peter lance for counter terrorism czar

8/9/2019 Peter Lance for Counter Terrorism Czar

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A CONFESSION SURFACES LINKING 3 MEN CHARGED IN THE 1993 WTC

BOMBING WITH A DECADES OLD AL QAEDA-RELATED HOMICIDE. THE LEADKILLER WAS ALSO IDENTIFIED AS THE “SECOND GUNMAN” IN THE 1990MURDER OF RABBI MEIER KAHANE. BUT THE CONFESSIONS IN THESEHISTORIC CASES WITHHELD BY THE FEDS FOR YEARS, COULD PROVE TOBE A MAJOR EMBARRASSMENT FOR THE FBI – BECAUSE THE YOUNGJORDANIAN IDENTIFIED IN BOTH MURDERS, WAS RELEASED BY THE FEDS.

AUGUST 6th, 2010 © www.peterlance.com EXCLUSIVE

As a result of a new investigation by the NYPD into the 1991 murder of Mustafa Shalabi, 1 a radical Egyptian with close ties to Al Qaeda, the FBI's JointTerrorism Task Force (JTTF) 2 has recently disclosed a detailed confession 3 to the

grisly homicide which was executed by three Islamic radicals indicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing conspiracy 4 two years to the day before the blast whichkilled six and injured more than a thousand in New York City. 5

Prompted by information passed to the Police Department by investigativereporter Peter Lance 6 following interviews with Emad Salem 7 a former FBIundercover asset, the confession could prove to be a major embarrassment to theFBI’s New York Office (NYO) and prosecutors in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) because Bilal Alkaisi, 8 the Jordanian named as the ring leader of theShalabi murder plot, was released from federal custody in 1994.

After the Feds dropped the charges against him in the WTC bombing, Alkaisi,then a 26 year old cab driver, was released and deported.9 But in a detailedconfession by a co-conspirator more than a decade later, Alkaisi was fingered asthe leader of “hit” team that shot Shalabi six times in the head and left his body riddled with more than 30 stab wounds.

The confession obtained by FBI agents and federal prosecutors after a series of interviews in late 2005 and early 2006 came from Nidal Ayyad, 10 a Kuwaitiémigré and former Rutgers graduate, who was convicted for supplying chemicals toRamzi Yousef, architect of the 1,500 pound urea nitrate-fuel oil bomb that killedsix and injured more than a thousand people at the World Trade Center on

February 26th, 1993.

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Curiously, Shalabi, a heavy set red-haired Egyptian who ran the Alkifah Center atthe al Farooq mosque on Atlantic Avenue was killed in his Seagate, Brooklynapartment, on February 26th, 1991, precisely two years prior to the Twin Towers blast. 12 Yousef, who fled New York, the night of the bombing, was later capturedin Pakistan in 1995, after he had designed and set in motion the "planes asmissiles" plot executed by his uncle Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) onSeptember 11th, 2001. 13

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According to a detailed series of FBI 302 memos obtained by Lance, 14 Ayyadconfessed to being the wheelman in the Shalabi murder, which he alleged wascommitted by Alkaisi and Mohammed A. Salameh, 15 a 24 year old year old

Palestinian, who had helped Yousef build the bomb and rented the Ryder Truck in which it was delivered to the B-2 level of the WTC complex.

The 302's also include additional interviews with El Sayyid Nosair, 16 the Egyptian janitor convicted in the slaying of Rabbi Meier Kahane, 17 founder of the JewishDefense League, which implicate Alkaisi as the “second gun” in the Kahane murder.

The new investigation by the NYPD into the Shalabi homicide was prompted by detailed information, known only to the killers which was passed on to Lance by Salem, the ex-Egyptian Army officer who became the Government’s star witness inthe “Day of Terror” case. The 1995 trial in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) convicted blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and nine others in the WTC bombing and a follow-up plot to blow up the bridges and tunnels intoManhattan, the U.N. and 26 Federal Plaza, the FBI’s New York Office (NYO). 18

Salem, whose undercover work for the Government caused him to enter the Witness Protection program with his wife and two children in 1993 – reached outto Lance in the fall of 2009 and disclosed the once secret details of the Shalabimurder in a series of interviews Lance conducted for an article to be published inthe September issue of Playboy magazine to be published August 13th, 2010.

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In mid February, Lance contacted detectives from Brooklyn South homicide whocommenced a new investigation of the Shalabi murder, which had been reopened by the Feds in 1993 19 and then later closed, for unknown reasons. After the detectives interviewed Salem and found him highly credible, they began tosearch for the forensic evidence that had been taken at the bloody Shalabi crime

scene in 1991.

Following the discovery that crucial forensic evidence once stored in the NYPDproperty clerk’s office had been confiscated by an investigator for the JointTerrorism Task Force in 1993, senior Police Department officials contacted federalauthorities and on June 30th, 2010, the JTTF admitted that they’d obtained Ayyad’sconfession to the homicide in early 2006. 20

Details of the Shalabi murder and other new revelations about Salameh’s undercover work for the FBI and his years on the run will be published in the Playboy piece, which is titled: “The Spy Who Came in For The Heat.”

In addition, Lance will publish sections of the FBI 302’s and other evidence relatedto the Shalabi murder on his website: www.peterlance.com. The first two pages of Ayyad’s chilling confession transcribed on 12.28.05 can be downloaded at: www.peterlance.com/FBI_302_12_28_05_Nidal_Ayyad_pages_1-2.pdf

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http://www.peterlance.com/FBI_302_12_28_05_Nidal_Ayyad_pages_1-2.pdf





Ayyad Salameh AlKaisi

The evidence includes a series of surprising disclosures:

-Alkaisi was named by Nosair as the "second gunman" during theKahane murder at the Marriott Hotel on Lexington Avenue the night of November 5th 1990. In an FBI 302 dated March 31st, 2004 Nosair

described Alkaisi as a “veteran of jihadist activity overseas,”including Afghanistan.

