http://www.chillingeffects.org/question.cgi?QuestionID=475
EXCERPT:
Strategic lawsuit against public participation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation
A strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) is a lawsuit that is intended to censor, intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.[1]
The typical SLAPP plaintiff does not normally expect to win the lawsuit. The plaintiff's goals are accomplished if the defendant succumbs to fear, intimidation, mounting legal costs or simple exhaustion and abandons the criticism. A SLAPP may also intimidate others from participating in the debate. A SLAPP is often preceded by a legal threat. The difficulty, of course, is that plaintiffs do not present themselves to the Court admitting that their intent is to censor, intimidate or silence their critics. Hence, the difficulty in drafting SLAPP legislation, and in applying it, is to craft an approach which affords an early termination to invalid abusive suits, without denying a legitimate day in court to valid good faith claims.
History
The acronym was coined in the 1980s by University of Denver professors Penelope Canan and George W. Pring. The term was originally defined as "a lawsuit involving communications made to influence a governmental action or outcome, which resulted in a civil complaint or counterclaim filed against nongovernment individuals or organizations on a substantive issue of some public interest or social significance."[2] It has since been defined more broadly in one state (California) to include suits about speech on any public issue.[3]
The original conceptualization proffered by Canan and Pring emphasized the Right to petition as protected in the United States under the US Constitution's specific protection in the First Amendment's fifth clause. It is still definitional: SLAPPs refer to civil lawsuits filed against those who have communicated to government officialdom (in its entire constitutional apparatus). The Right to Petition [granted by Edgar the Peaceful, 10 Century] precedes the Magna Carta in terms significance in the development of democratic institutions. It claims that democracy cannot work if there are, or if interest groups can erect, barriers between the governed and the governing.
According to New York Supreme Court Judge J. Nicholas Colabella, "Short of a gun to the head, a greater threat to First Amendment expression can scarcely be imagined." A number of jurisdictions have made such suits illegal, provided that the appropriate standards of journalistic responsibility have been met by the critic.
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=181512.0
STEPHENS IS PTECH!!!!!!!!!!
Jackson Stephens
http://www.nationalcorruptionindex.org/pages/profile.php?profile_id=283
Last Updated: December 05, 2008
Jackson Stephens
http://www.nationalcorruptionindex.org/pages/profile.php?profile_id=283
Last Updated: December 05, 2008
Jackson Stephens exemplified the requisites for an unstoppable self-made billionaire. Visionary, charismatic, and intrepid pathfinder for those in power seeking, like himself, greater wealth and influence as sole moral imperatives.
He reached the status of global-power broker nearly a half century before his death in 2005 at the age of 83. His impact, however lives on, in the government insider firms run by his son Warren, and in weakened US security from the covert deals he arranged between US Presidents and foreign despots.
As head of the largest investment bank off Wall Street, he increased the personal wealth of three eagerly compromised Presidents, in exchange for nuclear and information control technologies.
From a small farm in Little Rock, Arkansas, Stephens joined his brother’s investment company in 1947, after graduating the Naval Academy with classmates Jimmy Carter and future CIA Director Stansfield Turner.
Successful ventures in energy, finance and media parlayed into mega scores, when he arranged the underwriting of Wal-Mart in 1970, then funded Tyson Food’s takeover of Holly Farms.
Along the way he covered his bets, as a financial problem solver for national politicians of both parties.
In the ‘80s, he was Arkansas Governor Clinton’s go-to fundraiser. In return, Stephens’ firm handle 70% of all Arkansas public-works bond issues.
He teamed up with China-born billionaire Mochtar Riady, who, along with his son James, would later be convicted of secretly funding Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns with $ millions from the Chinese government.
During those same years, equal opportunist Stephens also arranged Mideast bankers’ multi $million bailouts for George W. Bush’s failing oil ventures.
Stephens’ firm, Systematics, secured a US beach-head for the infamous Bank of Commerce and Credit International. Before its $20 billion collapse in 1991, BCCI laundered money for dictators, terrorists, drug lords and illicit operations of intelligence agencies, including the CIA (most notably the Iran-Contra guns/cash/drugs transactions).
