October 29, 2001, U.S. Edition
HIGHLIGHT: Al Qaeda’s camps are under assault. But thousands of bin Laden’s trainees have long since moved on, and they have taught many more recruits worldwide. Can we find them in time? A NEWSWEEK investigation.
He is a shadowy figure, lurking on the edges of the Sept. 11 attack. Federal investigators know that Omar al-Bayoumi helped pay the rent for two of the American Airlines Flight 77 hijackers, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, on their apartment in San Diego. The Feds also know that al-Bayoumi is well educated and ambitious. In completing an application for admission to a doctoral program at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, al-Bayoumi listed himself as “assistant to the director of finance” at Dallah AVCO, an aviation-services company based in Saudi Arabia. The FBI is investigating possible ties between Dallah AVCOand Al Qaeda terror network. Asked about these ties by NEWSWEEK, Dallah AVCO’s owner, Saudi billionaire Saleh Abdullah Kamel, responded, “This is not true at all.” U.S. intelligence suspects that wealthy Saudis are funding Islamic extremist groups. Asked if he supported terrorist groups, Kamel replied, “I am a real Muslim. Islam is the religion of peace.” (Arrested but released by Scotland Yard, al-Bayoumi is now living in England, where he remains under investigation by U.S. and British authorities.)