By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — At the Pentagon, just across the Potomac, this lunch guest was one of the more unusual ones. The Pentagon confirmed that radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born al Qaeda operative now on a U.S. kill-or-capture list, had lunch at the Pentagon after the Sept. 11, attacks as part…
Ali H. Soufan was an F.B.I. special agent from 1997 to 2005. By ALI H. SOUFAN New York Times Op-Ed TEN years ago, Qaeda terrorists blew a hole in the side of the Navy destroyer Cole in Yemen, killing 17 sailors. Yet the attack’s mastermind still hasn’t been prosecuted, and many of the men tried…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III told a Senate Committee Wednesday that he’s concerned about terrorist plots against the U.S. coming primarily from three sources: core al Qaeda, al Qaeda’s affiliates, and homegrown extremists. “In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, al Qaeda’s plots and plans primarily focused on using…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A former top FBI interrogator, who is a Muslim, says the opposition to building a mosque near ground zero is only helping al-Qaeda, the Washington Post’s Spy Talk column reports. “It bolsters the message that radicalizers are selling: That the war is against Islam, and Muslims are not welcome in America,”…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — A 20-year-old Virginia man, who made threats against the TV show “South Park”, was arrested Wednesday on charges of providing material support to al Shabaab, a terrorist organization in Somalia with links to al Qaeda, authorities said. Zachary Adam Chesser, 20, of Fairfax County, Va., who according to a…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Call it the sign of the times. The FBI won’t let 26-year-old Muslim American Yahya Wehelie fly home to Virginia from the Middle East, the New York Times reports. Wehelie spent 18 months in Yemen. In May, he was heading home to Virginia and was changing planes in Cairo when the…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A federal grand jury in Houston on Thursday indicted a 29-year-old Texas man on charges of attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Barry Walter Bujol Jr. of Hempstead, Tex., was charged with attempting to provide al Qaeda with money,pre-paid telephone calling cards, mobile telephone SIM…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Smack in the middle of the heartland, in an area better known for its steak and barbecue than its links to al Qaeda, comes a little bit of news. Khalid Ouazzani, 32, a used car and parts dealer from Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty Wednesday to providing material support to al…
