News Briefs

British Riot Police Out in Force in Burnley for Race Violence 6/26

 A Labor Party official said Tuesday that he was battered by riot police in Burnley, England.  Theriot police were out in force overnight to keep racial tension from exploding into violence for a third straight night. 

Officers arrested 22 people, including Shalik Malik, 33, a member of the governing party's national executive committee and the son of the town's deputy mayor, Rafik Malik. 
Malik, who is of Pakistani background, said he was attacked as riot officers tried to disperse a crowd of Asian youths. 

``It was a completely unprovoked assault by police officers in riot gear, with riot shields which were smashed in my face causing four or five stitches above the eye, lacerations to the arm and bruises to the body and legs,'' Malik said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. television. 

Lancashire police confirmed only that an Asian man had been slightly injured and arrested, and said a senior officer would investigate. Police said the Asian youths threw stones and other objects, and more police had been brought in to disperse the crowd. 

Hundreds of riot police patrolled a rugged industrial town overnight to keep racial tensions from exploding. Police armed with riot clubs and shields had talked earlier with white and South Asian children playing together just a few yards away from a pub gutted by firebombs Sunday night. 

Community leaders have insisted that despite recent violence, Burnley is not plagued by the same hatreds as nearby Oldham were severe race riots erupted in late May. ``I've lived here for more than 30 years and this is the first time in my life that I've seen this trouble,'' said Manzoor Zakhmni, chairman of the Kashmir Welfare Organization. ``It is not like Oldham. It is a peaceful community and we live side-by-side with other Asians and whites.'' 

About 6,000 of Burnley's 92,000 residents are from ethnic minorities, mostly Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.  Shahid Malik, a member of the Commission for Racial Equality, said police had welcomed his efforts two days earlier to cool tempers. ``There is no logic in this,'' Malik said of his encounter with riot police. ``This is the frightening thing. I think we've got to hope that the police are not going to go into their normal defensive mode and will take action on those responsible for this.'' 

Police had urged residents to stay off the streets Monday night, but many nonetheless gathered to watch a police buildup that included officers from nearby Manchester. A police helicopter circled overhead and groups of mounted officers patrolled the main streets of Burnley.

On Sunday night, about 200 white and Asian youths hurled bricks and bottles, and several cars and shops were set alight. Police said Sunday's skirmishes began when about 70 white males left a pub and confronted youths at the mostly Asian Stoneyholme housing project.  
In the House of Commons, Home Office Minister John Denham said he was disgusted at ``the criminal violence ... and the mindless acts of provocation.'' 

Burnley, in northwestern England, is a gritty former textile town, similar to Oldham, which is 20 miles away.  In Oldham tensions between white and South Asian residents exploded into violence for three nights last month.  Both towns suffer high unemployment and have been targeted by the far-right British National Party. Police said there was no evidence to link the party to the Burnley rioting. 

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Pope John Paul Honors Babi Yar Victims 6/25

Pope John Paul paid a silent tribute to thousands of Ukrainian Jews killed by the Nazis at Babi Yar in 1941 in one of the worst massacres of the Holocaust.  

On the third day of his visit to Ukraine, during which the head of the Roman Catholic Church has urged reconciliation and harmony between the great religions, the Pope stood to pray at the Babi Yar ravine just outside central Kiev. All was quiet  as the Pope, along with the Chief Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich of Kiev, bowed his head at the site where Nazi troops slaughtered more than 30,000 Jews in September 1941.

Pope John Paul bowed his head and prayed for five minutes. Before leaving, he read aloud the De profundis, a Catholic prayer for the dead.

''Babi Yar is a name that still inspires awe and disgust as one of the prime symbols of evil and cruelty,'' said Dov Bleich in a statement he handed to the Pope.

Babi Yar was one of the first massacres in the Holocaust, which claimed six million Jews and hundreds of thousands of others deemed unworthy of life by the Nazis.

''It is here that Hitler and his henchmen successfully created a Kiev that was 'Judenrein' (cleansed of Jews), murdering tens of thousands of Jews,'' Dov Bleich said.

The Jews were told they would be resettled by occupying German authorities and to bring warm clothing and identity cards, the victims were herded into a fenced area. They were shot, mostly in the head, their bodies falling into the ravine where they were buried.

Jewish church figures show 33,761 Jews were killed within 72 hours -- almost eight a minute. Over the next two years, the Holocaust death toll in Ukraine rose as high as 150,000. Thousands more non-Jews who had incurred the wrath of Nazi forces were executed.  Towards the end of the war, Nazi authorities ordered the bodies to be exhumed and burned, but the efforts to sweep away the evidence of the atrocity could not be erased entirely.  In 1970, the Communist government built a memorial to all the victims at Babi Yar. A separate Jewish monument stands nearby in what is now a memorial park, shrouded by trees.

Dov Bleich paid tribute to the Pope's efforts to preach reconciliation and his condemnation of totalitarian regimes.  ''Thanks to the great efforts of Pope John Paul II there is hope that there will be no more Babi Yars,'' he said.
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Alabama Protesters say 'new' Klan sends old message 6/24/01

Between shouts of "White Power," speakers at a rally in Sylacauga, Alabama, declared a new approach for the Ku Klux Klan, but protesters said they just heard the same old message of hate. About 100 Klan supporters listened and applauded as a dozen speakers decried the problems of modern society and taunted about 50 protesters cordoned off across a side street, according to the Birmingham, Alabama, Post.

The mostly black anti-Klan group tried to shout down the speakers, most of whom wore Klan robes and hoods while standing on a makeshift stage draped with Klan insignia.
"We're not the Klan of the '50s, '60s and '70s," said "Brother Brad," the rally organizer, as protesters chanted "Go home."  

"We want to get the message out that we're still alive, still here," said Brother Brad, who declined to give his last name. "We're trying to change our image." 

Speakers from Klan groups in Alabama and Georgia called for traditional values and for sympathizers to fight gangs and drug dealers. But their speeches were peppered with insults toward blacks, Hispanics, Jews, homosexuals and other traditional Klan targets. Although not identified by the Birmingham Post, Alabama has 18 active Ku Klux Klan chapters, with the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan predominating; Georgia has two active Klan groups, one of them being the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Dozens of law enforcement officers made sure the opposing groups stayed apart. After the two-hour rally, the two groups inched closer to each other. But officers, most in riot gear, moved in to quickly diffused the situation. 

Teritia Kirkland, a Sylacauga resident who was one of the more vocal protesters, said people wouldn't put up with the Klan anymore. "They're just a bunch of nothings in Martha Stewart sheets with hoods on," she said. "They're going to Hell, and they'll be flaming before they get there." 

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Four Boaz, Alabama ex-officers plead guilty in Hispanic shakedown scheme 6/23/01


Four former Boaz, Alabama, police officers accused of harassing and shaking down Hispanics for money at traffic stops have pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges. 

Sgt. Bobby Marlin Hunt, 31, and Jonathon R. "Bull" Jones, 27, both of Boaz, and Rickie T. Dobbs,30, of Horton, and Jeffery Keith Sanders, 32, of Albertville admitted on Friday, June22,  that they were part of a conspiracy to steal money and property from individuals, schools, public facilities and business.  Jones, Dobbs and Sanders were patrol officers.  

All four admitted targeting Hispanics as targets for their thefts. The officers believed Hispanics were likely to carry more money, while language barriers and immigration status would make them less likely to resist or be believed if they complained, according to the Associated Press.  The Hispanic population of Boaz, in northeast Alabama, has grown rapidly to fill agriculture jobs in the area. 

As part of the plea, the former officers are expected to testify in the trial of former Police Capt. Timothy Don Hooks of Boaz, Alabama, a 17-year police veteran who was also allegedly part of the scheme.  Hooks, 40, the nightshift commander who has plead innocent to the charges, goes to trial later this year, according to U.S. Attorney Herbert "Bud" Henry. 

The four ex-officers will be sentenced Oct. 26. Civil rights violations carry a maximum prison term of not more than 10 years, a fine of not more than $250,000 or both. Prosecutors are expected to recommend the former officers receive lesser sentences for cooperating with authorities.

Indictments returned by a federal grand jury in Birmingham, Alabama, in April claim that between April 1998 and July 2000, the officers violated the civil rights of Hispanics and others by stealing from the victims during traffic stops -- a practice referred to as "bravo delta" or "bird dogging." The indictment also charges that the five men stole items from schools and elsewhere, including three portable radios and a printer. 

The crime spree ended after an investigation by the Boaz Police Department, Marshall County District Attorney's Office, Alabama Bureau of Investigation and the FBI. 

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U.S. Receives Middle East Threat after 14 are Indicted in Khobar Towers Bombing 6/22

In the wake of indictments of fourteen men in the Khobar Towers bombing, and in response to a threat against Americans in the Middle East, a Marine Corps training exercise in Jordan is being cut short and Navy ships have been ordered out of port in Bahrain, according to Pentagon officials.  

The threat was described by the officials as ''non-specific,'' meaning it was aimed at Americans but not necessarily against members of the military.  The threat was taken to be credible, one of the officials said.  Three separate threats were intercepted, all targeting next Monday, the fifth anniversary of the bombing of the Khobar Towers.  According to CNN, the U.S. State Department has reissued a May 29 worldwide caution warning U.S. travelers.  The caution said in part:  U.S. citizens are urged to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness to reduce their vulnerability. Americans should maintain a low profile, vary routes and times for all required travel, and treat mail and packages from unfamiliar sources with suspicion. In addition, American citizens are also urged to avoid contact with any suspicious, unfamiliar objects, and to report the presence of the objects to local authorities. Vehicles should not be left unattended, if at all possible, and should be kept locked at all times. U.S. Government personnel overseas have been advised to take the same precautions. In addition, U.S. Government facilities have and will continue to temporarily close or suspend public services as necessary to review their security posture and ensure its adequacy.

