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Habib 'warned wife of a big US event'
INTELLIGENCE officials allegedly intercepted a telephone conversation between Mamdouh Habib and his wife several days before the September 11 terror attacks in which he warned of a looming "big event" in the US.The alleged call, detailed in The New York Times, did not spell out specifics of the planned strikes on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. However, it mirrored several other conversations between accused terrorists that were tapped around the same time by the Pakistani Internal Security Department on behalf of the CIA. A national security source confirmed that the call allegedly made by Mr Habib originated in Pakistan. The interception is believed to have been made in Sydney by ASIO, which at the time had placed Mr Habib on a watch list. However, Mr Habib's lawyer Stephen Hopper denied yesterday that his client had made such a call. "It did not happen," Mr Hopper said. "Mr Habib denies any wrongdoing or knowingly being in contact with anyone associated with wrongdoing." Mr Habib has retracted confessions he allegedly made while in Egypt and later in Guantanamo Bay to being associated with al-Qa'ida, claiming they were made while he was being tortured. The former cleaner, who yesterday enjoyed his fourth day of freedom since being released from the US military jail at Guantanamo Bay last Thursday, remained at an undisclosed location considering offers to buy his story. It has emerged that soon after his return, Mr Habib contacted the father of the second Australian in Guantanamo Bay, David Hicks. Mr Hicks's father, Terry Hicks, would not say what the pair discussed. "It was a good conversation," he said. "He sounded very excited. We had probably about 15 minutes, and eventually down the track we're going to try to catch up. We're going to let the dust settle." The CIA has previously said that in the days before the September 11 strikes on New York and Washington, a sharp increase in "chatter" was intercepted from operatives in terror training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, alluding to an imminent big event. Posted by: tipper 2005-02-01 |
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