Putting Terror Inc. on Trial in New York
The case against bin Laden's alleged followers
Ali Mohamed is a man of many faces: Egyptian intelligence agent, U.S. Army paratrooper, FBI informant, aide to accused terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. Before bombs shattered U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Mohamed says, he scouted possible targets and personally brought bin Laden photos of Nairobi sites. "Bin Laden looked at the picture of the American Embassy," he claims, "and pointed to where a truck could go as a suicide bomber."
Mohamed, 48, is now poised to play a new role--as the Justice Department's star witness in the long-awaited trial of bin Laden's alleged followers starting this week in New York City. A sweeping 319-count indictment charges bin Laden and 20 others with a terrorist crime spree dating back to 1991. Among the charges: bombings, perjury, and conspiracy to murder Americans around the globe. The attacks include not only those on the U.S. embassies in 1998--which left over 220 dead and 5,000 injured--but also on U.S. troops in Somalia and Saudi Arabia. Although bin Laden remains at large (with a $5 million U.S. reward on his head), five of those indicted are now in U.S. custody--as is Mohamed, who pleaded guilty in October.
Infidels. October's suicide bombing of the USS Cole--tied by investigators to bin Laden's network--has added fresh urgency to the government's efforts to thwart the Saudi exile, now hiding in the badlands of Afghanistan. Led by Mohamed's likely testimony, the trial promises an unprecedented look at America's most wanted terrorist and at al-Qaeda, the fanatic organization that he guides. The indictment imparts an image of a paranoid, virulently anti-American network determined to purge Muslim lands of "infidels." To achieve this, bin Laden's men strove to obtain chemical and even nuclear weapons, according to prosecutors.
Proving a grand conspiracy may be difficult. Prosecuting international terrorists is often a delicate balance between law enforcement's need for evidence and the intelligence world's need to protect sources and methods. Through electronic eavesdropping, for example, U.S. officials say they quickly learned of bin Laden's involvement in the embassy blasts, but they are loath to introduce such sensitive records into court.
Holy war. Such concerns may explain the indictment's at-times tenuous links among the alleged terrorists. Prosecutors tie bin Laden to the conspiracy largely through his funding of al-Qaeda and his calls for holy war against the West. For some defendants, their work with al-Qaeda appears to be enough. For others, it is their work in his businesses in Sudan, from construction and agriculture to an investment house, which prosecutors call fronts for terror. Still others are tied to al-Qaeda's ruling council, where terrorist plots are said to be hatched.
With his guilty plea, Mohamed has now made the prosecution's job far easier. Under oath, Mohamed already has done more than tie bin Laden directly to the embassy bombings. He strongly hinted he could connect the dots to the five others in custody, who have all pleaded not guilty; four of them face trial January 3.
Two of the defendants, Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-Owali and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, face the death penalty if convicted, as prosecutors have the strongest evidence tying them to the embassy attacks. Al-Owali, a Saudi Arabian, allegedly filmed a statement before the bombing celebrating his "martyrdom," and rode in the pickup carrying the Nairobi bomb; he was found later in a hospital with keys to the truck's padlock nearby. Prosecutors say Khalfan Mohamed, a Tanzanian, helped grind up TNT and load the truck used in the Dar es Salaam bombing. A third defendant, Saddiq Odeh, a Jordanian, is allegedly tied to TNT and detonators used in Tanzania.
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