundreds of opinion leaders and molders in a few short hours! It is incumbent upon you to do this. Many commentators and columnists give their email addresses; use them to send out this vital piece. Other Web sites in America, Canada, Europe and the Mideast must also get this information. If you act quickly the world will know the sordid facts about Michael Chertoff. I have posted this article. Now it is up to you to saturate the Internet with it until it has a life of its own. Go for it! ââ¬â D.D.
Original article
Related stories:
Source: DavidDuke.com ââ¬Â¢ Printed from National Vanguard ( [url]http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=4539[/url] ) National Alliance ââ¬Â¢ Box 90 ââ¬Â¢ Hillsboro ââ¬Â¢ WV 24946 ââ¬Â¢ USA NationalVanguard.org
2005-02-02 02:18 | User Profile
[QUOTE]I want to acknowledge that some of my wording and excerpts came from a superb article ââ¬ÅSecurity Riskââ¬Â in The University Star newspaper of Texas State University. [/QUOTE] Wow - that's a surprise....
2005-02-02 19:37 | User Profile
I'd be interested to hear some of you learned gentlemen's thoughts on this one. Does this story have any legs or will it die on the vine?
2005-02-03 20:30 | User Profile
A quick google search (chertoff new jersey) came up with some interesting stories, among them this one.
[url]http://www.opednews.com/duncan_011205_NJ_Terrorism_Michael_Chertoff.htm[/url]
Did Bush Appoint a Fox to Guard the Henhouse? Homeland Security Nominee Michael Chertoff. Was he an attorney for terrorist financiers who got away? by Alan Duncan
New Jersey and Terrorismââ¬Â¦Perfect Together
By Allan P. Duncan
September 7, 2004
Introduction
Between the Fall of 1998 and June 2001, a group of Middle Eastern men living in New Jersey is caught on tape in an ATF weapons sting conspiring to buy millions of dollars of weapons including components for nuclear bombs. Three years after the operation ended, all of the people involved in the deal are free.
Federal agents who worked on the case were frustrated because it was handled as a criminal case instead of a counterterrorism case. In an in depth look at Operation Diamondback I reveal that one of the suspects who was accused of skimming millions of dollars from a fraudulent HMO to offshore accounts where the money allegedly went to finance terrorism, was defended in the HMO case by a lawyer who later became the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division, under John Ashcroft. The lawyer, Michael Chertoff, was in his position as Assistant Attorney General when Operation Diamondback ended and his client was never arrested even though an intelligence document claimed he and his brother in Egypt had links to Osama Bin Laden.
Is this why the ATF operation was handled as a criminal case and not a terrorism case by the federal government?
I will also examine the history of terror links to the North Jersey area from before the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center right up until 9-11. Michael Chertoff, by the way, was the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1990-1994 and was in office when the first attack on the World Trade Center took place. For reasons that escape me, the Jersey City area and particularly the Al Salam mosque from which the Blind Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman spewed his hatred, was allowed to continue to be one of the major hubs of terrorist activity in the United States.
Part 1: The Jersey City Rat Pack
Recent headlines over the past two weeks announced the arrest of two leaders of an Albany, New York mosque for allegedly laundering money involved in the sale of a shoulder fired missile. The arrests were the result of a year long weapons sting conducted by the FBI. (1)
Anytime someone involved in planning terrorism on US soil is taken off the streets it should be plastered all over the headlines to announce to the world that another terrorist is in the slammer and is unable to hurt, maim or kill innocent American citizens.
This case pales in comparison, however, to a pre-9-11 weapon sting in which a 32 million dollar deal for a ship load of weapons, 500 Stinger Missiles, nuclear triggers, weapons grade plutonium and ââ¬Åheavy waterââ¬Â for a nuclear dirty bomb were the weapons of choice of Middle Eastern men seeking to arm Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. This case never made screaming headlines when it ended in June 2001 and most people have never head about it. The attacks on 9-11 were three months away and the American press was not as eager to pounce on every story that even mentioned the word terrorist. In addition to the weapons deal, the World Trade Center was specifically mentioned as a future target by one of the characters in this drama and yet none of the people involved in this case are currently in prison. Why?
I ran across references to Operation Diamondback while doing research on terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction well over a year ago. I found out that a former con man named Randy Glass had posed as an undercover weapons dealer in an attempt to lure Middle Eastern weapons buyers to the US in a sting operation run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) with support from the FBI and Customs.
The sting operation was documented in two episodes of Dateline NBC; On the trail of arms merchants, which aired on August 2, 2002 (2), and Stinger missile sting operation,
which was broadcast on March 18, 2003. (3)
The case came to a screeching halt with the arrest of only a handful of suspects in June of 2001 even though there was ample evidence that some of the people who were attempting to buy these weapons had connections with the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden himself. The two Dateline NBC stories cited the frustration of Special Agents who worked on the operation and questioned why the case hadnââ¬â¢t received more attention from higher ups in federal law enforcement.
I decided to look deeper into the case myself and discovered some shocking information. I have held onto this information for over a year. I had passed it on to a few lawyers and journalists in hopes that they would follow-up on my discoveries, but to date none of them have, so I have decided to divulge the info myself.
I discovered that the ââ¬Återror support system supplying U.S. enemies with sophisticated weaponsââ¬Â included three men from New Jersey. As I looked deeper into the story, I realized that one of the men lived in the same county where I worked at the time, and that all of them had worked in the city where one of my closest relatives lives.
Needless to say, I was shocked to think that two of these same men who plotted to secure components for nuclear weapons and one of whom allegedly funneled millions of dollars to Osama Bin Laden in the years leading up to 9-11, were still free and allowed to roam the streets of New Jersey.
Enter the players in the Garden State Soap Operaââ¬Â¦
Diaa Mohsen
The August 2, 2002 edition of Dateline NBC revealed that Operation Diamondback began in the Fall of 1998 and was a two and a half year investigation. One of the first contacts Randy Glass made was with an American citizen born in Egypt who moved to New Jersey about 32 years ago named Diaa Mohsen. Mohsen implied that he represented Arab men and that they needed to be very careful as to how they did business.
As the relationship between Randy Glass and Diaa Mohsen developed they talked specifically about what kinds of weapons Mohsenââ¬â¢s contacts wanted and who they would be going to. The following quotes are excerpts from taped conversations between Glass and Mohsen from the Dateline transcript:
ââ¬ÅDiaa Mohsen: ââ¬ÅThey use rocket grenades. They have howitizer. They have like 120 millimeter howitizer.ââ¬Â
Randy Glass: ââ¬ÅWhat is that? Thatââ¬â¢s like a ââ¬â whatââ¬â¢s a howitizer? Itââ¬â¢s like a cannon?ââ¬Â
Diaa Mohsen: ââ¬ÅArtillery.ââ¬Â
Glass: ââ¬ÅItââ¬â¢s like artillery like in the movies.ââ¬Â
Diaa Mohsen: ââ¬ÅYeahââ¬Â.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅAnd then Glassââ¬â¢s contact tells him where the potential customers can be found.
Diaa Mohsen: ââ¬ÅIââ¬â¢ll take you to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.ââ¬Â
Finally, he confirms just what kind of people heââ¬â¢s dealing with.
Diaa Mohsen: ââ¬ÅYou know those fââ¬âââ¬â-g people, they are terrorists.ââ¬Â
Randy Glass: ââ¬ÅSo these are terrorists?ââ¬Â
Diaa Mohsen: ââ¬ÅSure.ââ¬Â
Randy Glass: ââ¬ÅThatââ¬â¢s wonderful.ââ¬Â
And what else do the terrorists want? Special technology, he says, for the deadliest of weapons.
Randy Glass: ââ¬ÅWhat is that?ââ¬Â
Diaa Mohsen: ââ¬ÅOne of the components for a nuclear weapon.ââ¬Âââ¬Â (2)
Mohsen wanted proof that Glass could actually deliver weapons, so on January 21, 1999 a meeting was set up in a parking lot in New Jersey where Randy showed him a Stinger Missile. A photo was taken of Mohsen holding the weapon and he was then off to Egypt to prove to his associates that Glass was legit.
Dick Stoltz, a decorated veteran agent with ATF, posed as an associate of Randyââ¬â¢s during the operation. Their initial meeting with some Egyptian men fell through, but they were soon put in touch with more people in Jersey City who were eager to deal with them.
Mohamed Malik
The next person Diaa Mohsen put Randy Glass in touch with was, Mohamed ââ¬ÅMikeââ¬Â Malik, a small businessman in Jersey City who owned convenience stores, a laundromat and a long distance phone card company. On the phone with Malik, Randy agrees to travel to New York City to meet a buyer referred to in the Dateline transcript as ââ¬ÅAbbasââ¬Â. I have since determined that the full name of ââ¬ÅAbbasââ¬Â was Raja Ghulam Abbas.