-The night of the Kahane killing, Nosair said Alkaisi was armed withtwo guns, a .22 and a .25. In another 302, Nosair said that just prior tofiring at Kahane he told Alkaisi, “this is the moment.”

-Alkaisi’s attorney told Lance that his client was not only present at theKahane assassination, but that after the shooting he fled via the subway station at 51st St. and Lexington Avenue, while a gun battle ensued onthe street above between Nosair and an off duty postal inspector whospotted the gun wielding assassin as he fled.

-Months earlier, with Alkaisi as the ringleader, Ayyad told Federalagents that the trio attempted a Godfather-like "hit" on Shalabi as hedrove the other three in a vehicle along a deserted Brooklyn street. Asthe car pulled to a stoplight Salameh (in the back seat) drew the .22and put it to the back of Shalabi's head as Alkaisi, seated in the frontpassenger seat distracted him. But just as he was about to pull thetrigger, Ayyad said, Salameh lost his nerve and the moment was lost.

-Some time later, the 3 men learned that Shalabi, fearing for his life,after a conflict with the blind Sheikh, was planning to flee home toEgypt. On the pretext of wanting to buy some of his furniture, Ayyadmade the call that gained them entry to the gated Seagate community.

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Meier Kahane after the shooting

(Photo by Shannon Taylor)

Mustafa Shalabi’s body

Details provided by Ayyad, that had never become public convinced NYPDdetectives that his confession to a role in the murder plot was genuine. It isunknown whether either the Feds or the Brooklyn D.A. will pursue murdercharges against Alkaisi, who has been at large since 1994.

The discovery that senior FBI agents and federal prosecutors had elicited theconfession came months after the NYPD had reopened the case based oninformation from informant Salem passed to detectives by Peter Lance.

BACKGROUND ON THE INVESTIGATION:

A former correspondent for ABC News, Lance, has written three books forHarperCollins critical of the FBI and JTTF in the years leading up to the 9/11attacks. 21 In his most recent book, TRIPLE CROSS 22 Lance devotes an entirechapter to the Shalabi murder, entitled “Death of a Bad Muslim;” the title that the blind Sheikh had branded Shalabi with after the two men had a falling out overthe millions of dollars per year Shalabi controlled via the Alkifah Center.

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As detailed in TRIPLE CROSS, 23 the Alkifah Center and the Al Farooq Mosque were hotbeds of al Qaeda activity dating back to the formation of al Qaeda in1989. Shalabi was one of the lead fundraisers in the U.S. for the MAK, the "Officeof Services for the Mujahadeen," 24 a worldwide fundraising network that brought

in millions a year in cash to mosques throughout the world to support the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan.

After the Soviets left in February, 1989, a dispute broke out amid the al Qaedahierarchy with Shalabi supporting Abdullah Azzam, 25 the Palestinian founder of thenetwork who wanted to use the continuing millions still coming into the mosques to setup a Taliban-like government in Afghanistan. 26

This put him in deadly conflict with Osama bin Laden, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mohammed Atef Shiekh Omar and the rest of the Egyptiandominated al Qaeda leadership who wanted the funds use for the worldwide jihad-- particularly to help topple the Mubarak government in Egypt. 27

In November, 1989 Azzam and his sons were killed in a car bomb many intelligence analysts believe was planted by al Qaeda as a way of taking control of the MAK network. 28

After Sheikh Omar arrived in the U.S. in July of 1990 he was welcomed by Shalabi who met him at JFK 29 with Mahmoud Abouhalima, a six foot two-inch red headedEgyptian with a limo license. Abouhalima, aka “The Red,” had been the intendedgetaway driver the night of the Kahane murder. 30 After being forced to move from thehotel, Abouhalima later met up with Mohammed Salameh at Nosair’s house inCliffside Park, N.J. where they were taken into custody as material witnesses, butlater released.

Shalabi soon began raising money for Nosair’s defense, reportedly brining in asmuch as $163,000. 31 But within months after the Kahane murder, Sheikh Omar began denouncing Shalabi; reportedly issuing a fatwa or religious degreeauthorizing his death. Fearing for his life, Shalabi had sent his wifeZanib andchild home to Cairo. 32 He had packed up his house in the gated community of Seagate, Brooklyn and was rushing to flee back to Egypt when he was slain.

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Abouhalima Hampton-El

THE FEDS REOPENED THE CASE IN 1993

The case foundered until 1993 when Salem got one of the cell members on tapeoffering detailed knowledge in the crime. Clement Rodney-Hampton-El33 was a U.S. Black Muslim known as Dr. Rashid who had fought in Afghanistan.

In an undercover tape he told Salem that certain cell members had shot Shalabi with a .22 and stabbed him multiple times.

Beginning that spring of '93, the Feds leaked a series of stories to the New York Times, naming both Hampton-El and Abouhalima as suspects in the Shalabi hit. 34

By the fall. the Times reported that a federal Grand Jury was probing the case. 35

Salameh was also named as a possible suspect. 36

AS EARLY AS 1989 ALL 3 HAD BEEN UNDER FBI SURVEILLANCE

There’s a 32 page illustrated TIMELINE in the middle of TRIPLE CROSS that can be downloaded at:http://www.peterlance.com/Triple_Cross_PB_Timeline_2009.pdf

At the top of page 3, Lance reports that on successive weekends in July, 1989, theFBI's Special Operations Group (SOG) followed a group of ME's (FBI speak for“Middle Eastern men”) from the al Farooq Mosque on Atlantic Avenue inBrooklyn to a shooting range in Calverton, L.I.

