Clarke book has errors about arrest of Ahmed Ressam

Was it "shaking trees" or shaking knees that led to the arrest of convicted millennium terrorist Ahmed Ressam? As former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke tells it in his book "Against All Enemies," an international alert to be on the lookout for terrorists played a role in Ressam's capture at a Port Angeles ferry terminal in December 1999, his car loaded with bomb-making material.

But national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice, in her testimony before the Sept. 11 commission last week, discounted Clarke's version and credited a savvy U.S. customs agent, Diana Dean.

Dean stopped Ressam because "she sniffed something about Ressam. They saw that something was wrong" — not because of some security alert, Rice testified.

The debate over Ressam's capture encapsulates the controversy between Clarke and the Bush administration over which president — Clinton or Bush — took the threat of al-Qaida more seriously, and whether either administration did enough before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Disputing Clarke's claim, Rice testified customs agents "weren't actually on alert."

At least one of the agents who helped apprehend Ressam sides with Rice's version of events.

Moreover, others involved in the Ressam case say Clarke's book contains factual errors and wrongly implies national-security officials knew of Ressam's plan to set a bomb at Los Angeles International Airport long before they actually did.

"I've found the exchange over Ressam one of the more interesting aspects of this debate," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow in foreign-policy studies and homeland security at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. "This whole 'shaking-the-trees' concept has become fascinating," he said, referring to the notion that law enforcement was on the lookout for terrorists.

Ressam's arrest came on President Clinton's watch. Early that month, Clarke wrote in his book, the United States had learned terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden were planning as many as 15 attacks on Americans worldwide as the millennium approached.

Clarke, who worked for both Clinton and Bush, said he convened the Counter-terrorism Security Group, which he chaired, and sent out warnings both overseas and to local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies around the country to be on heightened alert for suspicious activity. "And then we waited," he wrote.

"The break came in an unlikely location," Clarke wrote, describing Ressam's arrest by customs agents during a "routine screening."

According to a former customs agent who was involved, Clarke's version, laid out in one chapter of his book, wrongly implies they were on "heightened alert" and somehow looking for terrorists.

"No," was the terse reply of Michael Chapman, one of the customs agents who arrested Ressam, when asked if he was aware of a security alert.

"We were on no more alert than we're always on. That is a matter of public record," said Chapman, now a Clallam County commissioner.

A review of the trial testimony of Chapman, Dean and two other U.S. customs agents involved in the arrest turned up no reference to a security alert.

Rather, it supports Chapman's assessment that agents thought Ressam was smuggling drugs when they opened the trunk of his rental car and found bags of white powder buried in the spare-tire well. Only after finding several plastic black boxes, containing watches wired to circuit boards, did anyone suspect a bomb.

Dean has said repeatedly she singled Ressam out for a closer look because he was nervous, fumbling and sweating. Ressam has since told agents he was sick, and federal sources have confirmed Ressam had apparently gotten malaria while at terrorist-training camps in Afghanistan.

Clarke's version of that night contains other errors. Some of them are minor. But one implies national-security officials knew more about Ressam's plans than they could have at the time:

• Clarke wrote that Ressam bolted and left his car on the ferry. In fact, Ressam drove off the ferry and ran when he was stopped for inspection.

• Clarke reported Dean ran after Ressam. Actually, two other agents gave chase.

• More significantly, Clarke wrote that agents had found "explosives and a map of the Los Angeles International Airport" in the car, implying the threat to the airport was known almost immediately.

There was no map in the car. A map of Greater Los Angeles was found days later in Ressam's apartment in Montreal. Nobody had a clue for nearly 11 months that Los Angeles was a target.

Circles scrawled on the map around three L.A.-area airports weren't found until October 2000, after the document had been turned over to the FBI. It wasn't until Ressam began cooperating in May 2001 that his actual target was known for sure.

In fact, in the weeks after Ressam's capture, officials in Seattle were so unsure about his actual target that then-Mayor Paul Schell canceled the city's popular New Year's Eve celebration at Seattle Center, thinking the Space Needle could be a target.

• Clarke reported Canadians had somehow "missed" the existence of Ressam's cell of radical Algerian Muslims in Montreal and that, after Ressam's arrest, the Canadian government cooperated.

