This guy arrested is Hispanic...Jose Padilla is his given name... U.S. Arrests American Accused of Planning 'Dirty Bomb' Attack
By DAVID STOUT
WASHINGTON, June 10 — Attorney General John Ashcroft said today that American authorities had arrested a home-grown terrorist — an American citizen who became an Al Qaeda member — and thereby thwarted a radioactive-bomb attack on the United States.
"We have captured a known terrorist who was exploring a plan to build and explode a radiological dispersion device, or `dirty bomb,' in the United States," Mr. Ashcroft said in a televised announcement from Moscow.
Mr. Ashcroft said the suspect, Abdullah Al-Mujahir, who is also known as Jose Padilla, was detained on May 8 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago after flying there from Pakistan. The attorney general said that as an American citizen with a United States passport, the suspect had been able to travel more freely than other terrorists.
When the authorities determined what Mr. Al-Mujahir was up to, they transferred him from the custody of the Justice Department to that of the Defense Department as an "enemy combatant," Mr. Ashcroft said. His remarks strongly suggested that the suspect would be tried by a military tribunal rather than in a civilian court.
"We have acted with legal authority both under the laws of war and clear Supreme Court precedent, which establishes that the military may detain a United States citizen who has joined the enemy and has entered our country to carry out hostile acts," Mr. Ashcroft said.
At a news conference in Washington later, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul F. Wolfowitz said that Mr. Al-Mujahir was being held "under the laws of war."
"For this reason," he added, "Jose Padillo has been turned over to the Department of Defense." The suspect is being held at a Navy center in Charleston, S.C.
"Our No. 1 priority is to defend the American people from future attacks." Mr. Wolfowitz said. "To do that we must root out those who are planning such attacks. We must find them, and we must stop them, and when we have them in our control we must be able to question them about plans for future attacks."
Mr. Wolfowitz said no specific target had been selected by the suspect. Mr. Al-Mujahir had indicated some knowledge of the Washington area, Mr. Wolfowitz said, but he emphasized that "there was not an actual plan; we stopped this man in the initial planning stages."
A "dirty bomb" is designed to not only inflict heavy casualties and physical damage from its initial blast but to cause widespread death and injury later on from lingering radioactive effects. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, high-level American officials have said they are concerned about terrorists' trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including atomic weapons.
Mr. Ashcroft offered a few sparse details of the suspect. The attorney general said Mr. Al-Mujahir, or Mr. Padilla, was in prison in the United States in the early 1990's and upon his release traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan. "On several occasions in 2001, he met with senior Al Qaeda officials," Mr. Ashcroft said.
"While in Afghanistan and Pakistan," the attorney general said, the suspect "trained with the enemy, including studying how to wire explosive devices and researching radiological-dispersion devices."
Al Qaeda leaders recognized their new member's value as an American citizen who could travel freely in the United States without attracting attention, Mr. Ashcroft said.
The attorney general, in Russia for meetings with officials of that country, said suspicions arose about Mr. Mujahir's plans from "multiple, independent, corroborating sources."
In March, Abu Zubaydah, reputed to be a top Al Qaeda official, was arrested in Pakistan. American officials said in late April that he had told his questioners that the terrorist group was close to building a crude nuclear device and might try to smuggle one into the United States. Specifically, American officials said at the time, Mr. Zubaydah had told interrogators that Al Qaeda was very interested in building a "dirty bomb."
"Dirty bombs aren't that hard to make, unfortunately," an official said at the time.
Mr. Ashcroft said the United States government had been tracking Mr. Al-Mujahir before he flew from Pakistan to Chicago.
One official told The Associated Press today that the suspect was a former Chicago street gang member who converted to Islam after getting out of prison.
The attorney general emphasized that the apprehension had occurred because of excellent cooperation among the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Department.
The emphasis on cooperation was significant in view of the recent revelations of communication breakdowns among various agencies investigating possible terrorist activities before Sept. 11. |
