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Title: Tarik Hamdi "Friend" of former CIA official in 9-11 Lawsuit - May have been working with US Intelligence
Source: Awoken Research Group
URL Source: http://valis.cjb.cc/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=93
Published: Oct 20, 2005
Author: AP - LARRY NEUMEISTER/analysis by BlackJ
Post Date: 2005-10-20 03:58:40 by valis
Keywords: Intelligence, "Friend", official
Views: 426
Comments: 1

The judge permitted the litigation to proceed against other defendants, including Tarik Hamdi and Wa'el Jalaidan.

The lawsuits allege that Hamdi arranged the delivery of a battery for a satellite phone used by bin Laden to coordinate and order the African embassy bombings.

Hamdi asserts that he is a journalist and that he did not buy the phone or battery pack, the judge said.

The lawsuits note that the United States has designated Jalaidan a terrorist, frozen his assets and named him one of the founders of al-Qaida.

The judge said Jalaidan, who served as the general director of a charitable group formed to help Pakistanis, maintains that the allegations against him amount to guilt by association.

The judge, though, said Jalaidan is alleged to be affiliated with several other charities in al-Qaida's fundraising network.

Still, he reduced the scope of the claims permitted to proceed against Jalaidan and Hamdi. He also allowed the case to proceed against Jalaidan's charity, Rabita Trust.

Attorneys representing families that lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 attack said they were pleased the judge allowed the case to continue against the International Islamic Relief Organization of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a charity they said was supported by top Saudi officials and established businessmen.

The judge found that the plaintiffs had made a prima facie case that IIRO was involved in terror plots and directed its activities against the United States, the Kreindler & Kreindler attorneys said in a news release issued Wednesday evening.

The suit against IIRO claims it helped bin Laden nurture al-Qaida in assassination plots against the pope and former President Clinton in 1995 and in money laundering schemes to fund terror attacks in the United States. It also claims the IIRO helped funnel millions of dollars to the Taliban government of Afghanistan while it was shielding bin Laden.

Published: September 21, 2005 Author: LARRY NEUMEISTER for AP New York judge dismisses Saudi charitable organization, princes from Sept. 11 lawsuits


NOTES & COMMENTS:

This is the story on Tarik Hamdi from the documents in this 9-11 case: http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/burnettba112202acmp.pdf

"[p. 290]

266. The SAAR Network [Sulaiman Abdul Aziz al-Rajhi] and the more than one hundred businesses and individuals that comprise it are fronts for the sponsor of al Qaeda and international terror. These organizations are closely inter-twined with Defendants IIRO [International Islamic Relief Organization], Muslim World League and their related “charities.” The connections between the al-Rajhi family, the SAAR Network, and the terrorist front-groups extends past the financial network to a repetitious pattern of overlapping officers. The United States branches of the Muslim World League and its subsidiaries are a part of the SAAR Network. The Muslim World League and SAAR share officers and addresses. They are analogous to the SAAR Network in that they play an intermediary role between wealthy Saudi financiers and terrorist groups.

267. Co-conspirators, material sponsors, and/or aiders and abettors of the SAAR Network include Defendants: Abu Sulayman, Ahmed Totonji, Hisham al-Talib, Iqbal Yunus, Jamal Barzinji, M. Omar Ashraf, Mohammed Jaghlit, Muhammad Ashraf, Taha Jaber al-Alwani, Tarik Hamdi, Yaqub Mirza, Sherif Sedky, African Muslim Agency, Aradi, Inc., Grove Corporate, Inc., Heritage Education Trust, International Institute of Islamic Thought, Mar-Jac Investments, Inc., Mar-Jac Poultry, Inc., Mena Corporation, Reston Investments, Inc., SAAR International, Safa Trust, Sterling Charitable Gift Fund, Sterling Management Group, Inc., and York Foundation, all located doing business or registered to do business in the United States.

[p. 360]

561. The Advice and Reformation Committee (or “ARC”) and the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights (or “CDLR”) are both Saudi-dissident groups with ties to Osama bin Laden. Both organizations seek to overthrow the Saudi government to replace the regime with an even more strict brand of Islam. The ARC in London was headed by Khalid al-Fawwaz (or “al-Fawwaz”), and the CDLR in London is headed by Mohammed al-Massari. The ARC branch in the United States was set up by al-Massari’s wife, Lujain al-Iman, providing a link between ARC and CDLR.

562. These two organizations have disseminated al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden’s propaganda throughout their existence and served to further the violent goals of radicals and terrorists against the United States. Al-Fawwaz has been indicted in the U.S., and the United States has requested his extradition for his prominent role in setting up the al Qaeda infrastructure that allowed the embassy bombings in East Africa to occur in 1998. Two al Qaeda operatives, Ziyad Khaleel and Tarik Hamdi, have been involved with both the CDLR and the ARC.