This May 29 caution was issused by the State Department after the conviction of defendants connected with the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. That warning said that "Americans citizens abroad may be the target of a terrorist threat from extremist groups" with links to Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, believed to be the mastermind of the bombings, according to CNN.

The official said it was possible the threat was related to the announcement by the Justice Department of indictments against 13 Saudis and one Lebanese in connection with the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers apartment complex in Saudi Arabia. Nineteen members of the U.S. Air Force were killed in that attack.

It was not immediately clear whether the source of the new threat was known to U.S. officials.  In response to the threat, several Navy minesweeping ships were ordered out of port in Bahrain, which is headquarters for the U.S. 5th Fleet that patrols the Persian Gulf area. The aircraft carrier USS Constellation and her battle group already were at sea, officials said.  Other additional security measures also were taken, but the officials would not disclose details.  The level of security for U.S. forces in the Middle East was at Threatcon Delta, the highest level of security.  Officials would not be more specific.

A contingent of 2,200 Marines operating as an Amphibious Ready Group cut short their training in Jordan, the officials said. The Marines were being taken back aboard their three ships, led by the USS Boxer.

Extra security precautions for U.S. forces in the Middle East have been ordered several times since the bombing last October of the USS Cole in Yemen.


Yesterday, a federal grand jury returned a 46-count indictment charging 13 Saudis and a Lebanese man, who officials said were supported by Iran, with a truck bombing at the Khobar Towers apartment building in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American airmen and wounded nearly 400 others in 1996.  No Iranians were indicted.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said at a news conference announcing the indictments that while the attack was carried out by the Saudis and the Lebanese national, all members of Hezbollah, he blamed unnamed officials in Iran for the attack. Ashcroft said they "inspired, supported and supervised members of Saudi Hezbollah."

No Iranians were charged with specific crimes related to the bombing.  The indictment did not directly accuse the Iranian government of legal responsibility for the attac.  In the attack a tanker truck packed with 5,000 pounds of explosives was detonated outside the dormitory complex. Iran has denied any involvement in the bombing.

At the news conference, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louis J. Freeh, who has stepped down as FBI director on June 22 after eight years on the job, said the inquiry would remain open. Freeh, for whom the investigation had become a personal priority, said additional people could be accused of complicity in the case.

None of those charged were in the United States, and it was not clear if any of them would ever be brought here for trial. Nine of the 14 men were charged with 46 separate felony counts, including murder, use of a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to kill Americans. Five others charged in the indictment were accused of conspiracy which, the indictment said, was motivated by a desire to drive Americans out of Saudi Arabia. The most serious charges in the indictment are punishable by the death penalty.

In a statement, President Bush thanked Saudi Arabia for its assistance in the investigation of what he called a "deplorable act of terrorism." Addressing the families of the bombing and survivors, Mr. Bush said, "Your government will not forget your loss, and will continue working, based on the evidence, to make sure that justice is done."

In a telephone conversation with Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Bush also thanked the Saudis for their help, said Mary Ellen Countryman, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council.

Freeh said some of the Saudis indicted today were in jail in Saudi Arabia. But he said others remain at large, and he did not say whether their whereabouts were known.  The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia.  Freeh said efforts were under way to return the defendants to the United States. He expressed the hope that at least some of the accused would eventually stand trial. When asked if the Saudis had agreed to extradite the suspects, Mr. Freeh did not answer directly. "I am very confident that they will be brought to justice," he said, "and hopefully in the United States, some of them, at some point." 

Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria, obtained the indictment just as time to bring some of the charges was running out. The five-year statute of limitations would have expired on Monday on attempted murder and conspiracy counts in the indictment.

The indictment makes dozens of references to Iran, and points to the American investigators being convinced that Iran was behind the attack. But the indictment also seemed carefully worded to avoid a direct accusation against Iranian officials or the government in Tehran.  If the allegation is made directly, Congress may have demanded for military retaliation at a time when the Iranian government is becoming more moderate with the election of President Mohammad Khatami, even as counterterrorism officials have repeatedly said that Iran had a significant role in the Khobar Towers attack..  The White House has not considered military action, a senior administration official said.

The trend has continued under the Bush administration, which has adopted a somewhat tougher tone toward Iran than the Clinton administration as officials said they were reviewing American policy toward Tehran. The uncertain state of the relationship has been evident in recent steps by the administration, which has sought to renew economic sanctions against Iran for another two years. But the proposal brought criticism from lawmakers in both parties who overwhelmingly support a five-year extension.

Freeh said that diplomatic considerations played no role in the indictment or the decision not to accuse any Iranians of wrongdoing. Other law enforcement officials, however, said the Bush administration had been more receptive to the indictment than the Clinton administration.  

Sandy  Berger, President Bill Clinton's national security adviser, said law enforcement officials had never brought a proposed indictment to the White House. "The Clinton administration was never presented with an indictment," Mr. Berger said. "If so, I'm sure that the administration would have been very forward leaning and willing to go forward."

According to the New York Times, Freeh had a turbulent relationship with the Clinton White House, and law enforcement officials had complained that the Clinton administration demanded "smoking gun" evidence of Iranian involvement before it was willing to accuse Iran of any responsibility. The officials said that the Bush administration seemed less concerned about offending Iran and that its attitude was mirrored in the indictment.

The charges culminated a five- year inquiry that at times lacked progress and once almost shut down because of the lack of Saudi cooperation in the case.  Three years ago, Freeh became angry over the unwillingness of the Saudis to allow the F.B.I. greater access and temporarily pulled out a number of investigators sent to the scene of the bombing. However, Freeh, who met with victims' families, said he would never drop the case.

Some American business executives and others close to the Saudi government said the Saudis were equally frustrated by the F.B.I. They said the Saudis complained that the bureau was reluctant to accept the validity of their evidence.

The Khobar Towers conspiracy began in 1993, the indictment said. The government alleged that one of the defendants, Ahmed al-Mughassil, identified as the Saudi Hezbollah leader in charge of attacks against Americans in Saudi Arabia, ordered three other defendants to search for possible terrorism targets in Saudi Arabia.

According to the indictment, reports from the operation were sent to Mughassil and officials in Iran, which described possible attacks sites like the American Embassy in Riyadh, a nearby fish market and locations in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, which included the Khobar Towers apartment complex.

In 1995, the indictment said, an Iranian military officer directed other defendants to search for other potential terrorism sites along the coast of the Red Sea. At that time,  Mughassil told another defendant that he maintained close ties with Iranian officials who were providing financial support for Hezbollah.

The indictment said that by the late fall of 1995 Mughassil had decided on the Khobar Towers as a target, which would serve Iran by driving Americans from the Persian Gulf region.  In early 1996, according to the indictment, Mughassil instructed another defendant to transport explosives by car from Beirut to hiding places in eastern Saudi Arabia to the vicinity of Khobar Towers. The conspirators bought a tanker truck and spent two weeks converting it into a bomb-carrying vehicle.

The bomb itself was estimated to be larger than the one that blew up the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 and more than twice as powerful as the one used at the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.

One of those indicted, Hani al- Sayegh, was identified as the driver of the vehicle used to scout the bombing site. He had been in the United States as part of plea bargain deal under which he would plead guilty to participating in an unrelated plot against Americans for an attack in Saudi Arabia that was never carried out. But he reneged and was deported. Freeh said the investigation had not unearthed enough evidence to charge him at the time.

Iran and Saudi Arabia, one America's sworn enemy and the other a stalwart ally, reacted angrily to the indictments. Iran denied U.S. allegations that it was involved in the bombing. Saudi Arabia's defense minister rebuked Washington for issuing indictments in a case he said his country alone has the right to prosecute. 

The sharp criticism from the two oil giants of the Persian Gulf reflected the danger that the U.S. indictments issued Thursday could disrupt the delicate web of relations in the region.  Saudi Arabia has feared that U.S. attempts to implicate Tehran in the bombing could put it at odds with Iran just as the two countries' ties are beginning to improve. 

According to the Associated Press, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan, a brother of Saudi leader King Fahd, pointedly said that while a country can ``discuss'' the case ``it doesn't have the right to take any procedures. Only Saudi Arabia has the right to take procedures.''  Sultan, speaking just before returning home from a visit to Yemen, said the United States should turn to the kingdom all the documents and evidence in the case, as well as a list of the accused, so Saudi officials can handle it. 

``The U.S. judiciary has leveled charges against Iran which have no legal and judicial basis,'' Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Friday, quoted by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. He denounced the allegations of Iranian involvement as part of ``the ceaseless efforts of the United States to pressure the Islamic Republic.'' 

There have been concerns that U.S. efforts to implicate Iran could also boost hard-liners opposed to the reform agenda of President Mohammad Khatami, who has sought better relations with the United States. 

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Justice Department rejects Saudi suggestions that the suspects will not be brought to justice in the United States.  Saudi Arabia has not yet released the results of its investigation into the Khobar bombing. Sultan said the kingdom wants to doublecheck American investigators' conclusions on the case. 

Saudi Hezbollah, the shadowy group accused by the United States in the Khobar attack, was founded by members of the kingdom's Shiite Muslim minority who fled into exile in the 1980s to escape what they called persecution by the Sunni majority. Most were from Eastern Province, which lies along the Gulf opposite Iran. Many of the exiles wound up in Iran.  Since the 1997 election of Khatami, Iran and Saudi Arabia have patched up relations severed after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. In April, the two countries signed a defense pact to jointly combat terrorism and drug trafficking. 

Iranians on Friday shrugged off the suggestion their nation was involved.  ``We've always been accused of terrorist activities, but there's never proof,'' said Abolqasem Golabi, a 43-year-old civil servant. 

