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View Full Version : Atta's big gamble.Plus:Abramoff's link to a mysterious Saudi-and perhaps to al-qaeda



ehnyah
08-19-2005, 02:37 PM
[embedded links:http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2005/08/attas-big-gamble-plus-jack-abramoffs.html]

Atta's big gamble. Plus: Jack Abramoff's link to a mysterious Saudi -- and perhaps to Al Qaeda
You have probably never heard of Makram Chams. It's time you met him.

Actually, you can't physically meet him -- he disappeared on September 11, 2001. I bring him to your attention for two reasons:

1. He knew, and apparently aided, Mohammed Atta and the other 9/11 terrorists.

2. He owned a casino ship in Florida.

Yes, a casino ship -- just like the SunCruz ships owned by Jack Abramoff, the recently-indicted Republican money-man and wheeler-dealer. According to Associated Press, the terrorists took a mysterious trip on a SunCruz ship on September 5, 2001. And that trip is of great interest for three reasons:

1. SunCruz ships were under investigation for involvement in money laundering and other unsavory activities.

2. Al Qaeda operatives made a number of mysterious casino jaunts in that era; few believe that they were hard-core gamblers.

3. Al Qaeda was funded by drug money. Drug money must needs be laundered. Casinos have been known to be used for that purpose. Casino ships are unregulated.

Perhaps we should tentatively add a fourth reason for concern: Intelligence agents who had identified Atta in the United States and who knew of his ties to Osama Bin Laden were told to steer clear of him. They literally covered up his picture on their charts of Al Qaeda agents. (See my latest piece on Able Danger.)

So with that background in mind, let's learn more about the mysterious Makram Chams (whose first name is sometimes transliterated as Meekram).

My information was kindly provided by the estimable Daniel Hopsicker, of Mad Cow Morning News. I'm trying to double check the Makram Chams story (which is mentioned on one of his documentary videos) to the limited extent that I can.

Hopsicker learned from eyewitnesses -- including a cab driver who drove Atta on a number of occasions, and who told this story to the FBI -- that Atta frequently visited Makram Chams, a Lebanese who lived above a convenience store that he owned.

At one point, Chams asked the cab driver to take him to the Orlando Executive Airport. There, Chams picked up an Armani-suited Saudi businessman and his wife, who wore traditional Arab attire. The driver then took this party back to Chams' apartment. (After 9/11, the FBI reviewed surveillance tapes of this pick-up, which is how they learned of the driver.)

Weeks later, the same driver was asked to take the Saudi's wife back the airport. But now they were carrying extra luggage -- extremely heavy luggage. It was a chest so heavy that two men had to transport it.

An intelligence source contacted by Hopsicker felt certain that this chest contained gold.

Chams was no mere convenience store operator. He co-owned (along with one other investor) a casino ship called Vegas-in-Venice. This ship attracted a fair amount of attention because it had been left illegally in the harbor for over a year.

We have no word as to what happened to this ship, or how Chams paid for it. Was he a front man? Was the ship purchased by SunCruz?

After 9/11, Makram Chams disappeared, and his store remains shuttered.

Such is the gist Hopsicker's story -- or rather, as much of it as he has chosen to relay to me at this time. (His book "Welcome to Terrorland" may contain further details.) The FBI does not include any mention of Chams in their publicly-released material on Atta. Of course, we now know (from the Able Danger story and other sources) that Atta did far more in this country than the Authorized Version would have us believe.

Casino ship owner Cham and his disturbing dealings with wealthy Saudis find an echo in the career of Jack Abramoff. Not only was he in the same business, he also has a Saudi connection many will consider unsettling.

As Kate Camborat the TPM Cafe notes, Abramoff did PR work for a Saudi billionaire named Saleh Abdullah Kamel, chairman of the General Council for Islamic Banks.

Kamel sure needed a good PR person. According to a number of published accounts report (which I cannot independently confirm), he has another good buddy -- a fellow named Osama Bin Laden.


Kamel is also the chairman of Dallah al Baraka Group (DBG), which is suspected of having ties to al Qaeda and other extremist groups, and he was also the co-founder and large shareholder of Al Shamal Bank in Sudan, Osama bin Laden's bank of choice from 1983 onward. He was listed as being one of the seven "main individual sponsors of terrorism" in this report by French researcher Jean-Charles Brisard submitted to the UN Security Council in December 2002. (You might remember that Omar al-Bayoumi, who befriended and provided money to two of the 9/11 hijackers, was once an assistant to the Director of Finance for Dallah Avco, a DBG company that works with the Saudi aviation authority. And the WSJ has reported that the United States believes the Dallah al-Baraka Bank, another DBG company, was also used by al-Qaeda.)

