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Las Vegas and Terrorism by Patrick BoylanA frontpagemag.com original article Sin City In the eyes of Islamists, Las Vegas is the Sodom and Gomorrah of modern times. A city where women not only bare their bodies but sell them in the all engulfing pursuit of the God they call "Dollar". The men are weak, drowning their soulless bodies daily in alcohol, and gambling away their own God in Temples of Sin. “The man and woman guilty of adultery or fornication, flog each of them with a hundred stripes: let no compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day: and let a party of believers witness their punishment.” Qur’an 24:2 In a city where surveillance cameras, (eyes-in-the-sky), record blinking eyes and sweaty brows, there is (according to law enforcement) no video footage of the tourists turned terrorists who planned to murder 50,000 people. According to a 179-page terrorist training manual found on a computer disk during an anti-terrorist raid in England, the words “Blasting and destroying places of amusement, immorality, and sin” need to be studied more closely by law enforcement, especially in Vegas. So why were they here, and who did they meet? Was Atta really the leader, or was he here to take instructions and follow a change in plans, leaving Las Vegas for “next time?” Did all seventeen terrorists know they were going to be martyrs or did they think it was going to be a “run of the mill” hijacking? So much sin, so much immorality, yet a litany of Islamic terrorists have visited Las Vegas Why were they here? To study why the terrorists were here, and who they met, we take a look at a chronology of their trips to Vegas by air: May 24, 2001. Marwan el-Shehi, 23 old native of the United Arab Emirates who steered United Airlines Fight 175 into the south tower of the World Trade Center, flies into Las Vegas from San Francisco immediately after a transcontinental flight from New York May 27, 2001. Marwan al-Shehi leaves Las Vegas for San Francisco en-route to NewYork June, 2001. Lotfi Raissi visits Las Vegas. He was later arrested in London in connection with flight training of four of the 9/11 terrorists June 7, 2001. Ziad Jarra, 26 from Lebanon who crashed United Airlines Flight 93 into a Pennsylvania field, arrives in Vegas through Los Angeles from Baltimore. While renting a car from the Airport Payless Car rental, he writes he is staying at the Circus Circus June 10, 2001. Ziad Jarra returns to Baltimore June 28, 2001. Mohammed Atta, 33 from Egypt who flew American Airlines Flight 11 into the north tower of the WTC, arrives in Vegas from Washington, rents a Chevrolet Malibu from an Alamo rental office, sets up an account at an Internet café, and checks into a $55 a night room at the Econolodge motel at 1150 S. Las Vegas Blvd. in the shadow of the 1,149-foot Stratosphere Casino Hotel Tower and a stone’s throw from FBI headquarters.. Some reports place him and Jarra in a cyber cafe together even though there is no record of Jarra being in Vegas during Attta’s stay. July 1, 2001. Atta checks out of the Econolodge at 3:30 a.m. returns his rental car and boards a flight for Boston through Denver. July 7, 2001 Atta flies to Madrid to allegedly meet Ramzi bin al-Shibh who was in Spain, during the same period, and from there to Atlanta on July 19, 2001. Aug 13, 2001. Hani Hanjour, 29 from Saudi Arabia who flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, and Nawaf al-Hazmi from Saudi Arabia, who was supposedly one of the terrorists on Flight 77, arrive in Vegas from Dulles, via Los Angeles. Aug 14, 2001. Atta leaves Las Vegas for Fort Lauderdale (No record of his arrival) Aug 14, 2001. Hani Hanjour and Nawaf al-Hazmi leave Las Vegas for Baltimore via Minneapolis Supposedly the Las Vegas terrorists had been seen by witnesses in some Strip resorts, a public access computer store near the University of Nevada Las Vegas, a Starbucks across the street from a Public Library (within walking distance of the computer store), a pizza joint, car rental agencies, and a Las Vegas Boulevard sandwich store. A stripper at a local Gentlemen’s club remembers Marwan al-Shehi in her establishment and how tight fisted the terrorist was. Their movements don’t seem to be those of would-be terrorists planning to strike a death blow at America. Maybe some of them were decoys, just incase they were being followed, while Atta and other leaders snuck off to meet some one else, at a private residence or the MGM Grand? Six days after 9/11 on Sept. 17, 2001, Federal agents recovered a “surveillance” videotape of MGM Grand Las Vegas, during a raid on a Detroit apartment In an Aug 8 2004, AP article titled “Superiors Hindered Terror Prosecutors” there is further mention of surveillance tapes of Las Vegas Casinos, “The Spanish and Detroit tapes, obtained by the AP, show surveillance