Off topic -- details on "dirty bomb" suspect. (source : AP News).
June 11, 2002
Padilla Was Abu Zubaydah's Protege
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:00 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jose Padilla, the alleged American al-Qaida operative, became a protege of top Osama bin Laden lieutenant Abu
Zubaydah late last year, even as the war on terrorism raged around them in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said.
But Abu Zubaydah fell into U.S. hands in late March, before Padilla could carry out any attacks, officials said. The prisoner became one of
several sources of information that led U.S. authorities to Padilla.
Officials say Padilla's story is instructive: It shows al-Qaida was training operatives and plotting attacks even during U.S. military strikes in
Afghanistan. But the arrest also demonstrates the improved understanding the CIA and FBI have of al-Qaida's operations, officials said.
Padilla, an American who is also known as Abdullah al Muhajir, met with Abu Zubaydah in Afghanistan sometime after the Sept. 11 attacks
on the United States, said a U.S. official familiar with Padilla's movements.
The Saudi-born Palestinian, considered one of bin Laden's top operational chiefs, put Padilla into explosives training in Pakistan, the official
said.
Padilla's usefulness to al-Qaida came from his American roots, officials said.
``Al-Qaida officials knew that as a U.S. citizen, holding a valid U.S. passport, (Padilla) would be able to travel freely in the United States
without drawing attention to himself,'' Attorney General John Ashcroft said Monday.
The U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Padilla traveled extensively with Abu Zubaydah before the al-Qaida leader
sent him to Lahore, Pakistan, to work with an associate on constructing a dirty bomb, a weapon that disperses harmful radiation but doesn't
detonate a nuclear explosion.
Padilla's rise is vintage Abu Zubaydah: the al-Qaida leader would single out promising candidates for terrorist attacks, and elevate them for
special training, officials said.
It doesn't appear the dirty bomb plot was far along. Officials said the bomb would have probably targeted Washington.
In March 2002, Abu Zubaydah sent Padilla to Karachi, Pakistan, to meet with al-Qaida leaders, whom officials declined to identify. They
discussed the dirty bomb plan, as well as plots to bomb gas stations and hotel rooms, officials said.
That month, U.S. officials said intelligence pointed to an increase in the threat of al-Qaida terrorist attacks. It appears Abu Zubaydah's and
Padilla's activities contributed to that spike, one official said.
At the end of March, U.S. and Pakistani officials found Abu Zubaydah in Faisalabad, Pakistan. He was shot by Pakistani authorities as he
tried to flee, and turned over to U.S. custody.
Since then he's been talking to his American interrogators, although officials acknowledge they don't believe everything he says. Officials also
recovered his notebook, which contained information referring to other plots in the works.
Officials declined to detail the other sources that led to Padilla's arrest, or say whether Abu Zubaydah volunteered the information on Padilla,
or was somehow tricked into giving it up. Sometime before his arrest on May 8, Padilla was arrested by Pakistani authorities on immigration
charges but allowed to escape. U.S. agents followed him to the United States, where he was arrested, according to a law enforcement
source.
Other threats from Abu Zubaydah have been publicized: He was the key source for the April threat to banks in the northeastern United
States. He claimed al-Qaida was building a radiological weapon -- possibly providing the information that led officials to Padilla. In May,
Abu Zubaydah suggested New York monuments were a target.
Officials have said threats linked to Abu Zubaydah are only publicized when they are confirmed by other information.
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press |
