WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2007
2 Egyptians Face Terror Charges In S.C.
Pipe Bombs Found In Car Of Students Near Navy Base, Claimed Were Fireworks
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Photo
A bomb squad robot searches a car on U.S. Highway 176 in Goose Creek, S.C., Aug. 4, 2007. Police found explosives in the trunk of a car driven by two Egyptian students near a U.S. Navy base; they've been indicted carrying explosive materials across state lines. (AP/Alan Hawes, Post and Courier)
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Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 24, an engineering graduate student and teaching assistant at the University of South Florida in Tampa, faces terrorism charges for teaching and demonstrating how to use the explosives. He and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, an engineering student, were stopped for speeding in Goose Creek, S.C., on Aug. 4, where they have been held ever since.
Both men are Egyptian nationals, authorities said.
The two were stopped with pipe bombs in their car near a U.S. Navy base in South Carolina where alleged enemy combatants have been held. They were held on state charges while the FBI continued to investigate whether they were linked with terror.
Mohamed was charged with distributing information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction, which is a terrorism statute, a Justice Department official said. The crime faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Both men are being held at a county jail in South Carolina. A preliminary hearing on the state charges is set for Sept. 21.
Defense attorney Andy Savage did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The indictment, a sheet that officially brings charges against the defendants, was handed up in Tampa.
In South Carolina, where Mohamed and Megahed have been held in the Berkeley County jail, U.S. Attorney Reginald I. Lloyd praised state and federal authorities for cooperating in the four-week investigation that initially did not look like a terrorism case.
"The arresting deputy's vigilance and the immediate response of our local investigators and prosecutors are highly commendable," Lloyd said in a statement.
Since the Aug. 4 arrest, authorities sought to determine whether Mohamed and Megahed were fledgling terrorists or merely college students headed to the beach with devices made from fireworks they bought at a Wal-Mart store in their car, as they claimed. The local sheriff in South Carolina said the explosives were "other than fireworks."
The charges follow several searches in Tampa, including of a storage facility and a park where the explosives might have been tested, authorities said.
Both Mohamed and Megahed are in the country legally on student visas, officials said.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
It does seem strange that the CBS story does not mention the fact that al Arian, who pleaded guilty
to a support ofterrorism charge after being mostly acquitted in federal court, operated an Islamic think tank at this university (USF).
Are the accused connected to al Arian? Anybody know?
they are always been here..silent waiting for the perfect moment..that specific moment after the liberal are done paving the road for an unhindered execution of thier plans..
Islamic terrorists MAKES THE PLANS..the Liberal media SCOUTS FOR ANY SECRET AND LOGISTICS...the liberal masses WEAKENS the defense and JUSTIFY the terrorist act..
the new unholy trinity.
Hmmm. Has teaching physics been made illegal? Or is something missing here?
I read that these guys had no metal for making pipe bombs in their car and the chemicals they had were only suitable for showy flash and bang. I think they had some PVC which doesn''t seem suitable for a pipe bomb, I don''t think.
By the way, I am not teaching anything here. Is that clear!
This story is more and more screwed up all the time.
Why don''t the smart boys at the Justice Department find the guys who pulled off the anthrax attacks. We know THEY are killers. No question about it. And they are still out there right?! So where are they, then?
Whatever variation of tiny little white aryan flag he waves, it is NOT part the American flag.
I need the evidence to be presented in court and heard by a jury that judges the facts, and I need that process because I''m growing more conservative (in the true sense) year by year.
My question was about a possible link between these two and a professor from the same university now in federal prison for providing support to PIJ. That professor (Sami al Arian) operated a front organization in Tampa, where the indictments against these two students were handed up. I ask again: is there a connection?
Anything from a terror cell operating there to prosecutors ganging up on students because they mostly failed to convict the professor.
You can burn T_n_T if you put it in a pile on the ground, the same thing with dinomite and it will not explode, but if you confine it in a device like a pip_e, PV_C or otherwise it will expl_ode. Its all in the packaging.
BTW. flammable vapors (gas,gasoline, kerosene,Turpentine) act the same way.
If two Egyptian students are stupid enough to be carrying gunpower from fireworks around in the trunk of their car in a nation that is hyper-sensitive about terrorists - they deserve whatever happens to them.
And, just where in this article did you, "read that these guys had no metal for making pipe bombs in their car and the chemicals they had were only suitable for showy flash and bang. I think they had some PVC which doesn''''t seem suitable for a pipe bomb."