Excerpts from the Dateline transcript:
ââ¬ÅOn July 22, 1999, Glass flew to New York for a meeting at the trendy Tribeca Grill, a restaurant partly owned by actor Robert DeNiro. It was dinner for four: Glass, his first contact, Diaa Mohsen; the Jersey City businessman Mike Malik and the mystery man; Abbas.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅAbbas gave Glass a business card saying he worked for Malikââ¬â¢s long distance phone card company. Glass was wearing a wire.
Mixed in with the dinner crowd were agents from the FBIââ¬â¢s Terrorism Task Force in case anything went wrong. Glass says Abbas was all business. ââ¬ÅBasically what he told me was that they were interested in purchasing a large amount of sophisticated weapons systems,ââ¬Â says Glass. ââ¬ÅAnd they wanted an actual ship load, not a small amount.ââ¬Â And who was Abbas representing in this transaction? ââ¬ÅAbbas was represented to me as being an ISI agent,ââ¬Â says Glass. ISI is the official intelligence agency, like the CIA, of Pakistan. And this is where the stakes really get high. Because, if Abbas was telling the truth, Randy Glass and the feds were about to cut an illegal weapons deal with a Pakistani intelligence operative linked to terrorists.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅThen, in the middle of a crowded New York restaurant, Glass says the talk turned to something much more ominous: components for nuclear weapons, triggering devices and plutonium.
ââ¬ÅThey inquired if it was available,ââ¬Â says Glass.
What did Glass say? ââ¬ÅYes,ââ¬Â says Glass.
And they responded? ââ¬ÅThey were interested,ââ¬Â says Glass.
Dick Stoltz, the veteran undercover agent with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms who worked the case, confirms Randy Glassââ¬â¢s account.
Stoltz had to realize that the people being talked about as customers for these weapons were the most wanted terrorists in the world.
ââ¬ÅThatââ¬â¢s correct,ââ¬Â says Stoltz.
Bin Laden? ââ¬ÅCorrect,ââ¬Â says Stoltz.
Did Stoltz think they were serious? ââ¬ÅOh absolutely,ââ¬Â he says.
In fact, Stoltz says Randy Glassââ¬â¢s dinner companions were checked out by U.S. intelligence experts and found to have real connections.
ââ¬ÅWe did confirm through various sources that Abbas and Malik did have links to weapons trafficking groups and militant operations,ââ¬Â says Stoltz.ââ¬Â (2)
About this meeting, John Pacenti, in a Palm Beach Post article dated August 2, 2002 titled, Con Man Turned Patriot Tells All states:
"At the meeting Abbas said Americans are the enemy and they will have no problem blowing up this entire restaurant because itââ¬â¢s full of Americans," Glass said. "As we leave the restaurant, Abbas turns and says, 'those towers (the World Trade Center) are coming down.'"
Despite that information, available to the government two years before the World Trade Center attack, the FBI's terrorism task force didn't appear to take the threat seriously, Glass said.ââ¬Â (4)
So now we have an alleged member of the Pakistani ISI, Raja Ghulam Abbas, meeting with Randy Glass in New York City, talking about buying sophisticated weapons, components for nuclear arms and talking about the World Trade Center towers coming down. Abbas also presents a business card showing that he is in business with Mohamed ââ¬ÅMikeââ¬Â Malik. The entire meeting was recorded and according to Randy, members of the FBI Terrorism Task Force were present in case anything went wrong.
A few weeks after the meeting the buyers flew to Florida to see the weapons for sale. From the August 2nd Dateline transcript we find this:
ââ¬ÅStoltz says that more than anything else they wanted materials for nuclear weapons, especially a substance called heavy water, which is used to make weapons grade plutonium.
Sometimes, as on this tape, Abbas used a code name, referring to heavy water as ââ¬Åsweet water.ââ¬Â
Abbas: ââ¬ÅAnd we hook up to the guys which ... in Pakistan work for us . . .ââ¬Â
Randy Glass: ââ¬ÅYeah, of course.ââ¬Â
Abbas: ââ¬ÅSo we say to him whatever you need, anything up to the sweet water, you know?ââ¬Â
Randy Glass: ââ¬ÅYes.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅThey would tell me: ââ¬ËThe people that Iââ¬â¢m dealing with, they have to have the heavy water,ââ¬â¢Ã¢â¬Â says Stoltz.
And unless they got it, Stoltz was told the deal was off. That was a deal breaker.
ââ¬ÅThat was a deal breaker,ââ¬Â says Stoltz. ââ¬ÅThey were flexible maybe on military parts for airplanes or small arms or maybe even Stingers, but they always came back to square one. Heavy water.ââ¬Â
For nuclear weapons?
ââ¬ÅCorrect,ââ¬Â says Stoltz.
And that wasnââ¬â¢t all the arms dealers wanted. ââ¬ÅDatelineââ¬Â has learned that Mike Malik gave the undercover agents a list of radioactive chemicals that could be used to make a so-called dirty bomb ââ¬â conventional explosives laced with radioactive materials. Bin Ladenââ¬â¢s terrorists are believed to have talked about detonating such a bomb in a major U.S. city to spread toxic radiation.
Malik and Abbas were so serious about closing a deal, Stoltz says, they went back to Pakistan to talk to their customers in person. Then, Stoltz says, Abbas informed him there was one more condition: he wanted to bring a Pakistani nuclear scientist to America who could inspect the nuclear materials that would be part of the deal. And he told Stoltz the name of the scientist.
Did Stoltz check this out?
ââ¬ÅOf course it was passed up the line and it was confirmed that this person did exist and thatââ¬â¢s what he did for the Pakistani government,ââ¬Â says Stoltz. ââ¬ÅThat he was in the field of atomic weapons. He was a scientist.ââ¬Âââ¬Â (2)
Now we have Mohamed ââ¬ÅMikeââ¬Â Malik not only traveling with Abbas to Florida with a priority of securing heavy water for a dirty bomb, but Malik himself coming up with a shopping ââ¬Ålist of radioactive chemicals that could be used to make a so-called dirty bomb ââ¬â conventional explosives laced with radioactive materials.ââ¬Â
The group finally reached an agreement in December of 2000.
ââ¬ÅThe buyers would pay $32 million over several years. The first shipments would be conventional weapons. Nuclear components would come later. A Florida bank account was set up to receive the $32 million wire transfer that was supposed to come from a bank in the Middle Eastern emirate of Dubai. Federal agents waited six months, but the money never came. ââ¬ÅAnd at that point, it was decided that we would take the case down,ââ¬Â says Stoltz. ââ¬ÅWe thought we had gone about as far as we could with it.ââ¬Â
The Dateline story states that, ââ¬ÅA Florida bank account was set up to receive the $32 million wire transfer that was supposed to come from a bank in the Middle Eastern emirate of Dubai.ââ¬Â
In an interesting parallel, in an article titled Al Qaeda Moneyman Caught, by Elaine Shannon, published by Time Magazine on May 1, 2003 (5), Shannon states:
ââ¬ÅA Pakistani police roundup of al-Qaeda figures in Karachi Tuesday has netted a Bin Laden bagman who funneled nearly $120,000 to ringleader Mohammed Atta and other 9/11 hijackers to finance their flight lessons and living expenses in the US, according to FBI and U.S. intelligence officials.
Ali Abd al-Aziz (also known as Ammar al-Baluchi), a nephew of captured al-Qaeda operations boss Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and first cousin of 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Ramzi Yousef, was arrested with a higher-ranking al-Qaeda lieutenant, Walid Ba 'Attash, aka "Khallad" or Tawfiq Bin Attash an Osama bin Laden intimate who is believed to have organized the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.ââ¬Â (5)
Further on Shannon writes about the arrangements made to transfer the money from Dubai to a bank in Florida.
ââ¬ÅFrom July 18 to September 18, 2000, Aziz, using the Mansur alias or calling himself "Mr. Ali" or "Hani" of "Fawaz Trding" (SIC), wired another $109,500 from the UAE Exchange Centre in Dubai to an account at Sun Trust Bank held jointly by Al Shehhi and 9/11 hijack team leader Mohammed Atta, while both men were attending Huffman Aviation school in Venice, Florida.ââ¬Â (5)
So we have both of these plans to wire money originating in Dubai and ending up in banks in Florida. Coincidence?
Another interesting parallel in the two stories is that they both involve members of the Pakistani ISI. We know that Raja Ghulam Abbas represented himself to Randy Glass as being a Pakistani ISI Agent. The Times of India, in an article titled, India helped FBI trace ISI-terrorist links, by Manoj Joshi, dated October 9, 2001, revealed that the head of the Pakistani ISI, General Mahmoud Ahmad, had been fired from his position after it was determined that he had authorized the transfer of $100,000 to Mohamed Atta in Florida shortly before 9-11.
ââ¬ÅWhile the Pakistani Inter Services Public Relations claimed that former ISI director-general Lt-Gen Mahmud Ahmad sought retirement after being superseded on Monday, the truth is more shocking.
