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FBI
Investigating Whether San Diego Was Target for 9/11
LOS
ANGELES, August 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
is investigating whether two of the September 11 hijackers had earlier
been targeting a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier in California.
“I
can confirm that the FBI
continues an investigation looking at whatever contacts the two
hijackers had here in San Diego, but that case is ongoing at this time
and we can’t talk about specifics on ongoing investigations,” FBI agent John Iannarelli told Agence France-Press (AFP)
on Wednesday.
However,
a local paper quoted sources familiar with the investigation saying
Nawaf Al-Hazmi and Khalid Al-Midhar - both Saudi citizens linked to
the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen - traveled to San
Diego earlier that year to carry out a similar attack on a
nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
Their
likely target, the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper
said Wednesday, was the John C. Stennis, the only nuclear aircraft
carrier docked at San Diego bay at the time.
For
unknown reasons, however, the two Al-Qaeda agents were transferred to
the conspiracy against World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and began
attending a flight school to prepare for the September 11 attacks, the
daily said.
The
source did not explain how the FBI found out that the two were
planning to attack a U.S. warship in San Diego - the largest U.S. Navy
base on the Pacific Coast.
Less
than a month ago, the FBI
searched U.S. warships, a suspension bridge and the boardwalks along
San Diego bay without indicating if there was any link with the two
Al-Qaeda suspects.
A
Navy spokesman also refused to comment.
San
Diego investigators have divulged little concerning Al-Midhar and
Al-Hazmi, saying they attended a local mosque, worked at a gas station
and took a few flight lessons.
The
FBI was so
worried about the possibility terrorists could place explosives under
water that they contacted most diving equipment stores in the country
seeking anything out of the ordinary.
In
San Diego, special operations Navy divers and San Diego Harbor police
started training in July to spot potential threats in the port, and
the U.S. Coast Guard has asked recreational boaters to look for and
report any suspicious activity, reports news agencies.
Shortly
before entering the United States on January 15, 2000, Al-Hazmi and
Al-Midhar apparently attended an Al-Qaeda meeting in Kuala Lumpur
along with Tawfiz Attash Khallad, the presumed mastermind of the
attacks on the USS Cole that killed 17 U.S. sailors.
The
two suspects and a third presumed Al-Qaeda member, Hani Hanjour,
hijacked American Airlines flight 77 on September 11 and crashed it
into the Pentagon.
San
Diego is home to two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and five
nuclear-powered submarines, as well as the headquarters of the SEALs,
the Navy’s special operations force, reports news agencies.
James
Nagel, a special agent with the State Department’s Bureau of
Diplomatic Security, has said in court documents that the city served
as a base for a "high number of hijackers and associates who
lived, worked and studied" in the area.
Providing
no further details, Iannarelli, said the agency is investigating the
extent of a support network for the hijackers’ in or near San Diego.
After
September 11, authorities questioned anyone who met with Al-Hazmi and
Al-Midhar and rounded up a handful of Middle Eastern men as material
witnesses, three of whom were charged with crimes unrelated to
terrorism.
Omer
Bakarbashat, 29, one Yemeni man arrested, denied providing financial
aid to Al-Hazmi and Al-Midhar, saying he paid $400 on the final month
of rent on an apartment in San Diego that Al-Hazmi and Al-Midhar
leased in 2000.
“I
am innocent. I have nothing to do with the attacks. I’m just a
victim by association,” Bakarbashat told the Union-Tribune
Wednesday.
Pleading
guilty to creating a bogus Social Security card and phony immigration
documents, Bakarbashat is currently being held in a federal detention
facility in San Diego while awaiting a deportation hearing.
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