General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Origins of Jihadist-Inspired Attacks in the U.S.
All of the Sept. 11 attackers entered the United States using tourist, business or student visas. Since then, most of the attackers in the United States claiming or appearing to be motivated by extremist Islam were born in this country or were naturalized citizens. None were refugees. Half of the attacks since 2001 were
committed by men born in the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/25/us/us-muslim-extremists-terrorist-attacks.html?smid=tw-share
treestar
(82,383 posts)It's an excuse for anti-Muslim bigotry. The refugees are in a lot more danger from Daesh than we are.
4139
(1,893 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)'93 - The "blind mullah" who inspired the bombing (a recruiter for CIA Operation Cyclone), Ramzi Yusuf the bomb designer (a Pakistani ISI operative), and Ali Mohamed (a confirmed CIA double-agent) who mixed the explosives, were admitted to the U.S. despite their known extensive histories as terrorists, and were let go after previous stops by Immigration authorities.
Entity Tags: Ramzi Yousef, Ibrahim Ahmad Suleiman, Al-Kifah Refugee Center, Ahmad Ajaj, Abdullah Azzam
Category Tags: Ramzi Yousef, 1993 WTC Bombing, Al-Kifah/MAK
May 1992-Spring 1993: ISI Helps Ramzi Yousef Travel, Then Helps Him Avoid Capture
Edit event
Ramzi Yousefs passport photo.Ramzi Yousefs passport photo. [Source: National Geographic]Ramzi Yousef gets considerable help from the Pakistani ISI. When Yousef returns to Pakistan on May 15, 1992, he uses an Iraqi passport bearing a visa issued by the Pakistani embassy in Baghdad. However, the seal on the visa is not the official one and the signature of the visa officer is faked. A senior US intelligence official will later say, Yousef was developing high-level contacts in Pakistani intelligence through his links with bin Laden, mainly in the ISI. Its a dirty mess. They facilitated much of his travel. Getting airport officials to turn a blind eye to his travel would have been nothing. [Reeve, 1999, pp. 136-137] Then, on August 31, 1992, Yousef and Ahmed Ajaj are able to fly from Pakistan to the US despite lacking the proper papers to leave Pakistan. US intelligence officials will later claim senior ISI officials helped Yousef enter the US. [Reeve, 1999, pp. 139] When Ramzi Yousefs Pakistani immigration records are checked after the WTC bombing, it is discovered his embarkation card and other documents had mysterious disappeared. ISI agents had access to the room where the records were stored. The FBI later gives the Pakistani government the names of Pakistani officials they suspect were colluding with terrorists, but apparently it is never discovered for sure who helped Yousef. One US investigator will later say, Bin Laden had friends in the ISI who had funded him during the war in Afghanistan. The same contacts were cultivated by Yousef and members of his family. [Reeve, 1999, pp. 48-49]
Entity Tags: Ramzi Yousef, Ahmad Ajaj, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence
Category Tags: Ramzi Yousef, Pakistan and the ISI
September 1, 1992: US Misses Opportunity to Stop First WTC Bombing and Discover Al-Qaeda
Edit event
Ahmad Ajaj.Ahmad Ajaj. [Source: FBI]Al-Qaeda operatives Ahmad Ajaj and Ramzi Yousef enter the US together. Ajaj is arrested at Kennedy Airport in New York City. Yousef is not arrested and will later mastermind the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. The US government was pretty sure Ajaj was a terrorist from the moment he stepped foot on US soil, because his suitcases were stuffed with fake passports, fake IDs, and a cheat sheet on how to lie to US immigration inspectors, plus two handwritten notebooks filled with bomb recipes, six bomb-making manuals, four how-to videotapes concerning weaponry, and an advanced guide to surveillance training. However, Ajaj is charged only with passport fraud and serves a six-month sentence. From prison, Ajaj frequently calls Yousef and others involved in the 1993 WTC bombing plot, but no one will translate the calls until long after the bombing. [Los Angeles Times, 10/14/2001] Ajaj will be released from prison three days after the WTC bombing, but is later rearrested and sentenced to more than 100 years in prison. [Los Angeles Times, 10/14/2001] One of the manuals seized from Ajaj will be horribly mistranslated for the trial. For instance, the title page is said to say The Basic Rule, published in Jordan in 1982, when in fact the title says al-Qaeda (which means the base in English), published in Afghanistan in 1989. Investigators will subsequently complain that a proper translation could have shown an early connection between al-Qaeda and the WTC bombing. [New York Times, 1/14/2001] An Israeli newsweekly will report that the Palestinian Ajaj may have been a mole for the Israeli Mossad. The Village Voice will suggest that Ajaj may have had advance knowledge of the World Trade Center bombing, which he shared with Mossad, and that Mossad, for whatever reason, kept the secret to itself. Ajaj is not just knowledgeable, but is involved in the planning of the bombing from his prison cell. [Village Voice, 8/3/1993]
Entity Tags: World Trade Center, Al-Qaeda, Ahmad Ajaj, Ramzi Yousef
Category Tags: Warning Signs, Other Possible Moles or Informants, Ramzi Yousef, 1993 WTC Bombing, Israel