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| Distractions Away From Saeed
Not only did Mahmood suddenly become persona non grata, but so did Saeed Sheikh, now that he was implicated in Mahmood's story. He was again mentioned as the 9/11 paymaster the day before the Mahmood story broke [CNN, 10/8/01], and then suddenly, all mention of him ceased (with one exception [CNN, 10/28/01]). Since then, the FBI has put forth a variety of alternates for the identity of the person in the 9/11 paymaster role. The story is too complicated to greatly detail here, but the FBI and media have variously filled Saeed Sheikh's shoes with an Egyptian named Shaykh Saiid [Sydney Morning Herald, 9/28/01, New York Times, 10/15/01, Los Angeles Times, 10/20/01], a Saudi named Sa'd Al-Sharif, said to be bin Laden's brother-in-law [Newsweek, 11/11/01, AP, 12/18/01], a Kenyan named Sheik Sayyid el Masry [CNN, 10/16/01, Trial Transcript, 2/20/01, Trial Transcript, 2/21/01], a Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi or al-Hisawi (suggesting no alias was used) [MSNBC, 12/11/01, Wall Street Journal, 6/17/02], a Shaikh Saiid al-Sharif [AP, 6/4/02], an Ali Abdul Aziz Ali (for some of the money transfers) [Congressional Intelligence Committee, 9/26/02], and so on. Most recently, the FBI said the most well-known candidate, Shaikh Saiid al-Sharif, doesn't actually exist, but is probably a composite of Mustafa Ahmed Al-Hisawi, Shaikh Saiid al-Masri, and Saad al-Sharif. [AP, 12/26/02] Newsweek, in describing yet another name variation, Mustafa Ahmad Adin Al-Husawi, says the person "remains almost a total mystery," and no one is sure of his name or even if he is one person. [Newsweek, 9/4/02] (Note that Saeed appears to be a master of disguise, as can be seen by the bewildering number of names he is referred to in the media: Sheik Syed, Ahmad Umar Sheikh, Umar Sheikh, Sheik Omar Saeed, Omar Saiid Sheikh, Sheikh Omar, etc... He opened bank accounts using many of his name variations, or even completely unrelated names. [The News, 2/13/02]) While the FBI and media have been putting forth a series of names sounding remarkably similar to Saeed Sheikh or the aliases he used, they have been ignoring or forgetting solid evidence that links Saeed Sheikh to the funding of 9/11. To do so would mean confronting Saeed's ISI ties, and the possibility that he was acting on orders from Mahmood, or even President Musharraf.
Note that this $100,000 is the same amount ISI Director Mahmood supposedly told Saeed to send to Atta. The timing of Mahmood's order isn't known, however. It may refer to this early August 2001 transaction, or it could refer to a separate approximately $100,000 sent to Atta from Dubai, UAE between June and September 2000. [MSNBC, 12/11/01, Newsweek, 12/2/01] There were probably other transactions, since it is believed the hijackers spent between $500,000 - $600,000 in the US. At least $325,000 came from the person using the alias "Mustafa Ahmed" and variants on that name. [New York Times, 7/10/02] The lack of banking regulations in the UAE and the secrecy of the Middle Eastern "hawala" money transfer system has apparently kept details of these other money transfers unknown. [Los Angeles Times, 1/20/02] But it stands to reason that Saeed wouldn't have sent only one money transfer on orders of Mahmood and the rest on his own initiative. Presumably, Saeed used Ansari's money because it would leave even less of a paper trail than money from a legitimate banking account. The FBI has reported that many of the hijackers passed through Dubai and met with the 9/11 paymaster. They would be given Visa credit cards, travelers checks, and help in opening bank accounts. [Washington Post, 12/13/01, MSNBC, 12/11/01, Congressional Intelligence Committee, 9/26/02, London Times, 12/1/01, Congressional Intelligence Committee, 9/26/02] This further suggests that the paymaster was Saeed, since he was making frequent trips to Dubai at this time. [Guardian, 2/9/02] |