Thread: TX:Suspected al-Qaida Operative Held at El Paso Center

Suspected operative for al-Qaida held at center in El Paso

By Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times
Posted: 12/28/2008 12:00:00 AM MST

EL PASO -- A Lebanese man who was part of a complex federal investigation into a suspected U.S. terrorist network with ties to al-Qaida is in custody at the El Paso immigration detention center facing deportation, officials have confirmed.

According to court documents, Mohamad Kamal Elzahabi, 44, told the FBI he was a freedom fighter in 1988 and 1989 against the Soviets in Afghanistan, where he also attended a jihad military training camp, provided small-arms instruction and was a sniper.

Elaine Komis, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Immigration Review in Falls Church, Va., said her office could not discuss anything about the case due to a "non-disclosure order" by the Department of Justice. She said that the Department of Homeland Security initiated the case, and that it's now up to the Justice Department to decide Elzahabi's immigration status.

Adelina Pruneda, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, in San Antonio, said Elzahabi is being held at the El Paso federal detention center. No other details, including his hearing date and name of his new lawyer, will be released as long as the non-disclosure order is in effect.

Elzahabi caught the attention of authorities in Canada, Minnesota, New York and Massachusetts, who learned he and three other men fought in Afghanistan and all became cab drivers in Boston. Elzahabi has continually denied he was part of a sleeper cell or terrorist group.

A sleeper cell is a group of covert operatives inside a target population that is dormant until members receive orders to act.

"Elzahabi (alias Abu Kamal al Lubnani) stated that he was a Lebanese national who entered the United States in 1984 on a student visa. (He) admitted that he thereafter paid a woman in Houston, Texas, to enter into a marriage with him and help him obtain legal permanent resident alien status," according to a federal complaint filed in Minnesota.

The federal complaint also states Elzahabi decided to travel to Afghanistan in 1988 after he attended a religious conference in the U.S. Midwest. Elzahabi said that while in Afghan istan, "he knew Musab al Zarqawi, Raed Hijazi and Bassam Kanji, aka Abu Aisha, (and) identified photographs of each of these persons."

The document further states he told agents of "knowing of Khalid Sheik Muhammad," who U.S. authorities later said had masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.

The others mentioned in the documents:

Musab al Zarqawi, a Jordanian al-Qaida associate accused of directing terrorist attacks against U.S. and coalition members in Iraq. He was killed by U.S. forces in 2006 during an air raid in Iraq.

Raed Hijazi, born in California, who was convicted in Jordan for his part in the failed "Millennium" bombing plot that targeted American and Israeli tourists in that country. He was sentenced to death and has appealed.

Bassam Kanj, who was killed by Lebanese soldiers in 2000 while leading an attempted violent coup that sought to replace the Lebanese government with a fundamentalist Islamic state.

Elzahabi also told U.S. federal agents that he returned to Afghanistan in in 1991 and remained there until 1995. He also admitted acting as a combat sniper and being a small-arms instructor for jihadists at the Khalden training camp in eastern Afghan istan.

Military officials said the camp near Tora Bora, where Osama bin Laden was thought to have hidden, was used by al-Qaida to train terrorists. Hoping to strike bin Laden, U.S. forces bombed the camp.

The complaint also states Elzahabi admitted knowing Abu Zubaida, a senior al- Qaida associate.

Elzahabi told FBI agents he traveled to Lebanon and Chechnya and returned to the United States in 1995 "because he was in need of medical care after suffering an abdominal gunshot wound in combat," records state.

Elzahabi and his brother operated an axle-repair business in New York from 1995 to 1997 before he moved to Boston, where he worked as a cab driver "and he again associated with Raed Hijazi and Basam Kanj," who were employed by the same cab company.

The 2004 complaint signed by FBI Special Agent Kiann Vendenover alleges Elzahabi lied about not knowing the contents of packages he helped ship from his axle business to Pakistan and other countries -- packages that contained radios and other communications equipment.

The FBI also alleged he lied about helping Hijazi obtain a Massachusetts driver's license, and about letting him use Elzahabi's U.S. address for that purpose.

Elzahabi, who has been in custody since May 2004, was convicted last year by a Minnesota court of possessing fraudulent immigration documents based on his marriage to a dancer who worked at the Pink Pussy Cat Club in Houston (he and the dancer had divorced in 198. He was sentenced to time served and two years of supervised release.

After the trial, the Department of Homeland Security turned him over to the Department of Justice for deportation proceedings.

