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News Briefs
Farrakhan Can Visit England, British Court Rules 7/31/01 Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has won his British High Court battle for the right to visit the United Kingdom. The controversial Farrakhan has been excluded from Britain since 1986. According to the BBC, Mr Justice Turner, sitting in the High Court in London, ruled on Tuesday, July 31, that the ban against Farrakhan must be quashed. Farrakhan, 67, will not be able to come to the UK until after the judge outlines his reasons for his decision on October 1.
Lawyers for Farrakhan argued that the ban was unlawful in interfering with the leader's right to speak with his
English supporters about spiritual values for the black community. Home Office minister Beverley Hughes said the government was "very disappointed" by the ruling and would be considering an appeal.
"We believe that it is the home secretary's right to defend the social cohesion and racial harmony of this country," she said.
David Liddington, shadow home affairs spokesman, shared the government's dismay.
"I find it extraordinary that the judge is not prepared to give his reasons for his decision for a further two months," he said. But not all are disappointed with the ruling. Hilary Muhammad, UK spokesman for the Nation of Islam has welcomed the ruling.
"Now the citizens of UK will have a chance in the near future to see, hear and judge the
honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan for themselves," he said. Muhammad, who was at the High Court on Thursday for the decision, said that Muslims were grateful that their leader would be able to come to the UK to offer guidance. But the Director of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Neville Nagler, was among those who condemned the decision. Nagler told BBC News Online: "We remain concerned that his presence in this country, with his message of racial segregation, will in the current climate do more harm than good to race relations." Neo-Nazi Murderer Hendrick Moebus Extradited to Germany from US 7/30/01 A convicted neo-Nazi murderer who fled Germany after violating parole was backin a German prison Sunday after the United States rejected his application for political asylum and completed his extradition, according to the AP. Hendrik Moebus was met at Frankfurt, Germany, airport by four police officers and taken to Suhl prison in the eastern state of Thuringia, said Andreas Karmrodt, a spokesman for the state interior ministry. The 25-year-Moebus old was convicted along with two others in 1994 for strangling a 15-year-old boy the year before because he wasn't "Aryan." The murder of Sandro Beyer became particularly notorious in Germany because of the killers' enthusiasm for horror films and occult rituals. Moebus was sentenced to eight years of youth custody, but released in 1998 in the hope he had put his past behind him. He fled to the United States in December, 1999 after learning he would be re-arrested for violating parole. In an attempt to stave off deportation, he asked for asylum, arguing the German government would persecute him for his political views and challenged his conviction for additional crimes while on parole. German courts found Mobus guilty of disrespect for the dead and displaying Nazi symbols - actions he contended later were "merely an exercise of free speech," even though they are illegal in Germany. Moebus arrived in June, 2000 at the West Virgina compound of National Alliance leader William Pierce, who helped him draft Moebus' asylum application. Federal marshals arrested Moebus a few weeks later when he ventured out to a local restaurant. Pierce was not charged with any crimes for his shelter of Moebus. Moebus faces a further three years in prison in Germany. Two Sheriff's Deputies Die in Shooting at "Survivalist" Cabin Near Oroville CA 7/30/01 Two sheriff's deputies from Butte County, Calfornia were found dead on Thursday, July 26 in the cabin of a "survivalist." The "survivalist" was also found dead. After responding to a call of shots fired near the Inskip Inn, the bodies of sheriff's deputy William R. Hunter and Lt. Larry B. Estes were found in the cabin along with the body of the person who lived in the cabin, Richard G. Bracklow. The deputies were called by the inn's owner, Bob Duffy, after the suspect threatened him and may have had fired at him. .Other deputies who reached the scene about 7:45 p.m. described the suspect's cabin as looking like a fortress with barred windows and padlocked doors. According to Undersheriff Terry Korton, the final moments of life for Butte County sheriff's deputy William R. Hunter and Lt. Larry B. Estes were likely spent in a desperate struggle to control an armed suspect inside a tiny Inskip cabin where all three men were found dead Thursday night. Korton said the deputies and their suspected killer, Richard G. Bracklow, were found in extremely close proximity. "They were practically in a pile," Korton said. Preliminary reports by Department of Justice investigators indicate that the deputies were killed by multiple gunshot wounds. Bracklow's cause of death was not confirmed. In a briefing to the media on Friday afternoon in Oroville, CA. Sheriff Scott Mackenzie called Thursday's tragedy the worst incident in the history of the department. Mackenzie said that Estes and Hunter entered the cabin shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday. "A gunbattle ensued and the deputies were killed," he said. Mackenzie said the number of rounds fired inside the cabin hadn't been determined, but stated. "it was a lot." When Estes and Hunter did not respond to the dispatchers, the sheriff's