Posted on 08/22/2003 9:37:12 AM PDT by NativeNewYorker
Hamburg (dpa) - The al-Qaeda terrorist network has given military training to 70,000 men over the years, but now has only limited operational capabilities of its own, according to German police intelligence provided at a trial in Hamburg on Friday.
A specialist from the Federal Crime Office BKA was testifying at the trial of alleged September 11, 2001 terror-pilot conspirator Abdel-Ghani Mzoudi, described by prosecutors as one of eight Arab men who devised the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Three of the named men died in the attacks and two are still at large. Germany says the Hamburg cell, mainly comprising technical college students, contacted al-Qaeda to obtain training, funding and logistic support.
Briefing the trial on al-Qaeda generally, the BKA woman, 33, said: ``Al-Qaeda has mainly conducted military training and financed attacks''. Osama bin Laden was the supreme commander of the group, which had trained the 70,000 from 50 nations since the mid-1980s.
It had called for a holy war around the world, but the arrests of many leading al-Qaeda figures indicated it now had only ``limited operation capabilities'', she told the court.
Mzoudi, 30, has been indicted with 3,066 counts of being an accessory to murder and with belonging to a terrorist organization.
The trial began on August 14 at the Hamburg state court with Mzoudi, a Moroccan national, speaking briefly to describe his personal background. Afterwards, his defence team said the defendant would be making no further testimony in court.
Mzoudi was accused of covering the tracks of the others by paying bills, putting his name on tenancy agreements and letting one of the plotters use his bank card to withdraw money from an automatic teller machine. The plot began in early summer 1999 at the latest.
He is the second person to be tried in Hamburg for complicity in the September 11 terror attacks. Last February, Moroccan national Mounir al-Motassadeq was sentenced to 15 years in prison after the Hamburg state court ruled he was involved.
The trial resumes August 28 with evidence from a former librarian. Her testimony to the Motassadeq trial included a recollection of hearing other cell members talking long in advance about an attack with ``thousands'' of dead.
Awww, you mean our War on Terror is working? I'm deeply saddened. /sarcasm
Strictly "Special Ed" for terrorists. They know just enough to get themselves maimed and killed.
B*st*rds! Now I'm mad.
Many were trained in Bosnia, 9/11 hijacker included
With the help of Clinton and his Administration.
Another Clinton legacy.
Don't forget, the US and Israel trained 40,000 plus "security personel", aka terrorists, under Oslo. Al Qaeda isn't much ahead of us.
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