The effort started in the late ‘70s. Stephens brought Bert Lance, President Jimmy Carter’s soon indicted former budget director, together with BCCI principals including Agha Hasan Abedi, Ghaith Pharoan and Khalid Mahfouz (all later criminally charged as well). After 9/11, they and many of their Arabian banking colleagues were directly linked to, or themselves named Specifically Designated Global Terror financiers
After years of complex scheming to circumvent regulatory hurdles, Stephens’ and Lance’s labors paid off. BCCI gained entry into the US banking system and its safeguard systems, through clandestine control of Financial General Bankshares (FGB), a major DC-based banking institution.
At the same time, the BCCI tycoons bought Lance’s interest in FGB subsidiary National Bank of Georgia, from which he had loaned himself and Jimmy Carter several $million. BCCI set up “consultant “ contracts and new terms for the loans’ repayment, along with millions more donated to Carter’s chosen charities.
Stephens’ BCCI incursion, and his other ventures were represented by Hillary Clinton and her Arkansas law firm partners Vince Foster (later White House Counsel before death by reported suicide), and Webster Hubbell (later #3 in the US Justice Department before serving 20 months on multiple fraud convictions).
While Clinton was Arkansas Governor, Stephens’ billionaire buddies, the Riadys, bonded with Bill and Hillary through their global conglomerate (and Chinese government partner), the Lippo Group. James Riady moved to Little Rock to be closer to his new friends.
In 1983, the Riadys launched their first business venture in Arkansas: The Lippo Finance & Investment Inc. The following year, Lippo ,and everyone’s friend Jackson Stephens partnered to buy control of Arkansas’ Worthen Bank Corp. In 1991, a $2.5 million Worthen loan (never repaid), would rescue Clinton’s Presidential campaign.
Hillary and her law partners naturally handled Worthen, and other China-partnered Lippo matters as well.
In 1985, Worthen Bank was indicted for extending several million dollars' worth of illegal, preferential loans to companies owned by the Riadys and Stephens.
A fire of “unknown causes” broke out in the bank at 3am, destroying all the records sought by the prosecutors. Worthen and another Lippo-China bank were given “cease and desist” orders from making such “dangerous loans” in the future. The criminal case was settled, and the loans to Stephens and the Riadys were never repaid.
In 1987, Stephens’ ecumenical spirit helped arrange a $25 million bailout of George W. Bush’s floundering oil venture, Harken Energy, through his very same BCCI buddies, in partnership with the Union Bank of Switzerland.
Stephens gave $100,000 to the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1980, another $100,000 to the Bush dinner committee in 1990, and was a Bush Ranger (minimum $200, 000) for Bush in 2000 and 2004.
But through the first half of the ‘90s, Stephens, and his China-tied Lippo partners’ favorite recipient was Bill Clinton. Stephens was Clinton’s 2nd biggest contributor over his political career.
Toward the end of his first term, over fierce Congressional and Defense Department objections, Clinton ended major restrictions against military technology transfers to China. The US-China trade imbalance grew enormously, and Chinese nuclear weapon espionage, as documented in Congressional reports, grew rampant.
This while Clinton’s re-election campaign received $ millions, which were later traced back to foreign sources, mainly China.
In 1993, Clinton appointed Lippo Sr.VP John Huang as Assistant Deputy Secretary of the US Commerce Department. With only a perfunctory background check, Huang was given Top Security clearance, actually approved five months before he took office. Congressional probes later revealed that while installed at Commerce, Assistant Deputy Secretary Huang spent most afternoons at Stephens’ corporate offices, and was in constant contact with the Lippo Group, as well as with Chinese government officials.
