Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
What terrorist ties? Oh… Those:
A wanted Palestinian fugitive, Abu Abbas, has been detained by US forces in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
He led the Palestinian Liberation Front, which hijacked a US cruise ship, the Achille Lauro, in 1985.
During the hijack, an elderly American passenger was killed.
Abu Abbas had been mentioned by US President George W Bush as an example of the kind of figure given refuge by the former regime of Saddam Hussein.
More good news:
The Justice Department announced the arrest today of an accused financier for Al Qaeda, a Yemeni cleric who once boasted of handing Osama bin Laden $20 million in cash for use in terrorist operations in the months before the Sept. 11 attacks.
The cleric, Mohammed al Hasan Al-Moayad, and a Yemeni cohort, Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayer, were arrested in Frankfurt on Jan. 10, based on sealed complaints issued in Brooklyn, N.Y. The government unsealed the coplaints today and announced that the United States is seeking the extradition of the two men, who are being held in Germany.
This extradition bit should be interesting, what with the current unpleasantness.
Is it Just me, or does the terrorist mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed look eerily familiar?
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Ron Jeremy
*** Update ***
Apparently, a bunch of people thought the same thing at the same time- Check out Richard Bennet’s post, which he put up at 10:12 Pm West Coast time. Amusing.
*** Update #2 ***
Jeebus. Oliver tracked down a bunch more of us pervs who made the connection.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has discovered a list of the top financial backers of al Qaida during a raid of a Muslim charity in Sarajevo, according to court documents obtained by United Press International.
The reference to the list is the first public indication that U.S. authorities have specific information as to the identities of the financiers of Osama bin Laden’s terror network, but it is unclear what, if any, action has been taken against the persons named in the document.
The handwritten list — referred to within al Qaida as “The Golden Chain” — details 20 wealthy donors to al Qaida followed by the specific recipient of the funding. Osama bin Laden’s name appears next to seven of the entries, including at least one donation made by the “bin Laden brothers,” according to the court document.
Hunt them down and charge them with 3,000 counts of accessory to murder.