New Zeland Deports Aviator To SA With Ties To One of 9/11 Terrorists

[Annie]

Think it's over?


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10385963

National News


Pilot with 9/11 links found in NZ

Saturday June 10, 2006
By Geoff Cumming

EXCLUSIVE - A Saudi Arabian linked to one of the September 11 hijackers spent four months in New Zealand before being expelled as a national security risk.

The United States-qualified pilot, Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali, was admitted to New Zealand in February on a student visa, saying his dream was to become a commercial airline pilot and that he needed an English language qualification to assist.

Today the Weekend Herald reveals that on May 29 police and immigration officials raided Ali's Palmerston North home and deported him.

The 28-year-old had recently moved there from Auckland, partly to fly at the Manawatu Aero Club.

A Government statement to be released this morning will confirm that Ali was deported because he "posed a threat to national security".

The Government claimed last night that Ali had lived and trained in Phoenix, Arizona, with fellow Saudi Hani Hanjour in the months before Hanjour is believed to have piloted American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon building.

It is only the second time that section 72 of the Immigration Act has been used to deport someone. Its use requires the consent of the Governor-General, and there is no right of appeal.

Police seized Ali's flight logbook from the aero club, where he had flown several times in Cessna aircraft accompanied by instructors. He was sent back to Saudi Arabia under escort.

Immigration Minister David Cunliffe said last night Ali was considered a threat to national security because of his direct association with those responsible for the 2001 terrorist attacks, the nature of his activities in the US before then and the nature of his activities in New Zealand.

The Weekend Herald has learned he spent most of his time in Auckland attending an English language course but shifted to Palmerston North early last month, planning to enrol in another English course and increase his flying hours.

The case raises questions about New Zealand's security intelligence and border control mechanisms.

Mr Cunliffe said Ali's true identity became apparent only after he arrived in New Zealand - "he used a variation of his name in applying for entry".

But the Weekend Herald has been told the only variation on his passport was the use of the initial A for Abdullah, and that was corrected in a note inside the passport.

The minister referred the Weekend Herald to excerpts from the US Government's 9-11 Commission Report on the attacks regarding "Rayed Abdullah".

The report says Abdullah lived and trained in Phoenix with Hani Hanjour, the Saudi Arabian believed to have piloted Flight 77 into the Pentagon. Abdullah was a leader at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Phoenix where, the FBI says, he "reportedly gave extremist speeches at the mosque".

A website sourced to the 9-11 report says Abdullah attended the same Phoenix flight school as Hanjour and the pair used a flight simulator together on June 23, 2001.

A 2004 report in the Arizona Daily Star names him as Rayed Mohammed Abdullah. But the Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali who wandered into the Manawatu Aero Club in March gave no suggestion of fundamentalism.

The short, clean-cut Muslim told the club's chief flying officer, Captain Ravindra Singh, he had obtained his private pilot's licence in the US and spent several years there before returning to Saudi Arabia to work in his father's textile business.

He wanted to pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam so he could return home to train for his commercial pilot's licence.

He wore a baseball cap, smart shirts and baggy trousers and favoured burgers over halal food.

Captain Singh, a former Indian Air Force officer trained in intelligence, says Ali had a Yemeni passport and he was naturally suspicious at first.

"At the time of September 11 he would have been in the US. I asked him some very direct questions about his US flying experience and found he was quite intelligent and a moderate person. He was not at all fundamentalist - he was against those people."

He and other instructors accompanied Ali on several flights in a Cessna 152 aircraft.

"I found his standard to be very good," Captain Singh said.

"He wanted to fly in Saudi Arabia or the [Arab] Emirates and was doing instrument training in the US before September 11 but said that since then everyone had treated him suspiciously. I'm 99 per cent sure he was genuine."

Ali told Captain Singh he was born and raised in Saudi Arabia but travelled on a Yemeni passport because his father was from Yemen and Saudi Arabia had refused to give him citizenship.

When he returned to Palmerston North, he told Captain Singh he had missed an application deadline and been unable to sit the IELTS exam in Auckland.

He planned to re-enrol in Palmerston North, where it was cheaper to fly than in Auckland.

Mr Cunliffe said he could not comment on what happened after Ali returned to Saudi Arabia.

Nor could he comment on what specific information the Government had on him or where it came from. "We're satisfied he is the right man."

The other time section 72 was used was for the 1991 deportation of Soviet spy Anvar Kadyrov.

