Despite F.B.I. Memo, Students in Phoenix Went Unchecked
Two men have come forward saying they had mixed success in trying to point Mr. Williams of the F.B.I. toward Islamic militants in the Phoenix area in the late 1990's.

One, Harry Joseph Ellen, 54, a Phoenix businessman who became a Muslim, said he had told Agent Williams about a conversation he had in late 1996 or early 1997 with a mysterious visitor from Algeria. The visitor identified himself as an instructor of commercial pilots, and he met in Phoenix with various Muslim men.

A second man, Aukai Collins, 28, an American who converted to Islam and lost a leg helping militants fight the Russians in Chechnya, told ABC News on Thursday that he gave the F.B.I. extensive reports on Islamic activity in Phoenix from 1996 to 1999.

Mr. Collins has written a book, "My Jihad," in which he says he met Mr. Hanjour in Phoenix and found him to be a nonreligious drifter who drank and chased women. Mr. Collins added in an interview today that he felt that F.B.I. agents had spent too much time watching the local mosque. "The real troublemakers avoided the mosque," he said.

Mr. Ellen and Mr. Collins said they had quarreled with Agent Williams and quit helping him. F.B.I. officials said today they had questions about both men's credibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/25/national/25PHOE.html