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http://www.peterlance.com/Triple_Cross_PB_Timeline_2009.pdf

http://www.peterlance.com/Triple_Cross_PB_Timeline_2009.pdf



An FBI Calverton Surveillance Photo

Of the men photographed by SOG, three were later convicted in the 1993 WTC

bombing (Abouhalima, Salameh & Ayyad) Nosair, was convicted in the Kahaneslaying and Hampton-El was later convicted with Nosair and seven others along withOmar Abdel Rahman in the 1995 Day of Terror case.

And all of them were trained by al Qaeda master spy Ali Abouelseoud Mohamed, who had been an FBI informant since 1992.

http://web.me.com/netgraph1/peterlance.com/Ali_Mohamed.html

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As detailed in Peter Lance’s book TRIPLE CROSS, 37 Mohamed was an exEgyptian Army officer and naturalized U.S. citizen who had infiltrated the CIA briefly in 1984, emigrated to the U.S., set up a sleeper cell in Silicon Valley andthen enlisted in the U.S. Army; later posted to the highly secure John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center (SWC) at Fort Bragg, N.C.; the where elite Green Beret

and Delta Force officers train.

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On weekends, from 1987 to 1989 Mohamed traveled up to New York City wherehe trained, Ayyad, Salameh, Nosair Abouhalima Hampton El. 39

Ayyad, Salameh, Nosair, Abouhalima and Hampton-El were all photographed inthat July, 1989 Calverton, L.I. shooting range surveillance by the FBI. But forunknown reasons the original FBI investigation of the cell members, prompted by what one FBI agent testified was a “terrorism” investigation, 40 was dropped.

THE SHUTDOWN OF THE SHALABI INVESTIGATION

Despite multiple leaks to the New York Times from the spring, summer and fallof 1993 that the Shalabi murder had been reopened and a grand jury was hearingevidence in the case, the New York Office of the FBI and prosecutors in the SDNY seemed to lose interest in the case by 1994.

The question is why?

One also has to wonder why the Feds began pursuing the case in 2004 with itsinterviews of Nosair at the Supermax and their subsequent interviews with Ayyad who confessed to his involvement in the crime.

And there’s a larger question:

WHY DID THE FEDS KEEP THAT CONFESSION SECRET?

Why would officials of the FBI and JTTF, a Task Force housed at 26 FederalPlaza, keep the apparent solution to the Shalabi murder secret -- and not informsenior members of the NYPD or its Intelligence Division which handles counterterrorism matters relating to New York City?

"It could be that they were embarrassed," said one ex-FBI agent, whom Lanceinterviewed after obtaining the Ayyad/Nosair 302’s. 41

"If you read those 302's its clear that Alkaisi wasn't just some minor player -- he was a major operative -- and, as Ayyad tells it with great credibility -- theringleader in that murder. On top of that, the new confession from Nosairindicates that Alkaisi played a leadership role in the Kahane assassination.

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Alkaisi turned himself in at the FBI's Newark office on March 24th, almost a monthafter the WTC bombing 42 and was later indicted on April 8th, 1993. Evidencedeveloped by the FBI in what was called the TRADBOM investigation, revealedthat Alkaisi was not only Salameh's roommate in Jersey City, but they shared a bank account, through which more than $100,000 was funneled to help finance

the bombing conspiracy. When Ayyad was arrested he was carrying a credit card with Alkaisi's name on it. 43

Damage to the B-2 level after the WTC bombing

Further, according to an interview Lance conducted with Robert L. Ellis, Alkaisi’sattorney at the time, the Jordanian cab driver had initially been ID’d by a security guard at the Space Station storage locker in Jersey City where the Yousef-

Abouhalima-Salameh cell stored the chemicals furnished by Ayyad that they usedto build the bomb. 44

INITIALLY, THE FEDS CHARGE AL KAISI

On March 25th, 1993,the Southern District Feds charged Alkaisi with "aiding andabetting" the Trade Center blast and ordered him held without bail. 45

Special Agent Jim Esposito of the FBI’s Newark office where Alkaisi had turnedhimself in two days earlier, told reporters that Alkaisi was seen “on severaloccasions” at the storage locker rented by Salameh – a location the Feds claimed,

where the bomb chemicals were mixed.46

Federal officials later admitted that after walking into the Newark FBI office, Alkaisi had waived his rights and was questions for three hours by agents.47

But by April 1st, when the Feds issued a new indictment in the bombing namingRamzi Yousef along with Abouhalima, Salameh and Ayyad, they had not yetindicted Alkaisi. 48

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He was finally charged in the bombing on April 7th 49 and entered a not guilty plea a week later. 50

Four days later, Alkaisi, whose legal fees were being paid for by a legal defensefund financed by several area mosques, hired private attorney Ellis to representhim. 51

Later in a jail house interview Mahmoud Abouhalima, “The Red” told reportersthat he had taken Alkaisi under his wing and taught him the cab business. 52

By late May, the New York Times was reporting that “Fingerprints later foundinside a Newark safe-deposit box showed that Mr. Salameh and Mr. Alkaisi hadaccess to it, according to an F.B.I. report. And investigators have found that closeto $100,000 had been wired to several bank accounts linked to the suspects,some of the money from Iran.” 53