department sent out deputies to locate them. When personnel could not locate the deputies at the scene, additional personnel and equipment were sent to locate the men.. Two Sheriff's Office helicopters were dispatched to the area, along with an armored van and members of the sheriff's Special Incident Response Team. Butte County Fire/CDF units, along with several emergency medical teams, responded to a staging area approximately three miles below the inn. At about 8 p.m., the road was closed to through traffic. Just before 9 p.m., sheriff's Lt. Jerry Smith assembled the special incident team and deployed snipers around the cabin. At that point, officials didn't have a name on the suspect believed holed up in the cabin, but issued a description as a male, 5 feet 10 inches, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Just after 9 p.m., deputies were advised that the suspect may be armed with a 12-gauge shotgun and an AK-47 assault rifle. It was also believed he had stored "10 to 20 rifles" in the cabin over the weekend. Acquaintances of Bracklow who assembled in the staging area described him as a "Y2K type" and a "survivalist" who was often seen armed in public and sometimes wore camouflage clothing. According to the Chico CA Enterprise Record, as 10 p.m. approached, deputies reviewed their strategy to storm the cabin. Since no activity had been seen in or around the cabin, Smith told officers, "There is no reason to get into a rush on this thing now. Let's do it right." A California Highway Patrol helicopter had flown over the cabin with an infrared sensor and found no evidence of heat sources. At 10:33, Smith order gas fired into the cabin. After six minutes, "Go" was blurted out over scanners and the cabin was rushed by deputies. At 10:40 p.m., Smith announced in a flat tone: "We've got three down." A search was immediately ordered of an adjacent cabin, but nothing was found. Moments later, medical personnel confirmed that all three men in the first cabin were dead. Authorities are now looking for a woman who may have been with Bracklow on several recent occasions and is rumored to be his girlfriend. She is driving a vehicle described only as a Honda. possibly named "Amy," and may have fled the upper ridge on Thursday. It is not known if the woman if a suspect in the incident. Hunter, 26, was scheduled to work with a K-9 police dog, but the
dog he was assigned was still in training and not with him Thursday
night. Hunter joined the department in August 1998. Estes, 61, was a
30-year veteran of the department and a former assistant sheriff. He
had recently been working on special investigations, including
internal affairs. Mackenzie said Estes was within one year of
retirement. Mackenzie said funeral arrangements are pending and
will probably be coordinated by representatives from multiple law
enforcement agencies in Butte County.Mackenzie said both Hunter and
Estes were outstanding employees of the department who died in
dedicated service to the community. ³They will be sorely missed,² he
said. HateWatch.org Goes Back
Online and Open Source 7/29/01 Ohio Aryan Nations Leader Arrested on Weapons Charges 7/19/01 Danny William Kincaid, also known as "Pastor Dan" in Aryan Nations literature, was arrested on weapons charges at his home in Delaware, Ohio on July, 5, according to the Columbus (OH) Dispatch.
According to federal court documents filed in the case, Kincaid has held weekly Aryan Nations meetings at the house. Kincaid, 55, was arrested on a 14-count indictment in which he is charged as a felon in possession of firearms and a pipe bomb. After his arrest, Kincaid denied that he held meetings at his house and said there has been a lot of "misinformation'' about the case. Kincaid was convicted in 1965 of a nighttime break-in at a Marion County grade school and was sentenced to one to 15 years in prison, and additional convictions for burglary and possession of methamphetamine, making it illegal for him to possess or sell firearms, the indictment states Among more than 60 items seized were handguns and dozens of rounds of ammunition. Also taken in the search were books on bacteriological warfare, booby traps, a copy of Secret Holocaust, Aryan Nations papers, letters from prison inmates and assorted photos of former Ohio Aryan Nations leader Harold Ray Redfeairn. Some of the items were found in the basement near a pulpit. On the Aryan Nations Web site, Kincaid is listed as "Pastor Dan," with a Marion, Ohio, post office box and e-mail address. It couldn't be confirmed whether Kincaid has visited the former Aryan Nations compound north of Hayden or participated in previous parades the group has held in Coeur d'Alene Redfeairn, a Montgomery County, Ohio resident, gave a sermon at Kincaid's residence on April 22, according to an FBI informant. At that April meeting, court documents said, Aryan leader Harold Ray Redfeairn referred to riots in Cincinnati and urged white supremacists to shoot black rioters in the head.Redfeairn, who testified last year as a defense witness in a North Idaho civil suit against Aryan leader Richard Butler, is not named as a defendant in the criminal indictment, according to Bill Morlin the Spokane (WA) Spokesman Review. According to the FBI, Aryan Nations is dedicated to the overthrow of the U.S. government and creation of a separate, all-white nation in the northwestern United States. Since the 1970s, members have committed various crimes, including murder and armed robberies, to further their goals. The group, which is based in Sandpoint, Idaho, held its world congress this weekend at Farragut State Park in Idaho, and held a march through downtown Couer d'Alene, Idaho on the Fourth of July. According to the