Top sources confirmed here on Tuesday, that the general lost his job because of the "evidence" India produced to show his links to one of the suicide bombers that wrecked the World Trade Centre. The US authorities sought his removal after confirming the fact that $100,000 were wired to WTC hijacker Mohammed Atta from Pakistan by Ahmad Umar Sheikh at the instance of Gen Mahumd.ââ¬Â (6)
Further research indicates that Dubai was the place where most Al Qaeda money transfers originated. Atta apparently received a number of money transfers from Dubai and some of them were sent by people other than Ali Abd al-Aziz. Attaââ¬â¢s name will come up again later in this report when I tell the story of another Operation Diamondback player.
So whatever happened to Diaa Mohsen, Mohammed Malik and Raja Ghulam Abbas after Operation Diamondback came to an end? Here are some of the answers from the Dateline transcript:
ââ¬ÅIn June of last year, the feds moved in and arrested Randy Glassââ¬â¢s original contact, Diaa Mohsen, and Mohamed Mike Malik. That was three months before 9/11. After 9/11 both men pled guilty to violating arms laws. But remarkably ââ¬â even though they were apparently willing to supply Americaââ¬â¢s enemies with sophisticated weapons ââ¬â even nuclear weapons technology ââ¬â Mohsen was sentenced to just 30 months in prison. And Malik? Mysteriously, his sentence remains under seal. And he appears to be a free man as ââ¬ÅDatelineââ¬Â saw recently when we visited him at his New Jersey convenience store.ââ¬Â (2)
According to my own research, Diaa Mohsen spent time in Allenwood Federal Prison in White Deer, PA and had a projected release date of 9-13-03.
Mohamed Malik currently lives in Watchung, New Jersey and according to reports his case has been sealed and all references to Pakistan have been stricken from the documents.
In an article that appeared in the Washington Post titled U.S. Reopens Arms Case In Probe for Taliban Role, lawyers for Mohsen and Malik tried to minimize their role and discount their contacts:
ââ¬ÅLawyers for the two men arrested in the sting said their clients have no connections to terrorists or arms dealers, and became involved only when approached by a U.S. government informant.
"None of those people who came over from Pakistan were government officials who could get an arms deal done," said Jim Eisenberg, attorney for Mohammed "Mike" Malik, one of the potential buyers, who remains free and whose case is sealed.
Val Rodriguez, lawyer for Diaa Mohsen, the only man in the case currently imprisoned, said his client also lacked the ties necessary to arrange a secret arms deal. He acknowledged, however, that Mohsen "kept trying to get the connections [the undercover agent] wanted." However, both Mohsen and Malik, he added, "had contact with people who knew terrorists."ââ¬Â
The statements from the lawyers contradict statements made by ATF Special Agent Dick Stoltz and other intelligence people who claim that the contacts Mohsen and Malik made were with terror groups known to be enemies of the United States.
What bothers me is that both Mohsen and Malik were caught red-handed on tape talking about securing components for nuclear weapons and Malik himself provided a list of specific things they needed to build these weapons. I didnââ¬â¢t hear Randy Glass or Dick Stoltz saying that they had these things for sale. I heard Mohsen and Malik asking for them and making their deal contingent on the acquisition of these nuclear weapons related components.
And where does a guy who supposedly just runs a convenience store in Jersey City even know what kind of components are needed to build a nuclear weapon unless heââ¬â¢s involved with people who know what to ask for?
As for Raja Ghulum Abbas, he ended up fleeing the country and intelligence officials claim they have lost him. Dateline NBC was able to locate him easily enough though and talked to him over the phone.
Part 2: The Good Doctor Who Wasnââ¬â¢t So Good
In Part 1 of this series I introduced you to three men from Jersey City who attempted to set up a weapons deal which included among other things, hundreds of Stinger Missiles and components for nuclear weapons. The weapons deal was part of a two and a half year investigation called Operation Diamondback which culminated with the arrests of two of the Jersey City men in June of 2001.
Diaa Mohsen was sentenced to 30 months in prison and Mohamed Malik was freed and had his case sealed and purged of all references to Pakistan. Both men are now free and continue to walk the streets of New Jersey.
The third man, Raja Ghulam Abbas, an alleged Pakistani ISI Agent, fled the country and the last I heard was living in Pakistan.
During a meeting at Robert DeNiroââ¬â¢s Tribeca Grill on July 22, 1999, Abbas pointed towards the World Trade Center and stated ââ¬Åthose towers are coming down.ââ¬Â Despite the fact that the meeting was recorded and was being watched by members of the FBIââ¬â¢s Terrorism Task Force, the threat was apparently not taken seriously. (4)
Randy Glass, the former con-man who posed as a weapons dealer during Operation Diamondback, was so upset about the references to the Towers coming down, that after the investigation ended he notified his elected representatives in Florida and reported the threats. According to an article in the Palm Beach Post, titled Intelligence Panel Hears from Glass, by John Pacenti published on October 17, 2002:
ââ¬ÅIn August 2001, just before Glass started to serve a seven-month sentence for a $6 million jewelry scam, he said he reached out to Sen. Bob Graham and U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler. He said he told staffers for both lawmakers that a Pakistani operative working for the Taliban known as R.G. Abbas made three references to imminent plans to attack the World Trade Center during the probe, which ended in June 2001.
At one meeting at New York's Tribeca Grill caught on tape, Abbas pointed to the World Trade Center and said, "Those towers are coming down," Glass said.ââ¬Â (8)
Further on in the article Pacenti reports:
ââ¬ÅGraham acknowledged at news conference in Boca Raton last month that Glass had contact with his office before Sept. 11, 2001, about an attack on the World Trade Center. "I was concerned about that and a dozen other pieces of information which emanated from the summer of 2001," the senator said.ââ¬Â (8)
WPTV, an NBC affiliate in Florida did a news report where Senator Graham is confronted about the Glass info and a video of the story can be viewed online by checking out The Randy Glass Video in the Resources section at the end of this article.
In Part 1 of this series, I mentioned the fact that General Mahmoud Ahmad, the head of the Pakistani ISI, had been sacked from his position after it was determined that he had authorized a wire transfer of $100,000 to Mohammed Atta shortly before 9-11. (6)
On the morning of 9-11, General Ahmad was at a breakfast meeting in Washington D.C. with Senator Bob Graham and Congressman Porter Goss, the Chairmen of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. (9) One would think that as soon as Senator Graham heard about the attack on the World Trade Center, he would have remembered the information Randy Glass had shared with him about the threats.
Ironic, isnââ¬â¢t it, that Graham was sitting with the head of the Pakistani ISI at the exact same time the attacks took place when he had already been warned of a threat that had come directly from the lips of an alleged Pakistani ISI Agent? No wonder Senator Graham acted dumb when confronted with the pre 9-11 Glass warning in the WPTV news story.
Iââ¬â¢ve also never heard a response from either Senator Bob Graham or Congressman Porter Goss about what their thoughts were when it was revealed that the guy they had breakfast with on 9-11 had actually authorized the transfer of money to Mohammed Atta?
Porter Goss has now been nominated by President Bush to head the CIA. Many people have been lobbying to have Goss questioned about his meeting with General Ahmad on 9-11 but Iââ¬â¢m betting that nobody has the guts to even bring it up during his confirmation hearings and it seems to be a foregone conclusion that he will breeze though the hearings with no problem.
I also alluded in Part 1, to frustrations voiced by intelligence professionals over the lack of attention Operation Diamondback received from higher ups in Law Enforcement. ATF Special Agent Dick Stoltz had this to say about Operation Diamondback:
ââ¬ÅStoltz says heâ��¬â¢s surprised that all the evidence and intelligence the case generated wasnââ¬â¢t pursued more aggressively at the highest levels of law enforcement in Washington. ââ¬ÅQuite frankly, I was always wondering when maybe the case would be taken away from ATF,ââ¬Â says Stoltz. So Stoltz thought that he was on to something so big that ultimately FBI, perhaps CIA might take over? ââ¬ÅOh, FBI at the minimum,ââ¬Â says Stoltz.ââ¬Â (2)
Other federal officials had this to say:
ââ¬ÅSome federal officials were frustrated that the FBI, while allowing a Florida agent to work on the probe, did not declare the case a counterterrorism matter. That would have given ATF officials better access to FBI information and U.S. intelligence from around the world, and would have drawn bureaucratic backing from people all the way to the White House, officials said.ââ¬Â (7)
In the same Washington Post article, Dick Stoltz added this:
"Had more attention been paid to this inside the government, the case agents in the trenches would have had more information on who these Pakistani people on U.S. soil were," said Stoltz, who is now retired. "It would have steered us in other directions, and possibly justified continuing the investigation. . . . We couldn't understand why this wasn't treated as a national security matter." (7)
So why was Operation Diamondback handled as a criminal matter and not as a counterterrorism case? I believe I may have discovered the answer which will be revealed in the following section.