It was widely reported that Alkaisi worshipped at the al Farooq on Atlantic Avenue and Brooklyn and the Al-Salem in Jersey City, two mosques where the

blind Sheikh preached his fiery sermons. 54 At the subsequent “Day of Terror”trial, the Feds would describe Shiekh Omar as the leader of the “jihad army”responsible for the WTC blast and the “Day of Terror Plot.” 55

THE FEDS BEGIN TO DOWNPLAY ALKAISI’S ROLE IN THE BOMBING

By early August, the Government had begun to shift it’s focus away from Alkaisias a key player in the Trade Center bombing conspiracy. They acquiesced to arequest by Ellis that Alkaisi be tried separately and the young Jordanian’s name was missing from the latest bombing conspiracy indictment. 56

Ellis denied that Alkaisi was cooperating with the Feds, insisting publicly at the timethat, "They just.... don't think it appropriate to try him with everybody else becauseof the great difference in the volume of evidence against him.” 57

In his latest interview (with Peter Lance) Ellis now admits that the case against Alkaisi may have been negatively impacted by what he called, “a major screw-up,” when the FBI raided the apartment he shared with Mohammed Salameh:

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“They made a raid on that apartment where my client lived in Jersey City,” saysEllis. At the time there was clothing there, which may have contained chemicaltraces and there was a hand truck that it was later determined had been used to loadthe bomb into the Ryder truck. Presumably that may have contained chemicaltraces. But the authorities who conducted that raid failed to seize the clothing or

that hand truck and thus, any forensic evidence that may have connected my clientto the (Trade Center) bombing was lost or rendered inadmissible.” 58

ALKAKSI ESCAPES CONVICTION

Then, just days before jury selection, Ellis now says, the Feds dropped their own bomb. “I received a call from Gil Childers, the lead federal prosecutor, whoinformed me that he was not proceeding against Alkaisi,” says Ellis.

He made this disclosure to Lance in an interview after Ayyad’s confession wasuncovered. 59 “Childers told me that Alkaisi was being dropped because theGovernment’s witness, the security guard at the storage place where the bomb was mixed, couldn’t identify Alkaisi as one of the group that made the bomb.”

By early March of 1994, after a five-month trial the Feds had their victory,convicting all four in the Twin Towers bombing. 60

Curiously missing from the courtroom at the time of the verdicts was the man who had roomed with Salameh, shared a bank account with him and beenreportedly spotted as the storage locker where the bomb’s lethal cocktail of chemicals was mixed. At that point, attorney Ellis was telling reporters that he was hoping to “settle” Alkaisi’s case without trial. 61

And two months later, that’s exactly what happened. On May 9th, the Feds allowed Alkaisi to plead guilty to a minor immigration charge.

Despite the fact that in earlier indictments he’d been tightly tied into the WTC bombing conspiracy with Abouhalima, Salameh and Ayyad, U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White now claimed that the Feds didn’t have the evidence “to obtain a sustainableconviction” against him “beyond a reasonable doubt.” 62

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Former SDNY U.S. Atty. Mary Jo White

She insisted that the Feds had “made no promises or agreements not to bring new charges against the defendant,” suggesting that Alkaisi had cut a deal. 63

But if he did, his attorney, Robert Ellis, now insists that he knew nothing about it,admitting to Lance that “The Feds were looking for a cover story to justify hisrelease, so they used these charges of lying on his visa application.

It was clear to me that they didn’t want the other defendants to think he’d cut adeal because that would have put his life in danger.” In any case, after serving 18months of his 20 month sentence, Alkaisi was released and deported.

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BUT AS FAR BACK AS 1994 TOP FEDERAL PROSECUTORSHAD IDENTIFIED ALKAISI AS A MAJOR PLAYER

The Feds may have given Alkaisi what amounted to a wrist slap and cut himloose, but evidence uncovered by Peter Lance, suggests that he was viewed as a

much more important al Qaeda-related operative by the Feds.

McCarthy Fitzgerald

In February, 1994 he was named No. 20 on a list of 172 "un-indicted co-conspirators" in the "Day of Terror case -- a list compiled by SDNY prosecutors Andrew C. McCarthy and Patrick Fitzgerald. The list can be downloaded here:

http://www.peterlance.com/172_unindicted_coconspirators_Day_of_Terror.pdf

A Who’s Who of terrorists and radical Islamic sympathizers with links to the WTC bombing and the Day of Terror plot, the list included Osama bin Laden (No. 95)Mustafa Shalabi (No. 149) bin Laden’s brother in law Mohammed JamalKhalifa (No. 86) the man who bankrolled the Yousef/KSM Manila cell and al

Qaeda master spy Ali A. Mohamed (No. 109).

Query why McCarthy and Fitzgerald would have included Alkaisi on the list if he was a minor player whom the Feds didn’t think significant enough to try.

FITZGERALD INCLUDES ALKAISI ON ANOTHER LIST

In the fall of 1996 U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, then co-head of the OrganizedCrime & Terrorism Unit in the SDNY, was directing Squad I-49, in the FBI’s New York office, the so called “bin Laden Squad,” which was then building a case foran indictment against the Saudi billionaire. 64

Earlier that year, Jamal al-Fadl (aka Gamal Ahmed Mohamed Al-Fedel) 65 a 33 year old Sudanese, émigré walked into the U.S. Embassy in Eritrea. 66 Laterdubbed “Junior” by the Feds, al-Fadl had worked directly under Mustafa Shalabiat the AlKifah Center, then, at Shalabi’s behest, fought in Afghanistan and laterswore an oath to the new terror network al Qaeda before moving to Khartoum, where he worked side by side with bin Laden as his assistant.67

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al-Fadl at the Embassy bombing trial

Having embezzled funds from al Qaeda, al-Fadl was looking to cut a deal withU.S. authorities, so Fitzgerald traveled to Germany with Special Agent DanColeman from Squad I-49 to debrief him.

