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FROM THREAT TO THREAT
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operation, Jordanian police arrested Abu Hoshar and 15 others and informed
Washington.
4
One of the 16, Raed Hijazi, had been born in California to Palestinian
parents; after spending his childhood in the Middle East, he had returned to
northern California, taken refuge in extremist Islamist beliefs, and then made
his way to Abu Zubaydah's Khaldan camp in Afghanistan, where he learned the
fundamentals of guerrilla warfare. He and his younger brother had been
recruited by Abu Hoshar into a loosely knit plot to attack Jewish and Ameri-
can targets in Jordan.
5
After late 1996, when Abu Hoshar was arrested and jailed, Hijazi moved
back to the United States, worked as a cabdriver in Boston, and sent money
back to his fellow plotters.After Abu Hoshar's release, Hijazi shuttled between
Boston and Jordan gathering money and supplies. With Abu Hoshar, he
recruited in Turkey and Syria as well as Jordan; with Abu Zubaydah's assistance,
Abu Hoshar sent these recruits to Afghanistan for training.
6
In late 1998, Hijazi and Abu Hoshar had settled on a plan.They would first
attack four targets: the SAS Radisson Hotel in downtown Amman, the border
crossings from Jordan into Israel, and two Christian holy sites, at a time when all
these locations were likely to be thronged with American and other tourists.
Next,they would target a local airport and other religious and cultural sites.Hijazi
and Abu Hoshar cased the intended targets and sent reports to Abu Zubaydah,
who approved their plan. Finally, back in Amman from Boston, Hijazi gradually
accumulated bomb-making materials, including sulfuric acid and 5,200 pounds
of nitric acid, which were then stored in an enormous subbasement dug by the
plotters over a period of two months underneath a rented house.
7
In early 1999, Hijazi and Abu Hoshar contacted Khalil Deek, an American
citizen and an associate of Abu Zubaydah who lived in Peshawar, Pakistan, and
who, with Afghanistan-based extremists, had created an electronic version of a
terrorist manual, the Encyclopedia of Jihad. They obtained a CD-ROM of this
encyclopedia from Deek.
8
In June, with help from Deek,Abu Hoshar arranged
with Abu Zubaydah for Hijazi and three others to go to Afghanistan for added
training in handling explosives. In late November 1999, Hijazi reportedly swore
before Abu Zubaydah the bayat to Bin Ladin, committing himself to do any-
thing Bin Ladin ordered. He then departed for Jordan and was at a waypoint
in Syria when Abu Zubaydah sent Abu Hoshar the message that prompted Jor-
danian authorities to roll up the whole cell.
9
After the arrests of Abu Hoshar and 15 others, the Jordanians tracked Deek
to Peshawar, persuaded Pakistan to extradite him, and added him to their catch.
Searches in Amman found the rented house and, among other things, 71 drums
of acids, several forged Saudi passports, detonators, and Deek's Encyclopedia. Six
of the accomplices were sentenced to death. In custody, Hijazi's younger
brother said that the group's motto had been "The season is coming, and bod-
ies will pile up in sacks."
10
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