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| Awlaki lied to qualify for U.S.-funded college scholarship |
| 2010-04-14 |
| The American Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, considered by some to be one of the most wanted terrorists behind Usama bin Laden, was educated in the United States with taxpayers money, an ongoing Fox News investigation has found. A former diplomatic security agent who was tasked with investigating Awlaki immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks told Fox News that the Yemeni-American national apparently lied on his visa application to attend Colorado State University, where he studied engineering. Rather than tell U.S. immigration officials that he was born in Las Cruces, N.M., in 1971, Awlaki stated that the was foreign born, the security agent, Ray Fournier, said. Awlaki received $20,000 in scholarship money from a U.S. government program for his schooling in Fort Collins, Colo. When asked if Awlaki was eligible, Fournier said, “No, he is absolutely forbidden to have it.' "That's the taxpayers' money," Fournier added, saying Awlaki knew that lying about his birthplace would help him get the scholarship money. A spokesperson at Colorado State University confirmed that Awlaki listed himself as an international student during his years there. The school would not comment on his financial records citing privacy issues. Fournier came across the scholarship information as part of a larger investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force, based in San Diego, in the months following 9/11. He says a large team of agents worked together tirelessly to find a reason to arrest or detain the American-born cleric because of his ties to at least two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar. The task force was “a robust group of individuals,' Fournier said. “We had ATF, DEA, local and state organizations, California Department of Motor Vehicles, to the Social Security Administration, the INS and the FBI…about 70 people.' Awlaki was of special interest to the task force because he was the iman at the Rabat mosque in San Diego from 1996 to 2000 where the two hijackers worshipped. “He would meet with these two -- al-Hazmi and al Mihdihar -- in a small ante-room off the main floor,' Fournier told Fox News, adding that the contact was on a regular basis. “The two terrorists had a special relationship with the imam where they met frequently, in private meetings, after Friday prayers.' Fournier was asked to specially look into passport and visa fraud. The Diplomatic Service, where Fournier worked at the time, is the law enforcement branch of the State Department. “I traveled to New Mexico. I went through the Bureau of Vital Statistics records and secured his birth certificate," Fournier told Fox News. “Clearly he was born here. It (the birth certificate) looked valid to me. There was nothing out of the ordinary. His parents were here as graduate students at New Mexico State University at the time.' |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #5 Aside from the POTUS mess. Seems like all we do now is allow ourselves to derail into the Obama is a zero mode and slip from the real WOT issues. This guy Awlaki has been on the radar for a lot longer than Bambi has been around. We knew, through open sources, he was involved in 911. We knew his Mosque in the DC area was involved. We should have put a bullet in his head a long time ago. Instead, our FBI gatered evidence, interviewed people, acted like beat cops at a robery, built a case -or not- against him and let this guy escape the US. We have not heard the last of him or felt the last of his violence. We now have the even tougher task of finding him, try Yemen Mr OGA director, hunting him down and killing him. Because he will be back, and more Americans will die. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2010-04-14 20:00 |
| #4 Taqiyya, so it's OK. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-04-14 18:51 |
| #3 My guess, and it is ONLY a guess, is that he held both a US Passport and an Indonesian passport. The question of how he visited Pakistan as a student has yet to be answered as well. Using an Indonesian passport could, I say again could, account for it. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-04-14 11:45 |
| #2 Actually, I consider the fact that he claimed to be a foreign student to be more damning than the phantom birth certificate. If he calls himself a foreigner, he's a foreigner. As POTUS, he definately does not have America's interests in mind. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2010-04-14 11:42 |
| #1 I've read Bambi did the same--foreign student scholarship money funded his education. Producing a legit birth certificate is a "damned if U do, damned if U don't" for POTUS. |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2010-04-14 11:15 |