Aryan Nations Internet site, a Romanian AK-47 assault rifle is to be raffled off at the world congress. Visitors also are encouraged to bring "a corruptive book or n----- music album to throw on the pile of filth.'' Agents also retrieved from Kincaid's house reports from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation concerning Barry Satta of Marion, recently convicted in the murder of a 7-year-old girl. Kincaid formerly lived in Marion County. He now is under house arrest and monitored electronically. FBI agent Nate Gray, supervisor of the Cincinnati division's domestic terrorism unit, said although it is not illegal to belong to groups such as the Aryan Nations, "We are looking at (Kincaid) because of the criminal activity. "We take these investigations seriously and investigate aggressively, especially in the domestic terrorism arena or of individuals who belong to such groups and who advocate criminal activities.'' The FBI began investigating Kincaid 13 months ago, Gray said. The indictment specifies that Kincaid sold everything from a .12-gauge "street-sweeper" shotgun to a Soviet-made assault rifle.a Russian SKS assault rifle to an informant between Oct. 7, 2000, and June 27, 2001. The
indictment doesn't identify the informant, but says he attended Aryan
Nations church services at Kincaid's rural home near Galena, Ohio.On
Jan. 14, the indictment alleges, the informant met another Aryan
Nations member, David A. Godfrey. He had manufactured a pipe bomb and
bought a .357 handgun from Kincaid, the indictment alleges.The
indictment naming Kincaid doesn't say whether Godfrey also faces
federal charges. Federal authorities in Ohio couldn't be reached for
comment Thursday evening.The handgun and pipe bomb were wrapped in an
Aryan Nations flag and were taken to Kincaid's home.For reasons that
aren't explained, Kincaid took the pipe bomb from Godfrey, grabbed a
lighter from the table and took the device outside.The informant was
secretly wearing an electronic device that recorded conversations
between Godfrey and Kincaid about the pipe bomb, federal documents
say."Kincaid lit the fuse and threw the pipe bomb," they
said. "The explosion from the pipe bomb detonating was clearly
audible on the recording."On Jan. 17, FBI and ATF agents raided
Godfrey's home and seized gunpowder, pipe bomb components, Aryan
Nations literature and a copy of the "Turner Diaries." The
fictional account of a race war has been the inspiration for several
white supremacists and terrorists, including the late Timothy McVeigh. Terrorism Warning for Arabian Peninsula from State Department 7/19/01 The US State Department is warning U.S. citizens of "imminent terrorist actions" in the Arabian Peninsula, according to CNN. The State department said it has "strong indications that individuals may be planning imminent terrorist actions against U.S. interests in the Arabian Peninsula," in a statement released Wednsday. The Arabian Peninsula includes Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. "In the past, such individuals have not distinguished between official and civilian targets," the statement said. "As always, we take this information seriously. "U.S. government facilities remain at a heightened state of alert. American citizens in the region are urged to remain vigilant with regard to their personal security and to exercise caution," according to the statement. The department said it had no information on "specific targets, timing, or method of attack." U.S. military forces in the Persian Gulf and Middle East region went to the highest state of alert on June 22, 2001, in reaction to what officials called an unspecified but credible threat of attack against U.S. interests. The threats are believed to have been planned by people linked to accused terrorist Osama bin Laden. That warning also did not identify a specific target. Officials said there was a time frame for that attack, but would not disclose it. The statement says this warning expires October 17, 2001. Anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby, Spotlight Magazine Fold 7/18/01 The anti-semitic Liberty Lobby has closed its doors and its weekly newspaper, the Spotlight, has published its last edition after a federal bankruptcy judge last week dismissed the group's latest claim for Chapter 11 protection, according to the Washington Times. The most recent ruling by U.S. bankruptcy
Judge S. Martin Teel Jr. puts an end to a complicated eight-year
battle between Liberty Lobby founder Willis A. Carto and his former
associates at the California-based Institute for Historical Review (IHR),
a holocaust denial organization. IHR sued
Carto and won a multimillion-dollar
judgment on claims that Carto illegally diverted funds from the
institute's Texas parent company, the Legion for the Survival of
Freedom. Carto, a resident of Escondido, Calif.,
founded the Washington-based Liberty Lobby in 1955. The nonprofit
outfit and its publication, the Spotlight, funded by outside donations
and subscriptions, claimed to be America's key defender of patriotism
and a hub for grass-roots conservative activism. But they also have
been criticized as a fertile breeding ground for the views of
anti-government extremists, conspiracy theorists, anti-semites and racists. Last
week, as about 25 employees gathered
personal belongings and wrapped up last-minute business at the Liberty
Lobby offices, located at 300 Independence Ave., a spokesman defended Carto and vowed to fight on. "Nobody is really that sad, but everybody
is mad," said spokesman William Francis. "While Liberty
Lobby may be dissolved, nobody has given up here. We know that we did
nothing wrong as an institution. Everybody has complete faith in Mr.
