WHERE IS THE 5TH MAN? (British Bombing Suspect)

[stickdog]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15733472&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=7-7--war-on-britain--where-is-the-fifth-man---name_page.html

WHERE IS THE FIFTH MAN?
Massive hunt for mastermind behind the suicide bombings
By Jeremy Armstrong And Jeff Edwards [e-mail]

...

The mystery bombmaker moved into 18, Alexandra Grove, in Burley, Leeds, after it was left empty by Iraqi Samir Al Ani, 44, who returned to Baghdad two months ago. Samir's relative, respected hospital consultant Dr Shakir Al Ani, 57, took the keys for the flat. He was then approached by Leeds-based Elnashar who said he had a "friend from London" who needed somewhere to stay in the city.

There is no suggestion Elnashar knowingly assisted the bombers. Dr Shakir first met Elnashar at the Leeds Grand mosque close to Alexandra Grove four years ago. The two became friends and Dr Shakir rented him one of several properties he owns in St John's Terrace, close to the mosque. When Elnashar approached him for the keys to Alexandra Grove, he agreed without hesitation. He said: "Samir, who is a distant relative, left me the keys when he went back to Baghdad.


*****


Iraqi Samir Al Ani?

Where, oh, where have I heard THAT name before?

Here's a 2001 PBS interview with Hussein's UN old ambassador, Mohammed Aldouri, who says this about our friend Samir:

ttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/aldouri.html

Q. There were three Iraqi diplomats whose names have been mentioned regularly in the last month in relationship to the events of September 11. One is Samir al-Ani, who was in Prague. Do you know him?

A. ... Yes, I think he's a junior diplomat. He was in Prague for awhile, and he left Prague. He is now in Iraq, of course.

Q. You know that the allegation is that he, according to the Czech Interior Ministry, met with Mohamed Atta in Prague in April of this year.

A. First of all, our Vice Prime Minister Mr. Tariq Aziz said clearly that he denies these allegations, saying that there is no such meeting between this gentleman and Mr. Atta. This is the first. The second, the government of Czech at that time gave the real reason to ask Mr. al-Ani to leave the country. This is a relation with this Liberty Radio, I think. ...


More on Iraqi Samir Al Ani:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5412317/site/newsweek

The report itself points to examples of possible political meddling, especially on the issue of whether Iraq had ties to Al Qaeda. Some U.S. intelligence analysts complained to the CIA ombudsman that "the constant questions and requests to reexamine the issue of Iraq's links to terrorism unreasonable and took away from their valuable analytic time." When the CIA reached a measured and ambiguous view of the connection—"Iraq and Al-Qaeda: Interpreting a Murky Relationship" was the title of one June 2002 report—a team of Pentagon hard-liners under the direction of Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith strongly challenged the agency's conclusions. An August 2002 briefing that the Pentagon team gave to the then CIA Director George Tenet pushed evidence that Iraq might have been involved in the 9/11 attack. Their prime piece of evidence: alleged meetings in Prague between lead hijacker Muhammad Atta and an Iraqi intelligence agent. In fact, the committee found that the meetings likely never occurred. The Pentagon team brandished a photo of a supposed October 1999 meeting between Atta and the Iraqi agent that turned out to be bogus. The Qaeda terrorist was actually in Egypt visiting his family when the rendezvous supposedly took place. Tenet "didn't think much of" the briefing, he told committee investigators, so the Pentagon team took its case to Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, and Stephen Hadley, the deputy national-security adviser. There they found a much more receptive audience. Libby asked for follow-up, including "a chronology of Atta's travels."

http://www.jeffooi.com/MT3/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=1532

Iraqi Who Might Have Met With 9/11 Hijacker Is Captured / New Focus Is Put on Iraq's Alleged Links to Al Qaeda

By Vernon Loeb and John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 9, 2003; Page A11

The U.S. military has captured an Iraqi intelligence officer who may have met in Prague with a key al Qaeda hijacker five months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, U.S. officials confirmed last night. The military captured the intelligence officer, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, last week in Iraq, the officials said. Czech authorities said in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks that al-Ani had met in Prague with hijacker Mohamed Atta in April 2001, but the FBI and the CIA later determined there was no evidence that Atta left the United States and traveled to or from the Czech Republic during the time he supposedly met with al-Ani.