In Dhahran, a 43-year-old Saudi, who identified himself by his nickname Abu Abdullah, said he wants the Americans to leave the kingdom. 

``Americans deserve what happened to them and they have no right to interfere on other peoples' business,'' he said.  The presence of about 5,000 American soldiers and 40,000 civilian workers in Saudi Arabia since the 1991 Gulf War has angered many Saudis, particularly Muslim militants who oppose any Western presence in the country, home to Islam's holiest shrines. 

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Statement of the Attorney General and Justice Department Press Release 6/22

Nearly five years after a powerful truck bomb ripped through a U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia – killing 19 Americans and wounding 372 – terrorism charges have been brought against 13 members of the pro-Iran Saudi Hizballah, or "Party of God." Another, as yet unidentified, person who is linked to the Lebanese Hizballah has also been charged in the attack.

According to the indictment returned today by a Federal Grand Jury in Alexandria, Virginia, nine of the fourteen are charged with 46 separate criminal counts including: conspiracy to kill Americans and employees of the United States, to use weapons of mass destruction, and to destroy U.S. property; bombing; and murder. The five others are each charged with five conspiracy counts. The indictment alleges that the conspiracy was driven by the motive to expel Americans from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Charged with all counts are: Ahmed Al-Mughassil, also known as Abu Omran; Ali Al-Houri; Hani Al-Sayegh; Ibrahim Al-Yacoub; Abdel Karim Al-Nasser; Mustafa Al-Qassab; Abdallah Al-Jarash; Hussein Al-Mughis; and the unidentified Lebanese, listed as "John Doe." The remaining five -- Sa'ed Al-Bahar, Saleh Ramadan, Ali Al-Marhoun, Mustafa Al-Mu'alem and Fadel Al-Alawe -- are named in the five conspriracy counts.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said: "For five years, the Department of Justice and the FBI have worked to develop the evidence necessary to bring charges in this country against those responsible for this terrible crime. Today, with the return of this indictment, we have reached an important milestone in that ongoing investigation."

FBI Director Louis J. Freeh said the indictment represents "a major step toward making sure that those responsible are brought to justice, as well as a testament to the value and necessity of international law enforcement cooperation to counter the dangers in today's world." Freeh expressed his appreciation to the government of Saudi Arabia for "invaluable assistance and a genuine commitment to solving the case, despite the inevitable challenges, sensitivities, and occasional setbacks that are inherent in complex international investigations." Freeh, who has met with and briefed victim family members and survivors since the attack, complimented them for their patience and perseverance. "These five years have been particularly trying for the survivors and for the families. I hope that this development, and our commitment to continue pursuing this investigation, strengthens their confidence in the criminal justice system and aids in the healing process," Freeh said.

At about 10:00 p.m. on June 25, 1996, a tanker truck loaded with at least 5,000 pounds of plastic explosives was driven into the parking lot in front of the Khobar Towers residential complex in Dhahran. Moments later a massive explosion sheared the face off of Building 131, an eight-story structure which housed about 100 U.S. Air Force personnel. Although rooftop sentries were immediately suspicious of the truck -- parked some 80 feet from the building -- and attempted an evacuation, few escaped. Comparable to 20,000 pounds of TNT, the bomb was estimated to be larger than the one that destroyed the federal building in Oklahoma City a year before, and more than twice as powerful as the 1983 bomb used at the Marine barracks in Beirut.

The indictment handed down by the grand jury gives a detailed chronology of events leading up to the deadly attack and provides a snapshot of the Saudi Hizballah and its relationship with then-members of the Iranian government. No Iranian is named or charged in the indictment.

According to the indictment, the Saudi Hizballah, or Hizballah Al-Hijaz, was one of a number of related Hizballah terrorist organizations operating in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait and Bahrain, among other places. The Saudi Hizballah was a terrorist organization which promoted violence against Americans and U.S. property in Saudi Arabia. Since the group was outlawed in Saudi Arabia, its members frequently met in neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Syria or Iran.

The indictment traces the carefully organized bomb plot back to on or about 1993 when Al-Mughassil, under Saudi Hizballah leader Al-Nasser, was head of the "military wing" of the Saudi Hizballah. It is alleged that, at that time, Al-Mughassil was in charge of directing terrorist attacks against Americans and American interests in Saudi Arabia. Al-Mughassil instructed defendants Al-Qassab, Al-Yacoub and Al-Houri, later joined by Al-Sayegh, to begin surveillance of Americans in Saudi Arabia. This operation produced reports that were provided to Al-Mughassil, Al-Nasser and officials in Iran. Al-Mughassil carefully reviewed the surveillance reports, according to the indictment.

During the same time, Al-Jarash and Al-Marhoun conducted surveillance of other sites where Americans lived, worked or frequented, including the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh and a fish market nearby, according to the charges. Later, in early 1994, Al-Qassab began surveillance of locations in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, an area which includes Khobar. Reports of this operation were provided to Al-Nasser and to Iranian officials, the indictment alleges.

In the Fall of 1994, defendants Al-Marhoun, Ramadan and Al-Mu'alem began watching American sites in Eastern Saudi Arabia at Al-Mughassil's direction, and Al-Bahar looked at other sites at the direction of an Iranian military officer, according to the indictment. It was during this time that Al-Marhoun, Ramadan and Al-Mu'alem determined Khobar Towers to be an important American military location and began an effort in the region to locate a storage site for explosives.

In 1995, an Iranian military officer directed Al-Bahar and Al-Sayegh to conduct surveillance on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia for sites of possible future attacks against Americans. During this time, Al-Mughassil told Al-Marhoun during a live-fire practice drill in Lebanon that he enjoyed close ties to Iranian officials who were providing financial support to the party, according to the indictment. Al-Mughassil then gave Al-Marhoun $2,000 in U.S. currency to support continued efforts to identify American sites.

The indictment alleges that it was in or about June 1995 that Al-Marhoun, Al-Ramadan and Al-Mu'alem began regular surveillance of Khobar Towers, at the direction of Al-Mughassil. By late Fall 1995, the three learned that Al-Mughassil had decided that Hizballah would attack Khobar Towers with a tanker truck loaded with explosives. According to the indictment, the attack would serve Iran by driving the Americans from the Gulf region.

In early 1996, Al-Mughassil instructed Al-Marhoun to find places to hide explosives, and in February Ramadan drove a car loaded with explosives from Beirut, Lebanon, to the city of Qatif in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the indictment alleges. In March 1996, Al-Alawe attempted to drive another explosives-filled car from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia, but he was searched at the Saudi border and arrested. Follow-up Saudi investigation led to the arrests of Al-Marhoun, Al-Mu'alem and Ramadan in April 1996.

Meanwhile, according to the indictment, Al-Mughassil continued planning for the Khobar attack and sought replacements for those arrested. Joining Al-Mughis, Al-Mughassil formed a team consisting of Al-Jarash, Al-Houri, Al-Sayegh and a Lebanese Hizballah member. During this time in 1996, Al-Houri and Al-Mughis began to hide explosives around the Khobar area.

In early June 1996, according to the indictment, a tanker truck was purchased by the conspirators, who then spent two weeks converting the truck into a truck bomb. The group consisted of Al-Mughassil, Al-Houri, Al-Sayegh, Al-Qassab and John Doe, assisted by Al-Mughis and Al-Jarash. The indictment alleges that Al-Mughassil discussed a plan at this time to bomb the U.S. consulate at nearby Dhahran.
During the first half of June 1996, Al-Mughassil, Al-Houri, Al-Yacoub, Al-Sayegh, Al-Qassab and Saudi Hizballah leader Al-Nasser discussed the planned bombing. Al-Nasser confirmed that Al-Mughassil was in charge of the Khobar attack, according to the indictment.

The indictment details the attack as follows: On the evening of June 25, 1996, Al-Mughassil, Al-Houri, Al-Sayegh, al-Qassab, Al-Jarash and al-Mughis finalized plans for the attack that night. Shortly before 10 p.m, Al-Sayegh drove a Datsun, with Al-Jarash as his passenger, as a scout vehicle into the public parking lot in the front of Khobar Towers building # 131. Behind them was the getaway car, a white Chevrolet Caprice that Al-Mughis had borrowed. When the Datsun signaled that all was clear by blinking its lights, the bomb truck, driven by Al-Mughassil and with Al-Houri as a passenger, entered the lot and backed up against a fence in front of building # 131. Al-Mughassil and Al-Houri then exited the truck and entered the back seat of the Caprice for the getaway, driving away followed by the Datsun. In minutes the blast devastated the north side of the building.

Immediately following the terrorist attack, the leaders fled the Khobar area and Saudi Arabia using fake passports. Only Al-Jarash and Al-Mughis remained behind. Al-Sayegh reached Canada in August 1996 where he was arrested by Canadian authorities seven months later. In May 1997, Al-Sayegh requested to meet with American investigators and denied knowledge of the Khobar attack. He also falsely described an estrangement between the Saudi Hizballah and elements of the Iranian government. He was later removed to the United States based on a promise to cooperate. Instead, he reneged on the promise and unsuccessfully sought political asylum in the U.S. The indictment charges that the defendants first conspired to kill Americans since at least 1988, when several of the group joined the Saudi Hizballah, and later, in the Khobar attack, carried out the murders of American military personnel who were serving in their official capacity in Saudi Arabia.

Following the deadly attack, FBI Director Freeh pledged the full support of the FBI to work closely with Saudi authorities in the investigation. FBI investigators and forensic experts were on the scene in the immediate aftermath of the bombing. Freeh first traveled to Dhahran on July 2, 1996, to meet with senior Saudi officials, visit the crime scene and be briefed by Saudi and American investigators. That trip was followed by several others over the next four years, at key junctures in the case and as events dictated.