Carto and how he administered the funds." Francis hinted that a new incarnation of the Spotlight was already in the works, although he offered few specifics about any new publication.
Mark Weber, director of IHR, said the ruling
may signal the end of Liberty Lobby, but he predicts Mr. Carto will
survive with some other venture.
"This is a welcome culmination of an
exhausting, costly, bitter legal and public relations dispute,"
said Weber, who has been assailed in the pages of the Spotlight as
a "rat," "weasel," "toilet bowl,"
"cockroach" and "devil." Francis yesterday reiterated his claims
that IHR plans to sell one of the Liberty Lobby's final assets, its
subscriber mailing list, to such watchdog organizations as the
Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, which have
been critical of both feuding groups. "It's a lie," Weber said of
those claims. Liberty Lobby once sued the Wall Street
Journal for having called the organization "anti-Semitic."
But Judge Robert Bork dismissed the suit in 1984, declaring, "If
anti-Semitism has a core, factual meaning, it was demonstrated
here." Carto, a 74-year-old native of Fort Wayne,
Ind., has been called "the most influential anti-Semite in the
United States." About 90,000 people are paid subscribers to the
Spotlight, which had estimated readership of more than 300,000 in
1981. The weekly's "favorite political targets
included the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, Henry Kissinger, the
Council on Foreign Relations and the 'Zionist entity' in
Palestine," according to author Dennis King. Carto played a key role in co-founding IHR
in 1978. The Anti-Defamation League has called IHR "the world's
single most important outlet for Holocaust-denial propaganda" Carto was ousted by IHR's board of directors in September 1993 after the staff complained, among other things, of Mr. Carto's interference in editorial decisions for the Journal of Historical Review, an IHR publication. Prof. Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism said in a recent article about Carto, Liberty Lobby and IHR: :
Arguably the most powerful purveyor of denial over the last quarter
century
is a shadowy and controversial figure named Willis Carto.
Carto is founder and main leader behind the Washington, D.C. based
extremist
group, Liberty Lobby and its offshoots, the Noontide Press and the
most well
known denial organization, the Institute for Historical Review (IHR).
These
entities are all part of myriad projects created by Carto to promote
bigotry
and extremism in North America. Although Carto is listed as the
Liberty
In 1983 Mr. Carto founded yet another offshoot group, a far right
political
party, called the Populist Party. The Party is best known for
its
conspiracist and bigoted newspaper, The Nationalist Times and for its
1988
Presidential candidate former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke. Populist
Party
National Director Don Wassall wrote about the Party's embrace of the
extreme in the February 1987 issue of the Nationalist Times:
The first factor is the healthy alienation one feels when he
understands the
essential corruption and unjustness [sic] of the present system, and
through
enlightenment is able to cut himself away from the values, mores, and
thought
patterns of the Establishment....Many populists have realized that our
disgust at present trends is not because of alienation per se, but
because
our souls rebel at the deliberate destruction of the highest, fairest
most
progressive way of life ever known to man (The Nationalist Times, May
1997;
quoting February 1987 issue).
The Spotlight is arguably the most circulated racist and conspiracist
periodical in the United States today. Its articles often relate to
conspiracies concocted by Zionists and allegedly Jewish controlled
entities
like the Trilateral Commission, Rockefeller Family, bankers, The
United
Nations, the American Federal Reserve System, and Communists. It also
devotes
space to offbeat news and to unorthodox health remedies. Since
its founding
in 1975 the weekly Spotlight has slightly altered its methods. In the
past
its bigotry and anti-Semitism was much more blatant and overt than it
is
today. A lengthy 1979 special supplement featured articles entitled,
"Were
Six Million Jews Exterminated?" and "Famous 'Gas Chamber
Victims' Living
Well" while another issue featured such headlines as "White
Race Becoming an
Endangered Species" and "Israel Murders Americans" (Caplan,
1995, p. 1).
