ADRIAN MORGAN:AL QAEDA TERROR PLOT LINKED TO 9/11 HAMBURG MOSQUE
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.7560/pub_detail.asp
Al Qaeda Terror Plot Linked to 9/11 Hamburg Mosque
On August 20 in these pages, Rael Jean Isaac compared the issue of the proposed Ground Zero mosque with a grubby mosque in Hamburg, Germany. This mosque lies in a side street, next to the Olympic Fitness center, and had been a haunt of at least three of the hijackers who were in planes that were involved in the 9/11 attacks. Rael Jean Isaac wrote:
The Taiba mosque (then called al-Quds) was the hang-out of Mohammed Atta and several other 9/11 hijackers. Although it is unprepossessing (a small run-down building in a poor neighborhood—no $100 million iconic structure like the one proposed for New York), it became a magnet drawing enthusiasts for jihad from around the world. Die Zeit editor Josef Joffe writes in The Wall Street Journal: “Why so? Manfred Murck, the deputy chief of Germany’s domestic security agency explains: ‘Because it has the aura of the 9/11 assassins.’ Devotees of the 9/11 killers have come from all over on a tour of jihadism that starts in Hamburg, then proceeds to Madrid, then to London, where dozens were murdered in the tube in 2005. ‘Hey I prayed where Mohamed Atta did…’”
At that time, the Taiba mosque had just been closed down by German authorities. Computer equipment had been removed, and police officers stood on guard, to prevent anyone trying to enter the premises.
On August 11, shortly after the mosque had been closed down, I discussed the history of the Hamburg Cell that had once congregated there, and also charted the history of preachers connected to the mosque. One of these is Syrian-born Mamoun Darkazanli, who was imam at the mosque when it was closed down in August. Darkazanli had been connected with the venue in the years preceding the 2001 attacks. Darkazanli had been under suspicion of supporting terrorism since 1998, when it was found that he had power of attorney over a bank account belonging to Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, a man believed to be the main financier of Al Qaeda.
Rachel Ehrenfeld, in her book “Funding Evil” (pp 63-4) wrote of Syrian-born Muhammad Galeb Kalaje Zouyadi who had set up a company in Saudi Arabia called Mushayt for Trading Establishment. From its founding, this company had been controlled by the Saudi branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and moved its operations to Spain. Ms. Ehrenfeld wrote:
“In addition, Zouaydi distributed at least $470,000 through Mushayt for Trading Establishment to different individuals and organizations affiliated with al-Qaeda. [1] One of them, Mamoun Darkazanli, was described by the Spanish investigative judge Balthasar Garzon, who led the investigation into al-Qaeda’s European operations as “belonging to the intimate circle of Mohammed Atta,” the lead hijacker in the World Trade Center attacks.” [2] There was a double accounting system,” noted one investigator, “and there was money that came from abroad and was mixed between the real business projects and the donations for jihad.” [3]
Zouaydi gave Darkazanli $16, 780. Darkazanli has never been prosecuted, though he has been aware of being monitored by security agents. He continues to live in Hamburg, now that the Taiba mosque has been closed.
Recently, as I wrote here and here, there has been news of a terrorist plot which has been planned in Pakistan’s tribal borderlands by Al Qaeda and the Taliban. This plot has led to a record number of attacks made by unmanned US predator drones last month, upon targets in the tribal regions. There were 24 such strikes in September.
Much of the information on the suspected plot – which aims at “soft targets” in Britain, Germany and France, has come from an Afghan-born German national called Ahmad Sidiqui (Ahmed Siddiqui). 36-year old Sidiqui was arrested near Kabul in July this year, and he is now under guard at the US base at Bagram. Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has been receiving daily briefings based upon the revelations from Sidiqui in Bagram.
36-year old Sidiqui is known to have been a friend of Mounir al-Motassadek who was one of the Hamburg Cell involved in the 9/11 conspiracy. Sidiqui had regularly driven Motassadek’s father to the jail where the terror accomplice currently resides. As I wrote earlier:
There were other members of the “Hamburg Cell”, such as Mounir al-Motassadek. Moroccan-born Motassadek had undergone several trials. On Feb. 20, 2003, a Hamburg court had convicted him of providing material support to the 9/11 attackers, and of being an accessory to the murder of those who died as a result of the 9/11 attacks. He had been given a 15-year jail term, the maximum sentence that German law allowed. Then on appeal to the German Supreme Court, that conviction was rejected in 2004 and he was freed.
In 2004 he returned to court and after a year-long trial, he was given a 7-year jail term in 2005 for being a member of a terrorist group. In February 2006, Germany’s Constitutional Court ordered that Motassadek should be released while he launched an appeal against this sentence. In November 2006, that appeal found that Mounir al-Motassadek had been guilty of being an accessory to more than 3,000 murders. On Monday January 8, 2007, he was finally sentenced to 15 years in jail.
The Taiba mosque was closed down in August, shortly after the interrogation of Sidiqui began. A fascinating report from CNN neatly “joins the dots” between participants in the Pakistan jihad camps and the Taiba mosque. The video below deals with many of the salient points.
According to CNN’s Nic Robertson in the video report, the Iranian-born German citizen called Shahzad Dashti, who lived in Hamburg. According to Dashti’s family, he became linked to radicalism while attending the Taiba mosque. Dashti is depicted with a massive sword below. He is currently believed to still be in Pakistan’s tribal border regions. Dashti and others left Germany in the spring of 2009, accompanied by Ahmad Sidiqui and other German nationals. Dashti is thought to be one of the main people who are behind the Al Qaeda terror plot against soft targets in either Britain, Germany and France.