From the investigation came the establishment of a permanent FBI liaison office in Riyadh, at the invitation of the Saudi government and with the full support of then-Ambassador Wyche Fowler and the State Department. The office is the first in the Gulf region, and today serves as a critically important law enforcement and counterterrorism partner to Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states.

In addition to the Saudis, Freeh also thanked the following: Canadian authorities for their "valuable assistance at key points in the investigation"; The Department of Defense, the Joint Chiefs and the U.S. Air Force for "support at every step of the way"; Former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Fowler, whose "unswerving commitment to seeing progress made played a critical role in today's development"; and the Department of State, whose support is "essential to achieving international investigative successes like this case, the bombings of the embassies in East Africa and many others."

Freeh noted the efforts of prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia: "Acting United States Attorney Kenneth Melson and Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Comey and John Davis made a tremendous contribution with their hard work and dedicated efforts in organizing this complex case. They represent the highest ideals of public service."

Melson said: "The indictment should underscore the commitment of my office and the FBI to pursuing the case until all guilty parties are punished for the horrific attack on our servicemen at Khobar Towers. We look forward to working with our Saudi partners and law enforcement around the world to apprehend the fugitives and to bring all these defendants to justice."

Finally, Freeh thanked the "dedicated men and women of the FBI who have been working on the case -- in Saudi Arabia, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere -- with dedication and a single purpose of seeing justice served."

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Berenson Convicted in Peru of Collaborating with Anti-Government Guerrillas; Will Appeal 6/22

 A civilian court in Peru convicted Lori Berenson on June 20 of collaborating with an anti-government guerrilla group and sentenced the New York native to 20 years in prison, disappointing her family and supporters who contend she was persecuted for left-wing political beliefs.  Berenson will appeal the verdict.

Berenson, 31, was stoic as the sentence was read in a hearing room at a men's prison in Lima. Although the court found that Berenson was not a militant member of the guerrilla group, she received the maximum sentence. Unless she wins on appeal or receives an executive pardon, she will be imprisoned until 2015.  Berenson received credit for the five years she has already served in a Peruvian prison since her 1996 conviction by a secret military court on similar charges.

According to the Washington Post, the former MIT anthropology student, whose activism on behalf of Latin America's disenfranchised allegedly crossed into support for illegal violence, said she will contest the verdict in a Peruvian appeals court.  "I consider the sentence to be unjust and I am innocent of these charges," Berenson said in a short response to the ruling. "It does not correspond" to the facts.  Her father, Mark Berenson, was seen by reporters reacting to the verdict angrily, shouted, "No justice, no justice!"

The three-month trial, televised in Peru almost in its entirety, has been viewed as a test of the Peruvian government's commitment to human rights and whether the Peruvian government has softened its attitude toward the now-defunct guerrilla movement despite memories of 10 years of terrorism.

Berenson had received a life sentence from the military judges, who wore hoods. That verdict was overturned last year to allow for the civilian trial, which the U.S. government had sought. A U.S. Embassy spokesman said after the verdict that "we sympathize with Lori Berenson's parents, who are understandably quite upset by the sentence of 20 years given to their daughter." But the spokesman said the trial was more fair than Berenson's first one before the military judges, when the defense was not allowed to present a case or cross-examine witnesses.

"The Superior Terrorism Court rendered its verdict after a public trial in which Ms. Berenson was able to confront the accusations against her and present evidence in her own defense," the spokesman said. "It is not appropriate for the U.S. government to comment on the details of the case while an appeal is pending. We hope that the Peruvian Supreme Court will look carefully at all the issues raised by Ms. Berenson's defense attorney in the appeal he files on her behalf."

Berenson was arrested in November 1995 and charged with being a ranking member of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), a Marxist guerrilla group. Her arrest came during former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori's war against MRTA and a its second insurgency.  Fujimori, a loyal U.S. ally in its South American drug war, was forced to leave power last November and now lives in exile in Japan following allegations of widespread corruption during his 10-year rule.

Berenson had worked on behalf of leftist causes in El Salvador and Nicaragua before she came to Peru seven years ago. Peruvian prosecutors accused her of renting a house in a middle-class Lima neighborhood that became a guerrilla base. Using credentials as a free-lance journalist for access, she was accused of casing the Peruvian Congress to help plot a mass kidnapping of its members.

The prosecution's case pivoted on the testimony of Pacifico Castrellon, who told the court Berenson introduced him to a top MRTA commander during a trip to Ecuador. Castrellon, whose own retrial on terrorism charges is pending, rented the house with Berenson and said he discovered much later that the 18 men who lived on the top floor were guerrillas.

Carlos Navas, the state prosecutor, expressed satisfaction with the sentence, but said Berenson should have been convicted of more than collaboration: "We do not agree that she only collaborated, but maintain that she was an active member of MRTA."

The case, decided by a three-judge panel, was largely circumstantial and covered by national media hostile to her cause. While her explanation that she unwittingly lived in a house full of guerrillas struck many as implausible, the government made little effort to link her directly to terrorist acts. About the only concrete evidence presented against her was a picture she allegedly drew of the Congress building, presumably for the guerrillas' use.

In a closing statement before the verdict, Berenson again declared her innocence and apologized for offending Peruvians after her first conviction, when she made a strident appearance before reporters that confirmed for many Peruvians her image as a wild-eyed terrorist. The speech today was mostly a condemnation of political violence, particularly that carried out by governments in Peru and other Latin American countries. She called her own case "a small chapter of a story with many, many chapters of violence carried out by the state."  Berenson said again that she did not know that MRTA members lived on the upper floor, saying "cultural idiosyncrasies" prevented her from invading their privacy. On the day of her arrest, a 10-hour shootout at the house resulted in the death of two guerrillas and a police officer. Peruvian authorities seized grenades, 8,000 rounds of ammunition and 15 alleged guerrillas.

Berenson has served much of her time since her first conviction in an icy jail cell 12,700 feet above sea level in southern Peru. Soon after she was imprisoned, the MRTA raided the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima and took 500 party guests hostage, holding many of them for months.  

In August, almost a year after Peruvian officials suddenly asked Mark and Rhoda Berenson to petition for a review of their daughter's case, a military court ordered a new civilian trial. The court cited the testimony of three former embassy hostages who said they overhead MRTA members discussing Berenson's innocence.

The order followed Fujimori's tainted third election and was interpreted as a move by the president and his intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, to generate goodwill with the United States. A 1998 video seized from Montesinos's vast library of secretly recorded conversations shows the spy chief, now on the run, saying that Berenson's verdict should be overturned for this reason.  "Lori was a pawn in U.S.-Peruvian relations since day one," Rhoda Berenson said.

Berenson's supporters, including more than 200 members of the U.S. Congress, have portrayed her as a prisoner of conscience persecuted for her leftist views. Many of them criticized U.S. authorities for failing to take a more forceful position with the Peruvian government for Berenson's release.

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Two Indicted on Federal Charges; Planned Attack on Boston Holocaust Museum 6/20

Two Boston residents have been indicted on charges they conspired to bomb property associated with Jews and blacks in order to ignite a "racial holy war," according to federal investigators. Among the pair's potential targets was the New England Holocaust Memorial near Fanueil Hall in Boston and the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge over the Charles River. The $180 million bridge is named for a longtime Jewish activist in Boston and regional head of the Anti-Defamation League, who died of cancer in 1999. .

The U.S. Attorney said Leo V. Felton, 30, and Erica Chase, 21, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston on charges of conspiring to make a destructive device, firearms and explosives violations, making and passing counterfeit currency, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Felton holding gun at camera        Tattoos on Erica Chase's back

According to the indictment, Felton is a member of the White Order of Thule, an Aryan pagan group, based in Deer Park, Washington.  Felton is alleged to have been a skinhead and joined the White Order of Thule while in a New Jersey prison.  According to the indictment, Chase began corresponding with Felton while he was serving his 11 year sentence.

The White Order of Thule advocates violent action as a way of advancing a white power agenda.  According to the group's literature, "The White Order of Thule is a brotherhood -- a loose alignment of Aryan minds, hearts and souls."  They idolize Robert Mathews, a member of The Order, who died in a shootout with law enforcement on Whidbey Island, Washington in 1984.  During the height of its activity, The Order engaged in murder, robbery, bombings and counterfeiting to further its cause.  According to a March, 2000 article by Bill Morlin of the Spokane Spokesman-Review, White Order of Thule members must advance through "degrees of membership," studying the works of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, Adolf Hitler and others. A book about Mathews is on the White Order's suggested reading list. 

While the Aryan Nations wraps its racism around a religion known as Christian Identity -- which contends that white people are the true children of God -- the White Order of Thule is tied to Greek and Norse mythology, and white superiority. Various types of the racist mythology exist.  The White Order of Thule is increasing its membership in prisons and is considered to be one of the most violent gangs inside the prison system, according to experts.  According to Morlin's article, "Throughout the prisons of this country, we've noticed a marked increase in racist Odinism, paganism and asatru," said Joe Roy, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a hate group watchdog.  "Even Aryan Brotherhood members in the prisons are afraid of these guys," Roy said. "They are some really serious people.  "This same belief system is becoming real popular with skinheads," Roy said. Thule "is an ancient Greek word designating the place of origin of the Aryan race," the organization's literature says. "That soul which was unified in the people of Thule must now be reunited in a new experience of spirituality in order to manifest the next great Aryan race."

In a statement, U.S. Attorney James B. Farmer alleged that Felton and Chase first began planning their actions last March, while Felton was in prison in New Jersey.  The indictment alleges that Chase believed that a "racial holy war" was necessary to rid the U.S. of black and Jewish influences. It says Felton and Chase belonged to a small cell that committed crimes to finance and advance their cause.

