AIP'S TERRORIST FRIENDS

Because John McCain has not learned how to 'watch the internet' or 'use the Google,' it has been left to the public to vet Sarah Palin for him. I was curious what shady types would attend separatist conventions, such as the one in Tennessee, where the AIP Vice Chairman Dexter Clark extolled the virtues of their candidate Sarah Palin. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks4-2008sep04,0,5675222.column I expected that hatred for the American Federal Government would bring white supremacists (as speculated in the Daily Kos: http://larry-madill.dailykos.com/ ) and small time individual hate criminals into their circus tent. But I did not expect AIP to link itself to a foreign terrorist group personally funded by Osama Bin Laden, that has been merging into Al Qaeda for years, is linked to 4 of the 9/11 hijackers, and other Al Qaeda attacks. That's right, the Palins are only 2 or 3 degrees removed from the man that McCain swears he would pursue to the gates of hell (Osama Bin Laden). Links below:

The LA Times broke the story that the AIP has a link to the Chechen separatists on its website. "The AIP's website also provides helpful links to other secessionist groups, including the Southern Independence Party of Tennessee (which boasts of going after "these Politically Correct Liberal Communist[s]"), Ulster nationalists and Chechen separatists." http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks4-2008sep04,0,5675222.column Remembering the Beslan school and hospital massacres, and Russian bus and tram bombings, I had to read that twice. I have now compiled an overview of the increasingly indistinguishable relationship between the AIP's Chechen friends and Al Qaeda:

The Al Qaeda/Chechen Separatist relationship has been evolving since the 1990s. The Bush Administration initially downplayed the Russian assertions that the Chechen terrorists were affiliated with Al Qaeda. However, President Bush later acknowledged Russia's claims, stating: "We do believe there's some al Qaeda folks in Chechnya." http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2001/11/22/MN85469.DTL 'Washington also called on Chechen separatists to "cut all contact with international terrorist groups."' http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2001/11/22/MN85469.DTL

'Some terrorism experts say the West erred by dismissing Russia's claims for so long', Rohan Gunaratna, the author of "Inside Al Qaeda" states, "The initial wave of terrorists who are now coming to Europe trained in Chechnya or Algeria".

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2003/Jihad-In-Chechnya26apr03.htm "According to the U.S. State Department, the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade (IIPB) is the primary channel for Islamic funding of the Chechen guerillas, in part through links to al-Qaeda-related financiers on the Arabian Peninsula." http://www.cfr.org/publications/9181/

It now appears that the Chechen separatists receive funding even more directly than via Al Qaeda channels, being personally funded by Osama Bin Laden himself. "Russia is exaggerating al Qaeda's contribution but not bin Laden's interest in the Chechen rebel cause. According to Gunaratna, the terrorist leader used a Persian Gulf bank to help finance the militants, at one point even ordering an investigation into whether some Chechen leaders had siphoned off funds for themselves." http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2003/Jihad-In-Chechnya26apr03.htm

The central strategic importance to Al Qaeda of the Chechen separatists against the United States was explained by Bin Laden's #2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri (who was himself captured and released in 1997 while trying to enter Chechnya): "This poses a direct threat to the United States....the only thing that will separate them from Afghanistan will be the neutral state of Turkmenistan. This will form a mujahid Islamic belt to the south of Russia...." resulting in "....fragmentation of the Russian Federation....will topple a basic ally of the United States in its battle against the Islamic jihadist reawakening." http://www.meforum.org/article/744

The 'chief ideologue of the separatists and a "terrorist"' was the former Chechen President Yandarbiyev (until he was blown up in Qatar). http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE3DD1F3AF937A25751C0A9629C8B63 "Yanderbiyev was not judged to be a terrorist by Russia alone - he was on the UN blacklist as well. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m_qn4158/is_20061121/ai_n16856084

Yanderbiyev was on the "United Nations list of groups and people with suspected links to Osama bin Laden's network, Al Qaeda." http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE3DD1F3AF937A25751C0A9629C8B63

The roles of Chechen separatist commanders and foreign Al Qaeda commanders stationed in Chechnya in terrorist attacks can be seen graphically in anti-terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann's chart (with dotted red boxes around their photos): http://www.globalterroralert.com/islamicarmycaucusas3.pdf

(Kohlman is a terrorism expert witness for the Feds, who has personally interviewed Osama Bin Laden [before 9/11], and has interviewed 500+ insurgents in Iraq.) The role of Chechen separatists in the journey of 4 of the 9/11 hijackers is detailed in 'How Chechnya Became a Breeding Ground for Terror,' by terrorism expert Lorenzo Vidino, in the Middle East Quarterly, 2005 http://www.meforum.org/article/744 'Islamist terrorists have co-opted the Chechen cause as part of the global jihad. Umar Ibn al-Khattab, a Saudi native who became the leader of the foreign mujahideen in Chechnya, said, "This is not just a Chechen matter...like Afghanistan."' http://www.meforum.org/article/744 A request from Ibn al-Khattab (Al Qaeda commander in Chechnya) to Al Qaeda operative Sakka on the Turkish border sent Sakka and his men to Afghanistan for combat training because "the Chechens needed trained fighters", where their training and ability to counterfeit passports came in handy. This re-direction of Al Qaeda resources sent four young Saudi students bound for Chechnya on "a path that was to end with the September 11 attacks on America in 2001. They were: Ahmed and Hamza al-Ghamdi who hijacked the plane that crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center; their companion Saeed al-Ghamdi whose plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field; and Nawaf al-Hamzi who died in the Pentagon crash." http://www.meforum.org/article/744 Russia corroborates this connection, insisting that "the Saudi-born commander who goes by the name Khattab, was sponsored by suspected terrorist mastermind

Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2001/11/22/MN85469.DTL "Al-Qaeda's involvement in Chechnya has grown steadily." Under paragraph, "Al-Qaeda Adopts the Chechen Cause":

http://www.meforum.org/article/744

The affiliation of Chechen separatists with Al Qaeda is reported to have been voluntary at first, but later was compulsory, according to one Chechen Imam, "Join us or we'll cut your head off." According to Gunaratna, the this Imam was originally part of a secular separatist movement, which was "recast" by Al Qaeda as part of an international jihad. http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2003/Jihad-In-Chechnya26apr03.htm

You can bet that McCain did not do his homework on this one. If a Democratic candidate, or their spouse, were a friend of a friend of Bin Laden, this election would be over!