According to testimony at Ressam's trial and interviews with Canadian intelligence officials, Ressam and the cell in Montreal had been under surveillance for at least two years before Ressam's arrest. But the Canadian Security Intelligence Service never told anyone.

U.S. prosecutors have complained bitterly about Canada's foot-dragging as the Ressam case proceeded. Canadian prosecutors blocked U.S. access to at least one crucial witness — an Algerian who gave Ressam a gun and talked about blowing up Jews in Montreal.

Indeed, the U.S. came within hours of dropping charges against Ressam on the eve of his March 2001 trial because the Canadian government attempted to withdraw the witnesses.

King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez, who, in 2001, was one of three federal prosecutors who tried Ressam in Los Angeles, agreed some of Clarke's assertions "are not consistent with the evidence at trial."

Martha Levin, a publicist at Free Press, the Simon & Schuster subsidiary that published "Against All Enemies," said Clarke had no comment about the errors. "Free Press makes it a policy not to discuss internal editorial processes," she said.

Another Brookings scholar, Stephen Hess, a senior fellow on governmental studies and an authority on Washington and the media, said errors in memoirs are not unusual or particularly significant unless they affect the broader point or conclusion the author is drawing.

"So it's hard to say what the significance of these errors are," Hess added. "Whether you agree with him or not, I don't think anybody has accused Dick Clarke of being sloppy."

And Clarke's conclusion remains valid. Al-Qaida, he wrote, was here — and actively attempting to attack the United States.

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A special report by Hal Bernton, Mike Carter, David Heath and James Neff · June 23 - July 7, 2002

Chapter 12:
The Crossing

Ahmed Ressam fails to take into account the diligence of U.S. Customs officials when taking his explosives from Canada to the United States.

VICTORIA, B.C., Dec. 14, 1999 — By 4 o'clock in mid-December, the sun is descending behind the range that runs like vertebrae down the middle of Vancouver Island. On this chilly afternoon, a Tuesday in the off-season, there were only a few cars waiting to board the M.V. Coho ferry from Victoria, B.C., to Port Angeles, Wash.

A green Chrysler 300M sedan arrived 10 minutes before departure. U.S. Immigration inspector Gary Roberts walked up and asked the driver for his passport and driver's license.

The driver, Benni Antoine Noris, was from Montreal.

"Where are you going?" Roberts asked.

"Sattal," Noris said, adding something about a two-day business trip.

Driving through the island city of Victoria to get to Seattle from mainland Canada was a bizarre choice — understandable for a tourist, maybe, but not for a business trip. Noris would have had to have taken one ferry from the mainland to Vancouver Island, then this one, then a third from the Olympic Peninsula across Puget Sound to Seattle. It just didn't make sense. Roberts asked Noris to pull over.

BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES

U.S. Customs inspector Diana Dean noticed that Ahmed Ressam was acting 'hinky.'

Roberts took the license into his office and logged Noris' name into a computer, searching for outstanding warrants or immigration notices. All he found was a note that a similar check had been run on Noris when he landed at the Los Angeles International Airport in February. Still not satisfied, Roberts walked over to the car again.

How are you planning to get back to Montreal? Noris showed a return ferry ticket to Victoria.

But how about to Montreal? Noris raised his hand, mimicking the flight of an airplane.

Something wasn't right. Open the trunk, please, Roberts requested. Noris calmly flipped the latch.

Roberts found a suitcase, a satchel and a backpack. He searched the suitcase, finding only clothes. He closed the trunk and waved the Chrysler onto the ferry.

The Coho arrived in Port Angeles in the dark, just before 6 p.m., the last boat of the day. Customs inspector Diana Dean stopped each car as it rolled off, asking the drivers a few basic questions and wishing them a good trip.

The last car in line was a green Chrysler 300M with British Columbia plates.

"Where are you going?" "Sattal."

"Why are you going to Seattle?" "Visit."

"Where do you live?" "Montreal."

"Who are you going to see in Seattle?" "No, hotel."

The driver was fidgeting, jittery, sweating. His hands disappeared from sight as he began rummaging around the car's console. That made Dean nervous.