And, even if they didn''t have metal pipes - are we going to set the president of letting terrorists carry bomb making elements around the country and assemble them at the blast site ? For pete sake, next thing you know terrorist lawyers will be arguing using this as a means of getting someone carrying C4 off.
Hey - 8 year olds are kicked out of school for bringing in toy soldiers. These guys will be lucky to leave the country persona-non-gratis if you ask me.
Godzilla Vs. Megehed
Not to defend these a-holes, as i think any "national" even suspected of this behaivior should be kicked out of the country as fast as possible, but I was arrested one time for an unpaid fine after i was pulled over for having a taillight out and I had a torque wrench drum key that a freind had gotten from his sponser, evans, the cops tried everything they could to turn it into a CRACKPIPE.
seriously, 20 min was spent on denying my claim (the fact) that it was a drum key and injecting a false claim of theirs that it was a crackpipe.
everybody knows crackpipes are made of glass anyways.LOL
regardless, the cop saying the explosives were nor for showy fireworks doesn''t mean that much to me. but they should be kicked out of the country or arrested and brought up on terrorism charges. this i agree with.
www.tbo.com is one source for the details not being presented by the national press. I fought in Desert Storm and my son just got out of the Army after 2 Afghan tours and 3 Iraq tours. I don''t trust any of them from first hand experience, and neither does he for the same reasons. Just my 2 cents worth.
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AP) Two Egyptian students attending a university in Florida were indicted Friday for carrying explosive materials across state lines, and one of them was charged with teaching the other how to use them for violent reasons.
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its in the works sir..its in the pipeline. it is not like we simply behead these people. Justice is coming for them..Just like what the liberals had ordered..*wink* and rest the liberal masses are fighting to assure that every enemy combatant caught will be brought to trial by jury.
Wait a minute. This can''t be. Didn''t these terrorists get the Republican talking points? See...we''re fighting them in Iraq so that they don''t come here. I''m sure these two just didn''t get the memo.
Was going to post this exact same comment! Seriously, that talking point has to be one of the least-thought-out of a whole bunch of ''em.
If criminals weren''t so stupid we wouldn''t need jails.
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these ''terrorists'' are often called your neighbors..people that you seem to have no problem living with. enjoying the very same system that caused this so called terrorist acts..THE ONLY DIFFERENCE HERE is that this terrorist gives you the right to get the fu*ck out of here if you dont like it and NOT fu*ck you in the arse and then BEHEAD YOU.
your still here??
I read the info about the materials they may have had or not had in a SC newspaper article.
This CBS/AP story really doesn''t have much info in it about the original facts - it''s a "like he said" update kinda article. It dutefully reports as fact the "pipe bomb" assertion without reporting or evaluating the facts underlying the assertion.
The SC story of a few days ago had more supposed facts regarding the hardware. Based on that info it seemed these guys could very well be into fireworks like they claimed.
If they happen to be against the war as well that doesn''t make them terrorists - although it sure makes them foolish.
"In the vehicle, investigators say they found potassium chlorate and sugar, which when combined with a catalyst create what has been dubbed "instant fire" releasing heat, flames and smoke in a spectacular fashion. As a result, they are used in making fireworks and as a fuel for model rockets.
In addition a can of gasoline, PVC pipe, four hobby store brand rocket launchers and hobby store brand fuses were found, investigators said. The four PVC pipes contained an unknown substance."
Considering that the Justice department has recently been systematically deceitful but nevertheless successful in getting convictions I will wait to see what a jury decides.
I wonder though if it is even possible to get a fair trial for a Muslim in the US charged with any terror related crime. If you are in the jury and you find a Muslim charged with terrorism innocent won''t you get killed by some "kill them all and ask questions later" kook - like those who post hate speach on these boards. At least some of these nuts are probably crazy enough to do something. Who on a jury would want to take the chance?
You seem to be giving instruction on how to make bombs there.
You just better watch it!
Posted by zootallures2 at 05:23 PM : Aug 31, 2007
it makes us the most bada$$ motherf*ckers on the block.
recognize
Lucky because they were either spotted and pulled over by profiling (police "said" they were speeding) or they really were speeding and the car was searched and it had to be with permission......
Another reason to limit middle east grad students who are way to prevalent at universities too lazy to recruit Americans or other nationalities.