of casinos in Las Vegas…” According to the Las Vegas Review Journal (April 12, 2003), Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino said one of the defendants in an anti-terrorism trial of three Moroccans and an Algerian in a Michigan court, told Youssef Hmimsa (government witness), “Las Vegas would make an excellent target.” Hmimsa went on to tell jurors that one of the accused Ahmed Hanan “referred to Las Vegas as the City Of Satan and predicted extremists would destroy the city because they were angry that Arabs spent money on sinful behavior in Las Vegas.” Hmimsa further stated that Elmardoudi had said Las Vegas was a good place for Arabs to easily disappear. Yousri Fouda, an alJazeera reporter writes in his book, Masterminds of Terror, Ramzi bin al-Shib told him in a 2002 summer meeting in Karachi, Pakistan, that the summer of 2001 meeting in Las Vegas of the 9/11 hijackers was a majlis al-shura, a meeting for consultation by decision makers. The four pilots present at the meeting were, Atta, al-Shehi, al-Jarrah, and Hanjour, along with Atta’s deputy al-Hazmi, and al-Midhar. Yet according to the known chronology of their visits, these four were never in Vegas at the same time. Fouda also mentions that during the meeting in Karachi, Pakistan, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed supposed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks was present, and the terrorists informed him the original plan was going to be an attack on nuclear reactors, but they had cancelled those plans for fear of things getting out of control. Reports out of India allege that former Pakistani ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) chief General Ahmed ordered an aide to wire $100, 000 to Mohammed Atta in Vegas during the summer of 2001. In the same AP article dated Aug 8 2004 mentioned earlier, one of the operatives is heard saying “Let’s go to the hotel since we finished filming the casinos and we made $100,000 tonight.” A recent computer translated forum entry on an Islamist website had this to say about Las Vegas, “…carry out the explosion of a nuclear bag near the White House in Washington…About what another carries out the explosion of another bag the nuclear one of America establishments canteens in another city… And another carries out the explosion of a dirty bomb in Las Vegas.” (sic). Who did they meet? In an exclusive report for ERRI (Emergency Response and Research Institute) Paul Copher, an ERRI counterterrorism analyst writes about his Vegas visit, arranged by a local taxi driver, to a local mosque situated in a housing project. On entering a front room Copher noticed a map of Nellis AFB “with certain areas marked such as the motor pool, gas/fuel storage, and weapons/ammo dump.” A map of Las Vegas was also marked and explained away as “they were studying the layout of the city and areas for their taxi/limo jobs.” He also notices a large photo of convicted Sheikh Rehman, poster size likeness of Ayatollah Khomeini, posters of an RPG 7, AK 47, photos of the men present in camouflage uniforms, and another photo of a group of men in front of the damn at Lake Powell. Copher goes on to write “Although this incident shows that at least one group/cell/association is in Las Vegas, the intelligence of its existence is not being circulated to the law enforcement Community.” Sharing Information April 4, 2003. FBI Special Agent Paul George, leader of the FBI’s JTTF in Detroit, testified under cross examination during the Michigan trial, he had been to Las Vegas earlier in the year to discuss what he could about the trial with law enforcement officers, and could not explain why they claimed they had no information about threats to Las Vegas, prior to information being published in a local paper. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal a number of Las Vegas citizens ranging from casino spokespersons to law enforcement and politicians made the following statements about the FBI sharing its information: Las Vegas Sheriff, “They had information that could have a detrimental impact on a community 2,500 miles away and I don’t think they cared enough to share it, and that makes me angry.” A spokesman for the MGM Grand “No one here had any meetings with this FBI representative,” and that “he and other executives and security officials with the gaming company that operates the MGM Grand, Bellagio, The Mirage and other Las Vegas resorts have been monitoring developments in the Detroit trial very closely and speaking about the trial daily.” A Spokeswoman for Park Place Entertainment “she was not aware of a Detroit FBI agent briefing officials at Caesars Palace, Paris Las Vegas or any of the company’s other properties.” The spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Las Vegas said federal law enforcement officials in Las Vegas were not aware of Hmimsa’s testimony