Terrorists Among Us

Not many people in the United States know that terrorists have lived among us for many years. According to terrorism experts, every major terrorist group in the world has operations in the United States, and many of them, including Osama bin Laden's al Qaida network, have cells that operate in South Florida.

Even more alarming, terror experts say the problem seems to be getting worse, despite the increased vigilance after 9/11.

Experts believe South Florida is home to a number of Al Qaida terrorists, not just the 9/11 hijackers.

NBC6 has obtained an FBI list containing the names of suspected Al Qaida terrorists suspected to be based all over the Gold Coast.

According to Steve Emerson, a leading expert on Islamic terrorism and a consultant to the FBI, the CIA and the White House, "al Qaida has had a presence in South Florida and continues to have a presence."

Emerson adds that, "there are those that have been arrested since 9/11 whose names have not been made public who are from South Florida. And I can tell you the government believes those people to be members of al Qaida."

In his new book: "American Jihad -- Terrorists Living Among Us," Emerson identifies Al Qaida and other terrorist groups in 50 U.S. cities, including Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale.

"I think there are others here. No one walks off the plane from Saudi Arabia and knows exactly where to rent a place in Hollywood, Florida, or rent a car," Emerson said.

Florida Atlantic University terrorism analyst Walid Phares agrees. He said terrorist cells have been active in South Florida for a long time.

"Years. Definitely years," said Phares.

In 1986, 31 Broward convenience store workers -- all from the Middle East and all suspected members of a West Bank militant group -- were arrested for selling stolen property. They were also suspected of sending the money to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the precursor to the Palestinian Authority which partly controls the West Bank. The PLO was formerly classed as a terrorist organization by numerous countries, including the United States. Broward Sheriff's Office investigators say they continue to be concerned about potential terrorist activity in the county.

According to Emerson and others, nearly every terrorist organization in the world has operated in the United States for several years. He adds that just as the "war on terrorism" overseas will take years to fight and win, so will the war against terrorists in the United States. One reason is that most of the groups' activities are protected by federal law, because they are purportedly religious.

Phares said that "95 percent of the buildup and preparations for a terrorist are covered by law here. The final 5 percent is your decision to act as a terrorist."

Most terror cells are now underground, Emerson said, but he warns they are still active and planning their next attack.

Authorities say the organizations are fertile recruiting ground for new terrorists. "It hasn't come out yet, but there was recently a suicide bomber who was recruited here [in the United States] and sent to Israel to carry out a suicide bombing," Emerson said.

Emerson says the man was arrested and is now in a New York jail.

Emerson and other experts say some of those accused by law enforcement of participating in or supporting terrorism are ensconced in American academia.

Sami Al-Arian, a professor at Tampa's University of South Florida, has been under investigation since 1995 after a think tank and a charity he founded were reportedly linked to terrorists.

The think tank Al-Arian founded sponsored gatherings across the United States that drew men who later were learned to be terrorists, including Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind Muslim cleric convicted in a failed plot to bomb five New York City landmarks. Federal investigators allege money raised at those meetings went to support terrorist attacks.

"Let us continue the protest, let us damn America, let us damn Israel, let us damn their allies until death," Al-Arian reportedly told a Chicago audience in Arabic at one recent gathering.

Federal terrorism investigators say they have obtained documents that prove Al-Arian raised money in the United States for Islamic Jihad, an anti-Israel group that has been labeled a terrorist organization by the United States.

Former Al-Arian associate and professor at the University of South Florida Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, abruptly left the university in 1995 and resurfaced as the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Investigators allege that some of Al-Arian's Florida fund-raisers have featured reputed terrorists like Osama bin Ladin associate Sheik Omar Abul Rahman, currently serving a life sentence for the 1993 bomb attack on the World Trade Center.

Al-Arian denies any ties to terror.

"We are proud to live in this country. We are proud we have the opportunity to speak our minds," he said recently.

Al-Arian is currently on paid leave by the University of South Florida because the university says he's received numerous death threats. He has never been charged with a crime, but university officials say he may be fired because he is considered security risk.

However, Al-Arian was sued by a former U.S. Justice Department attorney Wednesday. The suit alleges Al-Arian is part of a money laundering operation that has secret support from Saudi Arabia.

The wide-ranging lawsuit filed in Hillsborough County Circuit Court links the investigation of University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian to theories the Saudi government has hindered anti-terrorism investigations.

It was filed by John Loftus, a retired St. Petersburg attorney who is suing as a taxpayer and as president of the Florida Holocaust Museum. The lawsuit -- based on Loftus' confidential sources and review of documents made public in the government's investigation of Al-Arian -- asks for an injunction and civil fines against Al-Arian.

"People have just been saying you have to do something, something had to happen to shut (the operation) down," Loftus said.

Robert McKee, Al-Arian's attorney called the lawsuit "wacky."

"It reads like a pulp spy novel," said McKee said, adding Al-Arian denies all the allegations.

Nail Al-Jubeir, a spokesman for Saudi Arabia's embassy in Washington called the lawsuit a "stretch of the imagination."

"It's a free for all right now," Al-Jubeir said.

Citing confidential sources and public documents, Loftus said Al-Arian's charity, the International Committee for Palestine, received funding from a Herndon, Va., charity raided by federal counter-terrorism investigators Wednesday.

Fourteen search warrants were served in unidentified locations in Virginia and Georgia in Operation Green Quest, the ongoing investigation in terrorist financing in the United States, the U.S. Customs Service said.

A Customs Service spokesman would not confirm the location named in Loftus' lawsuit was one of those being searched.

The lawsuit said confidential sources told Loftus the investigation of Al-Arian was derailed once it was discovered the primary source of his funding was the Virginia charities.

Steve Cole, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa, declined comment on the lawsuit, saying only Al-Arian remains under investigation.

Loftus said among those who back his theory was John P. O'Neill, a former director of anti-terrorism for the FBI's New York office, who reportedly resigned in disgust over stonewalled investigations.

O'Neill later became the World Trade Center's head of security and died in the Sept. 11 attacks.

In the book "Bin Laden: The Forbidden Truth," published after O'Neill's death, author Jean-Charles Brisard wrote O'Neill had complained the United States was unwilling to confront Saudi Arabia about Osama bin Laden because it would harm diplomatic relations.