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#64413 - 05/07/04 08:23 AM
Interesting news report re: Madrid bombings
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Executive Member
Registered: 09/06/03
Posts: 399
Loc: London
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I saw this on the BBC website today. Extremely interesting:
FBI agents have arrested a lawyer from the US state of Oregon in connection with the Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people.
Muslim-convert Brandon Mayfield, from Portland, is the first known person in the US to be held over the attacks.
Newsweek magazine reported that the man's fingerprints had been found on a bag that had carried explosives used in the attacks.
Spain has brought provisional charges against more than a dozen suspects.
The 11 March bombings, Spain's worst terrorist attacks, are believed to have been the work of Islamic militants with links to al-Qaeda.
Mr Mayfield, 37, is being held as a material witness in the case, but there was no officials statement on his alleged connection with the bombings.
'No connection'
Newsweek said the lawyer had done child custody work for one of six Oregon Muslims convicted last year of trying to travel to Afghanistan to help al-Qaeda.
Reports say authorities searched Mr Mayfield's home and office.
Mr Mayfield's brother told Reuters news agency his brother had "no connection to terrorist attacks".
"I think the reason they are holding him is because he is of the Muslim faith and because he is not super happy with the Bush administration," he said.
"So if that's a crime, well you can burn half of us."
_________________________
An English Bookseller in Madrid
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#64414 - 05/07/04 08:52 AM
Re: Interesting news report re: Madrid bombings
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Executive Member
Registered: 05/06/00
Posts: 9080
Loc: Madrid, Spain (was Columbus, O...
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Nothing surprises me anymore. And what's more, while it may simply be because this story is SO fresh, there's not a word about this on the front page of USATODAY.com and is the 4th "side story" on CNN.com (article HERE ). From the CNN article: According to the sources, Mayfield's fingerprints were found on a plastic bag with bomb-related material that had been connected to the Madrid attack.
The sources said Mayfield, 37, is being called a material witness, which means he can be held and not charged.
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#64415 - 05/07/04 12:47 PM
Re: Interesting news report re: Madrid bombings
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Executive Member
Registered: 05/06/00
Posts: 9080
Loc: Madrid, Spain (was Columbus, O...
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Got kind of quiet here all of a sudden. Hmmmm...Interesting....
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Visit BarcelonaMan.com for Barcelona information, Transportation, Lodging, & much MUCH more! Curious about what could POSSIBLY be inside the brain of MadridMan? Visit MadridMan's Madrid Blog
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#64416 - 05/07/04 01:16 PM
Re: Interesting news report re: Madrid bombings
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Executive Member
Registered: 08/19/01
Posts: 1664
Loc: U.S.A.
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Interesting, indeed, Madridman. Here is an article that may shed more information about this topic:
American Held in Madrid Bombings
By Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 7, 2004; 12:00 PM
The FBI detained an Oregon man yesterday after his fingerprints were identified on evidence connected to the March 11 train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people, according to a law enforcement source.
Justice Department prosecutors and FBI officials last night would not name the man or even confirm that he had been taken into custody. The man, however, was identified as Brandon Mayfield of Beaverton, Ore., by his wife, Mona, who talked to reporters outside their home. His detention is the first in the United States connected to the Madrid bombings of four commuter trains.
Newsweek magazine, which first reported the story on its Web site yesterday, and other news media said that Battle, a convert to Islam, was detained as a material witness in a grand jury investigation, a tactic law enforcement agents have employed since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The tactic allows them to hold a person without bringing formal charges.
The magazine, citing unnamed sources, said that "Mayfield's fingerprints were found on a bag containing bomb material connected to the Spanish attack" but that officials remained uncertain about any role Mayfield may have had.
A spokesman for the Spanish Interior Ministry confirmed that the fingerprint was among evidence found in relation to the March 11 attacks. Spanish investigators could not identify the fingerprint, so it was distributed to other countries, including the United States.
Authorities there identified it as belonging to the attorney in Portland. They arrested him and are handling the whole investigation of him, according to the spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the usual practice in the Spanish government.
The spokesman was unable to clarify contradictory information of whether the print was found on a plastic bag or one of the detonators.
At present, the Spanish government doesn't know if it will request the American's extradition. It depends on results of the FBI investigation, the spokesman said.
So they have not stated for sure whether this man's alleged fingerprints are on the bag or the detonator! How is the Spanish press covering this news story?
_________________________
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
--St. Augustine (354-430)
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#64417 - 05/07/04 05:36 PM
Re: Interesting news report re: Madrid bombings
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Executive Member
Registered: 12/19/01
Posts: 819
Loc: Madrid
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Booklady et. al. ... Here´s a link to the article that appeared in today´s El Mundo . Article cut and pasted below. El Mundo 7 mayo 2004 EFE Las huellas del detenido de EEUU estaban en la bolsa de la furgoneta de Alcalá de Henares MADRID.- Las huellas dactilares del abogado estadounidense Brandon Mayfield, detenido por el FBI en el estado norteamericano de Oregón, estaban en una bolsa hallada en la furgoneta localizada en Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) pocas horas después de los atentados del 11 de marzo. Según han informado fuentes de la investigación, las huellas de Mayfield fueron encontradas en una bolsa que contenía varios detonadores como los empleados en los artefactos explosivos que fueron colocados en los trenes que estallaron en las estaciones de Santa Eugenia, El Pozo y Atocha. En este vehículo, que había sido robado a su propietario en el barrio madrileño de Tetuán, se halló también una cinta con versículos del Corán. Mayfield fue arrestado en la ciudad de Portland por agentes de la Oficina Federal de Investigaciones (FBI), según ha informado la revista norteamericana Newsweek, que afirmaba que el abogado está retenido como "testigo material" de los hechos en el marco de la investigación de un Gran Jurado. La familia sostiene su inocencia La familia del abogado estadounidense ha defendido la incocencia del arrestado. "Sé que es inocente. Todos saben que es inocente, y esperamos su liberación pronto", ha declarado su esposa, Mona Mayfield, a las cadenas locales de televisión. Por su parte, la madrastra del detenido, Ruth Alexander, ha considerado que la detención "es totalmente increíble".