Kamel's name also appeared in the "Golden Chain," a roster seized by Bosnian authorities in Sarajevo in March 2002 listing Saudi donors to bin Laden and his associates; and he was named as a defendant in two Sept. 11th related lawsuits: one filed by the victims' families in 2003 and another filed by Cantor Fitzgerald in September 2004 (Although claims of two plaintiffs from the first suit were dismissed, the same claims from other plaintiffs have yet to be.)
One of Kamel's companies, Dallah Avco, made extensive payments (according to a Los Angeles Times story) to al-Bayoumi, the Saudi who paid rent for the 9/11 hijackers lodging in San Diego. (For more, see here.)

Kamel has denied any connection to Al Qaeda.

All of which brings a couple of questions to mind -- questions which may or may not be related.

Why did Kamel go to Jack Abramoff for help?

And just who was the wealthy Saudi who showed up at Makram Cham's humble pad?

# posted by Joseph : 6:08 PM 3 comments

ehnyah
08-19-2005, 04:14 PM
atta and friends and abramoff and friends
a few days ago, joseph cannon wrote:
"On September 26, 2001, Associated Press writer Vickie Chachere reported that FBI agents probing Atta's connections had turned their attention to SunCruz casinos -- then owned by Abramoff:

SunCruz Casinos has turned over photographs and other documents to FBI investigators after employees said they recognized some of the men suspected in the terrorist attacks as customers... Names on the passenger list from a Sept. 5 cruise matched those of some of the hijackers..."
he pointed to this link as his reference, although that has since been disappeared. a google search throws up a bunch of sites with the same quote - but only one from a proper news source - Florida's BonitaNews - and that has also disappeared - but the google-cache still has it. it seems odd that some AP stories dont actually get carried through the wires...

i'll quote it in full in case the cache disappears:

Attack: SunCruz Casinos turns over documents in terrorist probe

Thursday, September 27, 2001

By VICKIE CHACHERE, Associated Press

TAMPA ? SunCruz Casinos has turned over photographs and other documents to FBI investigators after employees said they recognized some of the men suspected in the terrorist attacks as customers.

Michael Hlavsa, chairman of the gambling cruise company, said Wednesday two or three men linked to the Sept. 11 hijackings may have been customers on a ship that sailed from Madeira Beach on Florida's gulf coast.

The cruise line also is turning over to the FBI video from a Port Canaveral cruise ship of a man that an employee says also resembled one of the suspected terrorists.

The FBI has not confirmed the men's identities and the cruise line is declining to specifically identify the men being investigated. An FBI spokeswoman declined comment.

Hlavsa said it was observant employees who made the matches in the days after the attack.

One name on the passenger list from a Sept. 5 cruise is the same as one of the suspected terrorists', Hlavsa said. A cash advance was taken out on that passenger's credit card, he said.

The ship's extensive security systems, in place to protect its gaming operations and customers, will help confirm identifies, Hlavsa said.

"They acted just like normal guests of ours and they were courteous," he said. "There were no issues."

The gaming ships carry several hundred people each day on six-hour tours. The ships are outfitted with hundreds of slot machines and gaming tables.

On the Port Canaveral ship, the casino manager recognized one of the suspected terrorists as someone who may have frequented the vessel. Video of that man is being turned over to the FBI either later Wednesday or early Thursday.
(actually, the BonitaNews article is here you'll need to register to get access - use bugmenot.com)

There's also this article from St. Petersburg Times from the same time, which basically covers the same info:

-------------------

as an interesting aside, from the Sep27 AP article, compare this: "Hlavsa said it was observant employees who made the matches in the days after the attack." (link)

with this, also from the AP on the same day: "Attorney General John Ashcroft on Thursday (sep 27) released photographs of the 19 suspected hijackers, saying that it is part of "a national neighborhood watch" in which investigators hope Americans might recognize some of the hijackers.
Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller asked any Americans who might recognize the photos to contact authorities." (link)

on the 14th the fbi released a list of names - but there arent any photos. were the photos 'released' before they were 'released'? or did aforementioned 'observant employees' simply recognise the names?

according to this article, SanCruz's ships "can accommodate about 1,200 guests" - its difficult to imagine "two or three" faces standing out, let alone names - particularly if they werent looking for anything.

more confusion.

http://wotisitgood4.blogspot.com/2005/08/atta-and-friends-and-abramoff-and.html