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Expert describes al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan
A government expert's description of a terrorist camp in remote northern Pakistan had several similarities with one a Lodi man told FBI agents he attended in 2003 and 2004.Muslim extremists operated the camp, which is hidden from plain view by mountains, Harvard scholar Hassan Abbas testified Thursday during the federal trial for Hamid Hayat, 23, and his father, Umer Hayat, 48, on terrorism-related charges. Hamid Hayat described to agents a long bus ride, being dropped off in a field and then hiking about three miles through forested mountains to the camp. He now contends he made up the story to end agents' questioning. Abbas, a former Pakistani police chief, testified the camp near the city of Balakot is well-known in Pakistan. While he said he has not talked to anyone who trained at the camp, he has read roughly two-dozen accounts of training by participants. In another potential link to the younger Hayat's confession, Abbas said many recruits are attracted by the speeches and writings of Masood Azhar, leader of a banned extremist group that founded the camp in 2000 or 2001. "They saw his speeches, read his material and met someone close to Masood Azhar," Abbas said of recruits one day after a juror dismissed from the case said she would vote to acquit the younger Hayat. "Through that communication or conviction, they were motivated to go and join him," Abbas said. Two hefty books found in Hayat's Lodi home were written by Azhar, and a scrapbook found there by federal agents on June 7 included newspaper stories about Azhar's group, Jaish-e-Mohammed. Several of Abbas' answers during cross-examination backfired against defense attorney Wazhma Mojaddidi, who is representing the 23-year-old man charged with supporting terrorism and lying to the FBI about his alleged attendance at terrorist camps in Pakistan. Where Abbas gave few details about the Balakot camp during questioning by federal prosecutor Robert Tice-Raskin, Mojaddidi pressed for more. When the defense attorney asked if the rail-thin younger Hayat had any value to terrorist leaders, Abbas said jihadists - Muslim warriors - didn't worry about trainees' fitness. "They're so much focused on recruiting people, anybody who has an interest, they will take him," Abbas told Mojaddidi. "Irrespective of a person's physique, they will provide the training. That's the purpose of a training camp." Abbas also intimated there could be a job as a food preparer in such a camp. Hayat told the FBI he didn't participate in weapons training but simply washed vegetables. "It's kind of a community they're trying to develop," Abbas said. "They eat together, they sleep together and they move together, because they are building a community. They would be involved in all kinds of things." Abbas also testified that contrary to efforts by Pakistan's government to eliminate terrorist training camps with the United States' assistance after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, many camps still trained Muslim extremists. News reports of the October 2005 earthquake centered near Balakot stated many al-Qaida trainees had been killed by crumbling buildings. Abbas spent most of the day on the witness stand, with his testimony concluding the government's case against Umer Hayat, a 48-year-old Lodi ice cream vendor and father of the co-defendant. Paid FBI informant Naseem Khan briefly reappeared to answer more questions about his initial contacts with the FBI in Bend, Ore., in the fall of 2001, but with only Hamid Hayat's jury present. Prosecutor Laura Ferris said the government has only one witness remaining - an expert on satellite imagery who is expected to testify Tuesday about pictures taken of a suspected terrorist camp in Pakistan. Then, it's the defense's turn to present evidence. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-03-24 |
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