◆ SpookStack

b6 b7C The July 4, 2o03, reporting by the Washington Post b7D agencies revealed that Charles Taylor sold diamonds to al Qaeda in 2000 and 2o0l, is questionable. The FBI has .conferred with FBI's Legal Attaches, the U.S. State Department, other'U.s. agencies, and several of our foreign law enforcement counterparts in order to determine the source of this information. Based on this search, the investigation into this issue is the BFp and they specifically deny having developed any evidence to suggest al Qaeda's involvement in purchasing diamonds from Charles Taylor or the region. The extensive investigation conducted by the FBI in this matter contradicts the allegations raised by the various media and BFP, the media allegations detailing Nassour's involvement with is accurate; however, there is no evidence to support the allegations that al Qaeda operatives were involved in this operation. The witness identifications of al Qaeda fuqitives wer made after 9/il. Furthermore, with the exception. only two witnesses identified al Qaeda fugitives as being involved in diamond trafficking in West Africa. The senior RuF official's initial identification was made only after the U.N. Special Court's investigators showed the witness an FBI Most Wanted Terrorist identification was after he claimed he viewed the Fbi's Most Wanted Poster on the Internet. Even though the two witnesses, the former senior RuF official, were involved in the same diamond trafficking operations during the same time frame, they identified different al Qaeda fugitives. Both witnesses based their identification on a one-time sighting of the individuals they later thought were al Qaeda fugitives. These witnesses did not have any further information concerning the individuals they saw and they were not aware if they purchased diamonds. Based on the investigation conducted, it is believed was mistaken in his identity of the two al Qaeda fugitives and was referring to Souley Guisse and haey Aq ut aybnoaq sanee asanebaund omn aan 'yeeuay peweynee the two al Qaeda fugitives identified but did identify a. third al Qaeda fugitive Sheikh Ahmed Salim Sweden. The former RUF. official met the man, he now believes to on only one occasion, and he added that this person left Liberia without consummating any diamond deals. The former RUF official could not provide any further information, and Balde, after being shown a photograph of Sweden, denied ever seeing him. No. witness confirmed seeing the al Qaeda fugitive Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah. 12