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Kuwaiti Thug Is Suspected As 9/11 Mastermind
Investigators believe they have identified a Kuwaiti lieutenant of Osama bin Laden as the likely mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, designated as one of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists, is at large in Afghanistan or nearby, the law enforcement official said. "Nearby" means a cute little cottage outside Quetta or Peshawar, or maybe the cool confines of a madrassah in the same area... "There's lots of links that tie him to 9/11," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He's the most significant operational player out there right now." Other bin Laden lieutenants are also believed to have helped put together the attacks, the official said. But evidence is mounting that Mohammed was at the center of the operational planning. "Mohammed is known to wear either a full beard or a trimmed beard, or he may be clean shaven. He has been known to wear glasses." Not very helpful. Catch him and there's $25m in it for ya... A second U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that Mohammed played a critical role in planning the attacks but said questions remain about the extent of his leadership. The official said other bin Laden lieutenants, including Abu Zubaydah, now in U.S. custody, are also believed to have played top organizational roles. According to the counterterrorism official, within three months of Sept. 11, the FBI learned that Mohammed had moved money that was used to pay for the attacks and that since then the United States has gathered other significant evidence pointing to him as the key planner. The official declined to go into detail, citing a need to protect intelligence information. That's pretty interesting. The Indians claimed back in October that the money came from Pakland, via Ahmed Omar Shiekh, which would be Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, on trial now for killing Daniel Pearl. Mohammed is accused of working with Ramzi Yousef in the first bombing of the World Trade Center, which left six dead in 1993. He and Yousef are also accused of plotting in 1995, while hiding in the Philippines, to bomb several trans-Pacific airliners heading for the United States. Yousef, now serving a life sentence in the United States, is believed to have planned to crash a plane into CIA headquarters. In late September, Newsweek ran a story saying the 9-11 killers had wired their spare changed to Mustafa Ahmed, believed to be Binny's paymaster, in the UAE. The Mirror carried a parallel story, without naming the "money man:" "On September 9 the man, who has not been named by the UAE authorities, received three separate wire transfers from America totalling $15,000. UAE officials said the cash was left over from planning the US atrocities and was returned to finance new attacks." Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2002-06-05 |
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