Werzit

Intel - Terrorism
Wadih El-Hage

"In God we trust.
All others we monitor."

• Another Al Qaeda member who happened to be an American citizen, el-Hage was born in Lebanon in 1960 into a Catholic family but converted to Islam before moving to the United States. (Holy War, pp. 137-138)
• aka Abd'al Sabur, or "The Manager"

• Wadih El-Hage: El-Hage was born in Lebanon to a Christian family. (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 102)
• Born into a Maronite Christian family

• Another Al Qaeda member who happened to be an American citizen, el-Hage was born in Lebanon in 1960 into a Catholic family but converted to Islam before moving to the United States. (Holy War, pp. 137-138)

• He converted to Islam, studied urban planning in the United States, and became a US citizen through marriage.  (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 102)

• In 1978, he settled in Lafayette, Louisiana - a slight, bearded, shaggy-haired urban planning student at the University of Louisiana. According to one of his professors, el-Hage wasn't particularly vocal about his political beliefs. But during the eight years that it took him to finish his degree... (Holy War, pp. 137-138)

• Wadih El-Hage...studied urban planning in the United States, and became a US citizen through marriage. (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 102)
• ...Wadi el-Hage is a graduate urban planner... (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 81)

• In 1985, el-Hage married April Ray, an American convert to Islam, in Tucson, Arizona. "She was so beautiful he was so happy," remembers his mother-in-law, Marion Brown, a nurse who had also converted to Islam...Brown recalls e-Hage fondly as a "devoted husband, a wonderful father, and a wonderful son-in-law," but says that despite his degree in urban planning, he was able to find only menial jobs - at a Dunkin Donuts, as a custodian, and as a cab driver. (Holy War, p. 138)

• Wadih El-Hage...studied urban planning in the United States, and became a US citizen through marriage. (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 102)

• But during the eight years that it took him to finish his degree, he would be drawn to the Afghan jihad, traveling to Peshawar to work for a Saudi charity, the Muslim World League. (Holy War, pp. 137-138)

• Within a year of their wedding, Wadih and April had a son, the first of seven children, and moved to Quetta, a city in the southwestern deserts of Pakistan that bears a passing resemblance to Tucson. (Holy War, p. 138)

• Brown also moved to Pakistan, working as the matron of a hospital in Quetta for a year and a half. El-Hage, she says, was working for Abdullah Azzam, and would travel into Afghanistan with consignments of books for children. (Holy War, p. 138)

• Jamal Ismail, then a student at Peshawar University, remembers el-Hage as a "very quiet person, with a very thin, weak body, who didn't seem to be militant." Because of a withered right arm, he took no part in fighting. (Holy War, pp. 137-138)

• But during the eight years that it took him to finish his degree... (Holy War, pp. 137-138)

• Between 1987 and 1990, el-Hage made several visits to Brooklyn's Alkhifa Center... (Holy War, p. 138)

• Wadih el-Hage was not just watching and listening to mujahideen. In early 1990, US law enforcement officials say he became involved in a murder. The victim was a black Muslim cleric named Rashad Khalifa, who was preaching a variation of Islamic doctrine that was deemed heretical by fundamentalists. According to federal prosecutors and to information volunteered by Wadih el-Hage in interviews he gave to FBI agents, a still unidentified man was sent to Tucson to conduct surveillance on Khalifa. This person visited el-Hage at his home, where they had lunch together, and then was driven by el-Hage to Khalifa's mosque, where the visitor recorded the movements of Khalifa. El-Hage admitted before a grand jury that he never reported this visit to the authorities. Federal records show that Khalifa was killed by a member of the Al-Fuqra organization, a black Muslim fundamentalist group that has engaged in a series of murders, robberies, and other attacks in Colorado and Canada. (American Jihad, pp. 135-136)

• After El-Nosair was sent to Attica, Bin Laden's former private secretary, Wadih el-Hage, visited him there. (Securing the City, p. 59)