Noontide Press is arguably the most well established publishing house
catering to American bigots and extremists. It has published and sold
material promoting Holocaust denial, bigotry, and bomb making. Its
selection
includes works like the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion,
International Jew and Mein Kampf; the
Holocaust denial tract, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century; and The
Road
Back, a terrorist manual with an ideological bent, popular among
militia
anti-government in the United States (Noontide Press Catalogue). Carto founded the IHR in 1979 and was extensively involved in its operations until a putsch ousted him in 1993. The IHR, an anti-Semitic denial organization, is still the most prominent Holocaust denial organization in the United States. The inaugural issue of the IHR's slickly produced journal included the following articles by some of the leading figures in the denial movement:
App, Austin. "The 'Holocaust' put in perspective." Spring,
1980; vol. 01 no.
1: p. 43.
William Lindsey's conference presentation offered a defense of Dr.
Bruno
Tesch who was accused in a 1945 military trial of crimes against
humanity for
supplying poison gas to the concentration camps. Robert John spoke
about the
interplay of Jewish conspiracy, finance and a "founding
myth" relating to the
Holocaust as a means for achieving Israeli statehood. Another speaker,
Friedrich Berg, spoke on "Diesels, Gas, Wagons, and Zyklon
B" in an attempt
to deny the asphyxiation killing of concentration camp prisoners.
Previously,
Berg had unsuccessfully petitioned the NBC television network for
equal Accused
Birmingham Bomber Unfit for Trial 7/18/01 A judge has ruled that Bobby Frank Cherry is not mentally competent to face murder charges the 1963 Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing that killed four girls. Judge James Garrett, a Jefferson County judge, ruled on Monday, July 16 that Cherry, 72, undergo more testing by the Alabama Department of Mental Health and set an Aug. 10 hearing to decide how that evaluation will be done. Garrett issued a seven-page decision finding that Cherry's defense presented enough evidence that vascular dementia had made Cherry incompetent. The state, he wrote, failed to meet Alabama's demanding burden of proof for mental competence, which is "clear, convincing and unequivocal evidence." Rodger Bass, a defense attorney, said Cherry could not comprehend the ruling's significance. "You try to talk to him about the case, he talks about his grandchildren playing in the mud," Bass told the Birmingham News. Former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones, handling the case as a special state prosecutor, said that Cherry likely will not be tried on murder charges: "The door is closing rapidly and there's not much left in this case." Jones said he was disappointed about the 7ruling disappointed him, but was not surprised. Alabama law, with its requirement for "unequivocal evidence" of competence is an "extraordinarily high burden" for the state, he said. "That is just next to an impossible burden, given the state of the professional experience and expertise and testimony that we had in this case," Jones said. Garrett's decision said that that the state standard is "substantially different" from the federal test: a "preponderance of the evidence." Jones said he hopes that the Legislature and a state judicial committee on which Garrett serves will review the competency rule. At Cherry's mental competency hearing, two psychologists and two psychiatrists testified. Two said Cherry could not help in his own defense, as the law requires. All four agreed Cherry had some form of dementia, a progressive disease. Garrett noted that Dr. Jack Modell, the psychiatrist appointed by the court, tested Cherry extensively. Modell said a brain scan showed Cherry had suffered small strokes and that tissue had started to die. He said Cherry was not faking his condition. Jones said the only determination left for the judge is to decide whether there is a "substantial probability" that Cherry could recover sufficiently to stand trial. Cherry is one of four former Ku Klux Klansmen who were suspects in the church bombing that killed Denise McNair, 11, and 14-year-olds Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins. A jury on May 1 convicted Cherry's co-defendant, Thomas Blanton Jr.. Blanton received a life sentence. Robert "Dynamite Bob" Chambliss died in prison after a jury convicted him of the bombing in 1977. Herman Cash, a fourth suspect, died without being charged. News of Garrett's decision disappointed some of the girls' relatives and civil rights leaders. Sarah Rudolph lost both an eye and her sister, Addie Mae Collins, in the blast. She sat through two days of testimony last week and concluded that Cherry was putting on an act. Monday, Rudolph said she had not changed her mind about Cherry. The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a Cincinnati minister instrumental in Birmingham's civil rights movement, said Cherry should be granted immunity and allowed to discuss anything he knows of the Klan's activities. "Somebody who was so dead set and fully competent to do evil deeds over a very long period of time is now being ruled incompetent to stand trial for his deeds," Shuttlesworth said. Rev. John Cross of Decatur, Ga., Sixteenth Street's minister at the time of the bombing, said he was glad at two others were held responsible for the killings that were among the most shocking to the nation during the civil rights movement. "You can't always be a hundred percent in your trials and tribulations," he said. "Getting two out of three, that's good. It would have been better if we got three. If that's all we can get, we'll just have to settle." The day after the judge's decision,
