FBI Probes Hamas Presence in U.S.

Monday, June 2, 2003
By Lisa Myers
and the NBC Investigative Team

Lisa Myers is NBC’s Chief Investigator Correspondent

Wright is controversial within the FBI. Some claim he exaggerates the importance of his investigation. But current and former prosecutors familiar with that investigation describe the evidence as “significant” and “compelling.”

A key element of any peace in the Middle East is stopping suicide bombings carried out by Palestinian terrorist groups such as Hamas. As President Bush travels to the troubled region to push the so-called road map for peace, NBC News has learned that the FBI has intensified its scrutiny of Hamas operatives inside the United States.

Living in Bridgeview, Ill., a middle-class suburb of Chicago, is a man the U.S. government calls a “designated global terrorist.” His name is Muhammed Salah.

In 1993, Salah confessed in Israel to raising money for Hamas’ suicide bombings and to training recruits in the United States in bomb-making and explosives. He now denies all that, saying he was tortured. But U.S. officials tell NBC News that Salah is one of about two dozen alleged Hamas operatives in the United States now under investigation by the FBI.

“U.S. officials are concerned about the continuation of Hamas fund-raising in the United States,” says Steve Emerson, an NBC News terrorism analyst. “And they are also worried that Hamas continues to use the U.S. as a base to plan attacks against Israel.”

Also under scrutiny: Abdelhaleem Ashqar, a professor at Howard University in Washington. An FBI document reviewed by NBC News says Ashqar organized a Hamas meeting in Philadelphia a decade ago — a meeting that was secretly wiretapped by the FBI. Other admitted Hamas operatives have identified Ashqar as a fund-raiser.

But Ashqar’s lawyer says he has not associated with Hamas since the United States designated it a terrorist group in 1995.
(More: MSNBC.com)
http://www.msnbc.com/news/921213.asp?cp1=1
2003 © NBC News.

Dan