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Posted on 06/11/2002 7:06:16 AM PDT by MississippiMan
'Dirty Bomb' Suspect Not Cooperating, Wolfowitz Says
Tue Jun 11, 8:39 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A suspected American al Qaeda operative accused of plotting a radioactive "dirty bomb" attack on the United States has not yet given authorities information on his associates, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said on Tuesday.
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"He came into this country with the intention, by various means, not just the dirty bomb idea, of killing hundreds and maybe thousands of Americans," he said on CBS' "The Early Show."
Detained by the FBI ( news - web sites) in Chicago on May 8, al Muhajir was declared an "enemy combatant" by President Bush ( news - web sites) over the weekend and transferred to a naval brig in South Carolina.
But Wolfowitz said the former gang member had not provided information to investigators.
"To the best of my knowledge he hasn't cooperated at all so far," Wolfowitz said on NBC's "Today Show."
"He clearly had associates and one of the things we want to ask him about is who those associates were and how we can track them down," he added on CBS.
Wolfowitz said it was clear to investigators, however, that al Muhajir had had "a great deal of contact" with the al Qaeda network of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites), and that "he was clearly taking a great deal of instruction."
Authorities said on Monday al Muhajir had trained with al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan ( news - web sites) and was in the planning stages of launching a so-called dirty bomb attack, which combines a conventional bomb with radioactive material, somewhere in the United States.
Washington blames bin Laden's network for the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington that killed about 3,000 people.
Wolfowitz said al Muhajir apparently planned to get radioactive material for the bomb from somewhere within the United States.
"This man actually thought he could get them from places like university labs," he said. "I have no idea how difficult that would be but there is nuclear material around in a lot places."
The New York-born Jose Padilla, 31. who changed his name to Abdullah al Muhajir, was being held by the Defense Department as an "enemy combatant," which under the rules of war allows him to be held until the end of the conflict and questioned without an attorney present.
Civil rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union ( news - web sites) have criticized the detention and said he should be tried in U.S. court.
"What we're about here is preventing," Wolfowitz said. "Preventing him from doing further acts, preventing those about whom he may have knowledge from doing further acts."
If authorities decide to prosecute al Muhajir he will be transferred back to civil courts, Wolfowitz said.
Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American-born Saudi national detained in Afghanistan, is a second U.S. citizen known to be held by the Defense Department.
John Walker Lindh, another American captured while fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan, is facing trail in a federal court in Virginia. He is in the custody of the Justice Department ( news - web sites).
Wolfowitz spoke from a spot outside the Pentagon ( news - web sites) where one of the hijacked airliners crashed Sept. 11, to note that workers had almost completed reconstruction efforts.
Poised to lay the final piece of limestone, he said officials planned to also place a time capsule to honor those killed in the attack.
"It's also a way of honoring the incredible determination and resolve of the workers who put this building back together so quickly," he said on CBS.
"I think its symbolic of the resolve of the American people to prevail over people like Abdullah al Muhajir."
Seems to me he OUGHT to know how difficult it would be. Or if not, he shouldn't let on that he doesn't know. This statement doesn't inspire a heap of confidence.
Quote of the year.
Have you -- has everyone -- here gone mad?
We didn't tear up the Constitution for Timothy McVeigh and he actually did a crime! He still got a lawyer and a trial...
If we are going to be so quick to toss aside a citizen's Constitutional rights, then Richard Jewell would be rotting away in some cell right now...
It's unthinkable that a US citizen would be held without a lawyer and without due process. It's DISGUSTING that this is happening with a republican administration.
Today, this guy is turned into a non-citizen for "plotting" terror. Tomorrow, it will be some poor schmuck accused of "plotting" to picket an abortion clinic that gets tossed into a hole a buried.
Just as a reminder, let's look back some 2,000 years. The Apostle Paul was arrested in Jerusalem by anti-Christian activists. He was about to be tortured and possibly killed.
Acs 22:25-29 --
And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?"
When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, "Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman."
Then the commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?"
He said, "Yes."
The commander answered, "With a large sum I obtained this citizenship."
And Paul said, "But I was born a citizen."
Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
We have achieved a level of political oppression unheard of even in ancient Rome!
This is what America has become. Citizenship has been tossed aside. Today it's this nut case. Tomorrow it might be you or me.
-- KotS
Until the end of the conflict huh? Once he understands that this is a conflict with no end, he'll talk. These people are cowards at their core so he'll talk.
This crime -- to plot with Al Qaeda to detonate a 'dirty bomb' -- if true, is certainly High Treason.
There is torture, and there is Torture.
"Is it safe?, Is it safe?"
No. Too young. If this were 30 or 40 years ago he'd be the type.
Abortion clinic protestors aren’t a clear and present danger to civilization organized and funded by a foreign paramilitary force that has declared war on us. Your analogy is unthinking. Your judgement is ludicrous.
LOL,LOL, my thoughts exactly. Fire up OlD Sparky.
Both must be done in an open court of Law.
I respect much of the results of their work. Overall, they may actually be good for the country. And If they spent half as much time standing up for the second amendment as the first in the name of civil liberties, I'd come closer to respect their judgment.
Absolutely. Perhaps part of the evidence might need to be kept off the air, since it would compromise HUMINT resources or ELINT techniques, but besides those censored portions, the balance of the trial or proceeding must be public.
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