regarding Las Vegas until they read about it in a Review Journal account of the trial. During the 2003 Holiday season the FBI required hotel operators and airlines serving McCarran International to “share” passenger names and personal information of approximately 300,000 visitors per day. One has to wonder how many terrorists slipped into Vegas among the thousands who drive here daily, and if the FBI is using Non-obvious relationship software (NORA), from System Research and Development Inc. (SRD) based here in Vegas, and enthusiastically embraced by the gambling industry to catch cheats and card-counters. Jeff Jonas, SRD’s CFO cautions, “Without lists of suspected terrorists, his company’s advanced linking technology cannot be used as a proactive tool against terrorism.” The patented technology allows linking obvious and non-obvious relationships through multiple databases. For example, linking, let’s say a Las Vegas taxi driver who once lived in the same apartment complex in Coral Springs, Fla., to Atta who rented apartment number 122 on the ground floor. According to Ossama bin-Laden’s terrorist training manual Lesson Four, “It is preferable to rent apartments on the ground floor to facilitate escape, preferably in newly developed areas where people do not know one another.” Interestingly Atta stayed in rooms 122 and 124 during his confirmed visits to Vegas On a recent visit to Las Vegas Michael Vatis, former director of the FBI’s National Infrastructure Protection Center, now homeland security advisor to John Kerry, said Las Vegas, an obvious terrorist target, could help in the war against terrorism if there were only some integrated terrorist watch lists, as government agencies still have “bumbling and confusion” over what to say about terrorist threats. Is there a threat to Las Vegas or isn’t there? In 2003 Las Vegas was allocated $10.5 million and according to the Review Journal a number of government and elected officials had this to say: A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security said Las Vegas had been added to the list after receiving “new intelligence information”. The Sheriff, “I certainly squawked a bit because there was a case to be made for us to be on their list with size of our population, with our massive visitor volume, the fact that several of the 9-11 hijackers came here, and because of Hoover Dam.” Jerry Bussell former Nevada Homeland Security Chairman, “We made the list after all the fuss we threw. Nobody wants to say we are vulnerable, that we need this, but we do.” Senator Reid, D-NV speaking about Tom Ridge “He always recognized there was a problem that we have as a tourist destination. He felt that we should be able to be provided for it.” Senator Ensign, R-NV “ When the first round came out and Las Vegas was not one of the high threat areas, which was just outrageous considering the number of tourists we have and considering the terrorists who have visited our town, that’s when we went back lobbying to him.” Rep Shelley Berkley, D-NV “It’s apparent to the department of Homeland Security that Las Vegas needs to have training, needs to have equipment, and is in need of funding to do their jobs.” Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-NV (sits on the House Homeland Security Committee). “We are forcing the government to spend the money to make sure Las Vegas is prepared to give the indication we are a safe location.” Indication! Rep Jon Porter, R-NV “We want to move it up the list as far as we can. We have some of the best security folks on our properties in the world. We just want to accent that.” After reports surfaced in December 2003 that certain Air France flights from Paris to Los Angeles might be hijacked and crashed into Las Vegas, the Sheriff and former Nevada homeland security adviser said Las Vegas was not a target and they had been told Los Angeles was. Supposedly this show of confidence helped stem the flow of cancellations by tourists to Las Vegas, and kept our economy in tact. According to The Las Vegas Sun, November 14, 2003, the special agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI office had this to say “Las Vegas in my opinion is not a soft target. Anybody who comes here can look around and see the extensive security measures we have on the Strip and in other locations to keep this place safe.” Reacting to terrorist threats in Las Vegas During the holiday season of 2003 Nevada Homeland Security officials confirmed outdoor air sensors capable of detecting anthrax, smallpox, plague, botulism and hemorrhagic fever were being installed around Las Vegas. As usual this reaction would be too little too late, as it would take authorities an entire day to collect and analyze samples. The presence of National Guardsmen at the airport gave tourists and locals a warm fuzzy feeling of safety unless they knew the Guardsmen carried no