...

Richard Perle, a member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board who has contended al Qaeda and Iraq are linked, said he is hopeful al-Ani's capture will lead to a corroboration of his stance. "If he chose to, he could confirm the meeting with Atta," Perle said. "It would be nice to see that laid to rest. There's a lot he could tell us."

"Of course, a lot depends on who is doing the interrogating," said Perle, adding he fears that if it were the CIA, it could skew the interrogation so as to play down evidence that the alleged meeting with Atta occurred.

...

Al-Ani will be of interest to U.S. interrogators for reasons beyond the question of a meeting with Atta, said another official, who recalled the Iraqi agent was suspected of carrying out a number of "nefarious" missions for then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.


http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/093003C.shtml

Iraq, 9/11 Still Linked By Cheney
By Dana Priest and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post

Monday 29 September 2003

In making the case for war against Iraq, Vice President Cheney has continued to suggest that an Iraqi intelligence agent met with a Sept. 11, 2001, hijacker five months before the attacks, even as the story was falling apart under scrutiny by the FBI, CIA and the foreign government that first made the allegation.

The alleged meeting in Prague between hijacker Mohamed Atta and Iraqi Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani was the single thread the administration has pointed to that might tie Iraq to the attacks. But as the Czech government distanced itself from its initial assertion and American investigators determined Atta was probably in the United States at the time of the meeting, other administration officials dropped the incident from their public statements about Iraq.

Not Cheney, who was the administration's most vociferous advocate for going to war with Iraq. He brought up the connection between Atta and al-Ani again two weeks ago in an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" in which he also suggested links between Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks.

...

Cheney's staff also waged a campaign to include the allegation in Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's speech to the United Nations in February in which he made the administration's case for war against Iraq. Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, pressed Powell's speechwriters to include the Atta claim and other suspected links between Iraq and terrorism, according to senior and mid-level administration officials involved in crafting the speech. When State Department and CIA officials complained about Libby's proposed language and suggested cutting large sections, Cheney's associates fought back. "Every piece offered . . . they fought tooth and nail to keep it in," said one official involved in putting together the speech.

[maddezmom]

1. Is the Mirror the only one reporting this name?

Can't find any other sources?

[truthisfreedom]

2. why is there sooooooo much personal information about the bombers

in the British press? why isn't this being kept somewhat quiet until they solve as much as they can about this case?

who gave the order to release the information this quickly? and why?

[RC]

3. On a smaller scale, this stinks as bad as 9/11

Suicide bombers with timers? Anybody ask cheney about this yet?

[maddezmom]

4. yeah, and the named Mastermind is supposed to be in US custody

:shrug:

[Frederik]

5. But is it the same guy?

That would really make my head spin...

Perhaps Samir al-Ani is a common name in Iraq?

[frictionlessO]

6. Exactly what I am wondering, but hoo boy if it is the same.....

there will be some funky ass spin coming our way.

[allemand]

7. Probably not the same Samir al-Ali.

The name al-Ali seems to be quite common in Iraq.

There is a photo of the Iraqi diplomat and intelligence officer Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani on a right-wing website and he looks older than 39 years (if that photo is genuine and really was taken in 2000).

[schrodingers_cat]

8. OK, this is the farthest postulatory limb I've been out on yet....

1.)"The military captured the intelligence officer, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, last week in Iraq, the officials said"

2.)"Their prime piece of evidence: alleged meetings in Prague between lead hijacker Muhammad Atta and an Iraqi intelligence agent. In fact, the committee found that the meetings likely never occurred."

3.)"the Pentagon team took its case to Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, and Stephen Hadley, the deputy national-security adviser. There they found a much more receptive audience"

4.)"The alleged meeting in Prague between hijacker Mohamed Atta and Iraqi Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani was the single thread the administration has pointed to that might tie Iraq to the attacks."

5.)"Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, pressed Powell's speechwriters to include the Atta claim.....When State Department and CIA officials complained about Libby's proposed language and suggested cutting large sections, Cheney's associates fought back. "Every piece offered . . . they fought tooth and nail to keep it in," said one official involved in putting together the speech.

SOOOOOOO.....

Captured Iraqi diplomat + need for Iraqi war justification + attacks in London by said Iraqi = backdoor justification for invading Iraq