Local man caught up in al-Qaida case

Obtained From the Seattle Post Intelligencer: Another local connection alleged! Federal authorities are trying to deport a Kirkland man, claiming the Iraqi immigrant tried to help one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants enter the country before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Is this Iraqi immigrant, Sam Malkandi, a knowing co-conspirator or an unwitting, well-meaning pawn?

There are questions that need to be answered. Hope we get some answers soon. As indicated in the news release, " Malkandi said in a court declaration that within a few months of arriving here, he met Ahmed Bawarth, a short, well-dressed Arabic-speaking man. In a scene out of a John le Carre spy novel, Malkandi said the man approached him one day in late 1998 while he and his family were visiting Northgate Mall."What makes this really interesting is that our local Iraqi immigrant allegedly spent a year in an Iranian jail before being granted asylum into the United States. He may have not been forthcoming on his immigration papers, and the man he is alleged to have been trying to get into the United States is no less than Tawfiq bin Attash the peg-legged al-Qaida planner of the USS Cole bombing in 2000. And, one of the planners of the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

This case is really interesting and you will have to go the the Seattle Post Intelligencer for the rest of the story. Sounds like we may have some problems in our country. We could go into denial, not tell our citizens about these odd connections, and not upset the apple cart. This case has more curves than Lombard Street in San Francisco. Kind of like the Okie City Bomber story. But, there is no connection between our Okie and any known terrorist or radical organization. The FBI says so. Not much in the news about Sam or his deportation case, only a little note in our left leaning rag.

R/ Bos'un
Ever Diligent, Ever Safe