December 6, 2003?Suppose you were a detective assigned to investigate a rather brutal murder, one in which the victim had been tortured for several days prior to being killed.

At the scene of the crime you get what appears to be a lucky break?the suspect's wallet seems to have been 'carelessly' dropped. It contains his name, address, and phone number, and is someone you recognize as having connections to an organized crime family.

Problem is, you also find your name and address in there, as well as those of your children, grandchildren, and all of your nieces and nephews.

The message is quite clear, and your priorities dictate. You pocket the wallet, and any other evidence you happen upon, and the crime goes unsolved.

[Toronto Star, Dec. 2, 2003] WASHINGTON?Abdurahman Khadr is an alumnus of one of the world's most infamous training schools.

According to intelligence experts, the Al Qaeda-affiliated Khalden camp in the labyrinth-like eastern mountain area of Afghanistan has graduated the likes of Zacarias Moussaoui, linked to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., and Ahmed Ressam, the Canadian resident who admitted to a plot to blow up Los Angeles International Airport.

The camp also trained those involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and suicide truck bombers who killed 224 people in synchronized attacks on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton ordered some 70 Tomahawk cruise missiles to be fired at Khalden and other training camps in 1998, and it and other similar camps in Afghanistan have been reduced to rubble.

Khadr says he spent three months at Khalden in 1998.

But Vincent Cannistraro, former head of the CIA's counterterrorism unit, says the Khalden camp also produced thousands of foot soldiers ? whom he called "cannon fodder" ? who were there for military training but did not become part of Al Qaeda's specialized terrorist brigades. Cannistraro said Khadr was probably part of Al Qaeda's specialized terrorist brigades. like all the estimated 660 detainees who remain at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

None of those who still languish there are believed to have any intelligence value to the U.S., and Washington is expediting the release of many prisoners who have been in limbo for almost two years.

"[Abu]Zubaydah was the gatekeeper to Bin Laden?s camps in Afghanistan for more than five years. He spotted the best recruits to operate in cells in the West, dispatched them to Khalden...When they came to leave the camp, he briefed them on their missions....
While still a teenager, he joined the surge of young Muslims going to fight in Afghanistan against the Soviet invaders. It is not known where he went after the war, but when Bin Laden returned to Afghanistan in 1996, he was among the Saudi-born terror chief?s most eager recruits.
Zubaydah was initially based in Peshawar, at a compound called the House of Martyrs, vetting recruits as they arrived in Pakistan from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen, the United States and other countries. Later he became commander of the Khalden camp, used predominantly to train terrorists for assaults against the West; in every major attack or attempted assault by Al-Qaeda on western targets, the trail of operatives involved has invariably led back to Zubaydah....."

"Arms purchased by Iran and Turkey with the financial backing of Saudi Arabia made their way by night from the Middle East. Initially aircraft from Iran Air were used, but as the volume increased they were joined by a mysterious fleet of black C-130 Hercules aircraft. The report stresses that the US was "very closely involved" in the airlift. Mojahedin fighters were also flown in, but they were reserved as shock troops for especially hazardous operations...."

[Toronto Star - Dec. 3, 2003] [Abdurahman Khadr is] going to be watched, that's for sure, 100 per cent. The current law under the Anti-Terrorism Act totally justifies it," said Michele Juneau-Katsuya, a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent recently retired after 21 years.

The former Guantanamo Bay detainee implored the public earlier this week to not judge him since he did not face any charges while in American custody for the past two years. But at the same press conference, Khadr later admitted that in the summer of 1998 he attended a notorious training camp in Afghanistan, which Osama bin Laden is rumoured to have visited.

The Al Qaeda-linked Khalden camp, where Khadr said he learned to use assault weapons when he was 15, also hosted Zacarias Moussaoui.....

"....he'll have a babysitter from CSIS for a long period of time watching whatever he is doing," Juneau-Katsuya said yesterday. ....

The retraction reads as follows:

The Times, in its Sept. 15, 2003 editions, reported that Al Haramain was listed in a Presidential Order in 2001 allowing the United States to block the resources of individuals and institutions determined to be involved in possible terrorists acts, and that Al Haramain allegedly has ties with al Qaeda. The Times, in its September 19, 2003 editions, had an editorial discussing the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, Inc. (USA) as an example of "suspicious Saudi charities." Al Haramain (Saudi Arabia) has had branches at various places around the world. The branches in Somalia and Bosnia were closed at the demand of the United States, which asserted that those two branches were tied to al Qaeda. On March 11, 2002, Treasury Secretary O'Neill stated that the Saudi headquarters is dedicated to promoting Islamic teachings. The Ashland, Oregon-based Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, Inc. (USA) was not mentioned in a Presidential Order in 2001 or any other Presidential Order regarding possible terrorists acts. The Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, Inc. (USA) has not been identified as being involved in actual or possible terrorists acts or with having any ties to al Qaeda. The Times regrets any inference to the contrary in the article.

"Al-Aqeel...told the Arab news media that Al-Haramain kept 'tight control' of its international affiliates.
'The offices' directors are employees who follow the directions of the main office with regards to hiring workers at the offices and making any decisions on cooperation with any party,' he said."

"173. In the United States, al-Haramain has three business entities in Ashland, Oregon: al-Haramain Foundation, al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, and al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, Inc. All three of these separately filed businesses are at the same address and under the same management. These three businesses are one and the same as al Haramain?s headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The President and Vice-President of the United States branch, Aqeel al-Aqeel and Mansour al-Kadi, are the Secretary General and Deputy General, respectively, of the Riyadh office. The al-Haramain branch in Ashland, Oregon, is specifically linked to al Qaeda operations.?

"The same relief organizations, government ministries and "private" Saudis that supported Osama bin Laden and the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan today funnel billions of dollars to Saudi-backed institutions from Malaysia to Los Angeles......
Organized by the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and al-Haramain Charitable Foundation - the very charities in Washington's gun sights for having supported Osama bin Laden - the event was hosted by Riyadh governor Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz, the same Saudi prince who oversaw fund-raising for the anti-Soviet (and anti-Western) jihad."

Fighting for his composure, lawyer Rocco Galati said Thursday that he will drop all of his terrorism-related cases after a death threat that he said he believes came from an intelligence agency.

Mr. Galati is known as a tough-minded counsellor and he said he has put up with plenty of abuse for representing people many Canadians have no sympathy for. He has endured angry communications before and once found a strangled cat on his doorstep, but he almost broke down Thursday as he described his disillusionment upon receiving the threat.

"I'm not on the verge of tears for my safety. I'm on the verge of tears because it means we now live in Colombia. It means that the rule of law is meaningless. It means that lawyers cannot represent anyone even in what you profess to be a democracy here in Canada,? he said. ?It comments on where we've arrived as a society."

He issued a direct appeal to "whoever I've angered," pleading that they take his statement Thursday "as my bowing out."