Stephens’ Systematics, meanwhile, reportedly utilized a cutting edge computer program named PROMIS, secretly equipped with “back door control” ability, in IT management contracts with banks across the country. Systematics merged with telecom giant Alltel just before Clinton’s Presidency. Stephens data mining company, Acxiom, continued rolling in “sensitive” government contracts through the Clinton and George W administrations. Acxiom was the aggregator of US citizens’ private information for the Bush Defense Department’s Total Information Awareness (TIA) program, headed by John Poindexter, convicted of conspiracy in the ‘80s Iran/Contra scheme. In a 2005 government contract, Acxiom, along with Alltel/Systematics’ major vendor Qsent, and Choicepoint (which falsely disqualified tens of thousands of Florida Democrats in the 2000 Presidential election), merged extensive private information about 100 million US citizens. They illegally gave the data to the TSA, which then transferred it to IBM. The TSA explained it all as an unfortunate series of mistakes.
*** Note – In 1997, IBM joined with a small new firm named Ptech, to create the “Unified Modeling Language” UML as the common parlance for integrated software coding.
Ptech, though known by FBI Bin Laden Unit Chief (later whistleblower) Robert Wright to be headed by a major Al Qaeda financier, and funded by Stephens’ former BCCI colleagues, was placed in charge of software management at every critical US Government agency- Defense, State, Justice, Energy, Transportation, the White House itself.
Ptech and a quasi government entity named MITRE, utilized PROMIS software to create the FAA’s National Airspace System, in control of operations on 911.
Stephens’ Acxiom Board of Directors reflected his cultivated Democratic Party dealings. The Board included former Clinton Chief of Staff “Mack” McClarty, former NATO Commander(and one time Democratic candidate) Wesley Clark and former Lippo Sr Exec Stephen Patterson.
When the Democrats gained control of Congress in 2006, both Alltel and Acxiom joined in formation to unfurl their primary team colors.
Within the same week in ‘07, each was acquired by TPG/Newbridge Capital, co-chaired by US Senator Diane Feinstein’s husband, Richard Blum.
Senator Feinstein (D-Ca) is in perfect position to be of service. She is Chair of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, and member of the Appropriations Subcommittees for Defense and Intelligence.
The awful legacy of Jackson Stephens’ spectral empire, now controlled by his son Warren, seems secure.
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=102913.0
EXCERPT:
AlKifah became Care International, which got absorbed into Ptech
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/05/12/former_officers_of_islamic_charity_indicted_on_federal_charges/
The heads of Care Intl(AlKifah) and Logan Furniture in Braintree
(Emadeddin Muntasser and Muhammed Mubayyid ) Massachusetts were some of the heads of Ptech in Quincy.
Mohammed El-Mezain, head of CAIR international AND Iman Anwar Aulaqi helped to host and help the 9/11 hijackers in Falls Church VA www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/...0-7BAB1CE0141E}
Ptech is of course the high level technology firm by top bin Laden financier Yassin al Qahdi(who works with Khalid Bin Mahfouz, named in the 'Golden Chain') that by 1996 was deeply immersed in top US government network computer systems like a neo PROMIS INSLAW.
Ptech had networks in the basement of the FAA as of 9/11, along with Mitre.
http://www.islamdaily.org/en/charities/6262.islamic-charities-and-the-irs.htm
Islamic Charities and the IRS
Finally, the former leaders of al Qaeda affiliated Boston "charity" CARE Int., were convicted. Not for funding al Qaeda, which they have, but for cheating on their taxes.
CARE Int. members not only funded al Qaeda, but also had access to U.S. top national secrets through Ptech, Yassin al Qadi's funded IT company in Quincy, Massachusetts. This connection, to the best of my knowledge was first exposed in my article Dollars of Terror , in FrontPageMagazine.co, April 18, 2005
On Saturday, Jan. 12, 2007, “Three former leaders of an Islamic charity were convicted on federal tax and fraud charges in Boston yesterday for using tax exemptions to hide support for religious militants and alleged terrorists overseas. The convictions marked a victory for the Justice Department , which has had limited success in prosecuting charity groups suspected of financial ties to al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The defunct group, Care International Inc., described itself as a charity for Muslim refugees, widows and orphans. Prosecutors said, however, that the organization distributed a newsletter in favor of jihadist causes and lent other support to Islamic militants since its formation in 1993.......
