FTR#432—Update on Operation Green Quest—(One 30-minue segment.) (Sources
are noted in parentheses.) (Recorded on 10/27/2003.)
Note: FTR#’s 260-316, 317, 324,
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Summary of FTR#432—(Note: The massive
volume of “For The Record” programs about 9/11 and related topics is summarized
and analyzed in the periodically-updated description for FTR#391. It is recommended that listeners use this
description and e-mail it to others. Also: The “meat” of the book “Martin
Bormann: Nazi in Exile” has been digested into an extended description for FTR#305. Listeners can now e-mail this
quintessentially important book to people around the world. In addition, the
professional history of the late Paul Manning, the book’s author, is presented
in the description “About Paul Manning.” This
enables listeners to acquaint others with Mr. Manning’s journalistic
credentials. Understanding the Bormann organization is essential to
comprehending the concept of “the Underground Reich.”) Updating the subject of the Operation Green Quest raids of 3/20/2002,
the broadcast begins with White House stonewalling of the investigating
commission looking into 9/11. Members of the commission are explicitly stating
that the White House is hiding something for political reasons. One of the
potentially most explosive aspects of the investigation concerns the GOP Ethnic
connection to the Islamist milieu targeted under the 3/20/2002 raids. It is
that series of businesses, religious charities and NGO’s that has provided the main
link in funding for Hamas, Al Qaeda and Islamic Jihad. Key White House aids
Grover Norquist and Karl Rove were instrumental in generating the GOP Ethnic
Outreach milieu’s Islamofascist connection. Recent testimony before Congress
cited the targets of the 3/20/2002 raids as being central to interdicting the
battle against Al Qaeda. Counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke stated that
the Bush administration’s reorganization of the government was hurting the
Green Quest investigation. Abdur Rahman Al-Alamoudi, pivotal to the operations
of the Green Quest targets and an organizer of the vetting process for Muslim
chaplains in the military is an associate of former Abwehr agent and Al Taqwa
kingpin Youssef Nada.
Program Highlights Include: The
operations of the Green Quest targets in the Balkans during the 1990’s; late
President Alija Izetbegovic’s links to both the SS Handzhar of World War II and
to Osama bin Laden; Alamoudi’s links to Osama bin Laden’s nephew Abdullah,
evacuated by the Bush administration after the 9/11 milieu.
1.
Beginning with White House reluctance to release documents to the 9/11
investigative commission, the program highlights growing friction between
commissioners and the Bush administration. The commission may subpoena
documents and is hinting fairly openly that the White House is hiding
something. (Recall that people investigating the Green Quest targets were themselves
surveiled by the FBI and CIA after the 3/20 raids—see FTR#425.) “The chairman of the federal commission investigating the
Sept. 11 terror attacks said the White House was continuing to withhold several
highly classified intelligence documents from the panel and that he was
prepared to subpoena the documents if they were not turned over within weeks.
The chairman, Thomas Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey, also
said in an interview that he believed the bipartisan 10-member commission would
soon be forced to issue subpoenas to other executive branch agencies because of
continuing delays by the Bush administration in providing documents and other
evidence. . .” (“9/11 Probe Chief Frustrated” by Philip Shenon [New York Times]; San Francisco Chronicle; 10/26/2003; p. A4.)
2.
“ . . . While
Kean said he was barred by an agreement with the White House from describing
the Oval Office documents at issue in any detail—he said the White House was
‘quite nervous’ about any public hint at their contents—other commission
officials said that the weeks leading up to Sept. 11, 2001. The reports are
known as the Presidential Daily Briefing. ‘These are documents that only two or
three people would normally have access to,’ Kean said. ‘To make those
available to an outside group is something that no other president has done in
our history. But I’ve argued very strongly with the White House that we are
unique, that we are not the Congress, that these arguments about presidential
privilege do not apply in the case of our commission.’” (Idem.)
3.
“ . . .Kean’s
comments on Friday came as another member of the commission, Max Cleland, the former
Democratic senator from Georgia, became the first panel member to say publicly
that the commission could not complete its work by its May 2004 deadline and
the first to accuse the White House of withholding classified information from
the panel for purely political reasons. ‘It’s obvious that the White House
wants to run out the clock here,’ he said in an interview in Washington.” (Idem.)
4.
“He said that
the White House and Bush’s re-election campaign had reason to fear what the
commission was uncovering in its investigation of intelligence and law
enforcement failures before Sept. 11. ‘As each day goes by, we learn that this
government knew a whole lot more about these terrorists before Sept. 11 than it
has ever admitted.’” (Idem.)
5.
