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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."
This moron is. Here's his MO He's even lower than the imbecilic shoe bomber, and I'm guessing that the coward will talk
Most of the traits you attach nobility to are simply the result of a mob being stirred up like bees in a jar shaken by totalitarian dictators and their tedious amoral bureaucrats. They're effective because we left the door wide open, not even following up on things like flight school attendance, and because it takes time to correct the problems.
They continue to be a threat because or military is so small, Europe's is worthless, and the ME region is dominated by a miserable collection of people who might as well have stepped out of the most brutal and regressive phase of Europe's Dark Ages. A credible minority in the region can offer only limited resistance. They still exist because we refuse to sink to their level in combating them, and victory on our terms will take time.
The CIA would have quit in mass if they were had been tasked with creating something like al-Qaida as you suggested.
Using your understanding then he is lying in the first part of his statement.
Let me see if I udnerstand you correctly. The fed's were just sitting around and decided to put a whole bunch of names in a hat and chose one to arrest and detain indefinately. Kind of like a lottery.
That is a very interesting point of view. I will support your right to it.
We haven't ascertained anything. Right now he hasn't been charged with anything, much less convicted. All we've had is a few government spokepeople say he might have done something. If they're so sure, it would seem federal charges would be forthcoming - but they're not. They'll just hold him, without trial (military or otherwise) until they see fit.
There went more of your rights out the window...
That is freaking stupid.
Nice try DOG but no cigar. Conspiracy is a "thought" crime and is prosecuted every single day. Get real.
Is that a mouse in your pocket or a thermos.
Only when a real crime has been committed. If you are arrested for merely talking about committing a crime, you haven't committed a crime and there can be no prosecution. Unless you have evidence to the contrary of "conspiracies" I believe you're talking out of turn.
I have seen people convicted for conspiracy to commit murder when they have been arrested after hiring a hit man, but then one can point to clear intent and an action taken to bring that crime to fruition. It isn't until one acts that one can be accused of a conspiracy to commit a crime.
Senile old man.
If our government was serious about protecting citizens,
war would have been declared against Afganistan.
An America without freedom is not what our Fathers fought for.
If the President signed a directive
telling the Military to try citizens it would be illegal.
Not that doing something illegal would bother him.
Abdullah al Muhajir did not join the military.
He wasn't drafted into the military.
The Militia has not been called to defend the country.
That means that Abdullah al Muhajir
is subject to civil law, NOT military law.
I am horrified at the treatment he is getting,
and even more horrified by what the easy acceptance
of the violation of his freedom signifies for the rest of us.
What makes you think that makes any difference?
Here's all I need to know:
He's a citizen.
He's being held without charges.
He's not allowed contact with anyone, not even a lawyer.
He can be held indefinitely.
That's scary.
Yes, and we can trust our government.
Our government wouldn't frame somebody for a crime they didn't commit.
I don't care if they keep all of their evidence secret.
Charge the man.
Let him have access to his lawyer.
He's an American citizen.
No, he is a political prisoner.
A war criminal is someone who violates the Geneva Convention rules of war.
Since we are not at war, he can't be a war criminal.
Congress and the President did suspend habeas corpus.
It's called the "Patriot Act."
I would like to have a charge before we arrest a citizen.
Don't make up stuff, rwfromkansas.
Demidog said that thoughts don't qualify as a crime.
Crime requires actually doing something.
Evidence is not the problem in this case.
He's a citizen, and he was arrested without reason.
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