What is not investigated in the story is in the middle:
Mr. Saidi said he left Algeria in 1991 to escape the violence then engulfing the country. He studied in Yemen before moving to Kenya and then Tanzania in early 1997.
Did he flee Algeria because he was under suspicion for being associated with the Islamacist terrorists in that country? Where did the money come from to study? Is there a college of economics in Yemen, or did he study Islam? Who got him a visa for Kenya and Tanzania? Who paid for his ticket?
He began working for Al Haramain and became director of its branch in the costal city of Tanga, a job that gave him a public profile.
This is a charity associated with terror. And Tanga, although a city of one million is right now in a major economic collapse...was he giving out money or collecting it? Was he using it to promote Islamacist associated Mosques in an area where Islam is easy going?Or because traditional but Christianity is gaining converts? Are you aware of the Tanzania Alqada links in supplying stolen passports?
He said that during that time he was using a fraudulent Tunisian passport and living under the name Ramzi ben Mizauni ben Fraj. He said he had lost his passport and bought a fake one because he was afraid of going to the Algerian Embassy while Algeria was fighting a civil war with Islamists.
Another hint that he had Islamist ties..false name...false passport.
He denied that he had any reason to hide his identity or that Al Haramain's activities were anything but charitable. (but) United States intelligence officials have long suspected that Al Haramain was involved in financing terrorism, according to the report of the 9/11 Commission. Suspicion rose after the August 1998 bombings of the United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Another paper trail...you know...like the one you just revealed last week? Didn't anyone follow up the paper trail in 1998?
After the Sept. 11 attacks, American and Saudi authorities alleged that some Haramain money was being diverted to terrorist groups and that the organization was infiltrated by people with links to those groups.
By 2003, several Haramain branches were shut down, and the following year the Saudi authorities dissolved the charity.
It has to be pretty bad if the Saudis acted...
It is not clear if the crackdown on Al Haramain led to Mr. Saidi's detention, but on Saturday, May 10, 2003, Tanzanian police officers surrounded his car as he left home for work, according to Mr. Saidi, his wife and press reports at the time. That night the police drove him to Dar es Salaam and put him in jail.
"I thought I might have been arrested for holding a false passport, but I didn't tell them it was fake," he said...
Now, if I were a Tanzania, I would ask for his extradition...after all, a lot of Tanzanians were killed in the bombings funded by his "charity"...but I suspect that they handed him over because it was the CIA, not them, who had the paper trail....
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