To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. Unholy Trinity By A N T H O N Y K I M E R Y, S E N I O R R E P O R T E R SOUTH OF THE AMERICAN BORDER, THREE TRANSNATIONAL THREATS ARE COMING TOGETHER IN AN ALLIANCE OF CONVENIENCE AND MUTUAL SUPPORT THAT MAY PRESENT A DANGER TO THE AMERICAN HOMELAND. IN OCTOBER 1988, AN URGENT CABLE WAS DISPATCHED BY A MIDDLE EAST CIA STATION BACK TO LANGLEY. IT WARNED OF A TERRORIST SMUGGLING ENTERPRISE IN PANAMA TIED TO THE LEADER OF FATAH’S SPECIAL OPERATIONS GROUP (FSOG), THE PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION’S SECURITY WING. Three “Lebanese Palestinian … operatives” under the command of Abdallah Abd Al Hamid Labib, the former FSOG leader who headed the 15 May terrorist group, were en route to Panama “to mount operations against US interests.” The classified cable warned that the terrorists were “traveling on genuine, true name Lebanese passports” and that they “plan[ned] to travel to the US” along with a “second team of three Palestinian operatives [who had] departed Beirut for Panama in early September.” The intelligence further cautioned that, “while in Panama, the six operatives … will attempt to infiltrate other operatives into the US by stowing them away on ships headed for US ports”—a mode of smuggling that terrorists continue to rely on today. The CIA had terribly good reason to be worried. The deadly 15 May organization was the creation of Soviettrained master bomb-maker Husayn Al Umari, who controlled a network of lethal terrorists. Umari was a colleague of Khalid Duhham Al Jawary, another master bomb-maker linked to Labib and 15 May. In 1973, Al Jawary entered the United States to work on a multi-bomb attack in New York City. The plot failed, and he fled the country. He was captured in Rome in 1991 and turned over to the FBI. In 1993, he was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. But last February he was released and deported to Sudan. Meanwhile, Al Umari, who ran his bomb-making empire out of Iraq until the March 2003 invasion, is the subject of an intense global manhunt. Twenty years ago, the CIA was concerned about the intentions of the 15 May-linked terrorists in Panama. Today, for the 24 August 2009 | Homeland Security Today Magazine This month’s issue is now available online at…