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March 03, 2006
UAE Hangout For Trouble For USA & Says No To Israel
With all the discussions about the UAE, Dubai and the ports deal I thought before I post a second post on this I wanted to show you all something.
Bin Laden's operatives still using freewheeling Dubai
09/2004
Complete article here
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Osama bin Laden's operatives still use this freewheeling city as a logistical hub three years after more than half the Sept. 11 hijackers flew directly from Dubai to the United States in the final preparatory stages for the attack.The recent arrest of an alleged top al-Qaeda combat coach is the latest sign that suspected members of the terrorist organization are among those who take advantage of travel rules that allow easy entry. Citizens of neighboring Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia can come to Dubai without visas, which other nationalities can get at the country's ports of entry.
Once here, it's easy to blend in to what has become a cosmopolitan crowd.
In August, Pakistani Qari Saifullah Akhtar, suspected of training thousands of al-Qaeda fighters for combat, was arrested in the Emirates and turned over to officials in his homeland, authorities in Pakistan announced.
Emirates authorities have refused to comment on Akhtar's arrest. They were similarly tightlipped in 2002, when the United States announced the arrest of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the suspected mastermind of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. sailors.
With open borders, multiethnic society and freewheeling business rules, the Emirates remains vital to al-Qaeda operations, said Evan F. Kohlmann, a Washington-based terrorism researcher.
Dubai still "plays a key role for al-Qaeda as a through-point and a money transfer location," Kohlmann said, although he also noted the country could be working to combat such activity with "an aggressive but low-profile intelligence strategy."
al-Qaeda isn't the only organization that has found Dubai useful. The father of Pakistan's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, has acknowledged heading a clandestine group that, with the help of a Dubai company, supplied Pakistani nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Emirates officials refused to discuss the country's latest steps to combat terror.
Dia'a Rashwan, an Egyptian expert on militant groups, said trumpeting developments such as the arrest of al-Qaeda suspects could be misread as serving the United States when the Emirates, led by its President Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, cultivates an image as a champion of Arab causes. The Emirates nonetheless has a close relationship with Washington.
According to the U.S. government, 13 of the 19 hijackers entered the United States between April 23 and June 29, 2001. And 11 of those late-arrivers — who were Saudi citizens and primarily the "muscle" for the hijackings — went through Dubai, according to the report.
The hijackers traveled in groups of two or three, taking off from Dubai and arriving at airports in Miami, Orlando, or New York City, the report said.
As for the money trail, Bin Laden's alleged financial manager, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hisawi, received at a Dubai bank a transfer of $15,000 two days before the Sept. 11 attacks and then left the Emirates for Pakistan, where he was arrested last year.
Marwan Al-Shehhi, an Emirates citizen and one of the hijackers, received $100,000 via the United Arab Emirates. Another hijacker, Fayez Banihammad, also was from the Emirates.
About half of the $250,000 spent on the attacks was wired to al-Qaeda terrorists in the United States from Dubai banks, authorities said. al-Qaeda money in Dubai banks also has been linked to the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
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And then there is this...............
Bill Clinton helped Dubai on ports deal
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Published: March 1 2006 23:50 | Last updated: March 1 2006 23:50
Bill Clinton, former US president, advised top officials from Dubai two weeks ago on how to address growing US concerns over the acquisition of five US container terminals by DP World.
Mr Clinton, who this week called the United Arab Emirates a “good ally to America” , advised Dubai’s leaders to propose a 45-day delay to allow for an intensive investigation of the acquisition, according to his spokesman.
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And this as well............
Dubai Reaffirms Policy of Refusing Entry to Israelis
19:05 Mar 01, '06 / 1 Adar 5766
By Michael Freund, INN International Affairs Correspondent
Despite heavy criticism in Washington over its continued enforcement of the anti-Israel Arab boycott, the Government of Dubai has reiterated its refusal to allow Israeli citizens to enter Dubai.
“We don’t give a permit for Israeli passport holders to enter the country,” Mohammed Ali al-Mohari of the Entry Permits Section of Dubai’s Interior Ministry said in a telephone interview. “It’s a rule.”
Asked to explain the reason behind the policy, Al-Mohari laughed and said that he thinks this is the case for most Arab countries. “This is how it is in most of the Arabic lands, I am sure,” he said.
He added, though, that the holder of a foreign passport bearing stamps which indicated that he or she had once visited the Jewish state would not encounter any problems entering the country.
Dubai’s refusal to allow Israelis to set foot on its soil also features prominently on a government-run website belonging to the Gulf Arab nation.
On the website of the Dubai Government’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing, under the section titled “Visa Regulations” it states that, “Nationals of ‘Israel’ may not enter the U.A.E.”, a reference to the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a constituent state.
Posted by Wild Thing at March 3, 2006 01:47 AM
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Comments
WT,
do you think that, when Condi is President, she will do something to bring these moonbats up on charges of treason?
I'm going into the seeing eye dog business - the majority of people in this good country of ours seem to be blind.
you rock!
Gregor
(card carrying Republican Goth!)
Posted by: gregor at March 3, 2006 07:09 PM
Hi Gregor thank you, nice to meet you.
Thank you for commenting.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 3, 2006 08:32 PM