-Caveat Lector-
From
http://msnbc.com/news/668509.asp?0si=-&cp1=1
}}}>Begin
Did �Jihad� arms course visit U.S.?
U.K. authorities
plan to question
man running camp in rural Alabama
The Ground Zero Web site was quickly retooled after Sept. 11 to
feature "anti- terrorist training."
By Mike Brunker
MSNBC
Dec. 27 � British authorities plan to question a security expert who
runs a firearms training camp in Alabama about claims that radical
Muslims from Britain were honing their marksmanship on American soil
before going off to fight for Islamic causes around the globe.
IN RESPONSE TO a query from MSNBC.com, a spokesman for Britain�s
Crown Prosecution Service in London confirmed that Mark Yates, a
British bodyguard and firearms trainer who has operations in both the
United Kingdom and the United States, will be questioned about a
suspected terrorist�s offering of �live fire� weapons training in
America for aspiring holy warriors.
�(Yates) has not been questioned as yet � but there are plans to
do so soon,� said the spokesman, Doug Crighton.
The claim that Yates was somehow involved in the �Ultimate Jihad
Challenge� training offered by the Sakina Security Services company
was made by Sulayman Bilal Zain-ul-abidin, the company�s founder, who
has been in custody since Oct. 1 on terrorism charges, Crighton said.
It was the first time British authorities have acknowledged the
investigation had extended to the United States. Previously, a
British prosecutor had said only that Zain-ul-abidin claimed to have
a business �associate� in Alabama.
�NO AGREEMENTS, NO ARRANGEMENTS�
Yates, who is the operations and training director at the Ground
Zero firearms training camp outside Marion, Ala., denied in a phone
interview that he or Berkeley & Associates, the company that operates
the camp, had any business dealings with Sakina.
�I first heard of
Sakina last month when the Sunday Telegraph ran an article and
mentioned it,� the 44-year-old Yates said by phone from the London
offices of Trans Global Security International, one of several inter-
linked security companies he operates or is associated with. �No, we
had no agreements, no arrangements.�
He added that he is cooperating with British investigators.
FBI spokesman Steven Berry said investigators are aware of Yates
and the Alabama camp, and indicated that after checking Zain-ul-
abidin�s claim of having an associate in the state, the bureau is
skeptical of the claim.
In fact, though the claims that Sakina Security was providing
weapons training in the United States first surfaced in British media
accounts 18 months ago, federal and state law enforcement agencies
told MSNBC.com that they have never found any evidence that such
instruction actually took place.
Attempts to reach the president of Berkeley & Associates, Jason
Fish, were unsuccessful.
�PREVENTION OF TERRORISM�
Zain-ul-abidin, 43, was arrested on Oct. 1 and charged under
Britain�s Prevention of Terrorism Act with one count of �providing
instructional training in the making or use of firearms, explosives
or chemical, biological or nuclear weapons� and a second count of
�inviting� others to undergo such training. He remains in jail after
being denied bail and is scheduled for arraignment on Jan. 4.
Zain-ul-abidin�s attorney, Muddassal Arani, has said her client
is innocent. She did not return calls from MSNBC.com seeking comment.
The charges arise from Zain-ul-abidin�s operation of Sakina
Security Services, which provided bodyguard service and claimed to
specialize in �high-risk jobs in the former Soviet Union and in the
civil war arenas of the world.�
Sakina�s Web site also offered courses in self-defense and hand-
to-hand combat for Muslims, including the �Ultimate Jihad Challenge.�
After mastering the �art of bone breaking� and learning to �improvise
explosive devices,� it said, British Muslims would be given the
opportunity to squeeze off up to 3,000 rounds at a shooting range in
the United States before heading off to fight for Islamic causes
around the world. �All serious firearms training must be done
overseas� because of British gun laws, the Web site said.
At a bail hearing in London on Oct. 5, prosecutor Patrick Stevens
said Zain-ul-abidin had told investigators that Sakina was
essentially a one-man operation in which he acted as chief
instructor. But he also claimed to have �an associate� in Alabama,
Stevens said.
The prosecutor also said investigators had searched Zain-ul-
abidin�s apartment and seized documents believed to be related to
suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida
network, anti-Semitic material and what appeared to be disabled
firearms, including a rifle and two handguns.
While Yates is adamant that he was not involved in a business
relationship with Zain-ul-abidin or Sakina Security, he told
MSNBC.com that he could not discuss whether he knew the suspect
because the matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation.