Fitzgerald would later use the young Sudanese as his key witness against binLaden in the 2001 African Embassy bombing case. The extraordinary details of Fitzgerald’s debriefing of al-Fadl are contained in an 18 page FBI 302 memodescribed as “Particularly Sensitive.” 68

The first two pages can be downloaded at:

www.peterlance.com/FBI_302_11.10.96_Jamal_al-Fadl_pages_1_2.pdf

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http://www.peterlance.com/FBI_302_11.10.96_Jamal_al-Fadl_pages_1_2.pdf

http://www.peterlance.com/FBI_302_11.10.96_Jamal_al-Fadl_pages_1_2.pdf



Obtained by Peter Lance, this epic 302 not only documents a virtual straight linefrom the al Farooq mosque in Brooklyn and the original WTC bombing and “Day of Terror” cells, but it links to the Ramzi Yousef/KSM Manila cell that spawnedthe 9/11 “planes operation” via Wali Khan Amin Shah aka Osama Asmurai,

An Uzbeki, whom bin Laden called “the Lion,” Wali Khan was later convicted with Yousef in the so-called “Bojinka” plot to plant bombs on a dozen U.S. bound jumbo jets exiting Asia.

Al-Fadl told Fitzgerald that he worked with Khan/Asmurai in Afghanistan forseveral months where he ‘d been sent by his mentor and emir Mustafa Shalabi.

On page four of the 302, al-Fadl has this to say:

“there were two stories circulating in the Sudan regarding the murder of MUSTAFA SHALABI. One story was that SHALABI embezzled some of themoney that was going through his office. This caused a split which resulted

in SHALABI’S murder. The second story is that a close aid of SHALABI wasan intelligence person. When SHALABI found this out he was murdered....most people believed the second story. Either way, Jamal was certain thatSHALABI was killed by a close associate.”

Mustafa Shalabi is mentioned on multiple pages of that 302 memo, offering someindication of Patrick Fitzgerald’s interest in his death.

But what is particularly telling is that two years after being cut loose by the Feds, Alkaisi was considered important enough by Fitzgerald to include on a list withthe most dangerous al Qaeda players known to the FBI at that time.

At the end of the debriefing Fitzgerald showed al-Fadl a list of 77 photos withthe pictures of key al Qaeda operatives including, KSM, Yousef, Ali Mohamed, Ayyad, Abouhalima, Salameh, Nosair and Hampton El.

But No. 19 on that list was a picture of Bilal Alkaisi.

That list can be downloaded at:

www.peterlance.com/List of 77 photos FBI 302 11.10.96 al Fadl.pdf

THE LOST OPPORTUNITY IN CONNECTING THE DOTS

With respect to the Shalabi murder, the larger question is as old as Watergate: what did the Feds know about the crime and when did they know it? It’s clearthat they thought the homicide important enough to subpoena witnesses before agrand jury in 1993. They thought it important enough to remove key forensicevidence from the NYPD’s property clerk’s office in October of 93.

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They leaked stories to the New York Times which cited Mohammed Salameh as apossible suspect. Yet for unknown reasons the Feds shut the investigation downin 1994 and didn’t effectively reopen it again for another decade when they beganto question Nosair and Ayyad.

If they had probative evidence from Ayyad, corroborated by the NYPD’s crime

scene reports that placed him, Salameh and Alkaisi at the murder scene, why didthey sit on it?

On July 31st, 2010 Peter Lance contacted Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, 69 aprincipal in Operation Able Danger the 1999-2000 al Qaeda data miningoperation conducted by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) which found early links between four 9/11 hijackers in what was described as a “Brooklyn basedcell” associated with the al Farooq mosque. 70

Shaffer at Abel Danger hearing

Lance informed Shaffer of the contents of the 302’s and asked him his assessmentof the significance.

"We had Mohammed Atta, the lead 9/11 hijacker, on our radar months beforethe 9/11 Commission said he'd entered the country,” Shaffer, said. 71 "We knew he was working out of that mosque in Brooklyn. If we'd known that three of the guys who went on to bomb the World Trade Center had killed him, that would haveenhanced our sense of their bench strength much earlier. Even back in 1999 weknew that Alkaisi was a player and the link charts prove it."

A DIA LINK CHART PINPOINTS ALKAISI’S POSITION IN THE CELL

The chart entitled, "World Trade Center Bombing/New York Landmarks BombPlot: Internal Group Structure and International Linkages" was prepared for theDIA by Jacob L. Boesen and declassified on August 1st, 1999.

Boesen, was a contract worker for Orion Scientific, a company hired by the Land Warfare Information Activity (LIWA) at Fort Belvoir, VA, the Army unit that didthe Able Danger data mining. 72

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The chart, obtained by Peter Lance, shows the links between the New York celldominated by blind Sheikh Rahman with Ramzi Yousef’s bombing cell and theinternational connections to Osama bin Laden, his number two in Al Qaeda, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Ali Mohamed and Wadih El-Hage, both convicted in theEast African Embassy bombings in 2001.

A detail from the chart of the Yousef cell shows the 3 members of the Shalabi "hit"team: Alkaisi, Salameh and Ayyad, linked to Yousef via Abouhalima aka ‘The Red.”

The chart can be downloaded as a jpg at:

http://peterlance.com/cr_wtclikkchart_8_1_99.jpg

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CONCLUSION

At this point the NYPD has yet tocomment on that impact Nidal Ayyad’s detailed confession will haveon the Shalabi case. Officially, the

murder remains open, even though with these 302’s -- which includeevidence only the killers could haveknown -- it seems clear that Ayyad was culpable and he’s quite emphaticin identifying Mohammed Salamehas the shooter and Bilal Alkaisi as themastermind and knife wieldingassailant who stabbed Shalabi.