ammunition. At McCarran International, strict and sometimes helpful security checkpoints confiscated nail clippers but provided no protection for the hundreds of passengers standing in serpentine lines, from a homicide/suicide bomber before entering security checkpoints. Nellis AFB raised its threat level in December 2003 from Alpha to Bravo. Hoover Dam security officers intensified their inspections of all vehicles crossing the dam. Security officers in major casinos intensified their searches of guest vehicles, but apparently because years have gone by since the last attacks, many security officers now, as observed by this analyst visiting some of the larger casinos on the Strip, make inspections that are cursory and sometimes non-existent when accompanied by a female. Limousines are more often than not waived through with utmost respect, since the occupants must be high rollers or big-shots. What better car bomb could the terrorists think up! Perhaps the Aug 8, 2004 AP article which states, “Both tapes showed nearly identical footage of security, information on how cars could access the landmarks, and other footage that could be useful for staging an attack.” needs to be circulated among security officers and law enforcement in Vegas. Were all the terrorists aware of their mission? Some so called experts, especially those belonging to Governmental organizations with no understanding of the mindset of extremist Islamic terrorists, suggest the terrorist/tourists had come to Vegas on a last fling before going to Allah, Paradise, and the seventy two virgins promised to all martyrs. In a town known for gambling and intoxicants the terrorists surely would never forget the Qur’anic admonition: O you who believe! Intoxicants, and gambling, and sacrificing to idols, and divining arrows, are an abomination of Satan’s handiwork. So avoid them in order that you may be successful. Satan only wants to excite enmity and hatred between you with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. Qur’an 5:90-91 Given the fanatical religious views held by some of the would-be terrorists, especially Atta, the so called experts would be wrong, unless some of the terrorists were really not prepared to be martyrs. FBI investigations into the 9/11 attacks found two of the terrorists had used a frequent-flyer number to book flights for September 11. Were they that dumb or had they hoped to rack up some more miles? According to Dr. Ossama Haikal, president of the Board of Directors of The Islamic Foundation of Nevada as quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle, “True Muslims don’t drink, don’t gamble, don’t go to strip clubs. These things are a sin, just like what they did in New York and Washington is a sin.” Was Las Vegas’ cash system a source of financing for the terrorists as some suggest? Unlikely, the money made and wasted here would be considered the money of sin, gained from interest and recycled sinfully. No Muslim who is going to be a martyr would risk defying the Koran which emphatically states:
“O You who believe! Have fear of Allah and give up what remains of what is due to you of usury…. If you do not, then take notice of war from Allah and His Messenger.” Qur’an 2:278 According to reports out of India in the summer of 2001, Pakistani ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) Chief General Ahmed wired $100,000 to Atta in Las Vegas, but there seems to be no record of this alleged transfer of money. Could it have been laundered through one of the casinos or was the “hawala” system used and someone in Vegas made sure Atta received his financing. To put it simply the hawala system is similar to the “Black Peso” system used by narco-traffickers, and the ancient Chinese “Fei qian” (flying money). The system involves transferring money across borders without electronic or physical transfer. Currency changers (Hawaldars) receive cash in one country, fellow “hawaldars” usually family, members of an ethnic group, or clan in another country, dispense the identical amount, minus fees, to the recipients who are provided with code words, serial numbers of bills, encrypted digital messages or signals such as handshakes or innocuous stroking of facial hair. Litany of terrorists in Vegas January 17, 1995 Terry Nichols flies from Manila, Philippines to Los Angeles and catches a connecting flight to Las Vegas, four days before his visa was to expire on January 21, 1995. The same day Ramzi Yousef was to carry out Operation Bojinka by bombing almost a dozen U.S. planes and crashing another into the Pentagon or CIA headquarters. Between November 1994 and January 1995, Nichols who supposedly was in the thick of planning the OKC bombing with Timothy McVeigh, drops everything and heads to Cebu City, Philippines, a stronghold of Islamic terrorist sympathizers. Nichols visited the campus of Southwestern University in