• After fleeing house arrest in Egypt the Blind Sheikh traveled to Sudan where he obtained a US visa sponsored by a fellow Egyptian, Mustafa Shalabi, the MAK representative in New York. Shalabi's help was repaid in 1991 when the Blind Sheikh had him killed in New York. (Inside Al Qaeda, pp. 135-136)
• On February 26, 1991, Shalabi opened the door to someone he knew (according to police). His body was found five days later with a bullet to his head and multiple stab wounds. No one was ever charged in the killing, but federal officials believe that Shalabi was killed pursuant to a fatwa issued by Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman. (American Jihad, pp. 134-135)
• Around February 28, 1991, Mustafa Shalabi, head of the Al-Kifah Refugee Center’s main US office in Brooklyn, is murdered. Al-Kifah is a charity front with ties to both the CIA and al-Qaeda (see 1986-1993).
• Shalabi’s body is found in his house on March 1. He had been shot and stabbed multiple times and $100,000 was stolen.

• Shalabi is found with two red hairs in his hand, and the FBI soon suspects Mahmud Abouhalima, who is red-headed, for the murder.
• Abouhalima identified Shalabi’s body for the police, falsely claiming to be Shalabi’s brother. He will later be one of the 1993 WTC bombers.
• Shalabi has a falling out with him over how to spend the money they raise and he is killed in mysterious circumstances in early 1991, completing Abdul-Rahman’s take over.
• Shalabi had been having a growing public dispute with the “Blind Sheikh,” Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman, over where to send the roughly one million dollars Al-Kifah was raising annually.
•  Abdul-Rahman wanted some of the money to be used to overthrow the Egyptian government while Shalabi wanted to send all of it to Afghanistan. 
• Shalabi had given up the fight and had already booked a flight to leave the US when he was killed. 
• The murder is never solved.

• Between 1987 and 1990, el-Hage made several visits to Brooklyn's Alkhifa Center and briefly ran it after Shalabi's killing. There he met with three of the men later convicted to blow up Manhattan landmarks. In 1993, his name surfaced in the World Trade Center bombing case when one of the bombers told investigators that he had tried to buy guns from el-Hage. By then, el-Hage was already in Sudan, working as Bin Laden's personal secretary. (Holy War, p. 138)

• At the same time, according to federal prosecutors, he stayed very active with al-Kifah and on the expanding jihad battlefront. El-Hage would rise to such a senior position that he was named the successor to Al-Kifah director Shalabi. For reasons still unknown, el-Hage did not ultimately take over the Al-Kifah office in Brooklyn as had been expected...(American Jihad, p. 137)

• 7 October 1998: Senior Bin Laden lieutenant Wadih El-Hage was arrested and indicted in the United States. El-Hage was Bin Laden's personal secretary in Sudan and ran Al Qaeda operations in Kenya until September 1997… (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 239)
• To expand Al Qaeda's strength and geographical reach, Bin Laden brought with him the most senior members of his organization, almost all of whom had fought at his side in the Afghan war...In addition, Wadih el-Hage returned from the Untied States to become Bin Laden's personal secretary. (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 138)
• Soon thereafter, Wadih el-Hage left the United States in order to serve as Osama bin Laden's personal secretary.  (American Jihad, p. 137)

• He later joined the global jihad by becoming the personal secretary to Osama bin Laden, which was the equivalent of a vice president for corporate development in a large corporation. His job included a large office and controlling access to his boss, with frequent travel and great responsibilities. (Understanding Terror Networks, p. 94)
• ...Wadih el-Hage, who served as Bin Laden's personal secretary when the Saudi militant was living in Sudan and would be convicted for his part in the conspiracy to bomb the African embassies. (Holy War, p. 109)

• In this capacity, el-Hage worked for various bin Laden companies, which included a holding company known as "Wadi al-Aqiq," a construction business known as "Al Hijra," an agricultural company known as "al Themar al Mubaraka," an investment company known as "Taba Investments," and a transportation company known as "Qudarat Transport Company." These companies earned income to support what was now Al Qaeda and provided cover for the procurement of explosives, weapons, and chemicals and for the travel of Al Qaeda operatives. (American Jihad, p. 137)

• Those who worked harder were paid more. Notwithstanding the complaints directed to Osama, Abu Hajer al-Iraqi was paid about $1,500, Wadih el-Hage (alias Abu Abdullah Lubnani) from Lebanon about $800, and Abu Fadhl al-Makkee a similar sum. (Inside Al Qaeda, p. 44)