According to the indictment, Felton wrote to Chase three months before he was scheduled to be released from prison, saying that "before too long, I will be dropping off the face of the earth to participate in the historical process, at which time all ties to my past and current life (i.e., all means by which our enemy can track me) will be cut."

When Felton was released in January he moved to Ipswich, Mass., and began buying books on how to conduct terrorist actions, assume a new identity, and make explosives, prosecutors said.  By February, according to the indictment, Felton was developing more specific plans for terror attacks. The indictment quotes from a letter to Felton from an alleged co-conspirator who advised him to "plan well and be careful ... Many dry runs!"

According to the U.S. Attorney, in early April Chase moved from Indiana to Massachusetts to share an apartment with Felton in Boston near Fanueil Hall and assist him carry out their plans. The indictment alleges that Chase brought a handgun with her.  The indictment alleges  that the trip was financed by counterfeit money Felton made on a computer.  Felton is also a suspect in a bank robbery of a bank in the Boston area during the past year, along with an accomplice who was later convicted of another crime and is currently in prison.  Investigators also seized writings by Felton that suggest he considered randomly gunning down blacks in New York City.

The indictment says Felton kept a notebook into which he copied the recipes for explosives containing mixtures of fuel and ammonium nitrate, similar to the bomb used to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City.  Investigators say that during the week of April 15, either Felton or Chase cut out a clipping related to an upcoming service at the New England Holocaust Memorial in downtown Boston.

That week, Felton purchased a 50-pound bag of ammonium nitrate, a coffee maker, from which he removed the heating and timing mechanisms, and ordered "bird bombs" from Arkansas, which can be used in the fusing and firing train of an explosive device, prosecutors said.

On April 19th the pair was arrested in East Boston after allegedly passing counterfeit currency in Boston, Revere and the North Shore. While in custody Felton and Chase allegedly arranged to have the bomb-making materials, counterfeit money, a gun, and the hard drive from Felton's computer removed and destroyed.

Federal officials said Felton faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison if convicted. Chase faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison.  The pair have been ordered to be held without bond until their trial.   They will be arraigned on the charges on Monday.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston said in a statement, "It is hard to imagine how or why anyone would be so filled with hate that they would target the Jewish memory of the Holocaust or any other ethnic or religious symbol." 

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Video Suggests Bin Laden Men Committed Cole Bombing; 10 Suspects Arrested in Plot to Blow Up U.S. Embassy in Yemen 6/20


The Islamic militant group headed by Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden boasts in a bin Ladin recuiting videotape, that its followers bombed the USS Cole in Yemen last year, according to an AP story from of Kuwait.

The video, which is  circulating among Muslim militants and viewed in Kuwait City, would, if authentic, is the strongest public link between bin Laden and the Oct. 12 attack in Aden harbor that killed 17 U.S. sailors and wounded 39. U.S. officials have long suspected that bin Laden's group was behind the bombing.

Bin Laden does not specifically make that claim on the tape and has not accepted responsibility in the past. But footage of bin Laden's masked men training in the al Farouq camp in Afghanistan contains a rallying song that says in part: "We thank God for granting us victory the day we destroyed Cole in the sea."

Yemeni officials have said they have no evidence linking bin Laden personally to the bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer. But the U.S. government considers him a prime suspect and has sought evidence to tie him to the suicide bombers who detonated an explosives-packed boat alongside the Cole.

The tape was viewed at Al-Rai Al-Amm, a Kuwaiti daily newspaper.  The newspaper declined to say how or where it acquired the tape.

It begins with a line saying it is a presentation of "Al-Sahab Productions." There is no indication of where Al-Sahab -- which means "the clouds" in Arabic -- is located. And the video does not say that it was made or financed on bin Laden's orders, but it contains extensive  footage of bin Laden that could not have been shot without his knowledge.

At the start of the 100-minute tape, bin Laden recites a poem that includes these lines: "And in Aden, they charged and destroyed a destroyer that fearsome people fear, one that evokes horror when it docks and when it sails."

Although the poem does not name the Cole, it is followed by the image of a fiery explosion. Superimposed on the picture in red script are the words, in Arabic, "the destruction of the American Destroyer Cole." Footage of the bombed vessel follows.

The tape describes its purpose as "diagnosing" the illnesses of Muslims today and "prescribing the medicine." It shows footage of injured and dead Muslims in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Chechnya, Iraq, Lebanon, Indonesia and Kashmir, as well as U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia during and after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Bin Laden, who appears repeatedly preaching at a mosque and talking to his men in the field, says Muslims must leave countries that are ruled by "allies of Jews and Christians" and come to his camp to be prepared for holy war.  In an address to Palestinians at the end of the tape, bin Laden calls for "blood, blood and destruction, destruction."

"We give you the good news that the forces of Islam are coming and the forces of Yemen will continue in the name of God," he says.

Yemen arrested 10 people on Monday who are suspected of plotting to attack the U.S. embassy in the capital Sanaa, according to a senior Yemeni official. The Yemeni official explosives and maps of the embassy and surrounding buildings were found with the suspects, who were arrested two days ago, according to Reuters.

The suspects belong to the same militant group believed to have carried out last year's bombing attack on the U.S. Cole in the harbor in Aden, Yemen.

"The suspects in custody are believed to have been planning to attack the U.S. embassy in Sanaa," the official who asked not to be identified said. 

The arrests coincided with a decision by Washington to withdraw U.S. Navy and FBI investigators probing the October 12 attack on the USS Cole because of what an FBI spokesman called a "specific and credible threat.  When the threat subsides or otherwise is addressed, they will return to continue the investigation," the FBI spokesman said.   Security had recently been tightened around the embassy. 

The Washington Post reported earlier on Tuesday that Yemeni authorities had arrested nine suspects for allegedly plotting to attack U.S. agents investigating the Cole attack. 

It quoted a senior U.S. official as saying the men were found with documents, hand grenades, small arms and a map of the embassy, indicating a plan to attack Americans. 

Yemeni security officials had earlier denied the newspaper report, saying that the only arrests made in recent days were of a gang terrorizing villages. 

"We have not detained anyone on the reported charges," the official said. 

The U.S. official told the Post that the nine suspects were believed to be affiliated with the Islamic Army of Aden, a fundamentalist group linked to Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.  Bin Laden has been indicted by the United States for allegedly masterminding the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam which killed more than 200 people.  A U.S. official told the newspaper Bin Laden helped form the Yemen group and provided training for its members at his camp in Afghanistan. 

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Two Texas Sheriff's Deputies Fired for Being KKK Members 6/20

Two Williamson County sheriff's deputies were fired on June 19th after investigators confirmed they belong to the Ku Klux Klan, officials said. 

A disciplinary review board voted unanimously to fire Deputy David Gay, 44, and Sgt. Greg Palm, 29, said Williamson County Sheriff John Maspero. The men were suspended with pay Friday after investigators obtained proof of their involvement in the white supremacist group, according to a sheriff's department spokeswoman. Gay and Palm confirmed their Klan membership, said Tracy Karol, according to the Austin TX American-Statesman.

Officials have not uncovered any crimes committed by Gay or Palm.  Membership in racist groups constitutes conduct unbecoming an officer and is prohibited by the department's rules of conduct.  "I think this oversight is as good as humanly possible," Maspero said. "The KKK and what they profess and the damage they've done will not be tolerated in Williamson County." 

Gay's and Palm's termination came on Juneteenth, the anniversary of the day Texas slaves learned they were free -- 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. 

Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, lauded the sheriff's department for firing Gay and Palm.  "It's clear that there no doubt are a number of individuals who have a similar mind-set," Bledsoe said. "We would think that in the future, hopefully other officials will act the way that Williamson County acted in this case." 

The men have 10 days to appeal the board's decision to Maspero. 

Gay, a peace officer assigned to the animal control unit, was hired in 1996. Palm, a corrections officer at the Williamson County Jail, was hired in 1997; he was not a licensed peace officer. Gay had also held a volunteer position as a reserve police officer in Taylor TX in 1995. 

Department officials learned of the allegations against Gay and Palm earlier this month after an unidentified deputy found out about their Klan involvement while talking with Gay off duty. The deputy reported his suspicions to a supervisor and agreed to go undercover.  The deputy, a friend of both men, obtained the final proof when Gay gave him a Klan application, Karol said.  The sheriff said he didn't know if the men were Klan members when they were hired. No other sheriff's employees are suspected of participating in racist groups, he said. 

No complaints of discrimination have been filed against Gay, Palm or the department by the public, Karol said. The department has about 100 sworn officers and about 90 corrections officers.  Gay and Palm have attended sheriff's department mandatory cultural diversity classes.


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Jail Escapee Clayton Waagner Posts to Army of God Website 6/19


Jail Mug Shots of Clayton Waagner            

Clayton Waagner, a jail escapee who said he was on a mission from God to kill abortion providers, is purported to have posted a two-part letter to the Army of God website yesterday afternoon, threatening to kill abortion providers.  Federal investigators said the message appears to be geniune.  The National Abortion Federation in Washington, said Tuesday the group had notified some 400 abortion providers and health clinics across the nation by fax, warning them about the message. 

In the message, in response to Army of God leader Rev. Donald Spitz's messages to Waagner on the website, Waagner or one of his supporters said:

So the abortionist doesn't get the wrong idea, I don't plan on talking them to death. I'm going to kill as many of them as I can. I will use every talent I have and draw on every resource I can get my hands on. I consider this a war and in war there are few rules. One of the rules that I'm changing from those that came before me is that I'm not targeting the abortion doctor. I have discovered the hard way just how difficult these "doctors" are to get to. They have the money to buy heavy protection and they use it well. No, I'm leaving the big guys alone. I'm going after every one else. Anyone who works at an abortion location or Planned Parenthood (I don't care if their location actually performs abortions or not. ALL Planned Parenthood locations are targets.). It doesn't matter to me if you're a nurse, receptionist, bookkeeper, or janitor, if you work for the murderous abortionist I'm going to kill you. 