While the White House stonewalls, Al Qaeda’s funding sources—especially
elite Saudi elements directly connected to the Bush business milieu—continue to
finance that organization. “Al Qaeda’s financial spigot is still open, and the new
Homeland Security Department is ill-equipped to turn it off, leading terrorism
experts testified Wednesday before a congressional panel. Even after extensive
government efforts to stop the money flow to al Qaeda, the terrorist still
receives more than $5 million each year, much of it from Saudi Arabia,
Jean-Charles Brisard, a former terrorism investigator for the French government
told the Senate Banking Committee. ‘Saudi Arabia is present at every stage of
al Qaeda financing, but primarily as the major source of funding,’ said
Brisard, who is investigating the funding sources of al Qaeda on behalf of
families who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. . . .” (“Funds
Still Flowing to Al Qaeda” by Rebecca Carr [Cox News Service]; San Francisco Chronicle; 10/23/2003; p.
A6.)
6.
“ . . . The
Federal government now has the FBI, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center,
the Financial Crimes Enforcement Center and the Office of Foreign Asset Control
to name a few of the government agencies that look into terror financing. ‘All
coordinated by the White House now, but nonetheless all doing their own thing
in their own space,’ [former counter-terror official Richard] Clarke said. ‘I
believe there should be a single fusion center where all of those agencies move
personnel on a permanent basis to work together.’” (Idem.)
7.
“Shutting down
front companies and charities that send money to terrorist regimes will go a
long way toward stemming the flow of money to terrorists, said Matthew Levitt,
senior fellow of terrorism studies at the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy and a former counter-terrorism analyst at the FBI. While Saudi Arabia
has taken steps to crack down on charities that are diverting money to
terrorist groups, it has not been enough, Levitt said. More than 50 percent of
the money flowing into Hamas, for example, comes from Saudi Arabian sources, he
said.”
(Idem.)
8.
“The US effort
to shut down financial support for terrorist networks is being seriously
hampered by a government reorganization that has left the most experienced
agencies without any real power, the US government’s former top
counter-terrorism official said yesterday. Richard Clarke, who headed
counter-terrorism at the White House for the Clinton and Bush administrations
before leaving government earlier this year, said the decision to put the
Federal Bureau of Investigation in charge of terror finance investigations, and
to give new powers to the Department of Homeland Security, had set the campaign
back.” (“Shake-Up
Amid War on Terror ‘Has Hit Campaign’” by Edward Alden; Financial Times; 10/23/2003; p. 2.)
9.
Of paramount importance in the context of the program is Clarke’s
analysis that the Bush administration’s reorganization of the government has
actually hampered the fight against
terror financing. He specifically cites the shifting of responsibility for
Operation Green Quest to the FBI as a reason to fear what is taking place.
Recall that the Operation Green Quest milieu is inextricably linked to the
GOP/Bush administration/Bush business nexus. (For more about the Bush/GOP/Green
Quest links, see—among other programs—FTR#’s
356, 357, 359, 368, 376, 382, 405, 407, 412, 415, 425, 433.) Recall, also,
that Bush (Senior) Justice Department official Robert Mueller was placed in
charge of the FBI in July of 2001. His “oversight” of the BCCI investigation
compromises his ability to investigate Green Quest and the vitally important
links between Bush and the Saudis. (See FTR#’s
310, 424.) “
‘Reorganizing the federal government in the middle of the war on terrorism was
perhaps not the brightest thing we could have done,’ he told the committee. The
administration agreed earlier this year to designate the FBI as the lead
organization for investigating terror finance networks, moving a separate
investigative team, known as Operation Green Quest from the Customs service to
the FBI. In addition, customs was moved to the new homeland security
department, breaking it away from other agencies in the Treasury department
that play a key role in terror finance investigations and enforcement. The move
came at a sensitive time when the Treasury was leading a series of actions,
including the investigation into a broad network of Saudi-backed charities
based in northern Virginia.” (Idem.)
10.
“ ‘Having the
current structure where the FBI is in charge and tells everybody else what to
do, is a recipe, I think for failure,’ said Mr. Clarke. He added: ‘The FBI by
tradition doesn’t co-operate well with other federal agencies and it doesn’t
share information it treats other federal agencies as second-class participants
in the overall effort.’” (Idem.)
11.
Still more about Green Quest and the maze of Virginia charities and
businesses that were involved with the operations of the Green Quest milieu: “Dollar by
dollar, U.S. prosecutors in Virginia are unraveling a world-wide financial
network operated by alleged Islamic extremists. Investigators have laid out the
network’s intricacy and geographic breadth in recent court filings related to a
terror-finance investigation of a Virginia-based group of charities and
businesses. Yesterday, they indicted a key figure they say is linked to Hamas
and al Qaeda. The funds flowed from Saudi Arabia and Europe to the
U.S.—possibly to help make the money look legitimate—and then through a maze of
Virginia entities and back to Europe and the Middle East, authorities say. The
money went through the secretive Swiss banks and Isle of Man trusts and ended
up in suspect hands, including a charity founded by an alleged Tunisian
terrorist and a group implicated in the plot to blow up Los Angeles International
Airport, court documents say.” (“Unraveling Terror’s Finances” by
Glenn R. Simpson; Wall Street Journal;
10/24/2003; p. A2.)