• Sometime in 1994, el-Hage moved from Khartoum to Nairobi where he set up businesses and other organizations for Al Qaeda in Kenya. (American Jihad, pp. 137-138)
• According to American prosecutors, el-Hage was doing much more than selling tires, riding ostriches, and working for charities. He was setting up Al-Qaeda's Kenya cell while sharing a home with Haroun Fazil, who (as described in chapter 6) is accused of playing a key role in the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi. (Holy War, p. 139)

• He was later bin Laden's personal secretary in Khartoum and, in 1994, was sent to Nairobi to run bin Laden's Kenyan operations. (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 102)
• Then, in 1994, Bin Laden moved al-Fawwaz to London and sent his private secretary, Wadih el-Hage to Nairobi to "set up a base for Al Qaeda operations in the country...(Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 139)

• While El-Hage was Al Qaeda's chief in Kenya, the group's fighters lived and worked in Mombassa. As noted, Abu Ubaydah picked Mombassa and probably did so because of its large Muslim community and the fact that the Kenyan government's writ and security forces are not as strong there as in Nairobi. (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 139)

• There, el-Hage met repeatedly with Abu Ubaidah al Banshiri, a former Al Qaeda military commander.(American Jihad, pp. 137-138)

• In 1996, however, Banshiri drowned, or was drowned. El-Hage investigated the death with Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who later became an at-large indictee for the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. (American Jihad, pp. 137-138)

• He also dabbled, not very successfully, in the import-export business, trading in gems, coffee, and even ostrich meat. A photo entered into evidence at his trial shows him riding an ostrich, not something I had previously thought was possible or even desirable. (Holy War, p. 139)

• El-Hage did set up an organization with the awkward but direct name of Help Africa People, which ran a malaria vaccination program. He also dabbled, not very successfully, in the import-export business, trading in gems, coffee, and even ostrich meat. A photo entered into evidence at his trial shows him riding an ostrich, not something I had previously thought was possible or even desirable. (Holy War, p. 139)
• El Hage established himself as a dealer in gemstones... (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 139)

• ...and also founded an NGO called 'Help Africa People.' The Washington Post has said El-Hage falsely registered the NGO as part of a German charity and that "the purpose of El-Hage's charity was always a little vague." The vagueness may not be surprising, because El-Hage and his deputy at Help Africa People, a Mororan named Abduallh Muhammad Fazul, were indicted by the United States on terrorism charges. El-Hage was convicted in May 2001, but Fazul fled Nairobi after the August 1998 attacks. (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 139)

• El-Hage did set up an organization with the awkward but direct name of Help Africa People, which ran a malaria vaccination program. (Holy War, p. 139)

• He was setting up Al-Qaeda's Kenya cell while sharing a home with Haroun Fazil, who (as described in chapter 6) is accused of playing a key role in the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi. (Holy War, p. 139)
• Bomber was aka Fazul Abdullah Mohammed

• Once in Nairobi, (Al Qaeda's Kenyan cell leader Haroun) Fazil shared a house with Wadih el-Hage, who served as Bin Laden's personal secretary when the Saudi militant was living in Sudan and would be convicted for his part in the conspiracy to bomb the African embassies. (Holy War, p. 109)

• Between 1996 and 1997, el-Hage traveled between Arlington, Texas, where he worked at Lone Star Tires as a manager, and Nairobi, Kenya. A friend in Texas, Sam Alassad, says: "The only thing I knew about him is that he was doing charity work in Africa - where exactly, how, and what, we didn't discuss because it never came up." (Holy War, pp. 138-139)
• Although most of the mujahedin had strong occupational skills, few were employed full time...The discrepancy between their actual jobs and their capability is best illustrated by Wadih el-Hage. When he returned to the United States from fighting in the jihad against the Soviets, he found only two part-time marginal jobs, in a fast-food restaurant and as a janitor for the city. (Understanding Terror Networks, p. 94)

• From Tucson, el-Hage moved to Arlington, Texas, sometime in 1991, where he went to work for a tire store. (American Jihad, p. 137)
• Wadih el-Hage, bin Laden's personal secretary in the early 1990s, was also an active member of the Islamic Center of Tucson in the mid-1980s prior to relocating to Arlington, Texas, before leaving for Sudan and Kenya to aid in bin Laden's efforts there. (American Jihad, pp. 132-133)

