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Indictment sheds light on Al Qaida's plans for a U.S. network U.S. authorities said his mission was to form an Al Qaida cell in the United States and to assassinate the president. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali � Age: 23 � Affiliation: suspected of being Al Qaida operative � Whereabouts: in detention in the Washington, D.C. area Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is either the victim of Saudi torture or the man who volunteered to complete the revenge of Osama Bin Laden. The revenge would be the assassination of President Bush. Abu Ali is only 23 years old but sufficiently ripe to undertake what Saudi and U.S. authorities assert was a mission to form an Al Qaida cell in the United States. Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen, was said to have plotted to assassinate the president. "After the devastating terrorist attack and murders of Sept. 11th, the defendant turned his back on America and joined the cause of Al Qaida," U.S. federal attorney Paul McNulty said. According to a federal grand jury indictment, investigators found tapes promoting Jihad, particularly the killing of Jews, a magazine subscription on handguns, a book by Al Qaida deputy chief Ayman Zawahiri and a document on ways to avoid government and private surveillance at Abu Ali's home in Falls Church, Va. Abu Ali associated with at least 10 Al Qaida members, the indictment said. Two of the operatives helped Abu Ali in advancing plans to form a cell in the United States and kill Bush. A third Al Qaida member appeared to be a spiritual guide who endorsed the plan. The operatives who helped Abu Ali were not identified. But the indictment said several of them were leading Al Qaida fugitives. "On or about May 7, 2003, the Saudi government issued a public announcement that included the names and photographs of 19 individuals suspected of planning to conduct terrorist attacks within Saudi Arabia," the indictment said. "Among the individuals named in the announcement were Coconspirator #2 and Coconspirator #4." Omar Abu Ali, right, and Faten Abu Ali speak out about the charges against their son, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen, who made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., on Feb. 22. The former Virginia high school valedictorian who had been detained in Saudi Arabia as a suspected terrorist was charged with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and with supporting the Al Qaida terrorist network. The indictment said Abu Ali tried to receive training from Al Qaida in Afghanistan. In September 2002 and June 2003, Abu Ali tried to travel to Afghanistan via Iran. But Iran denied Abu Ali a visa. At that point, Abu Ali allegedly received instruction in weapons, grenades, explosives and document forgeries from Al Qaida operatives in Saudi Arabia. They gave him thousands of dollars to purchase a laptop computer, cell phone and unidentified books. The operatives told Abu Ali to establish an Al Qaida cell in the United States. Abu Ali's family and supporters say the charge is ridiculous. They say he was simply a brilliant religious student caught up in the Saudi crackdown of Al Qaida at the kingdom's universities and tortured until he confessed to everything his interrogators sought. But federal prosecutors feel Abu Ali was serious in his approaches to Al Qaida in 2003. They said Abu Ali wanted to prove himself a hero to his Saudi colleagues and use his American citizenship to prove his mettle in Islam's war against the United States and be regarded as in the league of the 19 hijackers who destroyed the World Trade Center and a wing of the Pentagon on 9/11. Regardless, the Abu Ali case points to serious deficiencies in Saudi-U.S. cooperation as well as the homeland threat posed by the flow of people to and from the two countries. Like it or not, hatred of the United States runs high in Saudi Arabia, and any American in the kingdom could be either a target of attack or recruitment for jihad. "Although the [Saudi] government can point to significant strides in rooting out militant activity, the fact remains that over 90 people have been killed in terrorist incidents since May 2003, and Al Qaida remains a threat both inside and outside Saudi Arabia," the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report. A six-count indictment released last week said Abu Ali held a series of meetings with Al Qaida in Saudi Arabia to plan Bush's murder. The indictment said Abu Ali and Al Qaida discussed shooting Bush when he left the White House or ramming a car full of explosives into the presidential convoy. It was such a plot that led the White House to markedly increase security for the president over the last two years and limit his contact with the public. Abu Ali, who faces 80 years in prison, is a U.S. native. He was born in Houston and moved to northern Virginia at age 4. Unlike most Americans, Abu Ali received a Wahabi religious education and attended the private Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Va. He graduated as valedictorian and then enrolled in the University of Maryland. But Abu Ali was not happy with the mores of U.S. college life and decided to pursue Islamic studies in Saudi Arabia. He enrolled in the University of Medina, located in one of the two cities regarded as the holiest in Islam. In mid-2003, Abu Ali was swept up in the Saudi crackdown of Al Qaida in the wake of the multiple suicide bombings of Western facilities in Riyad that killed 23 people. Al Qaida was identified as responsible for the attacks, and Saudi authorities raided the University of Medina and arrested about 20 people, including Abu Ali. Those arrested were charged with belonging to an Al Qaida cell. Some of them were said to have been Abu Ali's roommates at university. The FBI obtained Abu Ali's name as part of the Saudi-U.S. cooperation following the May 2003 suicide bombings. Abu Ali was said to have been acquainted with if not connected to Muslims from Virginia accused of training for Islamic attacks in the United States. The training allegedly included playing paintball in the Virginia countryside. The charges against Abu Ali appear to be weak. Officials acknowledge that they wanted Saudi Arabia to present additional evidence against Abu Ali and even prosecute him. Instead, Saudi authorities held him in prison and probably abused him during his 20 months in detention. Indeed, Saudi authorities refused to include U.S. investigators during their interrogation of Abu Ali. As a result, Abu Ali was the first case tried in the United States based on evidence from Saudi Arabia, regarded as one of the biggest human rights violators in the world. Little wonder that Abu Ali's parents have sued the U.S. government, saying Washington allowed the torture of their son. One thing is clear: Abu Ali advanced very little in any of his alleged plots. He was said to have approached Al Qaida when he moved to Medina in 2000. By 2002, Abu Ali allegedly expressed interest in joining Al Qaida and sought to receive training in Afghanistan. "It was defendant Abu Ali's intent to become a planner of terrorist operations like Muhammad Atta and Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, well-known Al Qaida terrorists associated with the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001," the indictment said. What is also clear is that Abu Ali was curious about terrorism. That is not a crime in the United States, but could land you in jail in Saudi Arabia. For months, Saudi Arabia would not respond to U.S. requests regarding Abu Ali. Finally in January 2005, after months of concealing the case, the State Department acknowledged that Abu Ali was in Saudi custody and asked Riyad to either prosecute him or transfer him to the United States. Riyad chose the latter, and he was flown to the United States hours before for his hearing in federal court on Feb. 22. "We all know that evidence obtained from torture is the most unreliable evidence you can get," said Edward MacMahon Jr., Abu Ali's attorney. "I'm distressed that it's come to the point where our government is prepared to use evidence gained from torture in a criminal trial in the United States." ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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