The Strange Story of Dr. Magdy Elamir
The August 2, 2002 edition of Dateline NBC, brought to light the story of another North Jersey character named Dr. Magdy Elamir.
ââ¬ÅLast fall, ââ¬ÅDatelineââ¬Â obtained information about Magdy Elamir. Heââ¬â¢s a prominent doctor, a neurologist with a practice in Jersey City. Born and educated in Egypt, he moved to this country about 20 years ago and since then has built a fortune. He lives in a mansion, is generous to local charities and is an active supporter of both political parties.
Should counterterrorism investigators take an interest in Dr. Elamir? Well, ââ¬ÅDatelineââ¬Â obtained a document last fall ââ¬â foreign intelligence report, that makes a startling allegation about the doctor ââ¬â that he has had financial ties with Osama bin Laden for years. The report was given to a senior member of Congress, Ben Gilman, back in 1998, when he was Chairman of the House International Relations Committee.
ââ¬ÅWe have a former FBI person on our staff and I asked him to look it over,ââ¬Â says Congressman Gilman. ââ¬ÅHe thought it was credible enough to turn it over to the intelligence people. And we turned it over to the FBI practically immediately.ââ¬Â
This was in 1998.
The report alleges that an H.M.O. owned by Dr. Elamir in New Jersey was ââ¬Åfunded by ben [sic] Ladenââ¬Â and that in turn Dr. Elamir was skimming money from the H.M.O. to fund ââ¬Återrorist activities.ââ¬Â
Has the FBI answered those questions? Not to Congressman Gilmanââ¬â¢s satisfaction. But what ââ¬ÅDatelineââ¬Â found intriguing is that less than a year after the congressman says the FBI received the report, Dr. Elamirââ¬â¢s HMO was taken over by the state of New Jersey, which opened a fraud investigation. Why? Because, according to sources close to the investigation, more than $15 million is unaccounted for. Where did the money go? ââ¬ÅDatelineââ¬Â has reviewed documents that show at least some of it went into hard-to-trace offshore bank accounts. Does that mean any of the missing money went, as the intelligence report suggests, to fund terrorist activities? We donââ¬â¢t know.ââ¬Â (2)
This story really caught my attention since allegations were made that Dr. Elamir had financial ties to Osama Bin Laden for years and that Bin Laden had funded an HMO that Elamir was operating in New Jersey. The intelligence report that Dateline refers to also infers that Dr. Elamir may have skimmed money from the HMO to fund ââ¬Återrorist activitiesââ¬Â.
I decided to look deeper into this story and found the following information about Dr. Elamir:
ââ¬ÅMagdy El Sayed El Amir, a native of Egypt, received his medical degree from the University of Cairo in 1977. After moving to the US with his family, he completed his neurology and psychiatry residency before opening a storefront neurology practice in Jersey City, NJ, in 1982. The practice catered to the area's poor, many of whom were fee-for-service Medicaid beneficiaries.
Elamir (in this country, he'd begun eliding the two parts of his last name) did a brisk business. Before long, his medical practice became the nucleus for other health-related enterprises, including several MRI centers, a limousine and ambulance company, and a physician billing and management service. He also acquired real estate in Hudson County, where he practiced, and in several adjoining counties.ââ¬Â (10)
I also found out that in addition to the HMO fraud case referred to in the Dateline story, that Dr. Elamir had a history of involvement in other fraud cases.
ââ¬ÅIn 1996 and 1997, Maryland Casualty Insurance Co., National Consumer Insurance Co., and Allstate New Jersey Insurance Co. cited Elamir and numerous other defendants in lawsuits alleging that they performed unnecessary medical procedures on "victimsââ¬Â of staged auto accidents. As a result, Allstate stopped paying for MRIs at Elamir's unlicensed centers, and his cash flow dropped, Elamir's attorneys have said.
Elamir ran afoul of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1997 after applying for a license to perform radioactive imaging in another of his offices. The NRC found that he had listed a Long Island doctor as his office's radiation safety officer and the sole authorized user of the material without the doctor's knowledge, NRC disciplinary records show. The physician was not licensed in New Jersey, according to the state Board of Medical Examiners.
As a result, the NRC has prohibited Elamir from any involvement with nuclear medicine until 2002.ââ¬Â (11)
In 2001 Dr. Elamir was involved in another accident fraud case in New Jersey:
ââ¬ÅA Clifton lawyer and three doctors were arrested in Wednesday's roundup of 192 defendants charged as part of an auto insurance fraud ring, making them the first professionals to be arrested under New Jersey's anti-runner statute.
Hudson County prosecutors said the ring staged accidents in Hudson, Bergen, Passaic and Essex counties to try to collect $5 million in phony claims, a few of which were paid by carriers cooperating in the 19-month-long sting operation.ââ¬Â (12)
Further on in the article:
ââ¬ÅThe other doctor charged under the statute is neurologist Magdy Elamir of Saddle River. He is accused of paying Poller in exchange for his sending patients to Elamir's clinics for unnecessary and expensive MRIs.
Neurologist Elamir, who operates clinics in several cities, is no stranger to authorities. In June 2000, he was sued by the state for allegedly draining $16.7 million from the assets of a Newark-based HMO he and his associates ran. The now-defunct HMO, American Preferred Provider Plan, served 44,000 poor, mostly Medicaid patients.
State Banking and Insurance Commissioner Karen Suter said at the time that the assets were diverted to Elamir, his relatives and associates, and other enterprises he controlled, including HMOs in Michigan and Washington, D.C.
Bill Hine, a spokesman for Suter, says the suit against Elamir is in discovery. The state is liquidating the Washington HMO and has taken over the Michigan operation and sold the assets, he adds.
Elamir's clinics also came up in the discipline case against former Newark solo practitioner Patrick Pajerowski, disbarred by the state Supreme Court in 1998 for using a runner. In that ethics case, two accident victims were visited by the runner -- Pajerowski's office manager -- who referred them to a Jersey City clinic operated by Elamir, even though they told him they were not injured. No criminal charges were filed.ââ¬Â (12)
If that wasnââ¬â¢t enough, I also found that in 1999, Dr. Elamir was running a number of unlicensed MRI centers:
ââ¬ÅA Saddle River man accused by the state of siphoning more than $ 9 million from his financially ailing health maintenance organization also owns five unlicensed MRI centers that are not subject to health and safety standards, state officials say.
Dr. Magdy Elamir, owner of the American Preferred Provider Plan (APPP), which was taken over by the state last month, owns magnetic resonance imaging centers in Paterson, Passaic, Jersey City, Irvington, and Newark.ââ¬Â (13)
So here we have a prominent neurologist who is alleged to have funneled money to Osama Bin Laden through his fraudulent HMO, and we also discover that he has been involved in at least two accident fraud schemes, operated unlicensed MRI centers and had a license revoked by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC license revocation is especially troubling since unauthorized and unlicensed personnel at Dr. Elamirââ¬â¢s clinics were handling nuclear materials.
In a document I found titled Nuclear Regulatory Commission Issuances, dated July 1- December 31, 1998, Volume 48 pages 1-415, on page 7 is listed:
Magdy Elamir, MD
(Newark, New Jersey)
Docket 1A 97-070
Memorandum and Order, LBP 98-25, October 8, 1998ââ¬Â¦Ã¢â¬Â¦226
This document is in the form of a PDF file and when I scrolled down to page 226, I found five pages of information concerning the suspension of Byproducts Material License # 29-30282-01. (14)
In an NRC News article published by the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on April 4, 1997, it states:
ââ¬ÅAn NRC inspection in January found that the individuals acting as the authorized user of radioactive materials at Newark Medical Associates and as its radiation safety officer were not listed on the license, as NRC requires. A subsequent investigation by the NRC's Office of Investigations determined that the application for the license listed an individual as the sole authorized user and radiation safety officer without that individual's consent or knowledge. Investigators further found that the individual has never been associated with Newark Medical Associates.ââ¬Â (15)
To make matters worse, Dr. Elamirââ¬â¢s own brother, Mohamed El Amir, was implicated in Operation Diamondback:
ââ¬ÅDatelineââ¬Â has found another reason why federal investigators might want to pay close attention to Dr. Elamir and his family. Itââ¬â¢s something we learned when we interviewed Randy Glass, the con-man turned undercover operative who helped the government break up an illegal weapons ring allegedly tied to terrorist groups. It turns out that one of the people recorded trying to arrange an arms deal with Randy Glass was Dr. Elamirââ¬â¢s own brother, Mohamed, an engineer, also a U.S. citizen now living in Egypt. And just listen to what he was interested in. ââ¬ÅThere was a warehouse full of weapons in Italy that they needed shipped,ââ¬Â says Glass. It was the spring of 1999. Mohamed Elamir explains that he wants false papers that would identify a shipment of weapons ââ¬â as vegetables. Randy Glass: ââ¬Å But youââ¬â¢re talking about, theyââ¬â¢re saying they wanna ship vegetables, right? Is what they want ââ¬â is what they want on the paperwork, correct?ââ¬Â Mohamed El Amir: ââ¬ÅYep.ââ¬Â Then Randy Glass cuts to the chase. Randy Glass: ââ¬ÅListen. My phone line is secure. And so Iââ¬â¢m just gonna talk very open with you, OK?ââ¬Â Mohamed El Amir: ââ¬ÅYep.ââ¬Â Randy Glass: ââ¬ÅOK. They want to ship things like tanks, correct?ââ¬Â Mohamed El Amir: ââ¬ÅUh-huh.ââ¬Â Glass: ââ¬ÅOK. How... OK. In orââ¬â ââ¬Â Mohamed El Amir: ââ¬ÅNo, no, no, no. Just ammunition, not tanks.ââ¬Â Randy Glass: ââ¬ÅSo they just wanna do basically, small arms and ammunition, right?ââ¬Â Mohamed El Amir: ââ¬ÅYes.ââ¬Â
Did Mohamed give Glass any indication as to who was going to get these arms?