Cebu City, where his wife was attending classes. Coincidentally, Ramzi Yousef also visited the campus during Nichols’ visit. Earnest James Ujaama a Muslim convert, indicted by a federal grand jury for building a terrorist training camp in Oregon, claimed he had been given a key to Las Vegas and honored by Sen Harry Reid, D-NV. In June 2002, according to the Las Vegas Sun, “seven men were arrested for allegedly trying to cash three counterfeit cashier’s checks at the MGM for a total of $600,000. The checks were drawn on the same Pomona Calif., bank branch as $12 million in phony checks found on a man arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in July. The man, Omar Abdul-Fatah Hamed Shishani, is being investigated by the FBI for possible terrorist links.” Abdelmajed Dahoumane, an associate of Ahmed Ressam who was arrested at the Canadian border for possession of nitro-glycerin and other explosives, apparently purchased a ticket from Bellingham Canada to Seattle, with a connecting flight on to Las Vegas. Of course authorities were unable to confirm to the media, if Dahoumane had ever visited Las Vegas. Federal officials charged one of the dozen or so terrorists arrested recently in Britain, with setting up terrorist web sites through servers in Nevada and Connecticut. Could those servers possibly be in Las Vegas? Why would terrorists strike Las Vegas? Without mentioning sources MSNBC.com reported Las Vegas was an al-Qaeda target because it was one of the most popular vacation spots and held tremendous economic value with large conventions and trade shows. With the latest threat to major financial institutions the repercussions of an attack on Las Vegas to the travel industry and others, will surely affect the economy of the entire U.S... Home to eighteen of the world’s largest hotels, not to mention Casinos, the destruction of one large hotel/casino using a conventional explosive device, would destroy Las Vegas’ economy and send a message to the world, that Satan and his cohorts, “Crusaders and Jews” have been severely injured. The release of biological agents on New Year’s Eve when a quarter million tourists might show up would spread smallpox, plague etc throughout America and other parts of the world. Releasing biological agents is an unlikely scenario, as the terrorists have no way of controlling the spread of such diseases to their own lands. Detonation of a “dirty bomb” on the other hand, would not only terrorize people through blast damage, but would have the added effect of spreading radio active waste, thus contaminating a large portion of the Strip. Calling it the City of Satan, much like Khomeini called America Satan, fanatical Muslims would consider it their duty to destroy this city and to send a strong message to not only America but the “Crusader-Zionist” alliance, as Ossama Bin Laden has said. And put the world on notice that “dar ul-islam” (the Land of Islam) will destroy and rule “dar ul-harb” (the Land of War), in much the same way as the Muslim Afghan Mujahideen destroyed Communist Russia and Aideed’s Habr Gidr, with help from Al Qaeda forced the Americans out of Somalia. MSNBC.com, Fox News, The Washington Post and other news agencies have reported the likely hood of terrorists targeting Las Vegas, yet it seems politicians and law enforcement are steadfast in their belief that Las Vegas is not a prime target. Is this just a matter of being naïve, arrogant, caring enough about Joe Public not to panic the masses (tourists), or does this have to do with economics? According to the Review Journal December 24, 2003 one high-ranking local law enforcement official said, “I have never seen so many nervous people in federal law enforcement.” and another source as saying the FBI had a planeload of agents coming in to Las Vegas, which the FBI would neither confirm nor deny. May 31, 2004. U.S. News and World Report had this to say about information gleaned from “Echelon” a super secret U.S. surveillance network which intercepted messages from suspected terrorists, “Nevertheless the information pointed to two, perhaps three targets, the sources say: New York, Washington, and Las Vegas.” Three years after September 11 all the so called “experts”, FBI, and law enforcement people are no closer to knowing why the terrorists were in Vegas. According to the Las Vegas Sun the FBI is reaching out to the Muslim community to help, and had this to say about Khalid Khan of the Islamic Las Vegas Society. “Khan said authorities had not interrogated him or members of his mosque recently, but that he would cooperate with information such as a list of about 300 local Muslims who receive a newsletter. Khan went on to say “If they ask us, we’ll give them information.” Does that mean “If they don’t ask us, we will not?” Maybe the FBI is forgetting one of its own agents Gamal Abdel-Hafiz. According to MSNBC and