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Ilana Freedman
Search for 'Most Dangerous Terrorist' Finally Taken Seriously...Maybe
August 13, 2010
The day I saw terrorist Adnan el-Shukrijumah, I was walking along a path on the
campus of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and he was walking towards
me. His expression was intense and he seemed deep in thought. We never made eye
contact, but I recognized him immediately.
Shukrijumah is a very short man, barely 5'4", and his face is distinctive. I had
been studying his activities for several months. I knew he was a master of
disguise and that he had the ability to pass from country to country, seemingly
at will and without being recognized or caught. But on that day, he was clean
shaven and wearing casual clothing in what he must have considered a comfortable
and safe setting.
I already knew that he was an insider in al-Qaeda, with multiple passports, and
links to Canada, Trinidad, Saudi Arabia, Guyana, Mexico, the US, and no doubt a
raft of other countries as well. He was clearly a man with a deadly mission, and
a rising star among the al Qaeda elite. And his appearance at McMaster, looking
like any other student, was not comforting.
I first learned about Shukrijumah from Dr. Paul Williams, author of Day of
Islam, who had carried out some extensive research on Shukrijumah and first
described his activities at McMaster. Williams wrote a book about what he found,
in which he reported that Shukrijumah had stolen 180 pounds of nuclear material
from the 2campus reactor. Although McMaster denied the loss and sued Williams
for libel, the fact was corroborated by a number of respected experts.
It was because of Dr William's work that I made the trip to Hamilton. I visited
the campus with my colleague, Scott Winchell. Our tour included a walk through
the reactor building, a small building right in the center of the campus. We
walked through its open door, entering unchallenged. There was no security, not
even a receptionist. We wandered briefly through and around the building, and
then we explored the rest of the campus.
We visited the graduate and undergraduate engineering departments, the library,
and the student union. We interviewed a number of administrators, students, and
faculty members. What we found there was a lot of material for another article,
but it was the chance sighting of Adnan el-Shukrijuma that made the trip most
memorable.
After seeing him myself that day at McMaster, I immediately called a contact I
had been given at the counter-terrorism task force of the Canadian police, but
had to leave a voice mail and never received a call back. Then I called the FBI.
As early as March 2003, the FBI had asked for help from law enforcement and the
public to locate Shukrijumah. They had posted a $5 million reward on his head
"for information leading directly to [his] capture". He was the man the FBI has
called "the next Mohammed Atta", and FBI director Robert Mueller labeled
Shukrijumah "the most dangerous terrorist in the western hemisphere." On March
26, 2003 the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
issued a Material Witness Warrant for his arrest.
But when I notified the local FBI office in early November 2007, I was told that
because they had no warrant for his arrest, they could do nothing about
apprehending him.
Although their 2003 alert warned that Shukrijumah might be planning an al Qaeda
terrorist attack in the United States, it wasn't until last week that the FBI
finally indicted Shukrijumah for plotting terrorism against US targets.
Shukrijumah was raised in the US and speaks English without an accent. His
father was an Imam who had a brief connection with the Al Farouk mosque in
Brooklyn, and then studied at both Broward College in Florida and McMaster. He
is known as an engineer, a bomb maker, and a pilot. He is known to have strong
personal ties to Trinidad and Tobago, and went there in 2001, 2003, and 2006,
although his reasons for being there are still vague. He is thought to have
close ties to several terrorist groups there. It has also been reported that he
spent several months in Point Fortin there working on the construction of the
LNG Port, which is the largest such terminal in the world.
The implications of al Qaeda involvement in a terrorist attack using an LNG
tanker as a bomb leave little to the imagination. Among other possibilities, a
closed loop supply chain exists between the LNG facility in Port Fortin and
Boston, whose large LNG farm is just outside the major hub of the city.
Shukrijumah is the leader of the al-Qaeda task force already here in the United
States, preparing to carry out an attack they have called "more devastating than
9/11". He has been known to use a number of aliases. The most significant of
these was confirmed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who identified a photo of Adnan
Shukrijumah as 'Jaffar the Pilot', the man whom al Qaeda had picked to lead the
next big attack against U.S. targets.
There is no doubt that this man is clever, elusive, devious, dangerous, and
thoroughly evil. Over the last few years, there have been a series of unverified
sightings in various parts of the world from Venezuela to Texas to Toronto to
Trinidad. He has been connected with our enemies in South America and the Middle
East, and was thought to be working with hardcore gangs in Mexico. Yet, with so
many sightings, law enforcement has been unable and unwilling to do what is
necessary to find and apprehend him. Why?
No doubt some of these sightings were cases of mistaken identity. Some, however,
were undoubtedly correct, but were disregarded or ignored. Lack of moral fiber,
fear of repercussions, and political correctness taken to its illogical extreme,
have brought us to a tolerance that is far beyond what is reasonable or
acceptable.
Instead of becoming more firm in our resolve to protect and defend our nation,
we have come to accept the very people who openly hate us and are bent on
destroying us. Those who embrace radical Islam and shari'ah law, and who
publicly curse America now enter our country with impunity, roam freely, take
over entire communities, and exploit the freedoms they profess to despise in
order to further their mission. As a result, terrorist cells have sprouted up
throughout the country, while we continue to ignore the existential threat that
they represent. We have now learned not only to tolerate their hatred against
us, but to accept it as the norm.
The national trauma that resulted from 9/11 created an unparalleled opportunity
to marshal Americans together in a united mission based on the underlying values
of our nation. Yet we are now so divided that we have become dysfunctional,
teetering on the brink economic catastrophe, and singularly unprepared for the
next major attack on American soil?
America stands at a decisive fork in the road. The resurfacing of Adnan el-Shukrijumah
should remind us of how much is at stake and how much we have to lose. When the
next 9/11 happens, the shock is likely to be far worse than the first time.
We are skidding into national insolvency, both moral and economic. While
Shukrijumah continues to plot and plan the next major terrorist attack against
America, our ability to survive will depend on the strength of the will and
moral fortitude of the American people. It is only our determination to save
this extraordinary nation that will make the difference between our capitulation
to tyranny or the survival of our free nation.
I, for one, cast my lot for freedom! |