Waagner was arrested September 12, 1999 in Illinois with his wife and eight children in a stolen Winnebago with four stolen handguns under the driver’s seat.  When Waagner was arrested, in Illinois in September 1999, he told federal agents he was on his way to Seattle, where he hoped to  shoot and abortion doctor.  During Waagner’s trial, he used an insanity defense, saying he was getting messages from God to kill abortion providers, and has stated he stalked abortion providers during a 20 state trip, and claimed he had an abortion doctor in the sights of his gun, but did not pull the trigger.  Waagner was facing 15 years to life when he escaped before sentencing.   Waagner said he decided to kill abortion providers after a daughter had miscarried in her sixth month of pregnancy.  

Since Waagner's escape, he has been spotted at truck stops in Arkansas and Knoxville, Tennessee.  He  was recognized on surveillance tape robbing a bank in Lower Paxton Township PA, near Harrisburg PA.  Authorities said Waagner fled with $4700.

In Waagner's post to the Army of God website, he references the escape and bank robbery by describing his current situation this way:   I have a very secure safe-house
and I have all the weapons and tools that I need. It took nearly four months for me to get to this point, but thanks to some very generous bank financing, I am at long last ready. 

Waagner is alleged to have used a handgun in the robbery, “so we consider him a threat to the public, “said U.S. Marshal Robert Moore of the Springfield IL office.  A Harrisburg PA police officer saw the tape and recognized Waagner from TV broadcasts of Waagner on "America's Most Wanted."  Waagner has been profiled on America's Most Wanted five times.  Waagner is on the U. S. Marshal's 15 Most Wanted.

Waagner has been the subject of a massive manhunt since he escaped from the DeWitt County IL jail on February 22.  Waagner, 44, who was convicted of federal weapons and vehicle threat charges, has a criminal record dating back to his teens.  `This is the hottest trail we've had on Waagner since the investigation began,'' Moore said. ``We had a general idea he was in the Virginia or Pennsylvania area but he's been eluding us.''

According to Detective Sgt. Dick Toth of Lower Paxton Township, Waagner allegedly walked into the bank without using a disguise and demanded money from the teller.  Waagner left with several thousand dollars.   Waagner was described as having a greying goatee.   Waagner was described as having lost quite a bit of weight to squeeze his way though the narrow jail vent.

Waiting in the parking lot of the bank was a mid-1970’s Volvo with Texas license plates.  The driver was under the car’s hood until Waagner left the bank, then the hood was closed and the car sped away.  The car appeared to be  crammed wiith Waagner’s belongings.  “A lot of people took notice of this car that it was loaded to the gills,” said Toth.  Waagner has since been charged with the bank robbery.  

Waagner seems to taunt Deputy U.S. Marshal Bruce Harmening:

Deputy U.S. Marshal Bruce Harmening, who is head of the task force chasing
me, has said that they don't worry about me attacking clinics until I
settle. He has correctly surmised that I have been constantly on the move.
What he didn't know is that while on the move I was gathering intel on
abortionist as well as assembling the tools I would need to wage war. 

Harmening also correctly figured I'd be dangerous once I settled in
somewhere. Well guess what? I'm settled in.....The government of the most powerful country in the world considers me a terrorist. That label set me aback at first. Then it struck me: They're right. I am a terrorist. To be sure, I'm a terrorist to a very narrow group of people, but a terrorist just the same. As a terrorist to the abortionist, what I need to do is envoke terror. Thus the reason I'm posting this letter. I wish to warn them that I'm coming. Sure they're on alert, but in their back rooms they all agree that I'm not really after them. They slap each other on the back and say I'm just a criminal that will either lay low or leave the country now that I'm free. This letter is to put them on notice: I will not leave the county and I will not try to start a new life under another name. You have my word on that. God did not rescue me from life in prison for my pleasure. He freed me that I might lay down my life for His will. He freed me to make war on His enemy. He freed me to make war on those who profit from the merciless murder of His children. And a war it shall be.

Rev. Spitz has been a supporter of both Waagner and others in the violent anti-abortion movement.  On the website, Spitz posted a message on June 13 to Waagner:

Murders happen every day in every city in the US. Clayton hasn't murdered anyone, 
why are they picking on him. The U.S. Marshals Service says he is armed and 
dangerous. In other words, shoot first and ask questions later. Clayton, if by some 
chance you read this, please be careful and know we care about you. I personally know people who are praying for you, not the least of which is Paul Hill. As you know, he and I are good friends, and every week when he writes me, he tells me he is praying for you. Hang in there brother and if you are reading this, I hope you are using an anonymous web surfing program. They are taping the lines of your family and friends and know you have called them.

Paul Hill is on death row in Florida for murdering Dr. David Gunn.  Gunn was shot and killed by Hill as he was about to enter an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida.  The Army of God has also supports James Kopp, who is in jail in France, caught after a two year flight after allegedly murdering Dr. Bernard Slepian in his kitchen near Buffalo NY.  Dennis Malvasi and his wife, Loretta Marra, were arrested in New York for assisting Kopp in March, 2001, and are supported by the Army of God as well.  Malvasi gave an address to the Army of God's White Rose Banquet in January, 2001, in which he spoke about assisting those who have committed violent acts against abortion providers:

   Of course, when a baby defender on the lam knows of a supporter who won’t shut the door in his face because he made the 5 o’clock news....this is beyond gold.

Or, parents of young children very discretely let it be known that baby defenders can just show up anytime for "three hots and a cot", and never have to worry about people coming around. This is like gold to a baby defender.

        Of course, when a baby defender on the lam knows of a supporter who won’t shut the door in his face because he made the 5 o’clock news....this is beyond gold.

Malvasi and Kopp used a scheme in which they wrote e-mails, but did not send them, and opened up the e-mails to each other from any place with internet access.  Waagner stored a list of abortion providers on the internet and has now retrieved it, according his post:

The one thing I did have after my escaped was all the data I'd compiled in my previous battle. For four months in 1999 I had focused on compiling data on abortionist. The data included names, addresses, and pictures. I had hidden the data on the Internet and was pleased to find it after my escape. Since my escape I have added to the list. One of the things I've done is to follow abortionist employees home. They all feel somewhat safe inside their fortress/clinic, but not at home. The doctors have protection that makes them difficult to follow once they leave their lair, but their $10.75 an
hour employee does not. The employees have proven easy to follow home and
easy to compile data on. These are the people who should worry about me.  These are the people who need to get their heart right with their maker, whom they are about to meet.... I don't know where all of you live. But I do know where forty-two of you live. The US Marshal Service could protect you if they knew which forty-two are on my list, but of course they don't. More on this latter...I'll drop you guys a note and we'll get this terrorism thing started in earnest. 

A STORM IS GATHERING. YOU CAN HEAR ITS DISTANT RUMBLINGS, BUT NO ONE KNOWS WHOM IT WILL STRIKE. BUT BE SURE, IT WILL STRIKE. 

The U.S. Marshal's Service continues its search for Waagner.

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Waagner's Post to the Army of God Website 6/19


Part 1
IP: 216.34.244.106
Posted on June 18, 2001 at 04:21:46 PM by Clay Waagner

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord: 

Thank you for your support, both in your prayers and in your words of
encouragement. Both have meant a great deal to me. I cannot adequately
express just how much I appreciate you all. 

The Lord has worked many miracles in my life since February 22nd. Most I
can't share with you at this time, as I can't afford to give away too much
as far as where I've been and what I've been through. But I can talk about
what the Lord did to free me. 

I've read several accounts of my escape and they all seem to make it seem as
if it was simple luck. To state what is obvious to all of you...it was not
luck! From the day of my arrest, I knew in my heart that God would free me.
I knew He would give me another chance to complete that which I'd failed. I
felt like Jonah on the way to Nineveh: the Jail was my whale, but it would
spit me out to go where God had sent me. 

The jail is a high-security facility designed to hold dangerous federal
prisoners in pre-trial confinement. Most federal prisoners have drug cases
and most receive sentences of 15 years or more. All most all would escape
given the opportunity. In the eight-year history of that jail, I'm the only
one to succeed. The door they say I opened with a plastic comb was a
high-security device. I spent nine straight months trying to open that door
with no success. Though I had no idea what was behind the door, the Lord had
laid it on my heart that it was my path to freedom. 

I fasted, prayed, and wept before the Lord, but hard as I tried I could not
budge the door. Yet I knew it was the way out. I'd lost my trial, and
sentencing was getting close. Soon I'd be moved to a maximum-security
federal prison, so I prayed even harder. I stopped trying to open the door
and sought the Lord on how to open it. I'd get so pumped up as I prayed and
worshipped Him that I would walk up to the door and shout at it to open in
Jesus' Name. But nothing. 

Then one day the Lord answered my prayers. He simply told me how to get the
door open. It was like a word of knowledge. After nine months of failing to
open the door, I knew exactly how to do it. I won't go into details now, but
it wasn't with a plastic comb. The lock wasn't faulty. It was quite secure.
But the manner in which the Lord showed me to open it was very simple. So
simple that I'm sure it left the authorities in dismay that it had not been
done before. I'm sure locks of this design have already been changed in
jails all across the country. 

Once through the door I gained access into a crawl space between the cells
and the roof. I worked for more than a week at cutting a hole through the
steel roof. There was no light and I could only work for a half-hour at a
time, so going was slow. But the real problem was that I was making so much
noise that I knew I'd be discovered before getting through. So again I
sought the Lord. I knew there was an easy way through the roof. I just knew
it in my heart. So I stopped working and prayed. When I went back into the
crawl space on the afternoon of February 22nd I heard the sound dripping
water. Again, it was totally dark, so I followed the sound until I found the
drain. It was faulty. The drain was secured by four, 3/4" bolts that I was
able to remove with my fingers. I pushed it through and saw daylight. 

