TERRORIST HOAX -- Canada Bashing Needless

The following is excerpted from a site which i cannot link (got it through aol without a direct site link):

WASHINGTON (Jan. 7) - The FBI has called off a nationwide search for five foreign-born men amid questions about the reliability of the tipster who told authorities the men were smuggled into the country last month.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity Tuesday, said the names of the men and their photos will be removed from an FBI Web site. A message to local police agencies around the country telling them the search was off was to be transmitted Tuesday, the official said.

The FBI issued the alert, along with photos, on Dec. 29, seeking the public's help in locating the five men who were believed to have entered the country around Christmas Eve. The tip came from Michael John Hamdani, an accused immigrant smuggler jailed in Canada since October.

At the time, the FBI acknowledged it was not certain the names and birth dates released with the photos were correct, or that the men entered the country.

That concern was underscored last week when a Pakistani jeweler, Mohammed Asghar, came forward to say his photo had been wrongly included among the wanted group and speculated that it might have been stolen by document forgers.

Despite misgivings, the law enforcement official said the FBI decided it was better to alert the public than keep the information secret. The official said the tip from Hamdani in some ways matched up with other intelligence officials had received pertaining to document smuggling.

However, the FBI last week decided against releasing another batch of 14 names and faces provided by Hamdani because they were of dubious quality.

Canadian charges of forging passports and traveler's checks were dropped against Hamdani last week, clearing the way for him to be taken to New York to face 1996 forgery charges. Hamdani is charged with trafficking in forged travel and identification documents.

Law enforcement officials say Hamdani might have fabricated the names in a bid to receive a lighter sentence in the U.S. case.

Having Hamdani in U.S. custody will enable authorities to question him more thoroughly about an alleged smuggling ring that provided phony passports, fake traveler's checks and other documents.

The FBI has been extensively questioning people in Pakistan, where a sophisticated document forgery ring has been operating, officials say.

AP-NY-01-07-03 0943EST

A lot of Canada bashing has gone on, as a result of the absurd contention that the Canajuns were somehow responsible for the ability of terrorists to cross US borders. I hope we can dispense with that now.