Dashti has already made an impact in the news, along with other Germans who have gone to Pakistan. A year ago, in October 2009, Dashti’s image adorned newspapers such as Britain’s Daily Mail. At that time, Dashti was described by his sobriquet: “Abu Askar the German.” At the time he was said to be involved in training the foreign jihadists who had travelled to Pakistan to become part of Islamism’s Holy War against Western democracy.
At that time, news reports were stating that the group with which Abu Askar the German was affiliated was the IMU. This group is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. This group was founded in the early 1990s. It was led by its co-founder Tahir Yuldashev, and though it aims to see Uzbekistan come under Islamist control, it has established a base in Waziristan in Pakistan’s border regions. In the region known as South Waziristan, the IMU group was under the protection of Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud (killed by a drone strike on August 5, 2009). After Baitullah Mehsud was killed, his brother Hakimullah Mehsud took over the Pakistan Taliban. Earlier this year, Al-Arabiya television showed footage of the Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad having a meeting with Hakimullah Mehsud, who survived a drone attack that took place on January 17 this year.
Tahir Yuldashev, the leader of the IMU who was living in South Waziristan under the protection of the Mehsud clan, died in a U.S. drone strike against the Pakistan Taliban, which is believed to have taken place on August 27, 2009 in the village of Kaniguram. After the death of Yuldashev (aka Muhammad Tahir Farook), the leadership of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan passed on to a man called Usmon Odil.
In October 2009, German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported that the video in which “Abu Askar the German” appeared in was one of about ten videos that had been iplaced online within a month. The videos were made by IMU. As well as featuring “Abu Askar the German” (Shahzad Dashti) brandishing his giant knife, another German appeared in these videos. This man called himself Abu-Zafiyaa.
Dashti and Abu-Zafiyaa criticized Germany for sending troops to join the NATO coalition in Afghanistan. Other individuals who featured in these IMU-produced videos were two individuals from the German town of Bonn. One called himself Abu-Ibrahim. Another called himself “Abu Talha the German”. This person has been identified as Bekkay Harrach, who moved to Waziristan in 2007. Both Abu-Ibrahim and Abu Talha came from Kessenich, a smart district of Bonn.
When the videos of German Islamists in Pakistan started to appear on the internet in September 2009, security agencies were quoted as saying that videos represented an “abstract” threat to Germany. Abu Zafiyaa (real name Javaid Siddiqui) did not survive too long. He was killed on October 17, 2009, according to a video by the IMU. He was said to have died while fighting.
The Germans living in Waziristan who are operating with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, including those named above, only came to the notice of Pakistan authorities at the same time as their videos began appearing on the internet. The Telegraph newspaper wrote of the “village of white German Taliban” on September 25, 2009. The leader and spokesman of the group of migrant German nationals was called Abu Adam. He has been identified as Mounir Chouka, who had received weapons training in Germany as part of his National Service, before going to join the Pakistan-based jihad in 2007. A former ISI member called Khalid Khawaja said of the German contingent:
“The Europeans are there [in Waziristan]. The most dedicated people there are from Europe. They will do anything for Islam. They are not there because their fathers are Muslim, but by choice.”
Khawaja claimed to be a friend of Osama bin Laden. He was assassinated in April this year, after he had attended a meeting with Sirajuddin Haqqani and Waliur Rahman Mehsud. Mehsud is an assistant to Hakimullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakiustan Taliban, and SIrajuddin is the leader of an al-Qaeda related group also linked to the Taliban. Khawaja’s body was found by a ditch in Mir Ali in North Waziristan. His killers have not been identified, though a group calling itself Lashkar Jhangvi al-Alami (a spin-off from Lashkar a-Jhvangi) has claimed responsibility for kidnapping Khawaja and two others.
News now comes that German Islamists have been killed in a U.S. drone strike. The missile attack took place in Mir Ali. The number of Germans who were killed is vague. Some reports – which all stem from Pakistani intelligence officials – have claimed that eight Germans have been killed. Other sources claim that five German nationals were killed. The German passport-holders were said by Agence France Press to have been of Turkish origin.
Late yesterday (October 4) a Pakistan security official, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentursaid that: “Five German rebels of Turkish origin and three local militants were killed in the strike.”
Shahzad Dashti apparently is linked with the European Mumbai-style terror attack. His family members were worried about talking to the press about how he became radicalized inside the Taiba mosque. They feared that divulging such information could affect his safety. Is Dashti is among the Germans who were killed yesterday?
The drone attacks have led to problems between NATO and Pakistan. The Khyber Pass, leading from Pakistaninto Afghanistan, was officially shut down after three Pakistan soldiers were accidentally targeted in a drone strike. With trucks not able to progress, they have become sitting targets for insurgents. At least sixty vehicles have been set on fire. Drone attacks can create bad feeling – especially when non-combatants are killed.
When innocent people are killed, it increases the likelihood of more recruits joining the anti-Western cause. However, the tribal communities do have leaders. These leaders hold “jirgas” to decide justice in these apparently lawless regions. The Pashtun tribal leaders in their fiefdoms within Waziristan and neighboring border regions must take their own share of the blame for drone attacks. After all, when they represent the only recognized authority in such regions, they allowed the foreign jihadists to bring their destructive war games into their territory.
Notes
[1] From testimony given by Matthew A. Levitt in hearing “Role of Charities and NGOs in Terrorist Financing,” hearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Subcommittee on International Trade and Finance, 107th Cong., 2nd sess. August 1, 2002.
[2] Quoted in Tim Golden and Judith Miller, “Al Qaeda Trail runs from Saudi Arabia to Spain,” New York Times, September 21, 2002.
[3] Golden and Miller, ibid.
Adrian Morgan
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