The FBI's paid informant in the terrorism trial of Hamid & Umer Hayat told agents shortly after 9-11 that he had seen Ayman al-Zawahri and Ahmed Mohammed Hamed Ali at the mosque in Lodi in 1999, which earlier news reports indicate spurred the FBI investigation of the small CA town's muslim community. Zawahri is reputed to be #2 in the al Qaeda hierarchy & both men were wanted at the time for their roles in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Africa.

FBI Special Agent Rachel Pifer testified Wednesday that after investigating Khan's claim, she concluded it "probably was not true."   {snip}

Much of the government's case against the Hayats rests on secretly recorded conversations the pair had with Khan in 2003. Khan wore a concealed recording device while working as an FBI informant.   {snip}

Two FBI agents wrote, in a report of an interview with Khan on Oct. 17, 2001, that he "could still picture the priest-like al Zawahri standing up in front of the audience (at the Lodi mosque), speaking Urdu, and lecturing about Allah." That interview was conducted in Khan's apartment in Bend, Ore.

The agents stumbled upon Khan, who at the time was managing a Circle K mini mart in Bend, in the course of an unrelated investigation. He was quickly signed up as a paid informant and has since received nearly $230,000 in salary and expenses.

One of the agents who discovered him, Eric Barnhart, was the defense's first witness Wednesday, but he testified he doesn't remember much about his encounters with Khan.

Under questioning by Umer Hayat's attorney, Johnny Griffin III, the agent said he doesn't recall Khan telling him about seeing the two top terrorists.

Griffin showed the agent the report on the interview, which Barnhart helped prepare, but he said that didn't refresh his memory.

Asked if he later told an agent in Sacramento about the Khan interview, Barnhart again testified that he doesn't remember.

"Did you advise your superior immediately after the interview?" Griffin asked.

"I don't recall, sir," Barnhart replied. "I don't recall what importance I attached to it."

"Sir, do you consider yourself a competent agent?" a frustrated Griffin then asked.

"Yes, sir," the agent said.

Griffin asked Barnhart if he had been coached by prosecutors not to recall what Khan had told him about al Zawahri. He denied that had occurred.

When Griffin questioned Pifer, she too could not recall details of her early dealings with Khan.

Shown a report on her first meeting with Khan in a Sacramento park on Nov. 15, 2001, Pifer said, "I don't recall, but that's what I wrote, so that's what happened."

Griffin asked if her poor memory was brought on by prosecutors' coaching. Pifer answered that prosecutors told her to tell the truth.

Griffin, a former state and federal prosecutor, said outside of court: "At no time in my entire career have I witnessed such a spectacle as two seasoned FBI agents simultaneously afflicted with an inability to recall significant events."   link

". . . the more educated you are, the more indoctrinated you are. After all, propaganda is largely directed towards the privileged." -Noam Chomsky