Emadeddin Muntasser, 43, the group's founder, and Muhammed Mubayyid, 42, a former treasurer, were convicted on all counts. Samir al-Monla, 50, a former Care International president, was convicted on all counts but one. He was acquitted on a false statement charge. Officials said the defendants could face 10 to 19 years in prison.....”
My June 2005 article, The Business of Terror details Care Int. and Ptech's pentration into the central nervous system of America's national security system:
On May 11, 2005, Muhamed Mubayyid was arrested and charged in Boston’s District Court for filing false tax returns on behalf of Care International, for which he acted as treasurer.[1] Mubayyid was also the Customer Services manager of the company known as Ptech, a privately owned technology company based in Quincy, Massachusetts.[2] Ptech, which recently changed its name to GoAgile, developed a software, also called Ptech, that was used primarily to develop enterprise blueprints that held every important functional, operational, and technical detail of a given enterprise.
Mubayyid is only the latest of Ptech’s top investors and managers to run afoul with the law. Mubayyid personifies the interlinks of the complex infrastructure, which were established by al-Qaeda and other Islamist organizations in the US.
But Mubayyid was not arrested for his connection with al-Qaeda. Rather, was charged for making false statements and conspiring to defraud the US by misrepresenting Care’s activities, which involved “the solicitation and expenditure of funds to support and promote the mujahideen and jihad, including the distribution of pro-jihad publications.”[3]
Care International is the now defunct Muslim charity that was originally the Boston branch office of the al-Kifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn, New York, from which Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman funded and plotted the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Care International was already publicly identified as supporting al-Qaeda back in 2002, yet it remained open, and several of its employees worked and/or were affiliated with Ptech.
Ptech was raided by the FBI on December 6, 2002, following a tip from an employee who suspected that the company was connected to the 9/11 attacks. Indeed, on October 12, 2001, Yassin al-Kadi, Ptech’s top investor at that time, was listed by the US government as a specially designated global terrorist for his support of al-Qaeda.[4] Al-Kadi invested at least $18 million directly in Ptech, $5 million through the Isle of Man, and $9 million indirectly through BMI, a now-defunct New Jersey-based Islamic investment firm with connections to other members on Ptech’s management and investors.[5] Al-Kadi also transferred $2 million USD to Ptech from Switzerland between 1997 and 2000, according to Swiss investigators.
Richard Clarke in his testimony before the Senate on October 22, 2003, said: “Qadi was the head of Muwafaq, a Saudi relief organization that reportedly transferred at least $3 million, on behalf of Khalid bin Mahfouz, to Usama bin Laden and assisted al Qida [sic.] fighters in Bosnia.” Moreover, according to the Treasury Department letter to Switzerland’s Attorney General in November 2001, Muwafaq fronted for, and funded Makhtab al-Khidamat (MK), al-Qaeda, HAMAS, and the Abu-Sayyaf organization, to name just a few. Yet, Muwafaq was not designated as a terrorist organization.
Al-Kadi’s businesses extend throughout the world, and included banking, diamonds, chemicals, construction, transportation, and real estate. It would be hard to find a more strategically placed individual to advance the agenda of al-Qaeda, or any other terrorist organization. Kadi is still at large, and according to recent media reports, expanding his business in Asia.
The identities and connections of some other Ptech investors and managers should have also raised a red flag. Even Ptech removed from its website the names of several board members and/or their affiliations after a WSJ exposé on December 6, 2002.
Take Hussein Ibrahim, who was Ptech’s chief scientist. According to former employees of Ptech and a whistleblower, he was introduced by Yassin al-Kadi to Ptech when the company was founded in 1994. Ibrahim developed the Arabic version of Ptech under the name Horizons. He was also BMI’s founder and President. After an expose about al-Kadi and BMI’s connections to HAMAS in the WSJ, Ptech removed any reference to al-Kadi and BMI from its website.
