Indonesia: December 2, 2004

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The trial of accused Islamic terrorist leader Abu Bakar Bashir has produced witnesses that place Bashir in a Philippines terrorist training camp. Bashir also received an invitation to visit Afghanistan (before the 911) and visit with Osama Bin Laden. Bashir was the head of an Islamic boarding school, where he taught an intolerant form of Islam. Such schools have been established and sustained by billions of dollars of charitable contributions from wealthy Saudi Arabians. This has been going on for two decades, and people like Bashir have taken advantage of it. Bashir denies that he is the head of Jemaah Islamiyah, a local version of al Qaeda. That may be true, but he does appear to have been in the middle of many terrorist plans and attacks.