'Dirty bomb' plot included targets in N.Y.C., feds charge

WASHINGTON — Jose Padilla, a detainee held in U.S. custody, was training to blow up hotels and apartment buildings in the United States in addition to a possible attack with a “dirty bomb” nuclear device, according to government documents.

The documents, released Tuesday by the Justice Department, said that Padilla and an al-Qaida accomplice were to enter the United States through Mexico or Puerto Rico.

“Padilla and the accomplice were to locate as many as three high-rise apartment buildings which had natural gas supplied to the floors,” the government summary of interrogations revealed.

“They would rent two apartments in each building, seal all the openings, turn on the gas, and set timers to detonate the buildings simultaneously at a later time,” the papers alleged.

The documents said al-Qaida officials were skeptical of Padilla’s ability to set off a dirty bomb but were very interested in the apartment operation.

Top al-Qaida officials “wanted Padilla to hit targets in New York City, although Florida and Washington, D.C. were discussed as well,” the summary said.

Padilla was to conduct an Internet search on buildings that had natural gas heating, open a bank account and obtain documents needed to rent an apartment.

The plot called for blowing up 20 buildings simultaneously, but Padilla said he could not rent multiple apartments under one identity without drawing attention.

I heard the conference and heard the part I posted. However, I read the transcript and see why the media is getting their angle. I still think it is slightly deceptive as they are presenting it as the dirty bomb plot was set aside when it appears it was still in play, but in fairness, here is the rest of the portion that does mention more skepticism (thanks for the nice words):

Transcript of news conference on Jose Padilla

Excerpt:

Zubaida's plan was to use Padilla and his accomplice for Zubaida's own operations in the future. But they were so eager, so intent on carrying out an operation in the United States, that in March of 2002 he sent them to see Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, even going so far as to write a reference letter to Khalid Sheik Mohammed about Padilla, giving Padilla and his accomplice money and urging them to seek out KSM about the dirty bomb plot.

Zubaida separately called Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, told him about the dirty bomb project and also told him he didn't think it was practical, but he wanted Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to check it out himself and to evaluate it.

He told Khalid Shaikh Mohammed that he was free to use Padilla in his operations in the United States if he wished. Mohammed did meet with Padilla and his accomplice and he was, as Zubaida was, skeptical about the dirty bomb plot.

Instead, he suggested to Padilla and his accomplice that they undertake the apartment building operation that had originally been conceived by the now-dead Mohammed Atef, the former military leader of al Qaeda.

KSM suggested that they enter the United States by way of Mexico or by way of Puerto Rico, and that once in the country, they locate high-rise apartment buildings that had natural gas supplied to all floors, that they rent two apartments in each building, seal those apartments, turn on the gas, and set timers to detonate and destroy the buildings simultaneously at a later time. This was precisely the mission that Padilla and Jafar had trained for, and now Padilla had a new accomplice.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed gave Padilla full authority to conduct an operation if he and his partner succeeded in entering the United States.

I should note that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was not himself sure which operation Padilla intended to carry out. By that I mean in Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's mind, it was still possible that Padilla was going to pursue the dirty bomb plot. What KSM knew for sure, however, was that he had authorized this explosives-trained al Qaeda operative to mount an attack in the United States.

Padilla, for his part, admits that he presented the dirty bomb plot to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed just as he admits he presented it to Abu Zubaida. Padilla says that Muhammad wanted him to hit apartment buildings in New York, although they also talked about Florida and Washington, D.C.

Padilla was given the discretion about choosing the apartment targets.

~snip~

Thanks for posting this article about the NYC apartment buildings plot.

I have long guessed that terrorists would seek to cause harm to this country via NYC apartments -- but, not by becoming tenants, rather, by becoming sham owners of NYC apartment buildings.

There are many small apartment buildings scattererd throughout the city, as well as medium and large buildings, with many owners oppressed by the city and state rent laws, and, perhaps, many who are now eager to sell.