Ptech Board member Suliman Biheiri, also an Egyptian, is alleged by the US government to have funneled $3.7 million from the Saudi funded charity, the SAAR Foundation, to Islamist terrorists. He funneled the money through Hussein Ibrahim’s BMI.[6]
Biheiri, who was already in prison for immigration fraud, was convicted in October 2004 for lying about businesses with HAMAS leader Mousa Abu Marzook. He also had links to the Muslim Brotherhood, and to a major al-Qaeda money-laundering machine, the al-Taqwa network. One of al-Taqwa’s companies, also designated as a terrorist entity, was used not only to fund al-Qaeda, but also to launder Saddam Hussein’s money.
Then, there was Yakub Mirza, a Pakistani, who was not only al-Kadi’s business partner in Ptech, but according to a government indictment on October 2003, was also the financial mastermind, Trustee, President and CEO of the SAAR Foundation. The indictment listed the SAAR foundation as connected to the SAFA Foundation, another Saudi sponsored foundation, which also provided material support to Islamist terrorist groups.
Mirza was a busy man. He was also a Trustee on the board of Sanabel, the investment arm of the Saudi International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), which shared the same address as the SAAR Foundation: 555 Grove Street in Herndon, Virginia. Mirza set up and was the Secretary and Treasurer of the US branch of the Muslim World League (MWL), another Saudi charity that also served as the fund-raising arm of the US branch of the IIRO. Mirza, along with these organizations, is still missing from the US Government Designated Terrorist list.[7]
Abdurahman Muhammad Alamoudi, another Ptech founder, was the President of the American Muslim Council (AMC) and the American Muslim Foundation (AMF); both received thousands of dollars from the Success Foundation, which provided logistical and financial support for Islamist terror organizations. Alamoudi openly and frequently stated his support for HAMAS and Hizbollah. Like Mirza, he too was a member of the IIRO. Alamoudi pled guilty in July 2004 to charges related to a Libyan plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Like Mirza, Alamoudi is also missing from the US Government Designated Terrorist list.
Suheil Laher, who was Ptech’s chief architect, was also closely associated with Care International. Laher has written many articles in support of Jihad, frequently quoting Abdullah Azzam, Bin Laden’s mentor, whose general philosophy is shared by all Islamist terrorists: “Jihad and the rifle alone! No negotiations; No conferences; and No dialogues.” (emphasis added). He was let go after the media reported about his affiliation with Care International.[8] He now runs his own “Islam Site.”[9]
The connections and affiliations of Ptech’s investors and management with known terrorists and/or terror funding organizations are especially worrisome when you consider Ptech’s clients in 2001[10], which included the Department of Justice; the Department of Energy; Customs; Air Force; FAA; the White House; IBM; Sysco; Aetna; and Motorola, to name just a few.
Examples of information gathered utilizing Ptech’s capabilities include the following:
A complete blueprint of a nuclear waste disposal site would detail the security procedures required to access military bases during transfer of nuclear waste materials. It would also include security rules, revealing where tight security searches vs. random searches exist for conducting detailed identity screening and security checks. These are typically noted in the architecture process, and surely, would be of interest to terrorists.
Another example is product specifications in the blueprint for Smartcards - as implemented in various defense facilities. It would include enough information to provide templates for duplication, and for unauthorized production of fake Smart IDs. Needless to say, these are basic tools in the arsenal of criminals and terrorists alike.
When Ptech was raided in December 2002, no arrests were made and the company continued to operate. Interviewed by a local newsletter, on May 2004, Ptech’s CEO, Oussama Ziade said: “Ptech still has government agencies as customers, including, the White House.” Repeated calls to GoAgile went unanswered, there was no voicemail, and communication by e-mail is possible only for clients.
Even the concerns - few as they were - with Ptech after it was raided were misplaced. On Jan. 22, 2003, Sen. Grassley wrote to FBI Director Robert Muller: “I am concerned…[with] vulnerabilities which might arise from using Ptech software.” However, no questions were raised regarding the information to which Ptech’s employees, management, and investors had access. Mr. Mubayyid’s recent indictment seems to provide the opportunity for reexamination of Ptech’s access to our national security infrastructure.
Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, Director of American Center for Democracy (www.public-integrity.org), is the author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed – and How to Stop it (Bonus Books, 2005) and a member of the Committee on the Present Danger.