blacks singing civil rights anthems picketed a courthouse to protest a judge's ruling that a former Ku Klux Klansman is mentally incompetent to stand trial in the 1963 church bombing that killed four black girls. Complicating matters further, Owens said the victim in the sexual assault case, Gloria Dean LaDow, hasn't been heard from since last year, and it would be impossible to take Cherry to trial without her. "She basically just disappeared," said Owens. "In all likelihood because of this ruling out of Jefferson County I'm not going to have a case. But I'd like to talk to her anyway." Cherry was brought to Alabama from his home in Mabank, Texas, last year after being indicted on charges he sexually assaulted LaDow, the daughter of Willadean Brogdon Towns, one of Cherry's former wives. LaDow, 41,alleged that Cherry raped and molested her when she was a girl living with him and her mother in Alabama. Once extradited to Alabama to answer the assault charges, Cherry was indicted on murder charges in a 1963 bombing that killed four black girls at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. LaDow, who testified before grand jurors during the bombing investigation, was herself on probation when the murder charges were filed. LaDow was convicted with her husband in 1993 in Florida on sex abuse charges involving a teen-age girl. She was released on parole but Florida authorities have issued an arrest warrant claiming she violated probation by failing to attend court-ordered counseling meetings. LaDow's
attorney, Larry Hardaway, said he last saw her in October when she
came by his office and said she was getting a job. LaDow was living in
a small motel at the time and feared Cherry, he said. Hardaway said he
does not know whether LaDow is in hiding or something happened to her,
but added she would have been "an easy target" for anyone
who wanted to harm her. "She was on the street, she mingled with
street people, and she was living alone. She was on her own," he
said. Saudis Will Try 11 in Khobar
Towers Bombing 7/10/01 Morristown NJ White Supremacist Rally for Racial Profiling Fizzles in the Drizzle 7/5/01
Barrett had hoped to drum up local support for his organization by publicly supporting the now-banned practice of racial profiling in the New Jersey State Police and the end to affirmative action. He also claimed to support two state troopers involved in a shooting on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1998 that has been labeled as racially motivated, and Barrett honored the two New Jersey state troopers who were charged in the 1998 New Jersey Turnpike shooting. Attorneys for troopers John Hogan and James Kenna said their clients wanted nothing to do with Barrett or his event. Although throngs of protesters drew much of the attention from Barrett’s intended message, the New Jersey native claimed victory in the name of free speech. Protesters and county officials, on the other hand, called it a "flop." From the beginning of Wednesday’s event, not much went right for Barrett, the 57-year-old lawyer who once successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. First, Barrett’s appointed grand marshal, Steve Ucci of Nutley NJ was an unexplained no-show. Ucci, who had vowed to wear a George Washington costume for the event at which he was to preside as grand marshal, never materialized. He had predicted 200 supporters would join him. "I have no idea what happened to him," Barrett said at noon, when the rally was scheduled to begin. "I just hope he’s all right." Reached by telephone at Ucci’s home Wednesday night, a man who claimed to be Tom Ucci, Steve’s brother, would only say: "If it’s something bad, he’s definitely not involved in it anymore." Shortly thereafter, while setting up on the courthouse lawn, two of Barrett’s supposed supporters sabotaged his sound equipment and threw his flags into the street. Once police arrested the infiltrators, only two supporters remained at Barrett’s side. But out of fear, both decided not to join their leader in a single-lap "parade" around the courthouse, leaving him to make the march alone. And one of those two left some three hours before the conclusion of the event that drew more about 400 counterprotesters at times to the county seat of Morris County NJ. "This is like a fireworks display that fizzled," Morris County Freeholder John J. Murphy told the Newark Star Ledger. It was Barrett’s second Fourth of July in Morristown. Last year’s event was designed to call for an end to affirmative action, an affair that drew some 300 protesters and resulted in 10 arrests, including two juveniles, on rioting and related charges. Twenty police agencies sent a total of 267 officers who sporadically used pepper spray to quell those who threw batteries, golf balls and bagels at Barrett and who knocked down barricades on loan from the New York Police Department. But this time around, the 350 police officers had an easier time. Police set up three checkpoints and two sets of barricades securing the area around the courthouse. Although three men were arrested, barricades remained in place, nothing was thrown, and no pepper spray was