Controversy stalks arms trainer
The Sunday Telegraph has reported that Zain-ul-abidin, who also
used the name Frank Etim, attended a military training course taught
by Yates several years ago at a secret camp near the village of
Yetgoch in southern Wales. Young Muslims and others learned how to
use Uzi machine guns at the camp, which was run by Trans Global
Security International, the newspaper said, quoting two individuals
who placed Etim at the scene.
WITNESS INTERVIEWED BY POLICE
A third man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told MSNBC.com
that he met Etim at the camp and had recently been interviewed by
police about the training.
�My memory is that he came alone and didn�t stick out as an
exceptional or forceful character,� said the man, who works in the
security field in Britain. �He was very approachable and in fact
quite a nice guy.�
He added that he saw no evidence that Yates and Etim had anything
beyond the usual instructor-student relationship.
The Telegraph reported in November that Yates acknowledged that
he �had contact with (Etim) on a number of occasions over the past
few years,� but said he declined to elaborate on the nature of the
relationship.
The reports of the Welsh training camp have rekindled a debate in
Britain over whether the country has in recent years become a hotbed
for military recruitment by radical Islamic elements.
Target shooting at Ground Zero.
Sheik Omar Bakri Mohammed, a firebrand Islamic leader in London
and a founder of the fundamentalist al- Muhajiroun organization, told
the Telegraph last year that between 1,800 and 2,000 British Muslims
were going abroad each year for military training.
�We find young men in university classes or mosques, invite them
for a meal and discuss � ongoing attacks being suffered by Muslims in
Chechnya, Palestine or Kashmir,� the the newspaper quoted Bakri
Mohammed as saying. �We � make them understand their duty to support
the jihad (holy war) struggle verbally, financially and, if they can,
physically in order to liberate their homeland.�
Others in the Muslim community have challenged Bakri Mohammed�s
estimates, saying they are only designed to further the aims of al-
Muhajiroun, which advocates uniting the world�s 50-plus Muslim states
under a single �khilafah,� or Islamic state.
ANECDOTAL RECRUITING REPORTS
While reliable numbers are impossible to come by, anecdotal
accounts of such recruitment � including the apparent involvement of
Sakina Security � were reported at least as early as May 2000.
The British Broadcasting Corp. interviewed a British Muslim it
identified as Abu Yahya who claimed to have attended a military
training camp in the Kashmir after being recruited by Sakina
Security.
�I learned everything with respect to fighting � making bombs,
using artillery, using a Kalashnikov (assault rifle), how to ambush,�
he told the network.
The following month, the Hindu newspaper of India quoted a Sakina
Security representative who identified himself as Sulayman Balal
(Zain-ul-abidin�s first and middle names) as saying that �a few
people� had signed up for the first �Ultimate Jihad Challenge� in
April. He described the two-week course as taking place on a �1,000-
acre, state-of- the-art shooting range in the United States.�
The description closely matches published information about
Ground Zero, the Alabama training camp that Yates runs.
The Ground Zero Web site, which was quickly retooled after Sept.
11 to highlight a new �five- day anti-terrorist training� course,
says the Alabama compound features �state-of -the-art, world-class �
training facilities.�
A British security company, WK Security, which offers training in
SWAT team tactics at Ground Zero under an arrangement Berkeley &
Associates, advertises the five-day course as being held at a �1000+
acre training facility.�
Bakri Mohammed, the founder of al-Muhajiroun movement, told the
Telegraph last year that the United States was becoming a favored
destination for military training.
TOURISTS OR TERRORISTS?
�We use U.S.A. because whenever we go to Afghanistan, U.S.A.
labels us terrorist,� the Syrian-born Bakri Mohammed was quoted as
saying, �OK, so let us go to America. You call us tourists.�
But in the wake of Sept. 11 and the heightened scrutiny from
British authorities that the attacks brought, al- Muhajiroun is now
distancing itself from Sakina.
Mohamed Sharif, an al-Muhajiroun spokesman, told MSNBC.com that
Bakri Mohammed�s comments about military training in the United
States referred only to �three or four men� who signed up for a
Sakina course and practiced their marksmanship at an unidentified
shooting club in Missouri.
�They discover when they went to America that it was too
expensive, about $3,000 to $4,000,� he said.
Sharif, who described Sakina as a �youth club� that was not
affiliated with al-Muhajiroun, added that that reports suggesting
that al-Muhajiroun and Sakina were engaged in military recruitment
amounted to �a storm in a teacup.�
� MSNBC Terms
and Conditions � 2001
End<{{{
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