[1] U.S. Dept. of Justice, Michael J. Sullivan, Press Release, “Former Officers of Care International Inc. Indicted,” May 12, 2005.
[2] “The I Team Investigates P-Tech,” CBS4, December 9, 2002. http://wbz4.com/iteam/local_story_343143121.html
[3] UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Crim. No.) v. MUHAMED MUBAYYID, and EMADEDDIN Z. MUNTASSER, May 12, 2005.
[4] According to the Wall St. Journal Dec. 6, 2002) and Newsday (December 7, 2002),
[5] On the Ptech Affair, see: Justin Pope, “Software company tries to survive terrorism investigation,” The Detroit News, January 4, 2003. http://www.detnews.com/2003/technology/0301/06/technology-51266.htm
[6] see: MATTHEW BARAKAT Muslim Banker Convicted of Lying About Business with Hamas Leader, AP Thursday, Mar. 31, 2005).
[7] see also, http://wbz4.com/iteam/local_story_343145212.html
[8] (http://www2.whdh.com:80/news/articles/local/A7450/).
[9] (http://webpages.marshall.edu/~laher1/ .
[10] (according to Ptech’s website at that time, as well as the WSJ and other media reports)
Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is author of Funding Evil; How Terrorism is Financed—and How to Stop It, Director of American Center for Democracy and a member of the Committee on the Present Danger. She is a noteworthy authority on international terrorism, political corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking, and organized crime. Most recently, she was a consult for the Department of Defense’s Threat Reduction Strategy.
Posted 13 Jan 2008, Analyst Network
http://www.analyst-network.com/article.php?art_id=1592
CARE Int. members not only funded al Qaeda, but also had access to U.S. top national secrets through Ptech, Yassin al Qadi's funded IT company in Quincy, Massachusetts. This connection, to the best of my knowledge was first exposed in my article Dollars of Terror , in FrontPageMagazine.co, April 18, 2005
On Saturday, Jan. 12, 2007, “Three former leaders of an Islamic charity were convicted on federal tax and fraud charges in Boston yesterday for using tax exemptions to hide support for religious militants and alleged terrorists overseas. The convictions marked a victory for the Justice Department , which has had limited success in prosecuting charity groups suspected of financial ties to al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The defunct group, Care International Inc., described itself as a charity for Muslim refugees, widows and orphans. Prosecutors said, however, that the organization distributed a newsletter in favor of jihadist causes and lent other support to Islamic militants since its formation in 1993.......
Emadeddin Muntasser, 43, the group's founder, and Muhammed Mubayyid, 42, a former treasurer, were convicted on all counts. Samir al-Monla, 50, a former Care International president, was convicted on all counts but one. He was acquitted on a false statement charge. Officials said the defendants could face 10 to 19 years in prison.....”
My June 2005 article, The Business of Terror details Care Int. and Ptech's pentration into the central nervous system of America's national security system:
On May 11, 2005, Muhamed Mubayyid was arrested and charged in Boston’s District Court for filing false tax returns on behalf of Care International, for which he acted as treasurer.[1] Mubayyid was also the Customer Services manager of the company known as Ptech, a privately owned technology company based in Quincy, Massachusetts.[2] Ptech, which recently changed its name to GoAgile, developed a software, also called Ptech, that was used primarily to develop enterprise blueprints that held every important functional, operational, and technical detail of a given enterprise.
Mubayyid is only the latest of Ptech’s top investors and managers to run afoul with the law. Mubayyid personifies the interlinks of the complex infrastructure, which were established by al-Qaeda and other Islamist organizations in the US.
But Mubayyid was not arrested for his connection with al-Qaeda. Rather, was charged for making false statements and conspiring to defraud the US by misrepresenting Care’s activities, which involved “the solicitation and expenditure of funds to support and promote the mujahideen and jihad, including the distribution of pro-jihad publications.”[3]
Care International is the now defunct Muslim charity that was originally the Boston branch office of the al-Kifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn, New York, from which Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman funded and plotted the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Care International was already publicly identified as supporting al-Qaeda back in 2002, yet it remained open, and several of its employees worked and/or were affiliated with Ptech.
