'Dirty Bomb' Suspect Captured

[Arrow]

'Dirty Bomb' Suspect Captured
Monday, June 10, 2002
From Fox News Website



WASHINGTON ? Government agents have arrested a turncoat American citizen who plotted with Al Qaeda terrorists to build and explode a radioactive "dirty bomb" within the United States, officials revealed Monday.

"We have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by exploding a radioactive dirty bomb," Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a televised announcement from Moscow.

Ashcroft said Jose Padilla, also known as Abdullah Al Muhajir, was in the custody of the U.S. military and is being treated as an enemy combatant.

Padilla is a former Chicago street gang member who served time in prison in the 1990s, converted to Islam and met with Al Qaeda leaders in 2001 before returning to the United States, officials said.

The 31-year-old is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., who moved to Chicago at age 4.

President Bush, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the White House, said: "I can tell you that we have a man detained who is a threat to the country, and that thanks to the vigilance of our intelligence-gathering and law enforcement, he is now off the streets, where he should be."

A Justice Department official said that under U.S. legal rules, Padilla can be held indefinitely as an enemy soldier, but there are no plans to impose a military tribunal or otherwise press U.S. criminal charges against him.

Lt. Col. Rivers Johnson, a Pentagon spokesman, said Padilla would not be eligible for trial by a military tribunal set up under Defense Department rules issued in March because those tribunals are for terror suspects who are not U.S. citizens.

Law enforcement sources told Fox News that a second person, Benjamin Ahmed Mohammed, had been taken into custody in Pakistan "recently" and was implicated in the bomb plot. Mohammed will continue to be detained in Pakistan, an official said, and there are no plans to bring him to the United States.

A third unnamed suspect was also being detained in Pakistan, officials told Fox News.

Intelligence and law enforcement officials are continuing to track down others who may have been involved in the plot. Justice officials said a plot to detonate a dirty bomb ? a nuclear device set off with conventional explosives, rather than a fission reaction ? requires a fairly significant number of people.

Asked at a news conference here whether authorities had identified any co-conspirators in the United States, Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson said, "We're not going to comment on that."

FBI Director Robert Mueller said, "Our principal interest is in preventing future terrorist attacks. This instance is an example of prevention."

Officials refused to speculate about reports that the bomb was intended to be detonated in Washington.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said officials could not say with certainty that the nation's capital was the likely target, although he said that Padilla "did indicate knowledge of the Washington, D.C. area."

Padilla was arrested May 8 as he flew into Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from Pakistan, Ashcroft said in Moscow, where he was attending a long-planned meeting with his "foreign counterparts."

He said the government's suspicions about Muhajir's plans came from "multiple, independent, corroborating sources."

He said Al Qaeda apparently believed Padilla would be permitted to travel freely within the U.S. because of his American citizenship and because he carried a U.S. passport.

"We have acted with legal authority both under the laws of war and clear Supreme Court precedent, which establishes that the military may detain a United States citizen who has joined the enemy and has entered our country to carry out hostile acts," Ashcroft said.

A senior administration official speaking on condition of anonymity said Padilla was trained by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan to wire explosives and to research radioactive dispersal devices. He was not believed to have had a bomb at the time of his apprehension.

"We don't believe it went beyond the planning stages," the official said.

Padilla was transferred Monday morning from Justice Department custody in New York City to a high-security U.S. Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., Johnson said.

He said military officials have not decided whether to charge Padilla or what charges to file.

Padilla had a lawyer in New York but his access to a lawyer probably will be severely restricted now that he is in military custody, Johnson said. He said Padilla was being held separately from other prisoners at the brig.

A government official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said the intelligence that led to Padilla's arrest came from captured Al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah during recent interrogations.

Padilla discussed several terrorist plans with Abu Zubaydah, according to a U.S. official.

Padilla first met with Abu Zubaydah in Afghanistan in 2001, and traveled to Pakistan at Abu Zubaydah's request, the official said, adding that he was one of a group that traveled with Abu Zubaydah to several locations in Pakistan.

Padilla and another unidentified associate researched dirty bombs in Lahore, Pakistan, the official said.

"The radiological device plan articulated by Padilla and his associate was in the planning stages, and no specific time was set to occur," the official said.