12.
A pivotal individual in the milieu targeted by Green Quest is Abdur
Rahman Alamoudi. Alamoudi is linked to Al Taqwa’s Youssef Nada (a pivotal
former Third Reich intelligence agent), as well as the GOP/Grover Norquist
milieu. (For more about Nada, see—among other programs—FTR#’s 343, 352, 354, 356, 357, 359, 377, 378, 382, 416, 423, 425.)
As discussed in FTR#’s 356, 386, 405,
the Muslim Chaplains network within the US military is inextricably linked with
Alamoudi and the Green Quest milieu. “At the network’s center is Abdur Rahman Alamoudi, a
Muslim-American activist who was indicted yesterday in U.S. District Court in
Alexandria, VA. On money laundering and tax, immigration and customs-fraud
charges. The 18-count indictment isn’t directly related to the Virginia probe,
focusing mostly on alleged illegal dealings with Libya. . . .In other recent
filings, prosecutors unveiled evidence that they say links Mr. Alamoudi to
Hamas, the Palestinian group designated as terrorist by the U.S., and Osama bin
Laden’s al Qaeda organization. Prosecutors say Mr. Alamoudi’s Palmpilot
contained contact information for seven men designed as ‘global terrorists’ by
the U.S. in freezing their assets. They included Saudi businessman Yassin Qadi,
and alleged supporter of Hamas and al Qaeda, and Swiss financier Yusuf Nada, an
alleged al Qaeda banker. . .” (Idem.)
13.
As discussed in FTR#’s 423, 425,
one of the Saudis flown out of the country in the wake of 9/11 (before they
could be properly interrogated) was bin Laden’s nephew Abdullah, associated
with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, an apparent Al Qaeda front. Abdullah
is the nephew referred to here: “ . . . Another Virginia charity, the Taibah International
Aid Association, worked in tandem with the Success foundation, prosecutors say.
A nephew of Mr. bin Laden living in Virginia helped run Taibah, which had
offices in the Balkans. Taibah personnel there told the Federal Bureau of
Investigation that it supported the Global Relief Foundation, a charity
designated by the U.S. as an al Qaeda front. . . .” (Idem.)
14.
Updating information from FTR#’s
330, 400, 414, the broadcast excerpts the obituary of former Bosnian
president Alija Izetbegovic, his association with the SS Handzhar Division in
World War II, and the support he received from Osama bin Laden. “ . . . During
World War II, when Bosnia became part of the puppet-Nazi state of the Croatian
Ustashe, Mr. Izetbegovic joined the Young Muslims, a group torn between siding
with the German-sponsored Handzar divisions organized by the German SS or with
the Yugoslav communist partisans led by Josip Broz Tito. Mr. Izetbegovic
supported the Handzars. After Tito’s Communist government was established in
1946, a military court sentenced Mr. Izetbegovic to three years in prison for
his wartime activities. . . .” (“Alija Izetbegovic, Muslim Who Led
Bosnia, Dies at 78” by David Binder; The
New York Times; 10/20/2003; p. 2.)
15.
“ . . . Osama
bin Laden visited him [Izetbegovic] in Sarajevo in 1993 and sponsored some
fighters from Arabic countries to fight on the Muslims’ side in Bosnia,
according to a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel. . .” (Idem.)
16.
Looking ahead to FTR#433,
the program underscores the Islamofascist Alamoudi’s links with the Pentagon’s
Chaplain vetting program. “ . . . He [Alamoudi] also set up a Pentagon program in
the 1990’s to recruit Muslim chaplains for the armed services, now the subject
of an espionage probe.” (“Unraveling Terror’s Finances” by Glenn R.
Simpson; Wall Street Journal;
10/24/2003; p. A2.)
17.
The 2002 Raids referred to here are the Operation Green Quest Raids of
March of that year. “ . . . The American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs
Council is a subgroup of the American Muslim Foundation, whose leader has been
arrested and accused of acting as a courier to funnel money from Libya to
terrorist groups in Syria. The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences
in Leesburg, VA., was raided by Customs in 2002 as part of an investigation
into money being funneled to al Qaeda and other militant Islamic groups,
senators added. . . .” (“Military Adopts New Chaplain Policy” by
Jesse J. Holland; San Francisco Chronicle;
10/15/2003; p. A10.)