Italy Arrests Suspected Madrid Bombing 'Mastermind'

[maddezmom]

By Emilio Parodi and Clara Ferreira-Marques

MILAN, Italy (Reuters) - Italy arrested an Egyptian man considered to be a mastermind of the Madrid train bombings in the first Europe-wide swoop on Islamic militants linked to the March attack, judicial sources said Tuesday.


Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said militants had been planning more attacks as police swooped as part of an operation across Europe. He said the swoop was aimed at a group "close to al Qaeda."


Police in Milan arrested Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as "Mohamed the Egyptian," and another man as part of cross-border raids into the March 11 bombings that killed 191 people in the Spanish capital, the judicial sources said.


Ahmed was considered "one of the masterminds" of the Madrid bombings, a Spanish Interior Ministry spokesman said.

~snip~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20040608/wl_nm/security_europe_dc

[gandalf]

1. Will they ever put one of them on trial?

And will someone eventually be sentenced because of the 3/11 attacks?

If one takes the 9/11 trials as a precedence (which were a total failure for the public prosecutors), I doubt it.

These fabricated lies and legends are perhaps sufficient for our investigative newspapers, but not for a conviction.

[Justice]

2. Meanwhile, Europe is Actually Fighting the War On Terror

It hasn't escaped most of us that Spain has arrested several people already in connection wiht the Madrid bombing (unlike us for 9/11).

And now Italy assists in fighting the war on terror. Too bad we can't get back to fighting the war on terror instead of trying to grapple with the huge overwhelming mistake called Iraq.

[maddezmom]

3. how many folks have the US arrested with ties to al Qaeda?

and they keep telling us "cells" are in the US waiting to attack??

[gandalf]

4. Are you sure?

I thought in the US people were arrested after 9/11 as well. Only nobody was tried and sentenced.

My suspicion is that the European attacks and the European war on terror are part of the same "entertainment production" as their US counterparts.

[Justice]

7. That May Be

That US arrested people. But you never hear about an arrest. You only hear (after their release b/c no charges) about the poor souls that were locked up for taking a picture, or for representing a Muslim.

At least Europe tells you when they are arrested.

[Tight_rope]

11. I was thinking the same thing!

It's a fucking shame that the US is suppose to have this "AWESOME" intelligence system and have "SUPER" power, but we don't have the "Balls" to arrest the true terrorist (Bushco) of 9/11. :argh:

[gandalf]

5. Somebody knows something new about the Moussaoui trial, btw?

I did not hear anything in the last months.

[struggle4progress]

10. Moussaoui appeals prosecution ruling

<snip>
Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States with crimes related to the Sept. 11 attacks, wants a three-judge panel to review the April decision or have the full 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hear the case.
<snip>
Moussaoui's trial has been on hold over a constitutional dispute about whether the government should grant the defendant access to three captured al-Qaida prisoners who might be able to aid his case or even exonerate him.
The three-judge panel agreed with Moussaoui that he had the right to statements from the witnesses. The appellate judges asked the trial judge to work out a compromise that would provide the defense with summaries of interrogation statements.
But the appellate judges restored the government's authority to seek the death penalty and allowed prosecutors to present any evidence that could link Moussaoui to the Sept. 11 attacks. A lower court earlier had removed the death penalty from the government's case and restricted the prosecution evidence because of the government's refusal to allow the defense to question the witnesses.
<snip>
http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jun/06042004/nation_w/172673.asp

[gatlingforme]

6. I thought the FBI had their man right here in the USA.????

The FBI even argued with the Italian Police as to whose fingerprints were on that bag?? hummm, oh well another person's civil rights trampeled on by our present government in the name of "terrorism"
Thank someone for the Partriot Act, it's saving peoples lives left and right. :nuke:

[oblivious]

8. The FBI apologized to that guy.

FBI apology for Madrid bomb fingerprint fiasco

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/26/fbi_madrid_blunder/

[oblivious]

9. OMG. You have to read this one.

When the FBI went through Brandon Mayfield's possessions to investigate his connection with the Madrid train bombings, agents seized what they called "miscellaneous Spanish documents."

As The New York Times reported, Mayfield's family later identified the documents as his children's Spanish homework.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/david_sarasohn/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1086782164233840.xml

The humiliation.