[p. 364-365]

577. The ARC Branch in the United States facilitated communication with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. The ARC branch in the United States had its address in Denver, Colorado. The post office box was registered by Lujain al-Iman, the wife of CDLR’s Mohammed al-Massari. In 1994, al-Massari asked al-Iman to set up an MCI 800 number in Denver for the ARC to allow the organization to communicate between Saudi Arabia and The United Kingdom without getting caught by Saudi authorities, according to al Massari.

578. After the phone system was set up, Osama bin Laden called al-Massari personally to thank him, according to al-Massari. Al-Iman said that she knew that al-Fawwaz, the head of ARC, worked for Osama bin Laden, when she set up the phone line, but thought that al-Fawwaz was just “a human rights activist.”

579. This address was also shared by the International African Relief Agency (or “IARA”) and Ziyad Khaleel, who as explained supra, was a student in Columbia, Missouri, whom the FBI described as a “procurement agent” for Osama bin Laden, and whose job was to “procure computers, satellite telephones and covert surveillance equipment” for al Qaeda.

580. CDLR’s United States Branch is registered to a known al Qaeda operative. In the radical Arabic publication, Al-Zaytuna, an advertisement for CDLR listed in its contact information a telephone number that is registered in Tarik Hamdi’s name. Tarik Hamdi has specific ties to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

581. Well after Osama bin Laden had openly declared war against Americans in 1996, Tarik Hamdi purchased and arranged for the delivery of a battery for the satellite phone that Ziyad Khaleel purchased and that Osama bin Laden used to coordinate international terrorism attacks. Hamdi also arranged for an interview that ABC News had with Osama bin Laden in 1998, the apparent cover for his involvement in procuring the battery for the satellite phone. Tarik Hamdi wrote a note to Khalid al-Fawwaz, calling him “Brother Khalid,” indicating a more than professional relationship. Assistant United States Attorney Kenneth Karas, in the government’s closing statements in the embassy bombings trial, described the whole process of obtaining the satellite phone for the use of al Qaeda and both Ziyad Khaleel and Tarik Hamdi’s involvement....

582. Tarik Hamdi knew both Ziyad Khaleel and al-Fawwaz, and knew them intimately enough that they trusted him to both obtain materials for them as well as arrange an interview with Osama bin Laden.

583. Tarik Hamdi also worked at International Institute of Islamic Thought (or “IIIT”), located at 555 Grove Street, Herdon, Virginia, the central address surrounding the SAAR Foundation raids, evidence and investigation."

Tarik Hamdi was not just a "journalist." This is evidently the same person as "Tariq A. Hamdi" in this NewsWeek report: American Contact?
"Tariq A. Hamdi, who allegedly delivered a satellite-telephone battery to bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1998, has left the United States and has told associates he is currently employed in the Iraqi Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, said the government officials, who asked not to be identified because of pending legal charges against Hamdi...

Federal agents were principally interested in Hamdi because of his connection to the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), a northern Virginia think tank that has been one of the targets of a sweeping three-year investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Alexandria into Islamic charities and foundations suspected of terrorism links. The unsealed Kane affidavit notes that Hamdi had been employed by IIIT in charge of one its publications...

Hamdi, believed to be in Ankara, could not be reached for comment, and a friend and longtime associate, former CIA official Vince Cannistraro, said that he doesn’t know if Hamdi currently has a lawyer...

In the past, Cannistraro has suggested to others that the satellite-phone battery that Hamdi delivered to bin Laden may have been 'bugged in order to help law-enforcement and intelligence agents monitor the Al Qaeda leader’s phone calls......."

That's sure an interesting "suggestion" by a former CIA official! This indicates that Hamdi was working with US intelligence when he arranged for Osama to have that "battery" in his phone. None of this comes as a shock to me, considering who else was in on the 1998 US embassy bombing plots in Kenya & Tanzania. In transcripts from the 1998 US embassy bombings case, "Ali Mohamed" was called "Ali Mohamed al Amriki" or "Abu Mohamed al Amriki", meaning "Mohamed the American." Ali Mohammed showed up at that Al Kifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn. He was "a sergeant in the U. S. Special Forces at Fort Bragg," who "had entered the United States in the mid-Eighties under a clandestine CIA visa-waiver programme that allows the agency to bring in the ‘assets,’ the ‘Boston Globe’ reported." Also note that Alkifah was the "defacto headquarters" of another CIA "asset," Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. Alkifah didn't dry up after the Cold War. ARAB VETERANS OF AFGHANISTAN WAR LEAD NEW ISLAMIC HOLY WAR
[Oct. 1994]"The Al-Kifah, or Struggle, Refugee Center in New York, which used to recruit and raise funds for Mujahedeen headed for Afghanistan, last year announced it was switching its operations to Bosnia. It was established in the mid-1980s by Egyptian Mustafa Rahman as a joint venture with Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, spiritual leader of Gamaat al-Islamiya."
Hamdi's old pal Ziyad Khaleel takes us right back to Alkifah in Brooklyn!
"[Ziyad Khaleel's] name and Detroit address both appeared prominently in ledgers taken from the Al-Kifah Refugee Center in 1994, a critical international financial and strategic arm of al Qaeda. While in Orlando, Florida, Khaleel served as the regional director for the Columbia, Missouri-based Islamic African Relief Agency (IARA), an Islamic charity that had a multimillion-dollar USAID contract cancelled after the U.S. State Department determined that it was not in America's "national-security interests.".... He even added a digitized copy of an infamous al Qaeda propaganda video titled "The Martyrs of Bosnia" to his own short-lived Internet website,
The>http://salam.net."The story of the IARA is here: Judge Upholds Mo. Charity As Terror Front

