Is South Florida a Terrorist Hot Spot?
— -- Is South Florida a Terrorist Hot Spot?
F O R T L A U D E R D A L E , Fla., June 24 — Jose Padilla, accused of conspiring to explode a "dirty bomb" in the United States, worked at asuburban Taco Bell and discovered Islam here.
Two young Pakistani immigrants from nearby Hollywood allegedlyhatched a plan to attack South Florida power plants and a NationalGuard Armory.
And several of the Sept. 11 hijackers roamed the area'slibraries, gyms and beachfront motels.
They all made their home — at least temporarily — in SouthFlorida's Broward County, leading some to wonder if this growingsuburban and tourist area north of Miami has become a commondestination for would-be terrorists.
"If you want to have access to all kinds of things that mightappeal to someone who is here for the wrong purposes and want to beable to have a certain level of anonymity, this is certainly theplace to be," said Edward Mandt, dean of the Institute of PublicSafety at Broward Community College.
With miles of strip malls, about 7.5 million tourists visitingevery year and a growing degree of diversity, many say BrowardCounty, and all of South Florida, is an ideal place to keep a lowprofile.
"It's a melting pot. It's not like in Montana where you wouldstick out like a sore thumb," said Ben Graber, a Broward Countycommissioner. "Here you just blend in with the population."
Consider the past nine months:
At least seven of the 19 men who crashed hijacked planes onSept. 11 had spent time in the county. Mohamed Atta and Marwanal-Shehhi went to a Hollywood bar the week before the attacks andplayed video golf. Seven others lived nearby in Palm Beach County'sDelray Beach.
Pakistani immigrants Imran Mandhai, 19, and Shueyb MossaJokhan, 24, of Hollywood were accused this spring of conspiring tobomb electrical transformers and the Israeli Consulate in Miami.
Safraz Jehaludi, a 21-year old computer technician fromMiramar, is being held on charges he sent the FBI anonymous e-mailmessages threatening to blow up the White House and a Florida powerplant. Broward County's latest connection to alleged terrorism hassurfaced mostly strongly with Padilla, who spent about a year inthe county jail and lived in the county for much of the 1990s.
While federal law enforcement officials have questioned whetherPadilla became an extremist during his stay in Florida,investigators have sought out those who worshipped at mosques withthe young man known then as "Ibrahim."
Adham Hassoun, 40, was arrested on an immigration violationearlier this month by members of the South Florida Joint TerrorismTask Force. Two newspapers reported that Hassoun and Padilla wereacquaintances at Masjid Al-Iman, a Fort Lauderdale mosque.
The cases have cast additional scrutiny on South Florida'sburgeoning Muslim community. Recent census figures do not listMuslims, but the number of Broward County residents listing theirethnicity as Arab increased 70 percent during the decade to nearly11,000.
Following a meeting Wednesday, Muslim leaders condemned the waveof detainments of Muslim and Arab men nationwide as part of theterrorism investigation and said Muslims are being unfairlytargeted in South Florida.
"The community is getting the feeling that there is free speechand the First Amendment in this county, but it doesn't apply ifyou're Muslim or Arab," said Khurrum Wahid, civil rights directorfor the Florida chapter of the Council on American-IslamicRelations.
Rafiq Mahdi, the prayer leader of Masjid Al-Iman, said the caseshere have raised concern among the 250 to 300 worshippers whogather every Friday night at the suburban mosque.
"We don't mind the scrutiny. We do want it to be carried outwith a degree of recognition of our civil rights as individuals,"Mahdi said. He said Muslims want security concerns to be handled"with a zeal and not a bias."
Observers say the county's growth and diversity have added alayer of anonymity for potential wrongdoers. Recent census figuresshow Broward County's population grew nearly 30 percent during thepast decade to more than 1.6 million.
Others point to the proximity to Port Everglades in FortLauderdale and the Port of Miami, two of the state's busiest ports,and the region's airports and flight schools.
"There's not that much feeling that you need to say 'Who isthis?' because it's just accepted that it's a transient societydown here," said William Marina, a Florida Atlantic Universityhistorian.
The post-Sept. 11 world has led the Broward County sheriff'soffice to work more closely with federal law enforcement to shareinformation and training. "Now we're all shifting gears togetherto pay more attention to terrorism issues," spokeswoman CherylStopnick said.
—The Associated Press
Frustration Mounts in Terror War
W A S H I N G T O N, June 24 — Everyone in Washington agrees the war on terrorism is much bigger than Osama bin Laden. Everyone is sure hisal Qaeda group will carry on even if he is never seen again.
But they want him — and now.
Frustration over the missing man behind the Sept. 11 attacksspilled out Sunday when members of Congress sized up the threat hisnetwork still poses to America regardless of whether he is dead oralive.
"If he's alive," said Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott,R-Miss., "I'd like him to stick his head up and let us get a goodlook at him. And then I'd take it off."
"In a heartbeat," agreed Rep. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. There was a hint of frustration, too, over other unfinishedbusiness from the fall, the anthrax investigation.
Lawmakers echoed Bush administration officials in pleading forpatience, saying the case is scientifically complex.
But Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California said authoritiesare spending too much time reorganizing themselves into ananti-terrorism bureaucracy and not enough on the bottom line:crushing al Qaeda and finding out who spread the deadly anthraxgerms at home.
"I have to say we just need a renewed effort to keep our eye onboth of these things," she said on the talk show circuit. "Thatanthrax killer is out there. We need to nab this person."
The open pining for more results in the anti-terror war wasstimulated in part by an audio interview made public over theweekend in which bin Laden spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith said theal Qaeda leader and most top lieutenants are alive, well and readyto attack again.
"Lot of bravado there," said Boxer, noting bin Laden did notlook well at all when last seen on video.
But Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., chairman of the Senate IntelligenceCommittee, put some stock in the claims.
"It's not surprising that there is a statement that bin Ladenis still alive," he said on Fox News Sunday. "That's the bestassessment of U.S. intelligence." A White House official foundnothing surprising in the statement, either Graham said bin Laden might be somewhere in Pakistan's western tribal lands.
Whatever its boss' fate, al Qaeda appears to be regenerating,Graham said, and even the Hamburg, Germany, cell believed centralto the Sept. 11 attacks has been showing signs of life.
"What we have seen is a disturbing pattern of the reformulationof al Qaeda and their renewed willingness and capability to conductterrorist attacks," he said.
Added Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the intelligence panel'stop Republican: "They could hit us any day."
Administration officials have pointed to numerous indications ofal Qaeda activity but question whether the network still has thecommand structure or communications to plan something from the top.
They believe mid-level operatives are having to do their ownhasty planning with whatever tools they can muster, and the resultcould be more frequent but less sophisticated attacks than before.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, saidthe administration viewed Ghaith's taped remarks as no surprise,but wouldn't discuss whether bin Laden is alive or whether a newattack is likely.
Lawmakers said al Qaeda does not need bin Laden in order to goon.
"This snake can crawl without its head and we need to be awareof that," House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, told CNN'sLate Edition.
He cautioned everyone to be especially careful on IndependenceDay because of its symbolic value as a terrorist target.
The congressional leaders offered no evidence of an impendingattack other than the uncorroborated warnings issued lately,including one that al Qaeda could use fuel tanker trucks againstJewish targets in the United States.
Graham said al Qaeda appears to be more capable of attackingAmericans than it was a month or two ago.
With all the foreboding from Washington, and the desire to trackdown the man behind the worst terrorist attack on America, it wasleft to Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sound a note of confidenceabout the progress made against both al Qaeda and the Talibanmilitia.
"They are a defeated force," he said. "They are on the run." And bin Laden?
"Osama bin Laden must know that, whatever acts of terror hethinks he can commit, will not remain unanswered, and that his daysare anyway numbered," Karzai said.
"But he will be found one day, sooner or later. That is forsure."
—The Associated Press
Armed Civilian Patrols in Brooklyn a No Show
N E W Y O R K, June 24 — The armed groups a rabbi had said would begin patrolling two heavily Jewish Brooklyn neighborhoods in response toan FBI warning that terrorists might attack synagogues and Jewishschools did not materialize at the announced locations and timeearly today. Instead, a collection of people from law enforcement, the media,community leaders and curiosity seekers gathered at street cornersin the Flatbush and Borough Park sections where Rabbi Yakove Lloydhad said his armed patrols would meet.
In an early-morning call to The Associated Press, Lloyd, founderof the right wing Jewish Defense Group, insisted that 25 members ofthe group did carry out patrols.
The police had no comment on Lloyd's claim early this morning,according to spokesman Detective Robert Price.
Overnight, police closely monitored the Brooklyn streets wherethe groups were expected to show up, according to Police OfficerDominick Scotto.
"They can't be standing out here with a shotgun — that's forsure," said Scotto, while on an overnight foot patrol of Flatbushearly today. "If they have a baseball bat, they'd better be ontheir way to a game."
State Sen. Carl Kruger, who represents the Brooklynneighborhood, said "if Rabbi Lloyd would crawl out of his hole andshow himself with his phantom troops that don't exist I'd tell himthat he's the real terrorist."
Lloyd said in a press conference Sunday that approximately 50members of his group would patrol the neighborhoods from midnightto 6 a.m. on three random days of the week. He said firearms wouldonly be carried by people who were licensed and trained in theiruse. Others, he said, would carry bats.
Lloyd initially conceived of the patrols in response to fugitiveAbdul Rahman Yasin's assertion that those responsible for the 1993World Trade Center bombing had originally targeted heavily Jewishneighborhoods in Brooklyn. Yasin is sought by the FBI in thebombing, which killed six people and injured 1,000 others.
On June 16, Lloyd suspended the plan after meeting withoverwhelmingly negative response from Brooklyn residents andlawmakers.
Lloyd said he renewed his plan after the FBI warned on Fridaythat terrorists might be plotting to use fuel tankers to carry outattacks against Jewish neighborhoods.
When Lloyd first announced his intentions two weeks ago, PoliceCommissioner Raymond Kelly said anyone carrying a gun in such apatrol would be arrested.
Lloyd claimed the next patrol would be Tuesday night.
—The Associated Press