Jihadwatch.org “a fellow FBI agent in Chicago, Robert Wright, accused him of refusing to cooperate in an earlier 1999 case targeting fundraising by the militant Palestinian group Hamas. Wright claimed that Abdel-Hafiz, who was then assigned to the bureau’s Dallas field office, had refused a request that he wear a hidden wire during a meeting with a suspect in the case, on the grounds that “a Muslim does not record another Muslim.” For his refusal to uphold his oath to defend the country against all enemies, Abdel-Hafiz was promoted to the American Embassy in Saudi Arabia to handle FBI investigations in that Muslim country. Obviously Abdel-Hafiz was very aware of what is written in the Qur’an: “O you who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin: and spy not on each other, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat flesh of his dead brother? Nay, you would abhor it... But fear Allah: for Allah is Off-Returning, Most Merciful.” Qur’an 49:12 So why did the terrorists meet in Vegas for their majlis al-shura prior to 9/11? “Believers, what is the matter with you, that when you are asked to go forth and fight in Allah’s Cause you cling to the earth? Do you prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? Unless you go forth, He will afflict and punish you with a painful doom, and put others in your place.” Qur’an 9:38 Binalshib, Atta’s right-hand man who, supposedly has been quite talkative since his arrest in Pakistan, either lied about the terrorists meeting in Vegas for a majlis al-shura, since all of them were not known to be in Vegas at the same time, or he spoke the truth, and the terrorists did meet with some one who was/were the decision makers, and the authorities had no idea what was going on in their own backyard. After a presentation on Islamic terrorism at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, to an audience of aspiring anti-terrorism experts, law enforcement personnel, retired intelligence people, and first responders, it was painfully clear to me, those responsible for our safety, have no idea who the enemy really is. Talking to some intelligence types and listening to others with their fancy overhead projections, one fact stood out, they were all too afraid of not being politically correct and of jeopardizing their jobs and retirement incomes. Throw into the mix Homeland Security Officials and their gaffe of “outing” an intelligence source, Naeem Noor Khan arrested in Pakistan, to justify raising the terror alert. Followed by “experts” claiming a drop in “chatter” similar to that just before 911, indicates a hit on America in the near future is imminent. The chatter decreased because the terrorists found out Naeem Noor Khan had ratted on them – you think? Even though Atta stuck the “Do Not Disturb” sign on his room, an old ruse used to make snooping eyes believe the occupant is home, and the New York Times reported in November 2001, “The most important planning occurred in that dingy hotel room”, it is unlikely Atta spent too much time in either room 122 or room 124 during his visits. I strongly believe he met the decision makers somewhere else. Flying first class then staying in a $55 room in a seedy part of town frequented by pimps, prostitutes, crack dealers and crack-heads is not the type of place a devout Muslim would stay – unless it was a ruse – and plan his martyrdom. The planning for 911 started years ago in the Philippines when Ramzi Youssef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed put together Operation Bojinka, the clues were out there, but our intelligence community had no one to put the dots together. Maybe there are too many people like Gamel Abdel-Hafez filling the ranks of our politically correct intelligence community, with narrow shouldered bureaucrats in Washington making sure their jobs are secure fighting Islamic terrorism the way the Cold war was fought, since Islam is a religion of peace. Sephardic Jews, and Christians who have lived in Islamic countries, and speak languages from Arabic to Urdu, have repeatedly been denied the opportunity to serve America and the world, with their knowledge of the Islamic terrorist mindset. Las Vegas too has its share of law enforcement people who believe Islam is a religion of peace and extremists have hijacked the religion for their own political agenda, scoffing at the idea of Islamic terrorists targeting the City of Satan because of their religious beliefs. They were in Las Vegas, in my opinion, to meet and take instructions from someone who planned 9/11 and had connections at the highest levels in a sympathetic country-or countries – a strong ally in the war against terror. Someone who is well entrenched in the local population, someone who believes, as the saying goes, “It is darkest under the lamp,” and Las Vegas would be an easy target for the next round of multiple attacks. |