INTELWIRE.com investigative report sheds light on Saudi government link to terror

INTELWIRE.com, a research and news resource on al Qaeda, reported Tuesday that al Qaeda attempted to recruit U.S. Gulf War vets as volunteer mujahideen and paramilitary trainers in 1992. The effort was linked to a Saudi government program that converted thousands of Persian Gulf servicemen to Islam.

CAMBRIDGE, MA (PRWEB) January 9, 2004 --INTELWIRE.com, a research and news resource on al Qaeda, reported Tuesday that al Qaeda attempted to recruit U.S. Gulf War vets as volunteer mujahideen and paramilitary trainers in 1992.

Clement Rodney Hampton-El, an American-born Muslim convert convicted of plotting to destroy New York City landmarks, testified in 1995 that he received the names of U.S. servicemen who were about to complete their tours of duty. He then tried to recruit the veterans as fighters in an Osama bin Laden-sponsored insurgency in Bosnia, or as paramilitary trainers for future mujahideen.

Recent congressional testimony has revealed that the man Hampton-El named as his contact was an employee of the Saudi government, who secretly worked to convert U.S. soldiers to Islam immediately after the Gulf War. Imam Bilal Philips worked as a prosleytization officer for the Saudi air force in a program that converted thousands of active duty U.S. soldiers to Islam and collected the names of thousands more.

Hampton-El was called to the Saudi embassy in December 1992, according to his courtroom testimony, where he described meeting Philips and a member of the Saudi royal family, before being given the list of names at a U.S. military installation the following day. Hampton-El testified that he told at the meeting he would be given a $150,000 budget for training and support in the effort to recruit fighters for Bosnia. A recently unsealed federal affadavit confirms that prominent Saudis made direct payments to al Qaeda military leaders to fund activities in Bosnia during this period.

Hampton-El was arrested in June 1993 as he and a group of co-conspirators were building ammonium nitrate bombs to deploy against New York City landmarks.

In addition to shedding light on Saudi government terror links, the story also offers new data which may be relevant to the Oklahoma City bombing. Timothy McVeigh was stationed in Saudi Arabia briefly in March 1991. A follow-up analysis will be posted next week examining this issue in depth.

Author Peter Lance also contributed to this report. Lance's book "1000 Years for Revenge" examines the U.S. government missteps in the War on Terror leading up to September 11. "1000 Years for Revenge" is available in bookstores everywhere. More information is available at http://www.peterlance.com/.

Peter Lance is available this week for in-person television and radio appearances in New York City to discuss this story and related issues. In Cambridge, MA, INTELWIRE's J.M. Berger is available for select media appearances to discuss the story.

Contact information is available at the http://www.intelwire.com Web site.

Cambridge-based INTELWIRE is a nonpartisan independent investigative news outlet covering al Qaeda and the war on terror. Research assistance is available for news outlets wishing to verify this story. The complete story may be found at:

http://www.intelwire.com/hamptonel010604.html

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