And, while there are now many companies, nationwide, who can do an instant background check for a landlord on a potential tenant, there is no such company I am aware of that enables a tenant to do a likewise instant background check on a new landlord who may actually be a terrorist.

The city and state rent laws and court procedures seem to go out of their way to help conceal any fraud any landlord wants to committ with respect to the ownership of an apartment building.

While our law enforcement authorities may advise people to keep a look out for suspicious tenants, they would be wise to also advise tenants to find out who actually owns the building -- and has access to things like keys to the boiler room, etc.

To my knowledge, NYC does not require any superintendent or managing agent to verify the building's superintendent or managing agent is actually a legal citizen, or even has any knowledge whatsoever about performing the job being a managing agent or superintendent. Yet, these people have keys to every apartment and the basement as well as boiler rooms.

In my opinion, this situation, caused in large part by NYC's refusal to have and enforce meaningful laws that allow tenants to determine through legal means the actual identity of landlords, is a tragedy just waiting to happen.

In my own experience as a NYC tenant, any NYC landlord can tell a tenant or any city or state agency that the landlord's name is the Man on the Moon, the superintendent's name is Cream Cheese, and the management agent's name is Fraud, and their legal address is a rented mailbox at Mailboxes USA -- and, in reponse, any number of city and state officials involved in the NYC housing racket will nod their heads and say that all sounds just fine to them. No one (except powerless tenants) asks for criminal prosecution for fraud of many fake documents that can be submitted by a sham landlords to authorities. I think the reason for the failure of anyone to prosecute is because, in my opinion, many sham landlords in NYC are in fact corrupt judges, corrupt lawyers and other such people, who assumed that being sham owners themselves -- in order to evaude the IRS on the rent payments they collect, and engage in possible money laundering schemes disguised as rent payment collections -- could simply go on forever, thanks to the laws and procedures these authorities have themselves set up.

Consequently, those innocent and law-abiding NYC tenants who find themselves in buildings now or soon to be owned by new sham owners -- who are in fact terrorists -- are, to put in bluntly, sitting ducks, IMO.

=========================================

story.padilla.jpg

Jose Padilla

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Jose Padilla -- the American citizen held in a U.S. military prison without charges since his arrest two years ago -- admitted to training at al Qaeda camps and to having dealings with al Qaeda members, according to documents declassified by the U.S. government Tuesday.

Additionally, the federal summary of Padilla's activities allege that Padilla sought to blow up hotels and apartment buildings in the United States in addition to planning an attack with a "dirty bomb" radiological device, the government said Tuesday.

The details were released by U.S. Justice Department officials who are under pressure to explain the indefinite detention of a U.S. citizen as an "enemy combatant."

At a Tuesday news conference, Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Comey called the chronicle of Padilla's plotting "remarkable for its scope, its clarity and its candor.

"We have decided to release this information to help people understand why we are doing what we are doing in the war on terror and to help people understand the nature of the threat we face," he said.

Comey asserted that if Padilla had been handled by the more conventional criminal justice system, he could have stayed silent and "would likely have ended up a free man." (Transcript of news conference)

Donna Newman, Padilla's defense attorney, called the information "a one-sided exposé of their version of the events without Mr. Padilla having the right to put forth his version of the events."

"As they concede, he denies all this," she said, referring to a footnote on page six of the seven-page document.

The U.S. government footnote says: "There are a number of instances in his statements where Padilla attempts to downplay or deny his commitment to al Qaeda."

"There is a dispute. That's what the courts resolve," Newman said. "If Mr. Padilla is as dangerous as they say, why not have a trial?" (Newman speaks with CNN)

The Justice Department news conference came as Vice President Dick Cheney, in a speech in Kansas City, Missouri, accused Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry of being soft on terrorism. Cheney urged the renewal of the USA Patriot Act, passed in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

In revealing the federal allegations, Comey also said the Justice Department is unlikely to file criminal charges any time soon against Padilla -- in part because the evidence against him comes from admissions he allegedly made during Defense Department interrogations without the presence of an attorney.

