Kansas City man mistaken for alleged 9/11 terrorist

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- All Ryan Allen wanted was a Chevrolet Cavalier.

Instead, a computer lent him a brand new identity as one of the alleged masterminds of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

On April 10, when Van Chevrolet in Kansas City checked his credit, Allen's Social Security number came up as belonging to Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, described by federal authorities as a senior al-Qaida operative suspected of helping to coordinate the September 11 attacks.


[url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Midwest/04/22/identity.mistake.ap/index.html]http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Midwest/04/22/identity.mistake.ap/index.html[/ url]

The dealership called police, who called the FBI, which said the matter did not have a high priority because al-Shibh was arrested two years ago in Pakistan, Allen said.

Nevertheless, the dealership refused to sell to Allen. A manager at the dealership declined to comment Wednesday.

Allen has contacted the U.S. Treasury, the Social Security office, his credit union and lawyers. The only thing he knows for sure is that no one has used his Social Security number to open new accounts in his name.

He says he has received no clear explanation of how his number could be connected to al-Shibh. And he said Treasury officials could not assure him the number wasn't used in other ways or that the problem would not recur


here's a picture of Ramzi Bin al-Shibh :



I'd really like to see a picture of Ryan Allen, I'll bet he doesn't look of middle eastern decent.

The Treasury Dept also told him that the name might have come up because the consonanst are the same as al-Shibh, Allen said that "little Bo Peeps name is closer to his name than al-Shibh.

I can't believe that the dealership still refused to sell him the car, even after it was proven that he was not a terrorist.