ââ¬ÅNever got a chance to ask him,ââ¬Â says Glass.
Glass says federal agents told him to drop the matter.
So, what happened to the case? ââ¬ÅNothing,ââ¬Â says Glass.
There was no follow-up. ââ¬ÅNo,ââ¬Â says Glass.
Was this a missed opportunity? ââ¬ÅHundred percent,ââ¬Â says Glass.
And Randy Glass doesnââ¬â¢t know the half of it, because that same intelligence report that talks about Dr. Elamir also names his brother Mohamed as having ties to Osama bin Laden.ââ¬Â (2)
So at this point we now have information that Dr. Magdy Elamir along with his brother Mohamed El Amir have ties to Osama Bin Laden and yet neither one of them is arrested. Randy Glass says in fact that ââ¬Åfederal agents told him to drop the matter.ââ¬Â
All of this information made me wonder what a person has to do in New Jersey to lose his or her medical license? I also wondered why Dr. Elamir had never been arrested for his connections to Osama Bin Laden? The only logical reason I could figure that Dr. Magdy Elamir was still practicing medicine was that he must have had one fine well connected lawyer.
I then took a closer look at the articles and court documents I had collected on Dr. Magdy Elamir and they revealed who his lawyer was.
ââ¬ÅElamir did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment. But his attorney, Michael Chertoff, said several of the five MRI centers may be exempt from licensing requirements, a position questioned by state health officials.ââ¬Â (13)
The same article states that Dr. Elamirââ¬â¢s lawyer, Michael Chertoff, also represented him in the fraudulent HMO case:
ââ¬ÂChertoff, who has represented Elamir at court hearings on the state takeover of APPP, said he did not know why the MRI centers did not provide financial help for the troubled HMO, as envisioned in the agreement.
Elamir has been accused by the state of diverting state Medicaid funds to other businesses he owns. In a civil proceeding, the state alleges that American Preferred Provider illegally"loaned"more than $ 4 million to two start-up HMOs in Michigan and Washington, D.C., also owned by Elamir, and that APPP paid Elamir and various other businesses he owned more than $ 5 million out of Medicaid funds.ââ¬Â (13)
I didnââ¬â¢t know who Michael Chertoff was when I ran across his name as the attorney who defended Dr. Elamir in his fraudulent HMO and MRI cases, so I did some research. I was completely blown away by what I discovered about Michael Chertoff.
As it turns out, Michael Chertoff was appointed Assistant Attorney General, under John Ashcroft, in early 2001 and was placed in charge of the Criminal Division. (16) Since Operation Diamondback was an active case when he took office, and culminated in arrests in June of 2001, the case would have fallen under his pervue since it was handled as a criminal case and not as a counterterrorism case. This means that one of his former clients, Dr. Magdy Elamir, along with his brother Mohamed El Amir, were now involved in a case under his supervision.
When the attacks on 9-11 occurred, Michael Chertoff was placed in charge of the investigation. On Oct. 25, 2001, CBS reported that the Feds had launched Operation Green Quest in an attempt to stop the financing of terrorism. Hereââ¬â¢s what Dr. Magdy Elamirââ¬â¢s former attorney had to say on the subject:
"The lifeblood of terrorism is money, and if we cut the money we cut the blood supply," said assistant attorney general Michael Chertoff, the head of the Justice Department's criminal division. (17)
The next day, on October 26, 2001, Michael Chertoff testified before Congress and had this to say:
ââ¬ÅAs an integral part of this national effort, the Department of Justice and the FBI have established an interagency Financial Review Group to coordinate the investigation of the financial aspects surrounding the terrorist events of September 11th and beyond. All members of this Committee recognize the importance of understanding the financial components of terrorist and criminal organizations. These financial links will be critical to the larger criminal investigation, while also providing a trail to the sources of funding for these heinous crimes. The importance of "following the money," in this instance, as well as in the investigation of all criminal enterprises, cannot be overstated.
The members of this Committee are also well aware that money laundering constitutes a threat to the safety of our communities, to the integrity of our financial institutions and to our national security.ââ¬Â (18)
On March 25, 2002, CNN reported:
ââ¬ÅAssistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff is the Dick Cheney of the Justice Department. Brainy, intense and well connected, the former federal prosecutor can usually be found at Attorney General John Ashcroft's elbow as the department's top counterterrorism tactician. And last week Chertoff vanished to an undisclosed location.
With no deputies along and no publicity, Chertoff was on a stealthy swing through France, Belgium and the Netherlands. His mission: sell Western European governments on a new Bush Administration plan to post U.S. Justice Department prosecutors overseas in unprecedented numbers. "The sinews that hold a terrorist network together are money, communications and transportation," Chertoff told TIME before his trip. To help sever those sinews, Chertoff wants to have American prosecutors stationed in key capitals, where they can work behind the scenes with their counterparts to overcome the legal and cultural obstacles to shipping evidence to the U.S. for use in court.ââ¬Â (19)
Perhaps Chertoff could have saved some time and effort and looked in his own backyard for evidence of terrorist financing. To date, Dr. Magdy Elamir and his brother have not been arrested and are still free.
I have a theory that Elamir was not arrested, because if his case did come to court, then Chertoffââ¬â¢s role as his lawyer in the HMO case might have been exposed. Since Elamirââ¬â¢s HMO was supposedly a front for Bin Laden and millions of dollars were allegedly skimmed from the HMO to fund terrorism, Chertoff himself might be implicated in some way since he had to have had access to the HMOââ¬â¢s books and Elamirââ¬â¢s finances when he defended him.
I also have a theory that this may be why Operation Diamondback remained a criminal case and not a counterterrorism case. As head of the Criminal Division in the Department of Justice, the case would have been under the control of Michael Chertoff himself. Was this the real reason why the case came to a screeching halt with only a few arrests? Was this the reason why Randy Glass was told to drop the matter by federal agents when the case started focusing on Dr. Elamirââ¬â¢s brother Mohamed El Amir? Was this the reason why so many federal agents were frustrated because they felt the case hadnââ¬â¢t received the attention of higher ups in federal law enforcement? Maybe it had?
On April 22, 2003 President Bush nominated Michael Chertoff to be the Federal Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit. Judge Chertoff now presides over federal cases in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the Virgin Islands.
Part 3: Another Mohamed El Amir, AKA Mohamed Atta
In Part 2 of this series you had a chance to meet Dr. Magdy Elamir and his brother Mohamed El Amir. According to an intelligence document that Congressman Ben Gilman had been given in 1998 and a copy of which Dateline NBC also had a chance to review, both of the brothers had ties to Osama Bin Laden. (2)
Neither Magdy, nor his brother Mohamed, were ever arrested by US authorities even though Magdy allegedly funneled millions of dollars from a fraudulent HMO to fund ââ¬Återrorist activitiesââ¬Â, and Mohamed tried to get false papers to cover up a shipload of weapons during Operation Diamondback.
I had already done a lot of research on Dr. Magdy Elamir but didnââ¬â¢t know a lot about his brother so I started searching the internet for references to Mohamed El Amir and was lead to of all peopleââ¬Â¦Mohamed Atta!
I discovered that while Mohamed Atta was a student at Cairo University, and also while he was living in Hamburg, he was known to his close friends and associates as Mohamed El Amir.
