From the Washington Post:
Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen arrested in 2002 as he returned to the United States from Pakistan and accused of plotting to blow up radioactive “dirty bombs,” had been trained at an al Qaeda weapons camp in Afghanistan and had met repeatedly with top leaders of the terrorist network, who helped finance and equip his plans, a Justice Department official announced today.
Among the key leaders of al Qaeda that mentored or directed Padilla were Mohammad Atef, the organization’s operations chief, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who planned many of the group’s operations and Abu Zubaida, one of al Qaeda’s top operatives, Deputy Attorney General James Comey said. When Padilla came back to the United States for his mission, they had given him $10,000, a cell phone and names and numbers of people to contact.
Padilla was recruited by al Qaeda and originally trained to blow up apartment buildings using natural gas supplies, Comey said in a press conference. His partner in that scheme was to be Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a Saudi native who lived in South Florida in the mid-1990s and is still on an FBI most wanted list, but the plan failed because the two men could not get along, Comey said.
It’s times like these that I’m glad the PATRIOT ACT allows for summary beheadings, even if is a bit soft on library book monitoring. Go Ashcroft!
Oh, come on. Every American should be free to travel, and pursue religious and spiritual training, wherever they choose to do so. You know, he is an American citizen, and his rights are being restricted on the basis of hearsay evidence (that he conspired with those that had declared war on the US–not that the WaPo ever reported that outside of scare quotes.). What’s the icon for tongue planted in cheek?
Say, I recall that he converted to Islam while resident in a US prison. Why doesn’t the media refer to him by his muslim name?
And I’m sure that the $10,000 found on him was just unspent shopping money shopping–as an American, he was unprepared for the aggressive haggling in the bazaar.
I love the word “haggling.” And the word “bazaar.”
Good question about the muslim name thing, by the way. Hadn’t thought of that.
Why doesn’t the media refer to him by his muslim name?
Because that would make him scarier, and less of a victim of the oppressive Patriot Act. And yes, I do recall reading that he had indeed changed his name.