Ptech was raided by the FBI on December 6, 2002, following a tip from an employee who suspected that the company was connected to the 9/11 attacks. Indeed, on October 12, 2001, Yassin al-Kadi, Ptech’s top investor at that time, was listed by the US government as a specially designated global terrorist for his support of al-Qaeda.[4] Al-Kadi invested at least $18 million directly in Ptech, $5 million through the Isle of Man, and $9 million indirectly through BMI, a now-defunct New Jersey-based Islamic investment firm with connections to other members on Ptech’s management and investors.[5] Al-Kadi also transferred $2 million USD to Ptech from Switzerland between 1997 and 2000, according to Swiss investigators.
Richard Clarke in his testimony before the Senate on October 22, 2003, said: “Qadi was the head of Muwafaq, a Saudi relief organization that reportedly transferred at least $3 million, on behalf of Khalid bin Mahfouz, to Usama bin Laden and assisted al Qida [sic.] fighters in Bosnia.” Moreover, according to the Treasury Department letter to Switzerland’s Attorney General in November 2001, Muwafaq fronted for, and funded Makhtab al-Khidamat (MK), al-Qaeda, HAMAS, and the Abu-Sayyaf organization, to name just a few. Yet, Muwafaq was not designated as a terrorist organization.
Al-Kadi’s businesses extend throughout the world, and included banking, diamonds, chemicals, construction, transportation, and real estate. It would be hard to find a more strategically placed individual to advance the agenda of al-Qaeda, or any other terrorist organization. Kadi is still at large, and according to recent media reports, expanding his business in Asia.
The identities and connections of some other Ptech investors and managers should have also raised a red flag. Even Ptech removed from its website the names of several board members and/or their affiliations after a WSJ exposé on December 6, 2002.
Take Hussein Ibrahim, who was Ptech’s chief scientist. According to former employees of Ptech and a whistleblower, he was introduced by Yassin al-Kadi to Ptech when the company was founded in 1994. Ibrahim developed the Arabic version of Ptech under the name Horizons. He was also BMI’s founder and President. After an expose about al-Kadi and BMI’s connections to HAMAS in the WSJ, Ptech removed any reference to al-Kadi and BMI from its website.
Ptech Board member Suliman Biheiri, also an Egyptian, is alleged by the US government to have funneled $3.7 million from the Saudi funded charity, the SAAR Foundation, to Islamist terrorists. He funneled the money through Hussein Ibrahim’s BMI.[6]
Biheiri, who was already in prison for immigration fraud, was convicted in October 2004 for lying about businesses with HAMAS leader Mousa Abu Marzook. He also had links to the Muslim Brotherhood, and to a major al-Qaeda money-laundering machine, the al-Taqwa network. One of al-Taqwa’s companies, also designated as a terrorist entity, was used not only to fund al-Qaeda, but also to launder Saddam Hussein’s money.
Then, there was Yakub Mirza, a Pakistani, who was not only al-Kadi’s business partner in Ptech, but according to a government indictment on October 2003, was also the financial mastermind, Trustee, President and CEO of the SAAR Foundation. The indictment listed the SAAR foundation as connected to the SAFA Foundation, another Saudi sponsored foundation, which also provided material support to Islamist terrorist groups.
Mirza was a busy man. He was also a Trustee on the board of Sanabel, the investment arm of the Saudi International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), which shared the same address as the SAAR Foundation: 555 Grove Street in Herndon, Virginia. Mirza set up and was the Secretary and Treasurer of the US branch of the Muslim World League (MWL), another Saudi charity that also served as the fund-raising arm of the US branch of the IIRO. Mirza, along with these organizations, is still missing from the US Government Designated Terrorist list.[7]
Abdurahman Muhammad Alamoudi, another Ptech founder, was the President of the American Muslim Council (AMC) and the American Muslim Foundation (AMF); both received thousands of dollars from the Success Foundation, which provided logistical and financial support for Islamist terror organizations. Alamoudi openly and frequently stated his support for HAMAS and Hizbollah. Like Mirza, he too was a member of the IIRO. Alamoudi pled guilty in July 2004 to charges related to a Libyan plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Like Mirza, Alamoudi is also missing from the US Government Designated Terrorist list.