ABC in Sydney, Australia produced a documentary on 9-11 titled A Mission to Die For, and reporter Liz Jackson interviewed Mohamed Mokhtar El Rafei, one of Attaââ¬â¢s classmates at Cairo University in the 90ââ¬â¢s:
ââ¬Åââ¬ÅCan you tell us your reaction when you first read in the newspaper, or saw the photograph that said the Mohamed that you knew was supposed to be the man who flew the first plane into the World Trade Centre?ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅWell, for the first time I saw his picture in the newspaper, and I read his name, I had a doubt that the Mohamed what I know, because I knew him as Mohamed El-Amir, and for the first time, I said oh, no, no, this is Mohamed Atta. He's not Mohamed El-Amir, butââ¬Â¦ this is completely close to his face. But for my feelings, I refused ââ¬Â¦ from my inner believes that this is not Mohamed El-Amir. Of course, he is someone similar to him. And afterwardsââ¬Â¦ when the newspaper that Mohamed El-Amir is called Mohamed Atta in America, I was confused really, because this is not Mohamed El-Amir what I knew, while we were in the faculty.ââ¬Âââ¬Â
Further on:
ââ¬ÅIf I go back 10 years ago, while we were in the faculty of engineering - by the way, Mohamed El-Amir was close to my bench number, because his name is Mohamed, the same as me - and we joined together in so many occasions to do something.ââ¬Âââ¬Â (20)
In a Telegraph article by Hannah Cleaver, published on September 17, 2001, I also ran across references to Atta as Mohamed El Amir. Here are some excerpts:
ââ¬ÅMOHAMED ATTA had plans for the future. If he had been scheming for years to kill himself and thousands of others in an act of terrorism, he did nothing to betray that intention during his eight-year stay in Germany.
The 33-year-old, who used a different part of his name, El Amir, while in Hamburg, said he wanted to work for charity to improve the poor areas of Cairo, the city he told friends in Germany that was his birthplace and his home, where his family still lived, and where he trained as an architect.
Prof Diettmar Machule said: "Mohamed El Amir was someone who was in no way extreme. He was helpful, upstanding and correct, hard-working, intellectual and devout in his belief. That is something you would notice. But it was not an extreme kind of belief.
"The man in the photograph is the Mohamed El Amir that I knew, but I cannot believe that he would do such a terrible thing," said the friend, a Protestant German.
He added that El Amir seemed to lead a deeply devout and earnest but otherwise unremarkable life during his time in Hamburg.
Marwan Al Shehhi, 23, from the United Arab Emirates, the man thought to have steered the second jet into the World Trade Centre, was registered at the same university and shared El Amir's flat.
But, while El Amir was well-known on campus and was devoted to his studies, Al Shehhi rarely turned up for lectures or seminars. "It seems he was a phantom student," a college spokesman said.ââ¬Â (21)
In another story that ran on CTV News, Lorraine Passchier also refers to the El Amir surname and also names Attaââ¬â¢s father:
ââ¬ÅThroughout his stay in Hamburg, Atta used his family surname of El Amir, one of eight names authorities have traced to him. But as he travelled across the United States and to Europe over the past year, it appears he stuck with the name Atta as he put his suicide mission in motion.
His father, Cairo lawyer Mohammed El Amir, told a news conference that his son was innocent following the suicide hijackings. He called the United States the "root of terrorism" and blamed Israel for the September attacks.ââ¬Â (22)
In a Press Release from the FBI on September 27, 2001, the name Mohammad El Amir is listed as an alias of Attaââ¬â¢s.
ââ¬Å4) Mohamed Atta - Possible Egyptian national
-Date of birth used: September 1, 1968
-Possible residence(s): Hollywood, Florida; Coral Springs, Florida; Hamburg, Germany
-Believed to be a pilot
-Alias: Mehan Atta; Mohammad El Amir; Muhammad Atta; Mohamed El Sayed; Mohamed Elsayed; Muhammad Muhammad Al Amir Awag Al Sayyid Atta; Muhammad Muhammad Al-Amir Awad Al Sayadââ¬Â (23)
So now we know that Mohamed Atta was known as Mohamed El Amir to his friends and associates in Cairo and Hamburg and that his fathers name is also Mohamed El Amir. In addition we find that his father is a lawyer in Cairo.
I donââ¬â¢t know anything about Egyptian names, so Iââ¬â¢m not sure if the name El Amir is as common as Smith or Jones in the US. I do find it very interesting that Atta shares the same surname as Dr. Magdy Elamir and the exact same name as Magdyââ¬â¢s brother Mohamed El Amir.
Dateline NBC revealed that Magdyââ¬â¢s brother, Mohamed El Amir was an engineer in Cairo, Egypt. We know that Mohamed Atta studied engineering at Cairo University. Is there a connection? Are they related?
The juryââ¬â¢s still out on that one.
Part 4: Dr. Elamir, The Blind Sheikh, Ramzi Yousef and the Al Salam Mosque
In Part 3, I revealed that Mohamed Atta was known to his friends and associates in Cairo and Hamburg as Mohamed El Amir. I then wondered if there was any family relationship between Mohamed El Amir Atta and Dr. Magdy Elamir, the Jersey City neurologist who Dateline NBC claimed had ties to Osama Bin Laden. Dateline NBC had also reported that Dr. Elamir had a brother in Cairo named Mohamed El Amir, who tried to secure false paperwork for a warehouse full of weapons in Italy. (2)
Dateline NBC was not apparently aware that Atta had been known as El Amir in the past, so I emailed the information to them well over a year ago in hopes that they might follow-up on their story and see if there was a blood relationship between Mohamed Atta, Dr. Magdy Elamir and Mohamed El Amir. To date I have heard nothing back from anyone so I can only assume that they werenââ¬â¢t interested in my information.
I had read where Mohamed Atta spent time in the North Jersey area prior to 9-11 and I will document that information a bit later on in this story. First of all Iââ¬â¢d like to reveal another interesting link between Dr. Magdy Elamir and one of the true hubs of terrorism in the United States:
ââ¬ÅDatelineââ¬Â caught up with Dr. Elamir recently outside his office. He said he couldnââ¬â¢t talk about his HMO and the missing money. But he had this to say about allegations heââ¬â¢s connected to bin Laden and terrorism.
Dr. Elamir: ââ¬ÅThatââ¬â¢s preposterous. Never.ââ¬Â
Chris Hansen: ââ¬ÅWhy would somebody say something like that about you?ââ¬Â
Dr. Elamir: ââ¬ÅI have no idea. I have no idea.ââ¬Â
But the intelligence report suggests one thing that he doesnââ¬â¢t deny. That he has donated money to the mosque where the blind sheik once preached, Omar Abdel Rahman, who is now in prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.ââ¬Â (2)
The mosque referred to in the above excerpt is the Al Salam Mosque in Jersey City, the same city where Dr. Magdy Elamir has a medical practice. Hereââ¬â¢s a bit of history about the mosque:
ââ¬ÅIt is nearly a straight shot from the Jersey City waterfront overlooking the rubble of the twin towers up to Al Salam, the third-floor mosque here that for more than a decade has been tainted with suspicions of terrorism.
First there was the 1990 murder of a militant rabbi, linked to an Al Salam regular. Then there was the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, spurred, prosecutors said, by the incendiary sermons of blind Egyptian cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and carried out by his followers.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅAl Salam had a tradition of passionate preaching against the Egyptian government, which is supported by the United States. Journal Square has a large Egyptian population, and many worship at Al Salam.
The mosque's most famous scholar, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, was convicted in 1995 along with nine followers of conspiring to bomb the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan and several other buildings, bridges and tunnels in New York.
Prosecutors also said Abdel Rahman had galvanized his followers to carry out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six and wounded 1,000.
Three years later, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who prosecutors said masterminded the 1993 bombing, was also convicted. Abdul Rahman Yasin, another suspect in the 1993 bombing who lived in Jersey City, fled the country.
In 1990, Al Salam regular El Sayyid Nosair was charged with murdering Rabbi Meir Kahane during a speech in New York. Initially acquitted, Nosair eventually was retried under different charges and convicted.ââ¬Â (24)
Ramzi Yousef, by the way, is the nephew by marriage of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, yet another engineer who was born in Kuwait to Pakistani parents and who is acknowledged as the architect of the 9-11 attacks.
So now that weââ¬â¢ve established a link between the Al Salam Mosque and Dr. Magdy Elamir, I will now document the movements and activities of some of the hijackers involved in the 9-11 attacks and will tie Mohamed Atta to them in the North Jersey area.
The following was reported by CNN:
ââ¬ÅDuring the two weeks since hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, investigators have focused on New Jersey as a possible hub of terrorist activity.
FBI agents and local police have fanned across the state, conducting searches in more than a dozen cites and towns, some within sight of where the towers used to stand.
Investigators have pored over a top-floor apartment in a three-story, brick building in Paterson, New Jersey, a city 20 miles from Manhattan with a large Arab-American community, said a source with knowledge of one search.
The source said that the suspected hijacker identified by the FBI as Hani Hanjour lived in the apartment for several months this year. Hanjour has been identified as a 29-year-old Saudi national accused of being one of five hijackers aboard an American Airlines flight that crashed into the Pentagon. That flight, bound for Los Angeles, departed from Washington's Dulles International Airport.
In the first days of the investigation, FBI agents searched the Marriot hotel at Newark's airport where several hijackers may have stayed the night before the fatal flights. The United Airlines flight that crashed into a Pennsylvania field embarked from Newark at 8 a.m. on September 11.
