Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lola who wrote (6378)	10/6/2001 3:47:00 PM
From: Susan G	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 27764

Suspected hijack bankroller freed by India in '99 October 5, 2001 Posted: 9:16 PM EDT (0116 GMT) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A man suspected of playing a key role in bankrolling the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States was released from prison in India less than two years ago after hijackers of an Indian Airlines flight demanded his freedom, a senior-level U.S. government source told CNN. This source said U.S. investigators now believe Sheik Syed, using the alias Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad, sent more than $100,000 from Pakistan to Mohammed Atta, the suspected hijacking ringleader who piloted one of the jetliners into the World Trade Center. Investigators said Atta then distributed the funds to conspirators in Florida in the weeks before the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil that destroyed the World Trade Center, heavily damaged the Pentagon and left thousands dead. In addition, sources have said Atta sent thousands of dollars -- believed to be excess funds from the operation -- back to Syed in the United Arab Emirates in the days before September 11. Syed also is described as a key figure in the funding operation of al Qaeda, the network headed by suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. But Syed would still be in prison were it not for the December 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 -- an ordeal strikingly similar to the four hijackings carried out on September 11. The plane, with 178 passengers on board, was en route from Katmandu, Nepal, to New Delhi, India, when terrorists used knives to take control of the aircraft, slitting the throat of one passenger to force the pilots to open the cockpit door. For eight days, the passengers and crew were held hostage in a terrifying journey that finally ended up in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when the Indian government agreed to release three Islamic militants held in Indian prisons. One of those men was Syed, widely recognized as the leader of an al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic militant group known as Harkat-ul-Muhahedin, which is fighting for independence for Kashmir, a disputed region between India and Pakistan. Because investigators have now determined that Syed and Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad are the same person, it provides another key link to bin Laden as the mastermind of the overall plot. Investigators have said at least three of the 19 suspected hijackers were tied to al Qaeda. Syed was educated at the London School of Economics and has experience in international money transfers. Indian intelligence officials said the last time they spotted him was six months ago at a bookstore in Islamabad, Pakistan. "He is also linked to the financial network feeding bin Laden's assets, so therefore he's quite an important person," said Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert. "He's quite an influential person because he transfers money between various operatives, and he's a node between al Qaeda and foot soldiers on the ground." cnn.com

To: Lola who wrote (6378)	10/6/2001 3:53:55 PM
From: Davy Crockett	Respond to of 27764

Hi Lola, I'm back.... & ready to do battle again... (not with you of course. U r a good ally. Hard to believe that 6000 posts later I finally get out of jail. Message 16331555 To:Sting-Ray_57 who wrote (2) From: svenlar Tuesday, Sep 11, 2001 12:33 PM View Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6384 I agree, nuke'em Regards, Peter Tactical Nuclear Weapons Deployed 6 October: DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources report that Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, in a single 70-minuted conversation on September 23, eleven days after the terrorist assaults in New York and Washington, agreed on the deployment of tactical weapons. This is an epic shift in the global balance of strength. Putin gave the nod for US forces poised in Central Asia to jump into Afghanistan to be armed with tactical nuclear weapons, such as small neutron bombs, which emit strong radiation, nuclear mines, shells, and other nuclear ammunition suited to commando warfare in mountainous terrain. In return, Bush assented to Russia deploying tactical nuclear weapons units around Chechnya after Moscow’s ultimatum to the rebels, some of whom are backed by Osama Bin Laden, to surrender, went by without response. DEBKAfile’s military sources place the US nuclear weapons in four former Soviet Central Asian bases: the military air facility at Tuzel, 15 km (10 miles) northwest of the Uzbek capital of Tashkent; at Kagady in the Termez region; in Khandabad, near the city of Karshi; and at the military air base in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. In addition to the nuclear weapons units, Russian bombers carrying small neutron bombs were moved to Russian military air bases around the border of the breakaway province, in Stavropol northwest of Chechnya, the Godowta base in Georgia to the south, and Mozdok in northern Osetia, northwest of Chechnya. Russian and U.S. military sources refuse to take questions on these startling events. The US is far from eager to actively inject a nuclear element into the war against terrorism and will not be the first to do so. According to DEBKAfile’s military sources, the US plans to hold those tactical nuclear weapons in reserve, unleashing them in the campaign against bin Laden only in certain extreme circumstances: 1. To counter a move by Bin Laden’s men first bring out nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against the US force fighting inside Afghanistan. 2. If a chemical or biological assault by the Taliban against Pakistan. 3. Should groups of bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network – either in Central Asia or the Balkans – wield these weapons of mass destruction against US military targets or US nuclear arms in other parts of the world. 4. If using them is the only way to save heavy American combat casualties. debka.com Regards, Peter