If nothing else, the 302’s will help to

correct the historical record; whileserving as a further embarrassmentto the Feds. Of all the members of theoriginal WTC bombing cell, Ayyad’sconfession to Federal agents andprosecutors, clearly paints Bilal Alkaisi as a significant/hyper violental Qaeda operative.

Nosair and Ayyad are serving lifesentences without the possibility of

parole. They were interviewedseparately by FBI agents andprosecutors and they live in solitary confinement at the Supermax. They would have no motive fabricate thestories which implicate them in theKahane and Shalabi murders.

If they’re to be believed, it’s clear thatof all the cell members that the Fedsmight have cut loose, Bilal Alkaisi got

away with murder. In the days ahead there will be moreto come on this at www.peterlance.com The completeprofile of Emad Salem is in the Sept.issue of PLAYBOY out on 8.13.10





1 ANNOTATION

Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Shalabi

historycommons.org entry:

http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=mustafa_shalabi

2 FBI NYO JTTF website: http://newyork.fbi.gov/people.htm

3 The first two pages of a series of FBI 302 memos. This 302 details the first part of theeyewitness of account of Nidal Ayyad, a Kuwait émigré and Rutgers grad, convicted in the 1993 WTC bombing who was participant in the Shalabi homicide. www.peterlance.com/FBI_302_12_28_05_Nidal_Ayyad_pages_1-2.pdf

4 Ralph Blumenthal: “Missing Suspect Charged In Trade Center Bombing,” New York Times April1st, 1993, http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/01/nyregion/missing-suspect-charged-in-trade-center-bombing.html?scp=8&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print

5 Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing

6 bio: http://web.me.com/netgraph1/peterlance.com/Bio.html

7 Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emad_Salem Authors interviews with EmadSalem, November 3-4th, 2009; January 5-6th, 2010.

8 U.S. vs. Ramzi Yousef et. al Appeal: 327 F3d56; 2003http://www.uniset.ca/other/cs5/327F3d56.html

9 Mary B.W. Tabor “Trade Center Defendant Agrees to a Plea Bargain,” New York Times, May 10th, 1994. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/10/nyregion/trade-center-defendant-agrees-to-a-plea-bargain.html?scp=3&sq=%22Bilal%20Alkaisi%22&st=cse

10 historycommons.org entry: http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=nidal_ayyad

11 Richard Bernstein, “Explosion At The Twin Towers; 4 Are Convicted in Bombing At The World Trade Center that Killed 6, Stunned U.S.” New York Times March 5th, 1994.http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/05/nyregion/explosion-twin-towers-4-are-convicted- bombing-world-trade-center-that-killed-6.html?scp=10&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print

12 Mary B.W. Tabor, “Slaying in Brooklyn Linked to Militants,” New York Times, April 11th,1993. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/11/nyregion/slaying-in-brooklyn-linked-to-militants.html?scp=2&sq=%22Mustafa%20Shalabi%22&st=cse

13 Peter Lance, 1000 Years For Revenge, International Terrorism and The FBI (The Untold Story) (New York: HarperCollins, 2003).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Shalabi



http://newyork.fbi.gov/people.htm


http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/01/nyregion/missing-suspect-charged-in-trade-center-bombing.html?scp=8&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing

http://web.me.com/netgraph1/peterlance.com/Bio.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emad_Salem


http://www.uniset.ca/other/cs5/327F3d56.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/10/nyregion/trade-center-defendant-agrees-to-a-plea-bargain.html?scp=3&sq=%22Bilal%20Alkaisi%22&st=cse


http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=nidal_ayyad


http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/05/nyregion/explosion-twin-towers-4-are-convicted-bombing-world-trade-center-that-killed-6.html?scp=10&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print



http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/11/nyregion/slaying-in-brooklyn-linked-to-militants.html?scp=2&sq=%22Mustafa%20Shalabi%22&st=cse




http://newyork.fbi.gov/people.htm




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing



http://www.uniset.ca/other/cs5/327F3d56.html











Based on declassified documents obtained from the Philippines National Police (PNP) the book provides direct evidence of the links between Ramzi Yousef’s New York bombing cell andthe Manila cell in which Yousef, his uncle Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM), Abdul HakimMurad and Wali Khan Amin Shah, mounted the “planes operation” executed by KSM on 9/11after the capture of the other three cell members. An illustrated 32 pages timeline from the book provides an overview of Lance’s findings. A pdf can be downloaded at: www.peterlance.com/1000_Years_Timeline.pdf

14 There are five separate FBI 302’s based on the confessions of Ayyad and El Sayyid Nosair, theEgyptian convicted in the 1990 murder of Rabbi Meier Kahane. The first two pages can bedownloaded now: www.peterlance.com/FBI_302_12_28_05_Nidal_Ayyad_pages_1-2.pdf

The remaining pages will be accessible at www.peterlance.com in days to come.

15 Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_A._Salameh

16 historycommons.org entry: www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=el_sayyid_nosair

17 Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meir_Kahane

18 Joseph P. Fried, “Sheikh and 9 Followers Guilty of a Conspiracy of Terrorism,”The NewYork Times, October 2nd, 1995; Mary B. Tabor, “Transcript of Tapes Reveals Sheik Talked of Merits of Bomb Targets,” The New York Times, August 4th, 1993;

19 Ralph Blumenthal, “Suspect in Blast Believed to Be in Pakistan,” New York Times, March18th, 1993.http://www.zimbio.com/Khalid+Sheikh+Mohammed/articles/G8U3JTaMg8Z/Sheikh+Rattle+and+Roll

20 Author’s interview with confidential FBI source.

21 http://harpercollins.com/authors/25954/Peter_Lance/index.aspx

22 Peter Lance, Triple Cross: How bin Laden’s Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI (HarperCollins 2006/2009 New York).