Suheil Laher, who was Ptech’s chief architect, was also closely associated with Care International. Laher has written many articles in support of Jihad, frequently quoting Abdullah Azzam, Bin Laden’s mentor, whose general philosophy is shared by all Islamist terrorists: “Jihad and the rifle alone! No negotiations; No conferences; and No dialogues.” (emphasis added). He was let go after the media reported about his affiliation with Care International.[8] He now runs his own “Islam Site.”[9]
The connections and affiliations of Ptech’s investors and management with known terrorists and/or terror funding organizations are especially worrisome when you consider Ptech’s clients in 2001[10], which included the Department of Justice; the Department of Energy; Customs; Air Force; FAA; the White House; IBM; Sysco; Aetna; and Motorola, to name just a few.
Examples of information gathered utilizing Ptech’s capabilities include the following:
A complete blueprint of a nuclear waste disposal site would detail the security procedures required to access military bases during transfer of nuclear waste materials. It would also include security rules, revealing where tight security searches vs. random searches exist for conducting detailed identity screening and security checks. These are typically noted in the architecture process, and surely, would be of interest to terrorists.
Another example is product specifications in the blueprint for Smartcards - as implemented in various defense facilities. It would include enough information to provide templates for duplication, and for unauthorized production of fake Smart IDs. Needless to say, these are basic tools in the arsenal of criminals and terrorists alike.
When Ptech was raided in December 2002, no arrests were made and the company continued to operate. Interviewed by a local newsletter, on May 2004, Ptech’s CEO, Oussama Ziade said: “Ptech still has government agencies as customers, including, the White House.” Repeated calls to GoAgile went unanswered, there was no voicemail, and communication by e-mail is possible only for clients.
Even the concerns - few as they were - with Ptech after it was raided were misplaced. On Jan. 22, 2003, Sen. Grassley wrote to FBI Director Robert Muller: “I am concerned…[with] vulnerabilities which might arise from using Ptech software.” However, no questions were raised regarding the information to which Ptech’s employees, management, and investors had access. Mr. Mubayyid’s recent indictment seems to provide the opportunity for reexamination of Ptech’s access to our national security infrastructure.
Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, Director of American Center for Democracy (www.public-integrity.org), is the author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed – and How to Stop it (Bonus Books, 2005) and a member of the Committee on the Present Danger.
[1] U.S. Dept. of Justice, Michael J. Sullivan, Press Release, “Former Officers of Care International Inc. Indicted,” May 12, 2005.
[2] “The I Team Investigates P-Tech,” CBS4, December 9, 2002. http://wbz4.com/iteam/local_story_343143121.html
[3] UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Crim. No.) v. MUHAMED MUBAYYID, and EMADEDDIN Z. MUNTASSER, May 12, 2005.
[4] According to the Wall St. Journal Dec. 6, 2002) and Newsday (December 7, 2002),
[5] On the Ptech Affair, see: Justin Pope, “Software company tries to survive terrorism investigation,” The Detroit News, January 4, 2003. http://www.detnews.com/2003/technology/0301/06/technology-51266.htm
[6] see: MATTHEW BARAKAT Muslim Banker Convicted of Lying About Business with Hamas Leader, AP Thursday, Mar. 31, 2005).
[7] see also, http://wbz4.com/iteam/local_story_343145212.html
[8] (http://www2.whdh.com:80/news/articles/local/A7450/).
[9] (http://webpages.marshall.edu/~laher1/ .
[10] (according to Ptech’s website at that time, as well as the WSJ and other media reports)
Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is author of Funding Evil; How Terrorism is Financed—and How to Stop It, Director of American Center for Democracy and a member of the Committee on the Present Danger. She is a noteworthy authority on international terrorism, political corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking, and organized crime. Most recently, she was a consult for the Department of Defense’s Threat Reduction Strategy.
Posted 13 Jan 2008, Analyst Network
http://www.analyst-network.com/article.php?art_id=1592
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