 

[jillian]

What do you think NZ should have done with him?

 

[Annie]

What do you think NZ should have done with him?

What they did. What should SA have done? Therein lies the question.

 

[jillian]

What they did. What should SA have done? Therein lies the question.

Ah....fair enough. I agree with you. NZ did what it had to.

What should the Saudi's do with him? Well, if they were truly an ally in the WOT, they would turn him over to us for questioning, no? Seems we have a vested interested in the information this weasel might have....up to and including the reasons that he felt the need to be taking flying lessons now...

 

[Annie]

Ah....fair enough. I agree with you. NZ did what it had to.

What should the Saudi's do with him? Well, if they were truly an ally in the WOT, they would turn him over to us for questioning, no? Seems we have a vested interested in the information this weasel might have....up to and including the reasons that he felt the need to be taking flying lessons now...

they could have refused to accept. They didn't.

 

[Annie]

Michelle Malkin has picked this up:

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/005365.htm

9/11-LINKED PILOT ON THE LOOSE
By Michelle Malkin · June 09, 2006 10:46 PM

But don't worry. He's been sent to...Saudi Arabia!

Great, just great:

New Zealand has deported a Yemeni man identified as having direct links with the terrorists involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States who was taking pilot training in the country this year, the government said Saturday.

Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali was deported to Saudi Arabia on May 30 because his presence in New Zealand posed a security threat, Immigration Minister David Cunliffe said in a statement.

"He was directly associated with persons responsible for the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001," Cunliffe said.

The U.S. congressional investigation into the attacks said Rayed Abdullah had lived and trained with Saudi Arabian Hani Hanjour, who piloted the airliner that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11.

Rayed Abdullah was deported one day after he was arrested in the North Island city of Palmerston North where he was undertaking airplane pilot flight training, the minister said. "He was building up his flying hours flying with an instructor. He'd previously trained as a pilot in the United States," Cunliffe said.

Rayed Abdullah had used "a variation of his name in applying for entry to New Zealand" and his real identity had only become known after he arrived in the country, Cunliffe said. He didn't say when Rayed Abdullah had arrived. "Once his real identity became known, he was identified as having close connections to people involved with the Sept. 11 2001 attacks in the United States, and had been named in the 9/11 Commission Report," Cunliffe said.

The report identified Rayed Abdullah as a leader at the Islamic Cultural Center in Phoenix, Arizona, who had given extremist speeches at the mosque.

Radio interview with the NZ immigration minister here.

Prediction: Some on the Left will condemn President Bush for letting Rayed Abdullah go in the first place...never mind their hyperventilating about profiling or their attacks on former John Ashcroft's detention of Middle Eastern illegal aliens or their opposition to Gitmo.

Hindsight hypocrisy of the moonbats aside, President Bush certainly does deserve criticism. Maybe some of the leftists will join me in questioning Bush's decision to throw open the doors of Arizona universities to Saudi students to appease the Kingdom.

Arizona is a favorite al Qaeda tourist site--not only did 9/11 hijacker Hani Hanjour and, yep, Rayed Abdullah live and train there, but also many, many other operatives. Flashback:

Southern Arizona became the home to numerous radical Islamists in the early 1980s when they moved here and began raising money for Afghan freedom fighters, some experts say.

Their anger and fund-raising efforts were redirected against the United States after America ended its financial and political efforts in Afghanistan as the Cold War with the Soviet Union began to thaw.

People such as Wadi el-Hage, a personal assistant to Osama bin Laden who raised money in Tucson for the Afghan effort, did not cease raising cash because the United States withdrew its support of the Afghan mujahedeen, or holy warriors, said Harry Ellen, a Phoenix businessman and an FBI informant in the 1990s.

"That helped radicalize them not only for their cause but against us, too," said Ellen, who met el-Hage several times. "We became a host that slapped their guest."

El-Hage is now in federal prison for life after his conviction for conspiring to bomb two U.S. embassies in Africa.

With the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. government took notice of the radical leanings held by some Arizona Muslims. A joint FBI-CIA analysis titled, "Arizona: Long Range Nexus for Islamic Extremists," likely explores the history of Tucson's rise to prominence among Muslim radicals but remains classified. Its existence was revealed in the bipartisan 9/11 commission's final report..That leaves others to explore the reasons why Tucson and Arizona became a destination for Islamic fundamentalists.