She handed him a customs declaration to fill out, a subtle way of stalling while she took a closer look. He filled out the form and handed it back. By this time, Dean observed, he was acting "hinky."

She asked him to turn the car off, pop open the trunk and step outside. Noris was slow to respond but complied.

BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES

The inspectors found several green bags filled with powder in the spare-tire compartment of Ressam's car.

At this point, the other customs inspectors were finished and waiting to go home. They came over to help process the last car of the day. Dean told them this might be a "load vehicle" — code for one used for smuggling. Inspector Mark Johnson took over the interrogation.

"Habla español?" he asked.

"Parlez-vous français?" the man replied, handing over his ID. Not a passport or driver's license, but his Costco card.

"So you like to shop in bulk? You know, the 120-roll pack of toilet paper?" Johnson joked. He escorted Noris to a table, where he asked him to empty his pockets.

Inspector Mike Chapman searched the suitcase in the trunk. As he was doing that, inspector Danny Clem reached in and unscrewed the fastener on the spare-tire compartment. He opened the panel, looked inside and called out to Johnson.

Johnson, grabbing Noris by the shoulders, led him over to the trunk. At a hefty 240 pounds, Johnson had no trouble maneuvering the slim Noris. They peered in and saw no spare tire. In its place were several green bags that appeared to filled with white powder, as well as four black boxes, two pill bottles and two jars of brown liquid. A drug dealer, perhaps?

Johnson felt Noris shudder. He escorted Noris back to the table and patted him down for weapons. Inside Noris' camel's-hair coat was a bulge. As Johnson was slipping off the coat to take a closer look, he was suddenly left holding an empty garment. Noris was fleeing.

BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Ressam fled across this parking lot in Port Angeles but was soon caught.

By the time it sank in, Noris was nearly a block away. Johnson and Chapman took off on foot, yelling, "Stop! Police!"

With his head start, Noris escaped. The inspectors couldn't find him. Then Chapman noticed movement under a pickup parked in front of a shoe store. He squatted down, saw Noris, drew his gun and ordered him to come out with his hands up.

Noris stood up, arms raised, and looked at Chapman, just 20 feet away with his gun drawn. Then he turned and ran. "Stop! Police!"

Johnson joined Chapman on Noris' tail. Noris bounced off a moving car but continued running. When he got to the middle of a busy intersection, he reversed direction, headed for a car stopped at the light and grabbed the driver's door handle. The woman behind the wheel, startled, stepped on the gas, ran the red light and sent Noris spinning. Chapman and Johnson swarmed him.

They took him back to the terminal and handed him over to the Port Angeles police, who put him in the back seat of a patrol car.

Johnson took a sample of the white powder from the trunk to test. Was it heroin, speed, cocaine? Negative on each. As he shook the jars of brown liquid, Noris, who could see Johnson from the patrol car, ducked down to the floor.

Within a couple of days, the inspectors would learn that the brown liquid Johnson had shaken was a powerful, highly unstable relative of nitroglycerin that could have blown them all to bits.

<< Chapter 11

Chapter 13 >>


THE MAIN CHARACTERS
Diana Dean Customs inspector found something wrong with the Canadian getting off the ferry
Mark Johnson Inspector discovered processing Ahmed Ressam was anything but routine
THE SCENE
Port Angeles, 1999

HOW TO SAY IT
· Benni Antoine Noris: Ben-EE AHN-twahn no-HEE · See all words


Chapter 1:	Past as Prologue
Chapter 2:	The Fountainhead
Chapter 3:	Leaving Home
Chapter 4:	Sneaking In
Chapter 5:	The Terrorist Tracker
Chapter 6:	It Takes a Thief
Chapter 7:	Joining Jihad
Chapter 8:	Going to Camp
Chapter 9:	'A Bunch of Guys'
Chapter 10:	The Mission
Chapter 11:	The Ticking Bomb
Chapter 12:	The Crossing
Chapter 13:	On the Case
Chapter 14:	The Warning
Chapter 15:	Puzzle Pieces
Chapter 16:	The Reckoning
Chapter 17:	Nine-Eleven
Epilogue

See About this series for source list, credits and reprints.

•	Understanding the Conflict
•	Two Peoples, One Land

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