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_11321659

This is yet another consequence of cutting resources for the US-visit program. With this and wide open borders resulting in border patrol personnel finding prayer rugs, parts of bombs, IED's and other weapons left by those from special interest countries one has to wonder how many terrorists were able to easily enter this country among the 5,000 to 10,000 illegally crossing the border every week to establish sleeper cells or be a part of one. Yet the clowns in congress continue to ignore this placing open borders, cheap labor and illegal alien votes ahead of the welfare and security of the American people.

I think he got in-state tuition too?

Man convicted of sham marriage faces deportation
The Associated Press

EL PASO, Texas --

A Lebanese man questioned in a terrorism investigation and being held by immigration authorities in Texas faces deportation.

Mohamad Kamal Elzahabi, 44, was being held at the El Paso federal detention center and could be deported, the El Paso Times reported Sunday.

The Department of Homeland Security initiated a case against Elzahabi and the Justice Department must now decide his immigration status, said Elaine Komis, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Immigration Review in Falls Church, Va.

His hearing date, name of attorney and other information will not be released at this time because of a non-disclosure order, said Adelina Pruneda, a spokeswoman U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Antonio.

Federal investigators say Elzahabi has acknowledged attending a jihad training camp, being a sniper in Afghanistan and helping train a group seeking to overthrow the Lebanese government. However, Elzahabi has never faced charges of terrorism or committing violent acts.

He was arrested in May 2004 in Minnesota on a material witness warrant in a terrorism investigation. Before his arrest, he voluntarily underwent 17 days of questioning by FBI agents.

Elzahabi was convicted of possessing fraudulent immigration documents by a federal jury in August 2007 and turned over to ICE custody. According to federal prosecutors, Elzahabi entered into a sham marriage with a Houston exotic dancer and drug addict in 1984 to obtain legal permanent residency, also referred to as a green card. Officials say he promised Kathy Ann Glant, a waitress and dancer at the Pink Pussy Cat club, $5,000 to marry him.

Elzahabi came to the United States in May 1984 on a student visa, with plans to enroll in English as a second language classes at the University of Houston, officials said.

http://www.star-telegram.com/448/story/1114326.html

When a Terrorist Gets a School Bus Driver's License in Minnesota, and Uses It

By Janice Kephart, December 31, 2008

On Dec. 28, 2008, the "El Paso Times reported that terrorist and Lebanese national Mohammad Kamal Elzahabi is (finally) facing deportation. Elzahabi has been held by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement since his conviction on three counts of possession of false immigration documents in August 2007. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota, evidence "showed that on Sept. 6, 2001; Sept. 21, 2001 and Feb.7, 2002, Elzahabi used an alien registration receipt card, commonly referred to as a 'green card,' as evidence of his eligibility to stay and work in this country. That card, however, was obtained by fraud."

What the government has not mentioned is that Elzahabi's story is 25 years old – that he was recruited here in the United States in the early 1990s to serve what later became al Qaeda, and that if the government had followed through with his deportation in 1988, he never could have acquired the foothold in the United States to further his terrorist activity for another 15 years. It is an old story of wasted government resources, government information systems that don’t talk to each other or carry inadequate information, and policies recommended but not implemented. It may be an old story, but it is one worth repeating.

Immigration fraud. Elzahabi arrived on a student visa in 1984 to attend English as a Second Language classes at the University of Houston. Also in 1984, he paid an exotic dancer, Kathy Ann Glant, a waitress and dancer at the Pink Pussy Cat Club, $5,000 to marry him in order to get a green card. The two never lived together, and in 1988 the two divorced and admitted the fraud. Also in 1988, Elzahabi was recruited to fight in Afghanistan at an Islamic Conference in the Midwest.

Meanwhile, deportation proceedings were initiated, but there was no follow-through. No one in the federal government bothered to follow-up and divest Elzahabi of his legal immigration status or note that his green card was obtained by fraud. In 1995, with deportation proceedings in abeyance, he had managed to leave and return again to the United States after being wounded in combat in Afghanistan. He set up shop sending dual-use field radios to compatriots in Pakistan out of New York. In 1998, asked to train recruits at the Khalden Camp, instead he ended up in 1999 and 2000 fighting on behalf of al Qaeda in Chechnya, where he admitted to the FBI he had killed men. He once more successfully returned to the United States.