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#64418 - 05/07/04 09:57 PM
Re: Interesting news report re: Madrid bombings
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Member
Registered: 01/25/01
Posts: 1235
Loc: Rockford, IL/Milton, WI, USA
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Reality says that if his fingerprints are found on a detonator, he's as culpable as the rest of the people who were arrested. If his prints were found on just a plastic bag, it may take a bit of time to determine if he was culpable, or knowledgeable about what transpired, or was about to transpire. In either case, how can you justify turning the man loose so he could bolt into Canada, and into a safe haven? Especially when he may have information that could help lead to the arrest of others who were involved in the incident?
Since the FBI and Spanish government are being mum about where the fingerprint was actually found, it's all speculation as to whether or not he should be held or not, or is innocent, or not.
But one thing is a fact. He obviously had something to do with someone who was directly or indirectly involved in the bombings, and that should be warrant enough for anyone to find out how much he knows. It would be a stretch to believe he's just an innocent bystander.
Wolf
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#64419 - 05/08/04 01:36 AM
Re: Interesting news report re: Madrid bombings
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Full Member
Registered: 02/04/04
Posts: 130
Loc: Seattle, WA USA
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Don't be so sure about your "facts". It is a little hard to know if the man obviously did something or not, since he is being held incommunicado, with no formal charges, and no ability to defend himself to the press.
According to an interview with his wife by a local paper, only a partial fingerprint was found. She also says that no one in the family (her husband, her, their children) has left the country (US) in the last 10 years. If her statements are correct, then his level of involvement with the Madrid bombings, if any, is not at all obvious.
I, for one, am not making any conclusions about the man's guilt or innocence at this time.
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#64420 - 05/08/04 10:53 AM
Re: Interesting news report re: Madrid bombings
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Executive Member
Registered: 05/06/00
Posts: 9080
Loc: Madrid, Spain (was Columbus, O...
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vicki wrote: I, for one, am not making any conclusions about the man's guilt or innocence at this time. Unfortunately, we live in a world/culture that socially convicts a person BEFORE (s)he's been put to trial. In many people's minds, if you're even accused of some wrongdoing then you MUST be guilty.  If this guy is NOT somehow linked to the Madrid bombings then it's one of those amazing coincidence considering his known association with terrorists. As a lawyer, he defended one accused terrorists in a child custody case. Saludos, MadridMan
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#64421 - 05/09/04 02:39 AM
Re: Interesting news report re: Madrid bombings
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Member
Registered: 06/07/00
Posts: 267
Loc: Sedona, Arizona
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It's interesting that this guy's fingerprint came up at all. Even if Interpol has eight points on the print, and the FBI has 15 points on the print, it's still interesting that this guy's name even came up.
Remember, as an ex-officer of the ARMY, this guy's DNA is on file with the government, especially since he has security clearances. Given this alone the FBI probably has better intel about the guy than Interpol.
Never been to Spain? There are such things as fake ID's. Or, maybe he acquired detonators and mailed them to Spain somehow and that's how his print appeared?
Also very interesting is that he was the lawyer for one of the 'Seattle 7' muslim guys that were porting explosives and funds between Canada and the USA.
I agree, though, this guy is innocent until proven guilty. But the fact that his name came up, and a few other items about his past are associated with known militants, is pretty uncanny. Thanks for enduring my speculation...
_________________________
:wq!
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#64422 - 05/09/04 04:41 PM
Re: Interesting news report re: Madrid bombings
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Full Member
Registered: 02/04/04
Posts: 130
Loc: Seattle, WA USA
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Ok, first of all, it's the "Portland 7" not the "Seattle 7." They were charged with conspiracy - training with the Taliban, and trying to travel and join the Taliban in Afghanistan...not with transporting explosives, nor with planning attacks agains civilians or non-military targets.
Secondly, Spanish authorities (reported in El Pais and others) are reporting they only find an 8 point match for the fingerprints. The FBI reports a 15 point match. As a frame of reference, the FBI considers a conclusive match to be 24 points or more.
Thirdly, the fact that he took a child custody case, for someone who at that point (2002) had not been convicted of conspiracy (conviction was in 2003), is a tangential relationship. The (now) convicted conspirator had/has the right to an attorney in the child custody case. What has been made public so far, is not as you say "a few known items of his past" that are associated with militants. It is one item.
Finally, look at truly speculative nature of the rest of your comments. There are plenty of vulnerable targets in this country, not to mention in the Pacific Northwest. Why travel to Spain, where he would not blend in? Why mail detonators from Portland? Haven't Spanish authorities already determined that the detonators came from inside Spain?
I'm not saying it is an impossible connection, but why is all this speculation towards the man's guilt, when he could just as easily be innocent? So far, the trend is towards a weaker case against this guy, not stronger. Maybe the US government has other compelling evidence against the guy, or maybe it is just a claim of evidence that does not exist. We just don't know, do we?
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