"Tarik Hamdi also worked at International Institute of Islamic Thought"? This was goes back to Green Quest and terrorist-funding front organizations, such as the "International Islamic Relief Organization, Sana-Bell, Inc., Global Chemical Corporation, the Saar Foundation (which had close links with Karl Rove's friend and adviser Grover Norquist), BMI, Inc. (an investment bank), the International Institute of Islamic Thought, Safa Trust...." This is why "Green Quest" came to a grinding halt. Hamas linked to area housing: "Authorities said Sana-Bell existed to generate funds for a Falls Church-based charity known as the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO)." According to "an affidavit filed in connection with the Green Quest investigation, Mr. Kane said the CIA listed the IIRO as having 'extremist connections' to Hamas and Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya, the Egyptian terrorist organization that served as a precursor to al Qaeda." The CIA was definitely in a position to know all about the "spiritual leader" of Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya in Brooklyn, Omar Abdel Rahman!

It was certainly useful to the CIA to have this financial network right in Washington's backyard in Virginia. According to Greek law enforcement investigations, the "International Islamic Relief Organization, operating in Kosovo," was among the "humanitarian organizations," used as a front for "Al Qaida members." That was a convenient arrangement. Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) training camps in Albania were "run by Osama bin Laden, and various other foreign mujahedeen" and also by the "CIA and British intelligence...while the CIA seems to have provided monetary support."

So how did Hamdi end up "employed in the Iraqi Embassy in Ankara, Turkey"? This also indicates that this "friend and longtime associate" of "former CIA official Vince Cannistraro" at least has some indirect ties to the US "intelligence community." Transplanted Jihadi:

Hamdi said he was involved in anti-Saddam Hussein activity before the U.S. invasion in 2003. "I went to the London conference [of the Iraqi opposition in 2002] and the [2003] Salahuddin conference,” he said. “I was very openly with the Iraqi opposition, which worked with the U.S. government. When I went back to Iraq I was accused by people of working with the Americans. It is true. So why do they now treat me like this?"
Maybe Hamdi thinks that the US government should be more grateful for his services in these situations. It will be interesting to see if he claims "diplomatic immunity" or "sovereign immunity" in this 9-11 case. Final Statement, Salahaddin, 26 February 1 March, 2003
"After listening to a speech by the host, Mr. Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the meeting listened to a message from his eminence Mohammad Bakir al-Hakim, President of SCIRI [Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq], and speeches by a number of leaders of the Iraqi Opposition and quests...

The meeting evaluated the political and international situation and the possibilities of a military conflict, which the allied forces plan to launch under the leadership of the US...

The delegates discussed Iraq's ties with its neighbors and they also expressed appreciation for the positive historical role of both the Syrian Arab Republic and the Islamic Republic of Iran...

These policies were received by the delegates with great appreciation for the president of the United States....."

The dominant political parties in US-occupied Iraq are the SCIRI & Dawa parties. The SCIRI's Badr Brigade "was funded, trained and equipped by Iranian Revolutionary Guards." It's fascinating to go back to some of these documents on the "Iraqi opposition" before the "regime change." Last July the prime minister of US-occupied Iraq made a "landmark" energy deal with Iran. Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that three new oil pipelines between Iran and the Basra region "will be financed and constructed by Iran." We also are not getting the whole story on the Bush administration's relations with Syria and Syria's part in this "regime change" operation to overthrow Saddam Hussein. It turns out that this was another item on that "landmark" Iran-Iraqi energy summit. The Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline was also on the agenda. "Iran thus can swap Caspian Sea crude to be refined in the country and then deliver the final product to the Mediterranean." Yet we are expected to believe that Iran "in an axis of evil" is next on the Bush-neocon hit list? Subscribe to *ARG List*

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#1. To: valis (#0)

Gotta admit, it's awesome how the Jews can manipulate all these Arabs!

"I want the American people to know that our dreams are gone, our work was in vain. There will be no future for our children and our grandchildren in the new Iraq. The future is for the clerics. This is not the democracy we dreamed of. "--Dr. Raja Kuzai

swarthyguy  posted on  2005-10-20   13:52:34 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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