Two suspected hijackers, identified as Nawaf and Salem al-Hamzi from Saudi Arabia, rented one mailbox at a Mailboxes Etc. franchise in a Fort Lee, New Jersey, mall and also listed as an address another franchise in Wayne, New Jersey.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅAl-Hamzi, joined by Hanjour, rented cars three times from the Borough Jeep-Chrysler dealership in Wayne. Co-owner Henry Hagedoorn said that al-Hamzi rented a minivan and then two sedans between June and August, returning a Chrysler Concorde on September 1 after 10 days, with 1,000 miles listed as being put on the car.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅJersey City has been on investigators' counterterrorism radar for years, a location where some of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers lived and stored explosive chemicals. A mosque there is where Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric who was a spiritual leader to past terrorist conspirators, sometimes preached until he was implicated in the conspiracy to bomb the twin towers and other New York City landmarks.ââ¬Â (25)
The New York Times had this to say about the hijackers:
ââ¬ÅPATERSON, N.J. -- In this neighborhood of Latinos, African-Americans and recent immigrants speaking dozens of languages, the handful of young Arab men who came and went drew almost no notice. In their apartment above a bodega, they did not play loud music. They appeared not to speak English.
But now that the man who took the lease has been identified as a hijacker, the apartment in the three-story house at 486 Union Avenue has been identified as a hub for those who planned the suicide missions of Sept. 11. Here, hijackers from all four of the flights were able to meet, or at least cross paths, in the months before the attacks.
The discovery of some kind of headquarters or rendezvous point here has helped stitch together earlier reports that placed some hijackers in scattered spots around northern New Jersey. Now it is clear that North Jersey was one of several East Coast staging areas for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅThe one-bedroom apartment was rented in early spring by Hani Hanjour, who is believed to have been at the controls of the flight that hit the Pentagon. His landlord and neighbors said he had at least one roommate. It is not clear how many of the hijackers ever stayed at the apartment, but neighbors identified Salem Alhamzi and Nawaq Alhamzi, who were also on the flight from Dulles International Airport, as visitors and possibly roommates of Mr. Hanjour.
They said they also recognized Saeed Alghamdi, who was on the flight from Newark that crashed in Pennsylvania, and Mohamed Atta, who was on the first flight from Boston to hit the trade center.ââ¬Â (26)
The Associated Press added the following information:
ââ¬ÅAt least six of the 19 suspected hijackers lived in or visited New Jersey before the attacks, but Carroll said it' s too soon to label the state as a staging area for the nation's deadliest terror attack.
Marwan Alshehhi, who authorities say hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 and flew it into the Trade Center's south tower, worked as an attendant at a gas station in Berkeley Township in Ocean County, according to customers and neighbors.
At a graffiti-sprayed brick building in Paterson where some doors don't have knobs, owner Jimi Nouri said he rented an apartment for six months to a man he identified from a photograph as suspected hijacker Hani Hanjour.
Resident Jamie Diaz, 20, said she often saw suspect Saeed Alghamdi at the apartment, and deli owner Carmen Tejada said that Hanjour came in several times daily to buy milk, juice or doughnuts.
Diaz said suspect Mohammed Atta frequently visited the apartment with several other men who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent.ââ¬Â (27)
The same article reported that some of the hijackers may have rented small planes to make dry runs to New York City so they could find the best approach patterns to attack the World Trade Center.
In another article on the same subject we find more specific information:
ââ¬ÅNEWARK, N.J. -- The hijackers who slammed two airliners into the Twin Towers practiced their deadly approaches to the World Trade Center in small planes rented from New Jersey airfields, law enforcement sources now believe.
The aerial reconnaissance missions were undertaken on a number of occasions in the weeks before the attacks, sources said, citing the accounts of eyewitnesses who saw the planes fly toward Manhattan and information from Jersey airfield operators.
Sources said the obvious conclusion, from evidence developed so far, is that the flights were practice suicide runs. "We believe that is what happened," said a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅFor the past two weeks, the FBI has been examining the records of dozens of flight schools and aviation centers throughout New Jersey, including Caldwell Flight Academy at the Essex County Airport in Fairfield where the owner has confirmed that several suspects sought by the FBI rented planes from him.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅSources would not divulge the type of aircraft that were rented in New Jersey, or specifically who made the flights. Witnesses, though, told The Star-Ledger that Mohamed Atta -- who federal investigators believe was at the controls of American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center -- was a frequent visitor to a Paterson apartment rented by one of the suspected hijackers.
The revelation came amid mounting evidence that New Jersey was a major staging area for the hijacking plot.ââ¬Â (28)
The Record reported on June 20, 2003 that the New Jersey State Police were claiming that Atta had lived in a motel in Wayne, NJ for a year before the attacks. I find this report hard to believe, however, since there were many documented sightings of Atta during this time period, particularly in Florida.
ââ¬ÅMohamed Atta, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, lived in a Wayne motel for about a year before the attacks, state police said Thursday.
The revelation - the first time authorities have placed Atta in the motel - came after state police Superintendent Joseph R. Fuentes testified Thursday afternoon before the Assembly Homeland Security Committee about his agency's efforts to combat terrorism.
In his testimony, Fuentes confirmed what officials had said previously: New Jersey was one of the launching points for the Sept. 11 attacks and that some of the 19 hijackers moved through New Jersey hotels and used New Jersey-based criminal networks to obtain identification documents.
Fuentes would not go into detail, but Sgt. Kevin Rehmann, a state police spokesman, later said Fuentes was referring to Atta. Rehmann said Atta had lived in the Wayne Motor Inn on Route 23 for a year.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅThe Record has previously reported that several of the terrorists were seen in Passaic County and that two unidentified terrorists stayed at the Wayne motel.
Two days after the attacks, FBI agents searched the Wayne Motor Inn's guest records and took copies of several receipts, hotel employees said at the time.ââ¬Â (29)
Despite the fact that I donââ¬â¢t believe Atta lived at the Wayne Motor Inn for a year prior to the attacks I have found evidence that he traveled in and out of Newark, New Jersey a number of times between June 3, 2000 and September 11, 2001.
ââ¬ÅAccording to INS records, Atta first entered the United States on June 3, 2000, at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, after flying from Prague International Airport in the Czech Republic. The OIG confirmed that a "hit" or a "lookout" did not appear on the IBIS screen when the inspector swiped Atta's passport. Atta was admitted by the primary INS inspector without being referred to secondary. Atta received a B-2 admission that allowed him to stay in the United States for six months until December 2, 2000.ââ¬Â (30)
From the 9/11 Commission Report we learn more about who was living in the apartment in Pat
2005-02-03 20:58 | User Profile
Chertoff's roots:[url]http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/012005/njcongregants.html[/url]
Cheroff's Biography: [url]http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/011305/njbushtaps.html[/url]
NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS
Rabbi's son is tapped to head Homeland Security Dept.
by Johanna Ginsberg NJJN Staff Writer
President George W. Bushââ¬â¢s latest nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security is a New Jersey native whose father headed a Conservative synagogue in Elizabeth.
On Tuesday, Bush selected Michael Chertoff, a federal appeals court judge, to serve as secretary for homeland security, replacing Tom Ridge.
Chertoff, 51, who sits on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, was born in Elizabeth, the son and grandson of rabbis. His grandfather, Rabbi Paul Chertoff, was a member of the Talmud faculty at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City for over 40 years. His father, Rabbi Gershon Chertoff, led Temple Bââ¬â¢nai Israel in Elizabeth. The Conservative synagogue merged with Congregation Bââ¬â¢nai Israel in Millburn in 1992. His brother, Mordechai, is also a rabbi. Michael Chertoff lived in Westfield and was a member of Temple Beth Ahm in Springfield before moving to Washington, DC. Since returning to New Jersey, he has resided in Bernardsville, where he is a member of Congregation Bââ¬â¢nai Israel.
Chertoff was honored in the early 1990s by the Anti-Defamation League, New Jersey region, on whose board his wife, Meryl, sat for many years.
ââ¬ÅHis skills will redound to the betterment of security. The country will be better off for his talent,ââ¬Â said Jeffrey Maas, executive director of New Jersey State Association of Jewish Federations. Maas served as executive director of the ADL New Jersey region for 22 years.
Added Etzion Neurer, current executive director of ADL, NJ region: ââ¬ÅMeryl was known among the lay people as someone very bipartisan who worked closely with people on both sides of the fence.ââ¬Â
Chertoff served as United States Attorney for New Jersey from 1990 to 1994, United States Special Counsel for the Whitewater Committee, and partner at the law firm Latham and Watkins, before heading the criminal division of the United States Department of Justice from 2001 to 2003. In that role, following the 9/11 attacks, he was involved both in prosecuting Zacarias Moussaoui and crafting United States anti-terrorism policy.