FBI spokeswoman Susan Herskovits would not talk specifically about the analysis but said Arizona offers numerous attractions that make it a destination for many Arabs, including legitimate scholars and law-abiding residents. The University of Arizona recruited Middle Easterners for its science programs, and Arizona's weather makes flight training schools popular. The desert climate reminds Middle Easterners of home. And Tucson's popularity spread through word of mouth, she said. "Once people from another culture end up in a place like Tucson, other people hear about it and want to be there," Herskovits said.

In addition to el-Hage, Tucson and the Phoenix area have been home to numerous al-Qaida operatives, including:

● Hani Hanjour, who attended the UA and a flight school in the Phoenix area before piloting American Airlines 77 into the Pentagon on Sept. 11.

● Mubarak al Duri, who lived in Tucson and, according to the 9/11 commission's report, served as bin Laden's principal procurement agent for weapons of mass destruction.

● Wa'el Jelaidan, who was president of the Tucson Islamic Center in 1984-'85 and helped found al-Qaida later that decade.

Most known or suspected terrorists seem to have been drawn to Tucson and Arizona by two lures - the availability of flight schools and student visas, said David D. Van Fleet, a professor and terrorism expert in the School of Management at Arizona State University. He said that may also explain why fund-raising organizations linked to bin Laden branched into certain U.S. cities with "little clusters" of Muslim extremists. The 9/11 commission reported that the al Khifa organization, which had branches in Tucson, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York City, recruited American Muslims to fight in Afghanistan - including some who later took part in terrorist actions in the United States and against U.S. embassies in East Africa.

That doesn't mean the UA or the state was "somehow fostering or festering these kinds of folks," Van Fleet said. "It's simply the convenience of where to get into a flight school or get into a country through a student visa."

Here's the relevant section of the 9/11 Commission report.

***

Robert Spencer zeroes in on how Rayed Abdullah blended in to New Zealand society. Via the New Zealand Herald:

The short, clean-cut Muslim told the club's chief flying officer, Captain Ravindra Singh, he had obtained his private pilot's licence in the US and spent several years there before returning to Saudi Arabia to work in his father's textile business.

He wanted to pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam so he could return home to train for his commercial pilot's licence.

He wore a baseball cap, smart shirts and baggy trousers and favoured burgers over halal food.

Robert writes:

This is in accord with instructions in the Al-Qaeda manual to appear to be a secular, assimilated Muslim with no interest in religion. Speaking of ID documents, it says: "The photograph of the brother in these documents should be without a beard. It is preferable that the brother's public photograph [on these documents ]be also without a beard. If he already has one [document ]showing a photograph with a beard, he should replace it." And in renting an apartment, "It is preferable to rent these apartments using false names, appropriate cover, and non-Moslem appearance." And in general: "Have a general appearance that does not indicate Islamic orientation (beard, toothpick, book,[long] shirt, small Koran)....Be careful not to mention the brothers’ common expressions or show their behaviors (special praying appearance, “may Allah reward you”, “peace be on you" while arriving and departing, etc.)...Avoid visiting famous Islamic places (mosques, libraries, Islamic fairs, etc.)."

Sounds as if Ali was following the playbook.

How many more?

 

[Annie]

and a bit more:

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/007171.php

....
One has to suspect that Rayed's dream had more to do with flying the airliner rather than actually landing it.

Rayed doesn't get much attention in the final 9/11 Commission report; all references to him are found in the extensive footnotes. He indeed roomed with Hani Hanjour and even got his own pilot's license in 1998 from Arizona Aviation. He also was a leader of an Islamic "cultural center" (mosque) in Phoenix during that period, and was known for his radical speeches. The FBI interviewed Rayed as early as September 15, 2001, and while he obviously did not get detained or charged, the FBI found his testimony "deceptive" and not credible. As late as May 2004, just before the commission wrote the report, the Phoenix office found his connections to Hanjour "suspicious" (page 520).

Most interestingly, for a man who has a dream to become a commercial airline pilot at age 20, he stopped flying and started working as a computer programmer. Only in the summer of 2001 did he resume flight training. In the summer of 2001. He was joined by another Hanjour associate at the same time, but neither man took part in the 9/11 attack, and neither man ever faced charges in the US.

People speculated at the time that al-Qaeda had enough assets in the US to initiate a second wave of airliner attacks, and had been taken off guard by the grounding of the entire commercial industry on 9/11. The re-emergence of Rayed Abdullah Ali demonstrates that AQ has not completely given up on that tactic.