23 Mary Anne Weaver, "Blowback," The Atlantic Monthly May, 1996; Robert Friedman, “TheCIA’s Jihad,” The New Yorker, March 17th, 1995; Charles M. Sennott, “Money, loathing fuel

bin Laden’s network,” The Boston Globe, September 13th, 2001; Stephen Engelberg "One Manand a Global Web of Violence," The New York Times, January 14, 2001; Mary Anne Weaver,"Blowback," The Atlantic Monthly May, 1996; Steven Emerson, American Jihad: TheTerrorists Living Among Us (New York: The Free Press, 2002). pp. 128-130.

24 Historycommons.org entry: http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/searchResults.jsp?searchtext=al+Kifah&events=on&entities=on&articles=on&topics=on&timelines=on&projects=on&titles=on&descriptions=on&dosearch=on&search=Go

http://www.peterlance.com/1000_Years_Timeline.pdf






http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_A._Salameh

http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=el_sayyid_nosair


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meir_Kahane

http://www.zimbio.com/Khalid+Sheikh+Mohammed/articles/G8U3JTaMg8Z/Sheikh+Rattle+and+Roll


http://harpercollins.com/authors/25954/Peter_Lance/index.aspx


http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/searchResults.jsp?searchtext=al+Kifah&events=on&entities=on&articles=on&topics=on&timelines=on&projects=on&titles=on&descriptions=on&dosearch=on&search=Go




http://www.peterlance.com/1000_Years_Timeline.pdf



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_A._Salameh



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meir_Kahane









25 GlobalSecurity.org entry:http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/abdullah_azzam.htm

26 The take was as much as $2 million a year by one account: Mary Ann Weaver, “Children of the Jihad,” The New Yorker, June 12, 1995.

27 Ibid. Weaver, Blowback, May, 1996. The al Qaeda leadership referred to Mubarak as “the Wicked Pharaoh,” a term first used to describe Gamal Abdel Nasser, Sadat’s predecessor.Richard Bernstein, “On Trial: An Islamic Cleric Battles Secularism,” The New York Times,January 8, 1995.

28 Lawrence Wright, Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 ( Knopf, 2006 New York)p.143

29 Ibid. Blumenthal March 18th, 1993.

30 Author’s interview with Robert L Ellis, attorney for Bilal Alkaisi, August 2nd, 2010. Mr.Ellis, who reviewed “3500 material” turned over by Federal prosecutors in the 1993 WTC bombing trial said that the material included a confession given by Abouhalima to Egyptianauthorities in which he specifically admitted his role as the getaway driver in the Kahanemurder.

31 Jim Dwyer, David Kocieniewski, Diedre Murphy & Peg Tyre Two Seconds Under The World (Crown, New York, 1994). p. 151.

32 Author’s interview with Emad Salem. November 4th, 2009.

33 historycommons.org entry: http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?

entity=clement_rodney_hampton-el

34 Ibid Blumenthal, March 18th, 1993; Ibid Tabor, April 11th, 1993; “9th Held in Bomb Plot asTie Is Made to a 1991 Murder,” New York Times, July 1st, 1993.http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/01/nyregion/9th-held-in-bomb-plot-as-tie-is-made-to-a-1991-murder.html?scp=27&sq=%22Mustafa+Shalabi%22&st=nyt&pagewanted=print

35 Mary B.W. Tabor, “Inquiry Into Slaying of Sheikh’s Confident Appears Open, New York Times, November 23rd, 1993.

36 Ibid.

37 http://web.me.com/netgraph1/peterlance.com/Ali_Mohamed.html

38 Joseph Neff and John Sullivan, “Al Qaeda terrorist duped FBI, Army,” Raleigh News & Observer , October 24th, 2001l; Joseph Neff and John Sullivan, “An Al Qaeda Operative at FortBragg,” Raleigh News & Observer, November 14th, 2001.

39 U.S. vs. Omar Abdel Rahman et. al. S593CR.181 (MBM) July 13th, 1995.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/abdullah_azzam.htm

http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=clement_rodney_hampton-el



http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/01/nyregion/9th-held-in-bomb-plot-as-tie-is-made-to-a-1991-murder.html?scp=27&sq=%22Mustafa+Shalabi%22&st=nyt&pagewanted=print




http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/abdullah_azzam.htm








40 U.S. vs. Omar Abdel Rahman et. al. S5 93 Cr. 181 (MBM) 2/7/95.

41 Author’s interview with confidential FBI source, July 31st, 2010.

42 Ralph Blumenthal, “Inquiry Focuses on Bomb Suspect’s Interrogation,” New York Times, March27th, 1993. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/27/nyregion/inquiry-focuses-on-bomb-suspect-s-

iterrogation.html?scp=4&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print

43The Bombing: Retracing the Steps -- A special report; Fitting the Pieces of Terrorism --

Accounts Reconstruct Planning of Trade Center Explosion,” New York Times, May 26th,1993. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/26/nyregion/bombing-retracing-steps-special-report-fitting-pieces-terrorism-accounts.html?scp=18&sq=%22Bilal%20Alkaisi%22&st=cse

44 Author’s interview with Robert L. Ellis, August 2nd, 2010.

45 Robert L. Jackson and Gebe Martinez, “Key Suspect Is Charged in N.Y. Bombing,” Los Angeles Times, March 26th, 1993. http://articles.latimes.com/1993-03-26/news/mn-15350_1_key-suspect

