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Ohio al-Qaida suspect pleads guilty | |
2003-06-19 | |
EFLA suspected al-Qaida operative has pleaded guilty to two terrorism-related charges after he was identified by a top leader of Osama bin Ladenâs terror network. Iyman Faris, a U.S. citizen from Columbus, Ohio, also known as Mohammed Rauf, was personally identified by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Mohammed, who was captured March 1 in Pakistan, told U.S. authorities that Faris, 34, had been assigned to look into ways to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge and derail trains, among other potential attacks. So Khalid has been singing. A U.S. official told NBC News that the plea was a âhighly significantâ development in the war on terrorism and that Faris had been cooperating with interrogators since his arrest. He pleaded guilty May 1, but Judge Leonie Brinkema unsealed the case record in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., after his plea was first reported Thursday morning by NBC News. Faris pleaded guilty to providing material support to a terrorist organization and conspiracy to provide such support, Attorney General John Ashcroft said at a news briefing Thursday afternoon. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 1. Ashcroft would not discuss where or when Faris, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan who drove trucks for a living, was arrested.
Geeze, have these guys never seen a big suspension bridge? A statement of fact filed in court by the Justice Department said Faris researched the bridge on the World Wide Web and traveled to New York in late 2002 to examine it. Faris concluded that âthe plot to destroy the bridge by severing the cables was very unlikely to succeedâ because of its security and structure and sent a coded message back to al-Qaida leaders: âThe weather is too hot.â "Are you guys nuts?" Newsweek reported that Mohammed also instructed Faris to obtain âtorque toolsâ to bend railroad tracks in order to send a passenger train hurtling off the rails. Washington is home to a major train station that serves the Northeast corridor, as well as the nationâs second-busiest subway system. Faris himself recommended driving a small truck with explosives beneath a commercial airliner as it sat on the tarmac. As a licensed truck driver, Faris could have more easily penetrated airport security than others. Remember that warning on truck drivers? Looks like they were right about that one. | |
Posted by:Steve |