Waiting till dark was difficult, but I waited. The news said the low for
that night would be 18 degrees, but I could not wait. I read the hole was 17
1/4", which I believe. I'm a big guy and had a great deal of trouble fitting
through the small hole. To do so I had to strip down to nothing. It was cold
on my naked body when I made it through to the open night air, but nothing
had ever felt so good. 

Again, I won't go through all the details, but I took off on foot across
country. This area is all open farmland with no woods that I could find. I
believed they would figure I would jump the trail that ran right by the
jail, so I did not. Instead I walked for what I believe to be 17 to 20 miles
across open ground. To get out of town I had to cross a broad stream.
Remember that it's 18 degrees. I don't think they expected I'd do that in
the extreme cold. I know I was wishing I hadn't within a few minutes. 

At dawn I laid down in a thin line of trees that separated two large fields.
I fell asleep and was awaken by the distinctive sound of tracking dogs
braying. I tried to get up but couldn't move. With everything in me I tried
to roll over and crawl, but I could not. I was freezing to death. The dogs
got closer and began circling me, howling like made. There were two dogs and
they both had heavy-duty work collars. Though I couldn't move, I could talk,
so I began talking to the dogs, trying to soothe them. After ten minutes or
so one came up close and sniffed me, then allowed me to pet its nose. They
stopped barking, but continued sniffing at my back trail and me. Eventually
they left. To this day I don't know if those were police tracking dogs that
became separated from their handlers, or a farmers hounds that tracked me.
It was so cold out, I doubt a farmer would have such expensive dogs running
loose, but I don't know. What I do know was that when darkness came I was
able to stand and walk again. 

As has been well published, I'm pretty good in the woods. I have an ability
to know north from south at all times. It has never let me down...until now.
I continued north and traveled through the night until I came upon what I
was sure was the town of Bloomington, IL. So imagine my surprise when I
slipped into the town under cover of darkness only to see a sign that said
"Welcome to Clinton". The same town I'd escaped from. I was less than a mile
from the jail I'd escaped from 30 hours earlier. As is known I stole a truck
in the morning and the chase was on. Four police cruisers made me in the
first ten minutes (could have been the same one, but I had four short
chases). I got away from them, and for the next 12 hours did not even see a
police car. Which is pretty amazing considering how hard they were looking. 

A newspaper quote tells what they think of their inability to catch me that
day: 

"Every police cruiser in central Illinois was on the road and looking for
one truck, one man," Harmening said. "The odds of someone avoiding that kind 
of pressure boggles the mind. We have no theories." 

"He is probably one of the smartest fugitives we have ever tracked and 
undoubtedly the luckiest," said Deputy U.S. Marshal Bruce Harmening. 

No, I suppose they don't have any theories. But I do. My God has called me
to a task, He freed me and He protected me. They say I'm smart and lucky
because it is all they understand. But I will state what you fellow
believers already know. I am anointed and called to be God's Warrior. And in
that call I am protected by THE MOST HIGH GOD. 

Many of you have no doubt wondered what happened to me in the past four
months. Well I didn't leave the country or go to the beach. I have been
preparing and equipping myself for battle. Please remember that I escaped
dressed in orange pajamas. I had to start over with no money and dressed as
a pumpkin. I was also injured severely during my escape. I could barely walk
for the first month and even now I don't have full use of one of my hands.
Add to these disadvantages the unbelievable pressure that has been put on me
by my pursuers. They have been extremely proactive in the search for me and
I have felt the pressure of that search. Up till now I have focused on
preparing for battle while trying to stay alive. 

Deputy U.S. Marshal Bruce Harmening, who is head of the task force chasing
me, has said that they don't worry about me attacking clinics until I
settle. He has correctly surmised that I have been constantly on the move.
What he didn't know is that while on the move I was gathering intel on
abortionist as well as assembling the tools I would need to wage war. 

Harmening also correctly figured I'd be dangerous once I settled in
somewhere. Well guess what? I'm settled in. I have a very secure safe-house
and I have all the weapons and tools that I need. It took nearly four months
for me to get to this point, but thanks to some very generous bank
financing, I am at long last ready. 

The government of the most powerful country in the world considers me a
terrorist. That label set me aback at first. Then it struck me: They're
right. I am a terrorist. To be sure, I'm a terrorist to a very narrow group
of people, but a terrorist just the same. As a terrorist to the abortionist,
what I need to do is envoke terror. Thus the reason I'm posting this letter.
I wish to warn them that I'm coming. Sure they're on alert, but in their
back rooms they all agree that I'm not really after them. They slap each
other on the back and say I'm just a criminal that will either lay low or
leave the country now that I'm free. This letter is to put them on notice: I
will not leave the county and I will not try to start a new life under
another name. You have my word on that. God did not rescue me from life in
prison for my pleasure. He freed me that I might lay down my life for His
will. He freed me to make war on His enemy. He freed me to make war on those
who profit from the merciless murder of His children. And a war it shall be.


I do not believe I will live long enough to see this war to its end, but I
do believe I will see it become charged. I believe that is my mission, to
charge the war. I believe God will use me to escalate the war and increase
the awareness of the tragedy in the minds of His people. 

So the abortionist doesn't get the wrong idea, I don't plan on talking them
to death. I'm going to kill as many of them as I can. I will use every
talent I have and draw on every resource I can get my hands on. I consider
this a war and in war there are few rules. One of the rules that I'm
changing from those that came before me is that I'm not targeting the
abortion doctor. I have discovered the hard way just how difficult these
"doctors" are to get to. They have the money to buy heavy protection and
they use it well. No, I'm leaving the big guys alone. I'm going after every
one else. Anyone who works at an abortion location or Planned Parenthood (I
don't care if their location actually performs abortions or not. ALL Planned
Parenthood locations are targets.). It doesn't matter to me if you're a
nurse, receptionist, bookkeeper, or janitor, if you work for the murderous
abortionist I'm going to kill you. 

Part2 
IP: 216.34.244.18
Posted on June 18, 2001 at 04:23:07 PM by Clay Waagner

Second Page 

The one thing I did have after my escaped was all the data I'd compiled in
my previous battle. For four months in 1999 I had focused on compiling data
on abortionist. The data included names, addresses, and pictures. I had
hidden the data on the Internet and was pleased to find it after my escape.
Since my escape I have added to the list. One of the things I've done is to
follow abortionist employees home. They all feel somewhat safe inside their
fortress/clinic, but not at home. The doctors have protection that makes
them difficult to follow once they leave their lair, but their $10.75 an
hour employee does not. The employees have proven easy to follow home and
easy to compile data on. These are the people who should worry about me.
These are the people who need to get their heart right with their maker,
whom they are about to meet. 

For the abortionist employee who doesn't want to believe this, call Deputy
U.S. Marshal Bruce Harmening and ask him about the number of miles I put on
the vehicles I stole. I'll guess 40,000 miles plus. I'm sure they were
shocked at the mileage. I didn't travel that much in a stolen car with no
driver's license for the joy of travel. I traveled those miles while
visiting your work place and following you home. I don't know where all of
you live. But I do know where forty-two of you live. The US Marshal Service
could protect you if they knew which forty-two are on my list, but of course
they don't. More on this latter...I'll drop you guys a note and we'll get
this terrorism thing started in earnest. 

A STORM IS GATHERING. YOU CAN HEAR ITS DISTANT RUMBLINGS, BUT NO ONE KNOWS
WHOM IT WILL STRIKE. BUT BE SURE, IT WILL STRIKE. 

Back to my friends and allies: God has done a mighty thing, but it has only
just begun. Great things are to follow. The search for me will increase, of
that I'm sure. If you want to help me, please be diligent in your prayer
support for me. Pray for protection, sure, but also ask our Lord to give me
wisdom. This is a war fought with violence, but it will be won only with
great wisdom. Also pray that every one I kill causes a hundred to quit. 

As a sidebar, I'd like to clarify something. I was surprised to read that
the Secret Service had tightened security around President Bush because I'd
been spotted seventy miles away. I do not hate the government of the United
States of America. Nor would I harm President Bush, even if I could.
President Bush hates abortion as I do. Though our methods of combating this
crime are different, I'm confident that he will do everything in his power
to stop the murderous practice. Ultimately, I believe President Bush could
be instrumental stopping abortion. I would never harm this man. 

I hope you guys understand why I haven't called or dropped by for coffee.
America's Most Wanted reported that the search for me is the largest manhunt
in U.S. Marshal Service history. Given the history and age of the U.S.
Marshal Service, that's quite a statement. So where is all this manpower
going? Sure they're watching my house. I've driven by there. They've set up
shop in my neighbors house, even keep a chase car in his garage. But that
doesn't take a lot of manpower. I have no trusted friends that I'd approach
and they can't possibly anticipate where I'd be the next day. Deputy U.S.
Marshal Bruce Harmening was quoted in one article saying that they don't
have a clue where to look next. They haven't been watching the clinics very
close. I know this because I've been watching them close and I saw no U.S.
Marshals nor did any U.S. Marshals see me. So where is all this manpower
that constitutes the "largest manhunt in U.S. Marshal Service history"? I'll
tell where it is. Look out your window. If you're reading this you've most
likely been labeled as an anti-abortionist extremist. I believe the U.S.
Marshal Service has used the hunt for me as an excuse to do battle against
the movement. To get a wiretap they need a good reason. I'm the reason. When
you think it through, there is no other valid answer as to how the hunt for
me can be the "largest manhunt in U.S. Marshal Service history". So be
careful what you say on the phone, even on your cell phone (as I learned the
hard way) and be careful what you write in your email. I have no doubt they
are trying to put together a RICO or conspirisy case against you. So please,
be very careful what you say. It is easier than you think for them to find
you guilty in a federal court. 