Saturday! Off to Home Depot. Garden needs fertilizer. Need 50 gals diesel for the ol'' backup gen. Hurricane season. Driving, your buddy calls. He''s back from a Europe trip with the wife- a great time & even made a side trip to ancient Petra in Jordan. He had a hard time getting hold of you. You explain that your phone was stolen, so you''re using a temporary throwaway. You say, "Hey, let''s hit the range! I just bought this beautiful high power rifle for the 1000 yard competition."
At Homeland Security, an alert pops up. Someone bought lots of diesel & fertilizer. Mix the two and- boom. He also bought a throwaway cell phone, as terrorists are known to do. ATF reports he bought a high power rifle. NSA "relationships" software shows this person has contact with someone who just came back from the middle-east. His grandparents were from Jordan! Hmmm.
Your boss receives a visit from the FBI. "Sorry sir, we can''t tell you exactly why we are investigating (your name). It''s a national security matter. You understand that, under the Patriot Act, you cannot tell (__) anything about our questions. Now tell us what kind of American (__) is?" There goes your promotion & maybe your job. You''ll never know why. Similar things happen at your bank (forget that loan), with your friends & family (why are they acting strange?), your doctor, your NRA buddies, your kids'' school,... But hey, nothing to worry about ''cause you did nothing wrong. Right morons?
According to officials familiar with the case, Mohamed has been arrested previously in Egypt on terrorism-related charges. He is said to have produced an Internet video showing how to build a remote-controlled car bomb.
See full story:
http://www.investigativeproject.org/
On the other hand......
"Steven Emerson is an American investigative journalist specializing in national security, terrorism, and Islamic extremism. He is the executive director of The Investigative Project, a data-gathering center on Islamist groups, and the author of six books on terrorism and national security, including American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us (2002).
Emerson is known for having predicted, before September 11, 2001, that Islamists would launch a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil, and for having warned the U.S. Congress in 1998 of the danger posed by Osama bin Laden. He has been criticized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and by journalists for what they see as an anti-Islam or anti-Arab stance."
Yeah! I know zooty. You want the USA to be destroyed so you can get back on your prayer rug and pray for the destruction of the world.
Do Muslims believe in that or not?
if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...it probably shouldn''t be driving around with bomb c...rap in its car. How stupid...or arrogant...in these times of post 9/11. Do they raise them that stupid in Egypt?
Yes what about all of the "lucky" arrest we have had. They were not due to "intel" or good police work but plain old luck. One of these days we will not be so lucky.
--- Our good intentions of westernizing, nation or democracy building created the blow back we see today.
The landlord also apparently needs to be asked a few questions. He rented his premises to Sami al Arian as the HQ of his think tank and then let one of these suspects store his stuff there a couple of years later. He is either very unlucky or very careless.
,, More visa''s have been given to bring in the students & better educated like these people, our southern border Bush refuses to secure, instead he does the compleate oppisite letting thousands of 18 wheelers into our country when all the agents & agencies involved still can''t inspect more than 1 out of 10 ordinary cars.
... Want to talk about the neglect to port security ??
Posted by j-whitman at 01:06 PM : Sep 01, 2007
J'', I was watching the one of the Croc hunters old show when I read your comment and looked up to see him holding a Mamba by the tail, and the thought hit me, Thats the same thing the US has done and now our snake is ill at us.
**nice change of strategy..NOW YOUR UPSET THAT THESE *** ARE HERE and I bet you would whine that why the bush administration is protecting thier rights and bush closed gitmo..and we refused to implement any spying program.
you can fool some people but I got my eye on you..I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE UP TO..
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with all that hardwork..the liberal''s effort will be rewarded with an attack.....AND THERE ARE ENOUGH EVIDENCE ON CELLULOID to point to who sided with the enemy..not even the most brilliant revisionist can erase that..investing on the enemy is a bad move..
Posted by xzavierbrown
Much as w has contributed so much to arming, recruiting and training for AQI by making Iraq a death-monger''s disneyland. In fact, there would BE no AQI if it wasn''t for w''s utter disregard for all of his handlers. Even d!ck knew Iraq would be a quagmire...
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by RichardsHead
June 7, 2009 3:15 PM PDT
- Hey Whitman, if I remember correctly, the imigration problem started long before Bush took office. I'm not taking up for Bush cause he was part of the problem, buy only a part. Do you really think any one individual whether he is President or not could conjure up the Iraq war all by his or her self? Better start digging through the records and follow the money trail. By the way do you remember Kissinger? He hired Obama years ago, It was his first "real" job.
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See all 47 CommentsMy question is would you recognize the real enemy if he were looking at you?