Yet few here in America have ever heard of him:
Believed to be a master bomb maker and one-time leader of the "15 May" terrorist group, al-Umari also has been indicted by the Government of France for his role in the 1985 bombing of the Marks and Spencer Department store in Paris and the Leumi Bank.The 15 May Organization was formed in late 70s as a Palestinian offshoot of the PLFP. Abu Ibrahim was al-Umari's prime nom de guerre. He was an early inventor of the seat bomb used on airliners, which probably inspired later bombers such as Ramzi Yousef.
Al-Umari may possess a passport from Lebanon, where his wife reportedly lives. He is the father of two sons and two daughters. He lived for several years in Iraq. While his current whereabouts are unknown, it is possible that he is residing in Lebanon or Iraq. He reportedly travels at all times with a firearm and should be considered armed and dangerous.
He was also behind a much bigger plot than Pan Am 830 as the NY Times described shortly after TWA 800 crashed:
The era of terrorist bomb attacks on airplanes is generally acknowledged to have begun on Aug. 11, 1982, when an explosion went off aboard a Pan Am jet en route to Honolulu from Tokyo. A 16-year-old Japanese boy was blown from his seat and bled to death before the pilots could land the Boeing 747.Emphasis to point out a similarity to the infamous Operation Bojinka that came later in the mid 90s, which KSM played a major planning role. But al-Umari hasn't been linked to any terrorist acts since the 80s, so why is the RFJ elevating this 70+ year old so prominently? After all, his history sounds a bit inconvenient:
Two weeks later, a bomb was discovered inside a small vinyl bag aboard another Pan Am jet. It did not explode and was found after the plane landed in Rio de Janeiro on a flight from Miami.
Comparing the devices, the F.B.I. found that the same plastic explosive, containing PETN -- the same substance found on wreckage from Flight 800 -- was used in both bombs. Federal officers also found that wiring from the unexploded bomb matched a hair-thin sliver retrieved from the body of the young victim, Toru Ozawa. In the following weeks, an informer helped the F.B.I. track down 12 more unexploded bombs aimed at Western interests. Similarities between the explosives and timers led authorities to conclude that the bombs were made by the same person or organization.
Location/Area of Operation: Baghdad until 1984. Before disbanding, operated in Middle East, Europe, and East Asia, Abu Ibrahim is reportedly in Iraq.Today is the anniversary of the first attack against the new Israel, which declared independence on May 14, 1948--the reason his murderous organization is called 15 May. Bin Laden issued a tape last year mentioning Israel and threatening us if we executed KSM, and reportedly his next to last tape also mentioned Israel. Ibrahim is from the territories; he worked under the blessing of Saddam probably from Baghdad, and Saddam had a long history working with the PLO (as did Gaddafi). Might perhaps one of the newly acquired thumb drives found in bin Laden's hideout contain anything about al-Umari? And if so, exactly what kind of dot-connection would that represent?
2 comments:
Okay, that’s new information about TWA-800. My understanding is that the FBI and NTSB closed the investigation after determining that the probable cause of the accident was an explosion of flammable fuel/air vapors in a fuel tank, and, although inconclusive, that a short circuit was the initiator of that explosion.
As far as connecting the dots are concerned, I think al-Umari is safe for as long as Eric Holder heads the Justice Department. You see, Holder believes that it is possible to reduce the number of terrorist incidents by refusing to investigate terrorist incidents —particularly if they are directed at white populations.
Actually Mustang, PETN and RDX was found on seat backs in the aircraft over the center wing tank seat section, and the FBI scrambled to explain it until they found a bomb-sniffing dog exercise that had been done weeks earlier in St. Louis.
To think a TWA 747 was flying around for weeks with explosive residue on it is itself crazy, but it satisfied the media at the time and basically put the story to rest (along with a cartoon explanation that explained why witnesses had not seen a missile rising off the ocean, but it was actually the nose-less plane ascending 2500 feet). But it could have been a spark. Or an asteroid collision, ya never know.
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