Imaginary Conversations and Random Thoughts

You may recall ice cream man Umer Hayat, 47, whose son Hamid, 22, went to Pakistan for a couple of years, spending six months of that time in an al-Qaida training camp before choosing America as the place he wanted to carry out his contribution to jihad.

They're both still under arrest, as are Muhammed Adil Khan and Shabbir Ahmed, both held on immigration violations. New revelations from federal court documents show that the probe has expanded. New info from the Sacramento Bee (annoying registration still required, try user name: Johnny_Newsie, password: lodicell):

- six other Lodi-area men attended terrorist training camps in Pakistan

- both Hayats claim Khan and Ahmed "came to the Lodi Muslim Mosque from Pakistan to groom students for terrorist training camps"

- chain of command, according to the Hayats: alleged Lodi-area jihadists "would take their direction" from Shabbir Ahmed, who answered to his former madrassah (religious school) teacher in Pakistan, Adil Khan. Khan, in turn, took orders from the operator of the terrorist training camp near Rawalpindi, Fazler Rehman - whose "boss" is Osama bin Laden

- Umer Hayat: "Adil Khan's purpose in America is to develop a U.S.-based madrassah which would serve the same purpose as the madrassahs in Pakistan."

- Hamid Hayat "advised he would get his Jihadi mission orders from Shabbir Ahmed, who would get the initial order from Muhammed Adil Khan."

- Hayat's father identified six additional members of the Lodi mosque trained in jihadi camps who "take direction from Shabbir Ahmed" and who were taught to target financial institutions and government buildings in the U.S.

Hayat father and son are currently charged with lying about their involvement with an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan, but officials are apparently working to build a case involving Patriot Act provisions regarding giving "material support" to foreign terrorist groups. This is the same sort of case that ended in convictions for six men in Lackawanna, New York, who attended al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan in April 2001. They all pled guilty in early 2003.

Prosecutors are asking for a postponement of the Hayat's August 23 trial date while they look for info on the Hayats, if any, in as many as forty government agencies.

Thanks to the Sacramento Bee for the heads up on this continuing story.

Actual Update: See why he's so great? Even on the road, Roger Simon is generous with the links. Thanks for coming by.

Actual Update II: I knew one of the subbing Jawas would get to this story eventually! Check out their take here, as well as Interested Participant, and Chad Evans at In The Bullpen. Check them out.

Actual Update III: Thanks again to all the many, many Simonites who've come to visit. Special thanks to the multi-talented Jamie Irons, who said "Thanks, Roger, for that excellent link." I'll just assume he's complimenting this post, and not Roger's ability to write a post with a link. If you hear otherwise, do me a favor and don't tell me. A guy's got to have some illusions to get him through the night, right?