used. Several batteries and small penknives were confiscated by police using metal detectors at entrances to the rally site, said Capt. Christopher D. Linne of the county prosecutor’s office. In a televised interview, Prosecutor John Dangler said security surrounding Wednesday’s rally would cost taxpayers $300,000 to $400,000. But law enforcement officials said the money was well spent. "The checkpoints are the story," said Morristown police Capt. Peter Demnitz, who organized security for the event. "I wish they got it on tape; groups of people just turned around and walked away." Two who made it through the checkpoints, however, managed to have an impact on the event. About 9 a.m., Matthew McSweeney Sheard, 19, of Brooklyn and Joshua Laub, 24, of the Bronx, told police on Schuyler Place that they wanted to support Barrett’s cause. Barrett, who had never met the men before, told police to allow them into the confined area designated for his rally. The two then proceeded to help him unload his white, Ford F-150 pick-up truck. The pair continued to set up flags and other equipment for the rally until shortly after 11:30 a.m. Of the four apparent Barrett supporters, Sheard and Laub were the only ones who refused to provide their names and hometowns to a reporter who asked. Then they struck. The pair kicked over two large speakers intended to project Barrett’s speech toward demonstrators on the other side of Washington Street. Protesters, momentarily stunned, broke into boisterous cheers at the sight of the dissenters lunging for Nationalist Movement flags and hurling them into the street. Barrett, similarly amazed, threw himself at Sheard, the nearest saboteur. Barrett grabbed the man and attempted to put him into a headlock. "I got him, I got him in the head," an out-of-breath Barrett said immediately after police threw Sheard to the ground and handcuffed him. "These people are terrorists. My only regret is I didn’t stomp on his neck." The two men were charged with disorderly conduct, criminal mischief and harassment. They were released on their own recognizance. "Obviously it was a plan to gain Mr. Barrett’s acceptance," said one of two remaining Barrett supporters, Gerald James McManus, who said he was from Florida. "If they wanted to kill him, they could have done it." Another protester, Patrick John Strupp, 31, of Morristown, was arrested in the afternoon behind the barricade when police at an entrance point to the demonstrators’ area found him carrying a switchblade knife and metal knuckles. He was charged with two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon. On Wednesday night he remained in the Morris County jail on $5,000 bail. Officials from the New Jersey State Police, 36 Morris municipalities, the sheriff’s and prosecutor’s offices, and the mounted park police units from Morris and Passaic counties were on hand. Also, members of the U.S. Department of Justice and NYPD observed the police action while members of the U.S. Secret Service quietly documented members of protest groups. On the grounds of the county courthouse in the early afternoon, the spirit of the two remaining supporters, McManus and Doug Vandinan, 24, of Somerset County NJ, was quickly waning. Sheard and Laub apparently had broken two switches on Barrett’s audio equipment, and a light drizzle began to fall. McManus and Vandinan told Barrett they did not want to march with him on the street, forcing him to complete the lap alone, with only a barely functional bullhorn and a cassette tape recorder by his side. "It’s not worth parading with just three people," Vandinan explained to a reporter. "It’s too bad. There are lots of people who feel like we do, but they just don’t want to be seen in public." As Barrett began his speech in favor of racial profiling, the act of targeting minorities in traffic stops, Vandinan began dismantling the American and Nationalist Movement flags hung on the courthouse steps. Vandinan was berated by Barrett for his actions. During Barrett and McManus’ public remarks, the weak audio coupled with increasingly loud chants, jeers and catcalls from demonstrators ensured that no one farther than 10 feet from the speakers heard a word. Barrett, however, was undeterred. Barrett, a former East Orange NJ resident and 1964 graduate of Rutgers University, called his rally a success. "I don’t know how many people heard the Gettysburg Address either," said Barrett, clothed in jeans, a denim shirt, leather suspenders and a faded, black tie, according to the Star-Ledger. "The point is it was said, and no one could stand in our way. What I’m showing is that a man wearing blue jeans has just as much right to be seen and heard as someone wearing a top hat." About 1 p.m., three hours before Barrett repacked his truck and drove under police escort to Route 287 to begin his journey back to Mississippi, Vandinan quietly left. "The speeches were getting too long for him, I guess," Barrett said. "As Lincoln says, ‘You can’t please all the people all the time.’" Defiant Milosevic Mocks His Accusers at First Appearance Before International Court 7/4
Los Angeles Airport Intended
Target, Says Millennium Terrorism Plot Defendant 7/4 Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian man who was arrested in December 1999 as he tried to bring explosives
into the United States across the border from British Columbia, told a federal jury today that he and his accomplices had planned to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 2000.