46 Ibid.

47 Ralph Blumenthal, “Inquiry Focuses on Bomb Suspect’s Interrogation,” New York Times, March27th, 1993. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/27/nyregion/inquiry-focuses-on-bomb-suspect-s-iterrogation.html?scp=4&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print

48 Ibid. Blumenthal, April 1st, 1993; http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/01/nyregion/missing-suspcharged-in-trade-center-bombing.html?scp=8&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=pr

49 “Hearing of Appeal on Press Leak Order,” New York Times, April 8th, 1993;http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/08/nyregion/hearing-of-appeal-on-press-leak-order.html?scp=13&sq=%22Bilal%20Alkaisi%22&st=cse

50 Alison Mitchell, “2 Inmates Let Nosair Make Extra Calls,” New York Times, April 14th, 1993;http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/14/nyregion/2-inmates-let-nosair-make-extra-calls-prison-says.html?scp=6&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print

51 Ronald Sullivan. “Defense Teams Are Reshuffled In Trade-Center Bombing Case.” NewYork Times, April 18th, 1993; http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/18/nyregion/defense-teams-are-reshuffled-in-trade-center-bombing-case.html?scp=11&sq=%22Bilal%20Alkaisi%22&st=cse

52 “The Bombing: Retracing the Steps -- A special report; Fitting the Pieces of Terrorism -- Accounts Reconstruct Planning of Trade Center Explosion” New York Times, May 26th, 1993;http://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/26/nyregion/bombing-retracing-steps-special-report-fitting-pieces-terrorism-accounts.html?scp=18&sq=%22Bilal%20Alkaisi%22&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/27/nyregion/inquiry-focuses-on-bomb-suspect-s-iterrogation.html?scp=4&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print


http://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/26/nyregion/bombing-retracing-steps-special-report-fitting-pieces-terrorism-accounts.html?scp=18&sq=%22Bilal%20Alkaisi%22&st=cse



http://articles.latimes.com/1993-03-26/news/mn-15350_1_key-suspect






http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/08/nyregion/hearing-of-appeal-on-press-leak-order.html?scp=13&sq=%22Bilal%20Alkaisi%22&st=cse


http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/14/nyregion/2-inmates-let-nosair-make-extra-calls-prison-says.html?scp=6&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print


http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/18/nyregion/defense-teams-are-reshuffled-in-trade-center-bombing-case.html?scp=11&sq=%22Bilal%20Alkaisi%22&st=cse



























53 Ibid.

54 Mary B.W. Tabor “Specter of Terror; NOTEBOOK: Terrorism in New York: Looking for theCommon Denominator,” New York Times, June 27th, 1993;http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/27/nyregion/spector-terror-notebook-terrorism-new-york-looking-for-common-denominator.html?scp=1&sq=%22Spector+of+Terror%22&st=nyt

55 U.S. vs. Omar Abdel Rahman et. al S5 93 Cr. 181 (MBM) Government’s opening statementJanuary 30th, 1995.

56 Alison Mitchell, “U.S. Informer Is New Suspect In Bomb Plot,” New York Times, August 5th,1993; http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/05/nyregion/us-informer-is-new-suspect-in-bomb-plot.html?scp=7&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print

57 Ibid.

58 Author’s interview with Robert L. Ellis on August 2nd, 2010.

59 Ibid.60Ibid. Bernstein March, 5th, 1994http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/05/nyregion/explosion-twin-towers-4-are-convicted- bombing-world-trade-center-that-killed-6.html?scp=10&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid. Tabor, May 10th, 1994. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/10/nyregion/trade-center-

defendant-agrees-to-a-plea-bargain.html?scp=3&sq=%22Bilal%20Alkaisi%22&st=cse

63 Ibid

64 Author’s interview with FBI Special Agent Jack Cloonan (ret.) May 4th, 2006.

65 Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_al-Fadl

66 U.S. vs. Osama bin Laden, et al. S(7) 98 CR.1023 (LBS). February 6th, 2001.

67 Ibid.

68 FBI 302, debriefing of Jamal al-Fadl, aka Gamal Ahmed Mohamed Al-Fedel on November4th and 5th, 1996. Dictated November 11th, 1996.

69 Philip Shenon, “Office Says Military Blocked Sharing of Files on Terrorists,” New YorkTimes, August 17th, 2005http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/17/politics/17intel.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1280808588-Y3+6kjHNXOCvdoaEAI3Kng

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/27/nyregion/spector-terror-notebook-terrorism-new-york-looking-for-common-denominator.html?scp=1&sq=%22Spector+of+Terror%22&st=nyt


http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/05/nyregion/us-informer-is-new-suspect-in-bomb-plot.html?scp=7&sq=%22Bilal+Alkaisi%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print








http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_al-Fadl

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/17/politics/17intel.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1280808588-Y3+6kjHNXOCvdoaEAI3Kng











http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_al-Fadl





70 Douglas Jehl, “Four in 9/11 Plot Are Called Tied to Qaeda in ’00,” New York Times, August9th, 2005.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/politics/09intel.html?pagewanted=2&sq&st=cse%22Able%20Danger%22&scp=4

71 Author’s interview with Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, July 31st, 2010.

72 Historycommons.org entry: http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?projects_and_programs=ableDanger&timeline=complete_911_timeline

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/politics/09intel.html?pagewanted=2&sq&st=cse%22Able%20Danger%22&scp=4


http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?projects_and_programs=ableDanger&timeline=complete_911_timeline







peter lance for counter terrorism czar

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