At Abu Zubaydah's behest, Padilla also traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, to meet with several senior Al Qaeda operatives, to discuss the plan, the official said. Padilla also was interested in plans to bomb hotel rooms and gas stations in the United States, the official said.

It was unclear whether any of these meetings took place after Sept. 11.

President Bush, based on recommendations from Ashcroft and White House counsel Al Gonzales, designated the suspect as a combatant in papers signed late Sunday. That designation allowed the Department of Defense to take custody of Padilla from the Department of Justice.

"Based on the facts in this case and the importance of protecting sources who helped us get him, the determination was made that DOD is best for his detention," an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. This official said the administration does not know how close the suspect was to obtaining a so-called "dirty bomb."

[Keith_Hixson]

But I am a realist. I wonder how many more needles are in the haystack.
In a nation of millions and a free society, I know there are a few more turn coats (American Citizens) in the haystack. Some people just don't understand what a wonderful nation we have in the United States.
God Bless America! I hope they catch many more.

Keith

[SuperScout]

It is a reality that we don't publicize every success or arrest with regards to the counter-terror campaign, anymore than we have published victories achieved by the CIA. But it is a good thing to have notice printed that this current oxygen thief has been caught and another threat has been removed from our society. A larger question remains, though when examining this cretin's police record: why was he loose in the first place? He should have been imprisoned for life, with a background that he has, and with all due respects to those opposed to capital punishment, he, like other traitors, has forfeited his right to breath free air. Without batting an eye, I could easily deliver a 9mm to his sorry skull, given the chance.

[Seascamp]

As US intelligence and security gets spooled up I believe more al Qaeda operatives will be grabbed up and I wouldn?t be a bit offended if most of them never got out of the field to face some form of justice. As we learn more and more, the intel those slope-headed minions of darkness own will become less and less valuable so I don?t see why we need to go through the legal jerk of doing something with them or endlessly arguing about some supposed ?rights? they may or may not have. I rather favor the 9mm solution that is mentioned as that seems to be the most reasonable alternative to having some Judge cutting them loose or having them sitting around wasting perfectly good prison food.

Fair seas, Bill

[reconeil]

First-off, that The FBI, CIA or whomever did their thing regarding this treasonable low-life, is truly great in itself since their track record to date has been sort-of like The Keystone Cops.

Secondly, that America has apparently and finally decided to treat spies, murderers, assasins on the payroll of foreign enemies militarily,...truly makes my day. After all, giving our enemies the very same Constitutional Rights as given to the general American Public, was, is, and will always be quite asinine, nonsensical and nationally suicidal. Plus, such time wasting nonsense like one O.J. Trial in ones lifetime is more than sufficient. Don't you think?

Neil

P.S. SuperScout,
Glad to have found you again.
Hope we can cross swords again.
Just jokin, since we pretty-much think alike.

[Drywall]

Dropwall here, glad you found your way over here.

[phuloi]

It would seem that the prospect of 100 virgins in Allahland loses some of it`s luster for these scumbags once they have been captured,and that interrorgation yeilds some pretty good intel.I say that we should glean all the information possible...and then kill em.Good to see you over here,Neil.Welcome.

[Timothy R. Kuhr]

is they arrested this guy a month ago and we're being told now. Kinda makes me wonder (and hope) if there are a few more
of his friends being held somewhere. Not that I care how many lawyers they don't get to see, or breakfasts they miss or, for that matter, how many fingernails they have left. No, I am not in favor of torture as an interrrogation technique, per se. But our guaranteed rights should not be granted to people who want to destroy them. They don't like them, they can't have them!
Oh, right! they do like them, don't they?

[reconeil]

Glad to finally have decided to be here Friend, since this forum actually works.

But, I'm sure you'll understand why it took me so long to get here.
After all, previously being at veterans.com would pretty-much turn most off from wanting to chit-chat with anyone.

Besides, here at Patriotfiles.com they apparently understand the simple Reagan Concept of: "Verify, verify, verify", regarding with dealings between people of well intent, thus eliminating nonsense and MANY disruptions by sickos and weirdos.

Neil

[Keith_Hixson]

With this guy's attorney. She is making claims he is being illegally held without charges. She forgot to mention all the parole violation that they can hold him on for a long time. I sure hope the public doesn't respond to all this garbage.

Keith