Second Yemeni on Trial at Gitmo
Witness: Gitmo detainee wants Americans targeted
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – Osama bin Laden’s former media aide produced a video portraying the United States as evil to motivate suicide attacks by al-Qaeda recruits, an ex-FBI agent testified at a war-crimes trial Wednesday.
Prosecutors ran a video allegedly put together by Ali Hamza al-Bahlul showing bin Laden and other terror group leaders calmly describing why they believe Muslims must wage jihad and defeat “American infidels.” It also had footage of al-Qaeda training camps, Israeli soldiers beating suspects, U.S. presidents visiting troops in the Middle East and wounded Muslim children.“Muslims don’t like to die,” former FBI agent and al-Qaeda expert Ali Soufan testified. “This is to instigate recruitments for suicide bombings.”
The video also shows news images of the USS Cole, then cartoonish images of an explosion in an amateurish attempt to depict al-Qaeda’s bombing of the Navy warship in 2000.
The slender, bearded 39-year-old Yemeni defendant, who is refusing to speak during his trial, pounded the defense table when the video showed Muslim women being manhandled by security agents. He leaned forward with interest when images of bin Laden appeared.
Soufan testified that al-Bahlul, whom he interrogated in 2002, considers all Americans – even Muslims – to be enemies.
“He believes this war is only the beginning. It is Armageddon,” Soufan said. “He said America only understands blood.”
Soufan said al-Bahlul described himself in 2002 as an officer of al-Qaeda who “used to do the media.”
Another witness, FBI agent Christopher Anglin, said al-Bahlul is well-educated and speaks English.
Al-Bahlul is charged with conspiracy, solicitation to commit murder and supporting terrorism. In addition to creating the video, he is accused of serving as a bin Laden bodyguard and arranging for lead Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta to swear a loyalty oath to the al-Qaeda chief.
Prosecutors say al-Bahlul also hooked up a satellite receiver so bin Laden could hear live radio coverage of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from Afghanistan.
Pentagon officials say the jury of nine U.S. military officers could begin deliberations by the weekend. Al-Bahlul could receive life in prison if convicted.
Al-Bahlul has dismissed the military tribunals as a “legal farce.” He is boycotting the trial and his Pentagon-appointed military lawyer is also refusing to speak out of deference to the defendant’s wishes.
This is the second war-crimes trial to be held at this U.S. Naval base in southeast Cuba.
The first trial at Guantanamo was for bin Laden’s former driver, Salim Hamdan. It ended in August with a conviction and a 5 1/2-year sentence.
bin Attash
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — A jailed ex-jihadist testified at the war court Thursday that, as an American al Qaeda recruit in Afghanistan, he was twice shown a two-hour propaganda film created by Osama bin Laden’s media secretary — and was horror-struck.
”The target was clearly the United States and Israel. I was surprised and didn’t want no part of that,” said Buffalo, N.Y., native Yassein Taher, 30, now serving an eight-year federal sentence as a convicted terrorist of the so-called Lackawanna Six.
Other al Qaeda recruits at the Farouq training camp watched the video glorifying the 2000 suicide bombing of the $1 billion USS Cole off Aden, Yemen, and shouted Allahu akbar, ”God is great,” said Taher, testifying in a courtroom awash with federal marshals and military guards.
“I was surprised, shocked. And I was afraid.”
So he and fellow New Yorkers who had gone to Afghanistan to train for the Chechen jihad made up an excuse, and quit al Qaeda weapons training camp early. They told their trainers, Taher said, that they wanted to go home to get their wives away from an un-Islamic atmosphere — and never returned.
They were back in the United States by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The FBI uncovered the so-called sleeper cell after 9/11.
Throughout the testimony, the accused, Ali Hamza al Bahlul, about 40, sat just feet from the al Qaeda camp dropout and didn’t react.
A day earlier he was engrossed as he watched his handiwork — a two-hour video that used special effects to blend blood-drenched news clips with sheiks exhorting martyrdom spliced with pro-Palestinian messages.
At issue is whether Bahlul’s work as bin Laden’s media aide from 1999 until his capture in late 2001 constitutes three war crimes: conspiracy, soliciting murder and providing material support for terror. If the jury of nine U.S. military officers convicts him, it can sentence him up to life in prison…..
The last to testify was Sahim Alwan, who spoke shyly about traveling to Afghanistan to try to sort out the truth about Islam and finding himself meeting the elite of al Qaeda.
Twice, he said, bin Laden came by guest quarters where he was staying to inquire about his training.
Also he was given a task by Walid Bin Attash, who went by the nom de guerre Khallad: Take two videotapes to Pakistan, drop one off with an al Qaeda operative and keep one for himself.