"He asked me to send him some passports, some original passports . . . that he can use to give to other people who had come [to the camps] to carry out operations in U.S.," Ressam said of Zubeida. According to the Los Angeles Times, Zubeida gave Ressam specific names to put on the passports, Ressam testified, ostensibly so the men could enter Canada and then slip across the border into the United States. Ressam's testimony offered the jurors a rare glimpse into the murky underworld of global Islamic terrorism from one of its own participants.
Ressam, who faces a sentencing range of 27 to 130 years in prison, described a long
education in the terrorist schools of Afghanistan. He came to his
"calling," as he described it, along a familiar path. He was a high school graduate in Algeria, a man
who worked in Corsican vineyards and later relocated to Montreal, where he survived on welfare and theft.
He said he found direction in a fundamentalist brand of Islam.
In March 1998 Ressam left for training in bin Laden's camps in the mountains of Afghanistan.
On direct examination, Ressam told the court what he learned.
Out of about 100 men at the camp, 30 were Algerian, and they were separated into smaller groups to fight in Europe, North America and elsewhere. Ressam's band of six men was told to return to Canada and rob a bunch of banks to raise money "to carry out an operation in America . . . an airport" before the millennium. Other groups were planning similar terrorist attacks in Europe, the Persian Gulf and elsewhere against the U.S and Israel. xporting their war. Ressam said his cell agreed to meet in Canada, where they would rob banks to raise the money needed to "carry out an operation in America." Ressam then went for six weeks of advanced explosives training at a second camp, Toronta, and returned to Canada with $12,000 from a camp leader named Al Montaz and orders to use the money to set up an apartment for his fellow conspirators and to buy weapons. The other five men, who went by the aliases Abu Ahmed, Hakim, Mustapha, Karim and the cell leader, Fodail, never made it to Canada. So Ressam turned to Haouari and Meskini, he said, for help.
Ressam said he tried, unsuccessfully, to get the Canadian passports to Zubeida, and that he never found out what happened to the men. "Did they ever get to the United States?" Bianco asked. "I do not know," Ressam replied. After Ressam completed his training, Ressam went to Canada. But some fellow cell members could not obtain forged papers and could not leave Europe, he said. As the months passed, he realized that his planned terrorist campaign would center on just one target.
"I started to think, how am I going to carry out this operation,"
Ressam said. "By myself, I could not do multiple targets."
Ressam also acknowledged that he never told Haouari or another alleged co-conspirator, Abdelghani Meskini, of his specific plans to place a suitcase bomb in a crowded terminal at LAX, because he was taught in the camps to never disclose the whole plot to
co-conspirators under his command in order to guarantee its secrecy.
testified that at about this time Haouari offered to send a friend, Meskini, to help out. "I told him [Haouari] I am not going to America for tourism," Ressam said. "I am going for some very important and dangerous business. I explained it was a shtah."
Man Gets Life for Racial Killing in Wichita Falls, Texas 7/4 A man who killed a stranger because the other man was black was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison. In a jail interview shortly before his trial, Turnbow said one of his hobbies is writing to churches, and he said a letter to the "Church of Jesus Christ Christian" came back with an Aryan Nations letterhead. This church is a Christian Identity church located in Sandpoint, Idaho. Its pastor is Richard Butler, also the leader of the now defunct Aryan Nations. Turnbow said the form required him to acknowledge any affiliation, even if there was just correspondence, Turnbow told the Wichita Falls Times Record News. Turnbow had filed a federal lawsuit pro se,
naming prosecutor Rick Mahler and his own attorney, Marty Cannedy.
Prior to his trial, Turnbow has pored through testimony from his first
trial, highlighting what he called inconsistencies in the witnesses'
statements. He flipped through the pages, pointing to numerous
examples of where he said Wichita County Assistant District Attorney
Rick Mahler had influenced testimony. The federal lawsuit, filed in March, 2001, lays out Turnbow's grudge against Mahler. It alleges the prosecutor |