Driver's licenses. On September 11, 2001, Elzahabi applied for a job with a national school bus driver company, First Student. Located in Ohio, First Student (as of 2004) employed 19,000 bus drivers on 15,000 school buses nationwide. At that time, Elzahabi held a valid Massachusetts driver's license and a school bus commercial license, including hazmat clearance. He did not have legal status, yet there was no way for either Massachusetts or Minnesota to know because (1) the federal government had not done its job and properly notified the entire immigration system of Elzahabi's (still) pending deportation; and (2) neither of these states were likely checking federal legal status when Elzahabi was applying for his licenses.

Before the 9/11 attacks, the FBI had identified Mohammad Kamal Elzahabi as a suspected terrorist. Yet according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety's Division of Driver Vehicle and Licensing, the FBI "ran his name through a database and cleared him."

So, for four months immediately after 9/11, Elzahabi was transporting students in the Minneapolis Public Schools.

Elzahabi was only fired in January 2002 for failure to report to work. In February 2002 he tried to get his job back, but was denied due to his unreliability. His terrorist ties were only learned of two years later, despite Elzahabi's fingerprints having been sent to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension prior to his hire and the FBI clearing Elzahabi to drive. The FBI's failure to flag Elzahabi's fingerprints never received any comment by the Bureau, despite the Bureau's having flagged him prior to the 9/11 attacks as a potential terrorist. In June 2004, Elzahabi's license for transporting toxic materials was still valid, though his school bus driver's license had been canceled in February 2004 for reasons unknown.

Terrorist operations. In a September 2005 CIS paper, Immigration and Terrorism: Moving Beyond the 9/11 Staff Report on Terrorist Travel, I discussed Elzahabi's terrorist background as follows:

Upon obtaining his green card, Elzahabi left the United States to fight jihad in Afghanistan and met the key jihadi figures Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, Raed Hijazi, and Bassam Kanj. He again traveled to Afghanistan in 1991 and remained there about four years. During this time, he was a sniper in combat and served as an instructor in small arms and sniper skills for other jihadists attending the Khaldan training camp in Afghanistan. Elzahabi admitted that while he was in Afghanistan, he personally knew Abu Zubaida and knew of KSM.

Elzahabi returned to the United States in 1995 and moved to New York City, where he ran an axle-repair business. He used this business to help ship to Pakistan portable field radios, later found in Afghanistan by U.S. troops.

From 1997 to 1998 Elzahabi lived in Boston, working as a cabdriver. There he associated with Raed Hijazi, whom he aided in obtaining a Massachusetts driver's license in 1997. Raed Hijazi (born in California to Palestinian parents and later radicalized) was later convicted in Jordan for masterminding the failed Millennium bombing plot that had targeted American and Israeli tourists in that country. While in Boston, he lived with Bassam Kanj, who had married an American in 1988 and was later naturalized. Kanj helped Hijazi lease a taxi that officials believe was used to fund the Jordan plan. Also working with these taxi drivers was Nabil Al-Marabh, discussed in the illegal entry section below.

Elzahabi also traveled to Lebanon, where he provided small arms training to the group of fighters that Bassam Kanj had formed to overthrow the government of Lebanon. Kanj was killed in 2000 in Lebanon.

Conclusion. Elzahabi operated in the United States under the guise of a sham marriage for 20 years. Once in the federal immigration system with a green card, deportation proceedings were ignored time and again as this key al Qaeda operative moved in and out of the United States; established a viable business that transferred combat gear to al Qaeda out of New York; made it through an FBI background check subsequent to his terrorist travel and initial deportation proceedings; and, most unnerving, obtained driver licenses in more than one state that included driving school children in the Minneapolis school system for four months.

In July 2004, the 9/11 Commission Final Report made the following observations and recommendations:

All points in the border system – from consular offices to immigration services offices – will need appropriate electronic access to an individual's file. Scattered units at Homeland Security and the State Department perform screening and data mining; instead, a government-wide team of border and transportation officials should be working together. A modern border and immigration system should combine biometric entry-exit system with accessible files on visitors and immigrants, along with intelligence on indicators of terrorist travel.

It is almost 2009. These recommended systems regarding electronic access to an individual's file are either not available or are not being used adequately. Not all states are checking legal status in driver license applications (four still don't). However important that is, it is dependent on the federal government keeping its information up to date. As long as the states are willing to do their part, the federal government – including the FBI – needs to do its part in ensuring the information it provides its customers is valid.

When a known terrorist 20 years out of legal status gets a school bus driver's license and uses it in a post-9/11 world, it's hard to argue that securing our borders, or securing ID issuance, doesn't matter to national security. Try telling that to the parents whose children were driven to school by Mr. Elzahabi.

Janice Kephart's blog The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit research organization founded in 1985.

http://www.cis.org/node/968