Padilla, an American citizen, has sued to obtain his release; the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule by the end of the month on his case challenging President Bush's right to declare him an enemy combatant -- the same classification as detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and Abu Ghraib in Baghdad. (The Supreme Court enemy combatant case)

The enemy combatant classification separates Padilla from traditional rights afforded a suspect in a criminal case.

The seven-page U.S. government summary of Padilla's activities was based largely on admissions the Pentagon says he made while in federal custody.

Top al Qaeda officials "wanted Padilla to hit targets in New York City, although Florida and Washington, D.C. were discussed as well," the government summary of interrogations said, according to a report from The Associated Press.

Since Padilla's case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on April 28, Newman had a second visit with him in the Charleston, South Carolina, naval brig.

Like the first visit, Newman's second meeting was monitored and recorded by the government.

Some of the previously classified material had leaked and was subsequently confirmed by Justice Department officials in advance of Tuesday's news conference by the Justice Department.

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Padilla's arrest from Moscow on June 9, 2002, saying that an "unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by exploding a radioactive dirty bomb" had been disrupted, an attack with the potential to cause "mass death and injury."

Padilla was originally picked up by the FBI at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on May 8, 2002, and held as a material witness in a grand jury investigation of the September 11 attacks.

A month later, however, Bush declared him an enemy combatant, and he was sent to a military prison.

Thanks for your comments here, and your obvious understanding of my points. What follows is an interesting article excerpt from March 2004, revealing that only two short months ago -- for the very first time -- NYC HPD (NYC Dept of Housing, Preservation & Dervelopment, as you probably know if you live in NYC), actually made an effort to discover the identity of the owner of certain apartment buildings!

HPD's recent effort here -- in demanding corporate docs to prove the identity of the actual owner of buildings in the Bronx -- was described by HPD as "unprecedented."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Landlords, or Somebody, Striking Back
NY Times, 03/23/2004
by David Gonzalez

[...]The allegations over conditions are as contentious as determining who actually owns the buildings. The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development insists that they are among 95 owned by Frank Palazzolo, a Westchester businessman. City officials say Mr. Palazzolo is among New York's worst landlords, with the buildings linked to him having a total of 19,000 violations.

[...] A businessman insists he is not the landlord despite his dealings with banks and ample official suspicion. [...]

Housing Preservation officials said they had taken the unprecedented step of issuing a sweeping subpoena against Mr. Palazzolo seeking countless corporate details. Mr. Palazzolo insisted that he had nothing to do with the lawsuits against the community groups and that he welcomed the chance to prove he had no connection to the buildings being examined by the agency other than helping the owners obtain financing and office space. [...]

His contention that he does not own the buildings is a little more complicated. Libby Hutchinson, a spokeswoman for Washington Mutual, said Mr. Palazzolo was the person who represented dozens of corporations claiming ownership. She said the mortgages were originally issued by Dime Bancorp, which her bank acquired in January 2002. Privacy agreements prevented her from commenting in detail, [...]Mr. Palazzolo, who said he was only a deal maker, dismissed those complaints, though he said he would be proud to own most of the disputed buildings. Not that he does, he added.

"Helping other landlords obtain financing does not make you a landlord," he said during a telephone interview on Saturday. "I do not own them. I do not manage them. I do not control them. I haven't owned any real estate in New York City for at least 10 years."

Yet "Palazzolo" forms part of the corporate name in 19 holding companies subpoenaed by Housing Preservation. He said that is because he "may have helped" form the corporation that acquired the property.

"I probably seeked them out more than they seeked me out," he said of the owners of record. "I can get a deal together to get them financing."

Agency officials were so skeptical of that explanation that they gave him three weeks to hand over thousands of pages of corporate documents, memos, checks and tax returns related to the properties. They said they had never issued such a subpoena.

"We have never done anything quite like this before [....]," said Harold Shultz, special counsel for the agency. "He has very carefully covered the methods by which he controls the properties, so it requires us to do more fact digging to show he is in actual control."

[...]

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