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Terror Networks
Feds have 'the Golden Chain' from Sarajevo...
2003-02-11
Thanks to Paul for the tip-off...
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has discovered a list of the top financial backers of al Qaida during a raid of a Muslim charity in Sarajevo, according to court documents obtained by United Press International.
HOT DAMN!
The reference to the list is the first public indication that U.S. authorities have specific information as to the identities of the financiers of Osama bin Laden's terror network, but it is unclear what, if any, action has been taken against the persons named in the document. The handwritten list — referred to within al Qaida as "The Golden Chain" — details 20 wealthy donors to al Qaida followed by the specific recipient of the funding. Osama bin Laden's name appears next to seven of the entries, including at least one donation made by the "bin Laden brothers," according to the court document.
Comes as a surprise, huh? And all this time you thought... Oh. I didn't, either.
The bin Laden family claims to have disowned Osama bin Laden in the early 1990s. The U.S. government has repeatedly stated that the bin Laden family has assisted in the efforts to contain and destroy the al Qaida network and the family itself denies supporting Osama's terror campaign. But the discovery of this document in Sarajevo calls into question whether al Qaida has received support from one of Osama's scores of wealthy brothers.
I think I'd put it a little stronger than that. I might even use the phrase "goddamned lying sons of bitches"...
The revelation that the United States has such a list came in a sealed proffer made by federal prosecutors in the case against Enaam M. Arnaout, the director of Benevolence International Foundation. Arnaout had been charged with multiple counts of racketeering, conspiracy, money laundering and aiding al Qaida before pleading guilty Monday to a single racketeering count. The proffer was ordered unsealed Tuesday after the plea agreement was reached, although several of the exhibits remain sealed unless they are introduced as evidence at Arnaout's sentencing.
That means there's more, but the gummint doesn't want to spill what it has...
In March 2002, authorities in Bosnia raided the offices of the BIF in Sarajevo and Zenica at the behest of the U.S. authorities. There have been longstanding concerns in the European and U.S. intelligence services that several charities that operated in Bosnia during and after that country's civil war were being used as a cover for al Qaida activities. The raids discovered information linking BIF to al Qaida, according to Arnaout's indictment, law enforcement officials and intelligence documents prepared by Bosnian intelligence agencies.
Oh, inconvenient, that. And weren't the Bosnians being hammered by the Serbs during the civil war? The Bad Guys were occupied with more important things, I guess...
"The BIF had in its Sarajevo office a computer file labeled 'Tareekh Osama,' or 'Osama's History,'" the filing says. "BIF possessed in a file a handwritten draft list of the people referred to within al Qaida as the 'Golden Chain,' wealthy donors to mujahedin efforts, Ex. 5. At the top of the list is a Koranic verse stating: 'And spend for god's cause.' The list contains 20 names, and after each name is a parenthetical, likely indicating the person who received the money from the specified donor. 'Usama' appears after seven of the listings, including the listing 'Bin Laden Brothers.'"
Seems pretty solid to me, but I'm not a lawyer...
"'Baterji', LBI and BIF's founder, appears after six of the listings. Only three other persons are listed in the parentheses."
So Batterjee is the money clearinghouse. And this gets even more interesting...
"Baterji" appears to refer to Adel Batterjee, a wealthy businessman from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, who founded BIF and its predecessor organization Lajnatt Al-Birr Al-Islamiah, or LBI. A class action lawsuit filed by families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York and Washington have named Batterjee as a defendant, but he has not been located. One lawyer associated with Arnaout's case said that despite Batterjee being a fairly famous businessman, he had repeatedly failed to locate him. "This guy is considered a famous figure in Jeddah," the lawyer said. "For such a captain of industry, I find it strange that in a year of trying I haven't been able to find him once."
A figment of someone's imagination? A front?
The proffer document filed by the government also expands on charges made in the indictment against Arnaout that he supplied equipment and money to Islamic military groups in Chechnya and the Sudan with donations to BIF intended for humanitarian purposes. These charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
What the hell? Guns and ammunition can be very humanitarian...
Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#4  Your memory is correct, Alaska Paul. The question is -- who arranged for that chartered jet and how were those bastards able to get out of the USA? Does anyone out there know? Please tell us.
Posted by: Rodger Dodger   2003-02-12 02:05:15  

#3  "Arnaout had been charged with multiple counts of racketeering, conspiracy, money laundering and aiding al Qaida before pleading guilty Monday to a single racketeering count."

Sang like a canary.
Posted by: mojo   2003-02-12 00:56:52  

#2  I remember reading that right after 9-11 the bin Laden clan in Boston hitailed out of the US in a chartered jet. The FBI wanted to interview but was prevented from doing so. The more we put these people and their ilk to the light of day the sooner we dry up the money that runs the al Qaida machine.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-02-11 23:02:55  

#1  I found it odd that there were a lot of bin Laden trucks driving around our base in Saudi in 1999. We were assured that there was no connection, but it still made me somewhat uncomfortable with the level of security. Those suspicions never left, and it looks as though they may have been founded after all.
Posted by: BossMan   2003-02-11 21:50:58  

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