New Jersey Senators Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg, both Democrats, released statements praising the nominee. Corzine called him ââ¬Åone of the most able people and public servants he has ever knownââ¬Â and said he ââ¬Åwill bring tremendous skills to the task ahead of him and tremendous sensitivity to the special risks the people of New Jersey face each day.ââ¬Â Lautenberg said Chertoffââ¬â¢s anti-terrorism experience will serve the country well.
Corzine remembered Chertoffââ¬â¢s work in 2000 as pro bono counsel in the New Jersey racial profiling investigation that unseated former State Attorney General Peter Verniero. ââ¬ÅJudge Chertoff played a critical role in helping the New Jersey state legislature investigate racial profiling and understands how the pernicious practice undermines our nationââ¬â¢s basic constitutional commitment to equal justice under the law,ââ¬Â said Corzine.
Chertoff has served on the Finance Committees of several Republican Senatorial candidates in New Jersey, including former acting NJ Republican Gov. Donald DiFrancesco, State Senate President John Bennett (R-Dist. 12), and NJ Senator Joseph Kyrillos (R-Dist. 13). The left-leaning Alliance for Justice, which monitors administration nominations, called Chertoff ââ¬Åa loyal Republicanââ¬Â who ââ¬Åhas refrained from aligning himself with the right wing of the party, particularly on social issues.ââ¬Â
As New Jerseyââ¬â¢s U.S. attorney from 1990 to 1994, Chertoff oversaw several high-profile prosecutions, including Jersey City Mayor Gerald McCann for bank fraud and tax evasion; New York chief judge Sol Wachtler on extortion, interstate racketeering, and blackmail charges; and the kidnappers and killers of Exxon executive Sidney Reso. Chertoff also handled the stock fraud trial of Eddie Antar, founder of the failed Crazy Eddie discount electronics chain, according to the Associated Press.
As Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division of U.S. Department of Justice in 2002, Chertoff announced the departmentââ¬â¢s successes in stripping the citizenship of U.S. residents found to have participated in the persecution of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. Chertoff called one such decision ââ¬Åan important victory on behalf of the victims of Nazi torture and murder in Nazi-occupied Belarus.ââ¬Â
If confirmed by the Senate, Chertoff would be the second Cabinet-level Jewish appointee; Josh Bolten heads the Office of Management and Budget. Senate Democrats are likely to focus on Chertoffââ¬â¢s role in the Whitewater investigations of President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), and his views on the detention of suspected terrorists.
Chertoffââ¬â¢s nomination follows the failed nomination of Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner who withdrew from consideration amid revelations of various improprieties.
Johanna Ginsberg can be reached at [email]jginsberg@njjewishnews.com[/email].
Copyright 2004 New Jersey Jewish News. All rights reserved. For subscription information call 973.887.8500.
More: [url]http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0112-20.htm[/url]
Some more links: [url]http://blog-me-no-blogs.blogspot.com/2005/01/another-secretary-of-homeland-security.html[/url]
Shorter Story, New Jersey Terrorist Links: [url]http://www.madcowprod.com/01122004.html[/url]
2005-02-04 07:57 | User Profile
[IMG]http://home.ripway.com/2004-12/220258/Stuff/27233-Bush-Chertoff-Lenin.jpg[/IMG]
2005-02-05 00:59 | User Profile
Awesome, Brooke!
2005-02-06 21:41 | User Profile
[url]http://207.44.245.159/article7965.htm[/url]
NEWS YOU WON'T FIND ON CNN
Criminal World
By Chris Floyd
02/03/05 "Moscow Times" -- Another day, another accomplice in the construction of the Bush Regime's torture chambers revealed. Nothing new there; the perp walk of top Bushists colluding in torture could stretch a mile. But the remarkable thing about the latest case is that it exposes an even greater depth of official criminality than hitherto suspected -- no mean feat, given the rap sheet of this crew.
The new man on the hot seat is Judge Michael Chertoff, nominated to head the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Chertoff was hip-deep in creating -- and covering up -- the infamous White House "torture memos": carefully detailed guidelines from the desk of President George W. Bush that instigated a global system of documented torture, rape and murder.
Before Bush elevated him to the federal bench, Chertoff headed the Justice Department's criminal division, where he was frequently consulted by the CIA and the White House on ways to weasel around the very clear U.S. laws against torture, The New York Times reports. Bush and his legal staff, then headed by Attorney General-designate Alberto Gonzales, were openly concerned with "avoiding prosecution for war crimes" under some future administration that might lack the Bushists' finely nuanced view of ramming phosphorous lightsticks up a kidnapped detainee's rectum, or other enlightened methods employed in the administration's crusade to defend civilization from barbarity.
Throughout 2002 and 2003, the CIA sent Chertoff urgent questions asking whether various "interrogation protocols" could get their agents sent to the hoosegow. The questions themselves are revelatory of the tainted mindset at CIA headquarters -- officially known as the George H.W. Bush Center for Intelligence. Beyond methods we already know were used -- such as "water-boarding" and "rendering" detainees to foreign torturers -- the Bush Center boys sought legal cover for such additional refinements as "death threats against family members" and "mind-altering drugs or psychological procedures designed to profoundly disrupt a detainee's personality."
However, the Justice Department could only offer advice; final approval of interrogation techniques -- including the Bush Center's requests -- rested solely with the Bush White House. As one senior intelligence official told The New York Times: "Nothing that was done was not explicitly authorized" by the Oval Office. Thus the chain of responsibility is clearly established for the reams of evidence on torture, rape and murder in the Bush gulag -- cases documented by the FBI and the Pentagon's own investigators, as well as the Red Cross, Amnesty International, the Red Crescent, Human Rights Watch and others.
But Chertoff's involvement in Bush's chamber of horrors goes beyond an advisory capacity. He was also instrumental in the earliest cover-up of Bush's torture system: the trial of John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban" captured in Afghanistan, the Nation reports. In June 2002, Lindh was due to testify about the methods used to extract his confession of terrorist collusion: days of beating, drugging, denial of medical treatment, and other abuses. These were of course standard procedures used -- by presidential order -- from the very beginning of the "war on terror." To stop Lindh from exposing this wide-ranging criminal regimen, Chertoff, overseeing the prosecution, suddenly offered Lindh a deal: The feds would drop all the most serious charges in exchange for a lighter sentence -- and a gag order preventing Lindh from telling anyone about his brutal treatment. Lindh, facing life imprisonment or execution, took the deal. Once again, Bush skirts were kept clean. And the torture system was kept safe for its expansion into Iraq, where thousands of innocent people fell into its maw.
This memo was crafted by Jay Bybee, a long-time Bush Family factotum who originally served as White House aide to George Bush Senior. There, Bybee played a key role in quashing the investigation into BNL, the shady bank used by George I to send millions of secret dollars to Saddam Hussein for weapons purchases, including WMD materials supplied by Bush-backed arms merchants. When the scandal broke, Bush I appointed lawyers from these same arms dealers to top Justice Department posts, where they supervised the "investigation" into their former companies. Meanwhile, Bybee pressured local prosecutors to restrict their probe of the bank's dirty dealings to -- you guessed it -- a few low-ranking "bad apples." Once again, Bush skirts were kept clean -- while Bush blood money kept flowing to Saddam. For his faithful family services, Bybee, like Chertoff, was made a federal judge by Bush II.
The Bush-Bybee torture authorization was in force until January 2005, when it was ostentatiously replaced by a somewhat broader definition of torture just before Gonzales' confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate. But another Bybee-penned memo, detailing specific, Bush-approved "coercive methods," remains classified. Is it still in force? Nobody knows.
In any event, the Bushists' PR shuffle on torture is meaningless. Gonzales has already declared to the Senate that interrogators in the CIA's secret gulag aren't bound by the new "restrictions" anyway. What's more, he's also asserted -- again openly, to the Senate -- that Bush has the right to break any law or restriction he pleases "while acting in his capacity as commander-in-chief." Thus whatever the Leader orders -- even torture and murder -- cannot be a crime.
This is no hypothetical case, as Gonzales pretended to the Senate. In a series of executive orders beginning in October 2001, Bush has declared his peremptory right to capture, imprison, indefinitely detain or even assassinate anyone in the world whom he arbitrarily and secretly designates an "enemy" -- without any legal process at all, the Washington Post reports. Thousands of such "enemies" have been plunged into the CIA's unrestricted prisons, The Guardian reports; and as Bush himself bragged in his 2003 State of the Union speech, "many others have met a different fate. Let's put it this way: They are no longer a problem." They were simply killed, in secret, at Bush's order.
This is thug law, a death-cult of blood and domination -- the true religion of the Bushists and their mirror-image crimelords in al-Qaida
2005-02-06 22:50 | User Profile
Calling what the US does to Muslim Terrorist "torture" is ridiculous. Muslims routinely use actual torture on other Mulsims in the home countries which involves removing of fingernails, removing hands and removing feet.
Bernard Kerik, his financial shenanigans notwithstanding, would have been a much better person for the job than this creepy looking Khazar.