I wonder what drove those young Yemeni Americans to be associated with al quaida. They were popular in high school and they seemed to be adjusted in American society.All the accused terrorists have visited Pakistan and Afghanisthan. Why they have to make a pilgrimage to Pakistan?
Something attracted them. What is it?
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--- Begin Message ---From: Dil Deka I asked Mitra to send me her story on the sleeper cell in Buffalo, NY.Here's her story.-------------------- Detour From Dream -------------------- By S. Mitra Kalita STAFF CORRESPONDENT September 20, 2002 Lackawanna, N.Y. - The young men lived just blocks from each other, known to many in this city's Yemeni pocket since the day they were born. They were the sons of men who worked for all-American companies like Bethlehem Steel and Ford. They shined on the soccer field and the basketball court. They loved cheeseburgers and the Buffalo Bills. When the government accused them last week of supporting terrorists, neighbors and family clung to these wholesome images, recalling them over and over, as proof of how their boys really were innocent, really didn't hate their birthplace, really wouldn't carry guns in the name of God. For their parents and grandparents, after all, their American dream likely started and will end here. Even after the steel plant closed and the jobs left, they stayed in this run-down neighborhood. They stayed for the kids' schools, the grandchildren next door, the convenience of walking just steps to the store or to the mosque to pray. Exactly what happened last year, when federal authorities allege the men from Lackawanna traveled to Afghanistan and donned uniforms and rifles to learn how to be al-Qaida terrorists, remains unknown. But in the months leading up to the trip, it is clear that the group was looking for something that could not be found in the America of their parents' dreams. Their search offers a window into the Islam that is increasingly turned to across the sleepy towns and thriving cities of America - not by foreigners but by the U.S.-born and bred. Analysts say they are especially puzzled because the religious group the men pledged their allegiance to - Tablighi Jamaat - is a relatively bookish and spiritual one. They wonder if the current predicament of the alleged terror cell members in this suburb of Buffalo might offer insight into how some Muslim youth get caught up beyond their intentions. In the spring and summer of last year, the FBI alleges, seven men traveled from Lackawanna to Pakistan, then Afghanistan, to undergo religious training under the auspices of Tablighi Jamaat, which translates into "a group delivering a message." In Pakistan, they were "made aware they were going to meet the 'Most Wanted' one," said federal prosecutor William Hochul, referring to Osama bin Laden. In Afghanistan, he said, they watched videos detailing the bombing of the USS Cole before traveling to an al-Qaida training camp where they trained in mountain climbing and explosives and heard a speech from bin Laden. The five who were arrested last week in raids are Sahim Alwan, 29; Faysal Galab, 26; Shafal Mosed, 24; Yasein Taher, 24; and Yahya Goba, 25. Mukhtar al-Bakri, was arrested in Bahrain and flown to the United States for arraignment. Two other members of the alleged "sleeper cell," Jaber Elbaneh and Kamal Derwish, are at large and believed to be in Yemen. Close friends of the men say Derwish, described by neighbors as a bearded, overweight and righteous man, was the ringleader who encouraged the others to become more religious. The group's transformation into more devout Muslims was apparent to many in this tight-knit community. When they tried to grow long beards, known as "lihya" in Arabic, some neighbors jokingly called the group "Lihya Inc." To be a Muslim teenager is to grapple with conflicting identities and cultures, to search for halal buffalo wings and modest clothing that still looks good. While the Yemeni community in Lackawanna supports its youth through an Islamic school, a soccer league and a community center, life beyond the First Ward - the city's shabbiest area housing its minority residents before a drive over a bridge yields a gentrifying downtown - can pose challenges. "White people call them towelheads or ragheads," said Ron Jones, a black lifelong resident of the First Ward. "The bridge divides us. This is supposed to be a ghetto." In a working-class city of 19,000, the number of people with Yemeni heritage is estimated as high as 3,000. Yemenis came to the area in the 1920s to take industrial jobs, but the community has suffered in recent years from poverty and high unemployment rates as companies have closed their doors or moved. Lackawanna's white residents characterize race relations as harmonious, although they admit there has been some resentment of the Yemenis over the years. "They pay cash for their houses, and the boys have some arrogance," said Gerry Smerka, 61, a lifelong resident who was married in the onion-domed Ukrainian church now converted into the city's lone mosque. Still, the suspects appeared to have adjusted: Taher, a soccer star, was voted "friendliest" in his high school graduating class, while Alwan led prayers at the mosque on Fridays. Most of them married and had children. None come from especially religious families. "We try to pray, but we're pretty laid back," said a cousin of Galab's. Federal prosecutors say Mosed and Taher were frequent visitors to the Casino Niagara, the former spending $89,000 over an unknown period; Islam forbids gambling. Every few months, members of Tablighi Jamaat arrive in Lackawanna to knock on doors and remind people of their faith. Friends wonder what they said that triggered the change in the men. "You go through a phase in your life. Do you want to achieve financial wealth or follow the path?" said Maneer Muflahi, 35, a third-generation Yemeni and son of a retired Bethlehem Steel worker. "They weren't successful financially. They weren't successful in the education system. They found something they could get into." Tablighi Jamaat preaches a strict adherence to Islam, asking followers to frame everything in their life in terms of their religion. Some do not watch television or listen to music. Days are spent reading the Koran. They travel from community to community and sleep on bed rolls on the floors of mosques, eating honey and bread for breakfast, lentils for lunch and something equally simple for dinner. Young, militant men often grow disenchanted with Tablighi Jamaat, which has its roots in South Asia and draws millions to its annual gathering in Pakistan, because it is so apolitical. To them, Jamaat followers have a standard question said one former member: "Before you go on jihad, have you corrected yourself? Is your own neighborhood OK?" "It is pretty widely accepted that the Tablighi Jamaat is an internal renewal movement," said Barbara Metcalf, a history professor at the University of California at Davis. "It's very routine for groups to travel. They might come to the United States and look up Muslim names in the phone book. ... It would not be at all uncommon to do a mission within Pakistan, especially if they have never lived in another country." Metcalf, who has studied the group and concluded it is a peaceful and apolitical one, said, "One student I know tells me at least half the Muslim students on American campuses participate in Tablighi Jamaat." When the young men from Lackawanna said they were going to Pakistan, Muflahi said he tried to convince them not to. He was concerned because the younger members of the group were impressionable, gullible even. "When's the last time you went to Yemen?" he recalled asking. "Your Arabic is weak. Go to Yemen and brush up on it. Learn our tribal culture and ways ... If things don't go right in Pakistan, who are you going to fall back on?" Upon their return to Lackawanna, friends recalled that the suspects did complain about miserable conditions in Pakistan. A federal prosecutor this week said al-Bakri considered himself a member of al-Qaida when he was in the training camp, but not when he left. Still, they remained religious, friends say, wearing long gowns to mosque and nitpicking about the length of pant cuffs. On Sept. 11 of last year, the day the United States was attacked, friends and family insist the suspects mourned with the entire nation. Coincidentally, Alwan was interviewed by the Buffalo News a few days later. He told a reporter he felt scared and threatened by the stares of strangers. "We look at ourselves as targets more than anyone else. We're targets of both now: racism and terrorism," he said. "We're double targets, as Americans and Muslims." Copyright (c) 2002, Newsday, Inc. -------------------- This article originally appeared at: http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/ny-uslack202932261sep20(0,5856934).story Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com--- End Message ---