• On August 21, 1997, almost exactly a year before the embassy bombing, an FBI agent accompanied by Kenyan police performed a search of Wadih el-Hage's house in Nairobi. They seized an Apple PowerBook and various address books and diaries. A computer technician made a "mirror image" of the computer's hard drive, on which was found a letter from one of the leaders of Al Qaeda's Kenya cell. The letter described the existence of the cell and the author's awareness of Bin Laden's call for attacks on Americans - although the letter writer noted that, as yet, he and his confederates were unaware of their exact mission in Kenya, since they were simply "implementers." (Holy War, p. 120)

• The CIA thought Hage might be recruited as an agent...In August 1997, Coleman and two CIA officers appeared at Hage's home in Nairobi with a search warrant and a nervous Kenyan police officer carrying an AK-47. The house sat behind a high cinder-block wall covered with broken glass, guarded by a scrawny German shepherd on a rope. (Looming Tower, p. 276)
• August 1997: Kenyan police and FBI agents raided bin Laden lieutenant Wadih el-Hage's home in Nairobi, seizing his personal papers and computer. US authorities claimed, according to the New York Times, that El-Hage's records showed that he had met Bin Laden in early 1997 and, when the raid occurred, was preparing "300 activists" for military activity. El-Hage left for the United States soon after the raid. (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 237)

• El-Hage returned to the United States in September 1997... (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 102)

• Senior Bin Laden lieutenant...was Bin Laden's personal secretary in Sudan and ran Al Qaeda operations in Kenya until September 1997… (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 239)

• Reports confirm that Bin Laden's men have been buying Tanzanite, a dark blue stone similar to but not as hard as diamonds, mined only in a small corner of Tanzania, to resell it on the international market or to store it. Up to 90 per cent of Tanzanite production is smuggled out of the country. In 1997, the FBI seized the diary of Wadih el-Hage, an associate of Bin Laden, who had been selling smuggled Tanzanite in London. The diary contained evidence of the role played by the gemstone in money laundering and financing Bin Laden's network. (Modern Jihad, pp. 182-183)

• El-Hage would be questioned again by the FBI on August 20, 1998, following the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7. (American Jihad, p. 138)

• Again he would lie to the federal agents regarding his connections with Al Qaeda. He would then commit perjury before the federal grand jury in New York on September 16, 1998. Wadih el-Hage would be initially indicted for this act of perjury before the federal grand jury, and three counts of making false statements to federal law-enforcement officers while being questioned pursuant to a grand jury investigation. (American Jihad, p. 138)

• Although el-Hage was not charged with a direct role in the Kenya bombing, he was accused of perjury on the basis of misleading statements he made to the grand jury investigating Bin Laden, and of being part of Al Qaeda's conspiracy to kill Americans. (Holy War, p. 139)

• Eventually, el-Hage would make false statements in September and October 1997 to both the FBI and the grand jury that was investigating Osama bin Laden regarding his role in Al Qaeda. At some date prior to this, el-Hage had returned to the United States. (American Jihad, p. 138)
• El-Hage...was arrested by the FBI in October 1998. (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 102)

• 7 October 1998: Senior Bin Laden lieutenant Wadih El-Hage was arrested and indicted in the United States. El-Hage was Bin Laden's personal secretary in Sudan and ran Al Qaeda operations in Kenya until September 1997… (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 239)

• US authorities reportedly seized computer diskettes from El-Hage's home in Texas that "held secrets of his [Bin Laden's] front companies and dealings with businessmen." (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 239)

• Among the charges against El-Hage was "providing false passports and other assistance to Bin Laden loyalists who are suspected of attacking US and UN forces in Somalia in 1993 and 1994." El-Hage also was providing false passports to Bin Laden operatives traveling to the Caucasus. (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 239)

• 29 May 2001: Four Al Qaeda fighters - Wadih el-Hage, Mohammed Sadiq Odeh, Rashed Daoud al-Owalim and Khaffan Khamis Mohammed - were convicted in a US court in New York of participating in the conspiracy that destroyed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998. Each will be imprisoned for life. (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 243)

• He was found guilty on all the counts against him in June 2001. (Holy War, p. 139)
• He was convicted of terrorism charges in May 2001. (Through Our Enemies Eyes, p. 102)