Enough for now. Those of you whom I've written from jail know I can be
long-winded in my letters. And on that note, I want to thank Donald S, Linda
W, and Dave L for your letters and encouragement while in jail. Dave, do you
remember writing in your newsletter that, "If Clay Waagner really is God's
warrior, then God will provide a way for him to continue", or something like
that? Well, it was a prophetic statement. 

Oh yeah, Donald, it was with some trepidation that I selected "Speak with
Clay Waagner" on your message board. I knew I'd not left any voice messages
anywhere, so my curiousity was tweaked. I half expected my cell phone to
ring when I selected the icon. (Not really as my cell phone's battery is
always removed.) When I saw what you'd put up I got my first real laugh in
some time. I needed a good laugh. Thanks, friend. 


In His Service, 

Clay Waagner 

P.S. I practice safe surfing. 

Psalm 138 has spoke strongly to me. 

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U.S. Hostage May Be Dead in Philippines 6/18


Filipino officials said Monday that they believe Guillermo Sobero is dead, based in part on information from another captive.  But they don't know whether he was beheaded by Muslim extremists or succumbed to infection after being wounded in the kidnapping, said the official.

''He appeared to have died on the night of June 11 after he was hogtied and separated from the rest of the hostages,'' Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan said. ''Before this, he was suffering from a wound in his right foot. It appears he was diabetic because ... after administering antibiotics, the wound did not heal.''

Adan said Sobero had been injecting himself, presumably with insulin, during a boat trip from the resort to Basilan, but then ran out of medicine and started shaking. ''We do not know if he was executed or died of infection,'' Adan said.

In California, Sobero's brothers, Alberto and Pablo, said they had spoken with the FBI, which could not confirm Guillermo's death. Pablo Sobero said their brother was not diabetic.  A neighbor said that Sobero was asthmatic.

Abu Sabaya, leader of the Abu Sayyaf, said he had decapitated Guillermo Sobero for what he perceived as a double-cross: troops attacking the rebels after the government agreed to a demand for a Malaysian negotiator who helped end an Abu Sayyaf kidnapping last year.

Adan said troops were in ''closing in'' on the rebels Monday in the mountainous center of Basilan island, where they were believed to have the other two Americans, Martin and Gracia Burnham.

The Burnhams, both 41, were believed to be surviving fairly well under the circumstances. The Christian missionaries, who have lived in the Philippines since 1986, mostly were eating rice and occasionally got coconuts with brown sugar, small dried fish and a tin of sardines, according to recently released Flipino captives.

''The hostages are exhausted due to long mountain walks, most of the time at night to evade government troops pursuing them,'' Adan said. ''They have been split into two groups. The Burnhams' faith has kept them strong.''

The Filipino President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited a Muslim rebel stronghold Monday and said the military would continue to attack the guerrillas, despite strong indications they have killed one of their American captives.

Hours later, Sabaya, whose rebels are holding some two dozen people hostage, said he was willing to negotiate the release of some of his captives. But he set two conditions, including one that the government was likely reject: an immediate end to the military's pursuit.

Under tight military security, Arroyo traveled to Lamitan, a town on the southern island of Basilan where a battle between soldiers and the radical Abu Sayyaf rebels heavily damaged a church and a hospital early in the crisis.  Abu Sayyaf rebelsoccupied the hospital for a day two weeks ago, kidnapping four medical workers when they escaped.

Earlier Monday, when Arroyo stopped in the nearby city of Zamboanga on her way to Lamitan, she visited soldiers wounded in the pursuit and said the Philippine military will never stop the assault on the hostage-takers.

Halting the hunt for the kidnappers and the kidnapped is one of two conditions Sabaya set in an offer for the release of some hostages. He told Radio Mindanao Network on Monday that he also wanted Justice Secretary Hernando Perez sent in to negotiate.

Presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the government was studying the offer, included in a letter hand-delivered to Arroyo on Saturday by Francis Ganzon, one of three hostages freed over the weekend.  

The Abu Sayyaf says it wants a southern Islamic state, but the government calls the rebels "bandits."  Muslims are a minority in the mostly Roman Catholic Philippines, but they form a majority in the southern islands where the Abu Sayyaf operates.

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Three Arrested in Plot to Bomb US Embassy in New Delhi, India 6/18

New Delhi,  India, police said Sunday they had arrested a third member of a group linked to Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, which they suspect of planning to bomb the U.S. embassies in India and Bangladesh.   Security has been tightened around both embassies.

A police officer said the man, identified as Abbas Sheikh, was picked up in the western city of Udaipur.  His arrested followed police questioning of two men, including a Sudanese citizen, arrested in New Delhi Friday carrying explosives.  Police said they hoped to arrest more accomplices.

Tthe State Department has not issued any additional advisories to U.S. citizens in India, referring further inquiries to the Indian government, the spokesperson said.  The State Department is looking into the arrests.

A police official in Delhi said Abbas was probably given the task of obtaining a car to carry the bomb, and a Hindu daily newspaper said Abbas had been asked to arrange a vehicle, erase the engine and chassis numbers which can be used to trace the owner and make a place in it for the bomb.  The car bomb was to have been left somewhere near the visa section of the embassy.

Sudanese citizen Abdel Raouf Hawas and an Indian associate Shamim Sarwar were detained Friday.  Indian police said they were with Osama bin Laden and planned to attack U.S. missions in New Delhi and Dhaka, a police official said.  Their arrests came after a tip-off about a possible attack on the U.S. embassy in New Delhi two months ago.

''Rauof claims that they had plans to attack the U.S. embassy in Dhaka also,'' the official added.  A New Delhi court remanded the two men in police custody for 11 days Saturday.  

Bin Laden has been indicted in New York for allegedly masterminding the bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998, killing more than 200 people.

He has taken refuge in Afghanistan, where the Taliban movement has refused to hand him over to Western powers. 

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Guilty Pleas for Ten in Oldham UK Demonstrations 6/18


In Oldham, UK, ten men pleaded guilty on Monday to breach of the peace and were bound over for a year after demonstrations by members of the ultra right-wing National Front in the northern British city of Oldham.  Most of the men were from London and Birmingham and ranged in age from 29 to 49, with most of them in their 30's.

Three others out of a total of 14 men arrested in the incident on Saturday pleaded not guilty to the offence at Oldham Magistrates Court.  These three were released on bail and will reappear on June 28 for a pre-trial hearing. Another man arrested in the demonstration  was cautioned for being drunk and disorderly and released. 

The men were arrested after a crowd began chanting racist slogans on Saturday evening in the city that last month was the scene of Britain's worst race riots in 15 years. 
During three nights of violence last month, riot police fought running battles with mainly Asian youths during which pubs and cars were firebombed.  The Asians were reacting to march in their neighborhood by the National Front.

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Terrorist Attack on  Yemen Embassy Averted 6/18

In the past few days,  the U.S. Embassy in Yemen was not only targeted by terrorists but also came dangerously close to being attacked, several Bush administration sources have told CNN. 

"We narrowly dodged a serious attack," one U.S. official said Monday. The threat was "imminent, specific and credible," he added. Another senior State Department official said: "This was a group planning something." 

One U.S. official said it is "unclear whether this was home-grown or whether they received support from outside." "Outside support" is a euphemism for links to camps in Afghanistan, where Saudi exile and alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden and others run training camps.  State Department officials say the threat level in Yemen and throughout the Arabian Peninsula "remains high."  According to CNN, the State Department issued a travel warning for Yemen last week due to the high level of risk for U.S. citizens.

The State Department also ordered all non-essential U.S. Embassy employees to return to the United States and closed the embassy in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen.  The Embassy remains closed. U.S. officials say the group planning to attack the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a had hand grenades and has since been arrested by local authorities. Details about this group, its members and the exact nature of the "imminent" embassy attack are still "unclear" and under investigation, according to CNN.

As a result of these latest threats FBI withdrew, for the first time, all of its investigators from Yemen on Sunday. The FBI "believes there were credible threats to its employees" and won't return until the Yemeni authorities give them the all-clear, said a U.S. official. 

Since the bombing attack on the USS Cole last year by alleged associates of Osama bin Laden, the FBI has opened a field office in Yemen to facilitate its investigation. Last month a team of FBI investigators left the country, leaving a minimal presence, and then this month it moved its office from Aden to Sana'a.   Seventeen sailors aboard the Cole were killed in the suicide bombing and 39 were injured on October 12, 2000 when the USS Cole was refueling in the port of Aden when a small harbor skiff pulled alongside the ship.  The bombing of the 505-foot destroyer on October 12 blasted a 40-foot by 40-foot (12-meter by 12-meter) hole in the ship's hull, and almost caused the ship to sink.  The ship has been transported to Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, where it is undergoing extensive repairs.

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Phoenix Man Indicted on Arson Charges 6/14

Mark Warren Sands  was arrested Thursday on arson and extortion charges stemming from a series of fires that destroyed luxury homes under construction near desert mountain preserves in Phoenix and Scottsdale.

The 22-count federal indictment accuses Mark Warren Sands of setting eight fires at homes in Phoenix and suburban Scottsdale, according to U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton. 
An initial court appearance was set for later Thursday. 

Sands was arrested in April after authorities said he was seen scrawling the letters ``CSP'' on a sign at a home under construction near the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. He was later released because prosecutors did not meet a deadline for filing charges after his arrest.  ``CSP'' is said to stand for ``Coalition to Save the Preserves.'' The acronym was found in notes at some of the arson sites and in letters sent to the media.  
Since 1998, 11 fires at upscale homes under construction near mountain recreation areas have been attributed to arson.