-Caveat Lector-
December 8, 2000
Two Primary Figures Emerge in Bombing of the Cole
By JUDITH MILLER with JOHN F. BURNS
Yemeni officials have told the Clinton administration that they
have identified two key figures in the October bombing of the
destroyer Cole, and intelligence officials say they believe that
at least one of them is associated with the organization
controlled by Osama bin Laden.
A senior Yemeni official said yesterday that the man who ran the
Cole bombing was Muhammad Omar al-Harazi, a Yemeni-born Saudi.
American officials said yesterday that they believe that Mr.
Harazi � who is known to Washington as Abdul Ali-Nashiri or Abdul
al- Nassir � was connected with the 1998 bombings of two American
embassies in Africa, in which more than 200 people died.
One intelligence official identified Mr. Harazi as an explosives
expert who works for al Qaeda, Mr. bin Laden's group accused of
international terrorism.
>From the onset of the Cole investigation, Yemeni and American
investigators have said that a prime suspect as the mastermind of
the bombing is Mr. bin Laden, a Saudi exile who is living in
Afghanistan. But one Yemeni official cautioned that the links to
Mr. bin Laden fell far short of establishing that he had played
any direct role in the attack.
The official noted that thousands of militant young Arabs had
trained and fought in Afghanistan, many under the direction of
Mr. bin Laden.
"Just about everybody who went to Afghanistan is linked in some
way to bin Laden," the official said. "But if you're asking, can
we prove that bin Laden was responsible for the attack on the
Cole, the answer is, no, we can't, at least not yet."
American and Yemeni officials identified another key figure in
the plot as Jamal al-Badawi. Officials said he was in custody
and was providing much of the information about the Cole bombing,
in which 17 sailors died.
American officials said Yemeni officials have also reported
telephone records showing contacts before the Cole bombing
between suspects in the attack and members of al Qaeda.
American officials said that another suspect in custody told
Yemeni officials that he was paid about $5,000 by an associate of
Mr. bin Laden to help pay for the bombing of the Cole and to
videotape the attack. American officials said that a further
link to Mr. bin Laden had been established when Mr. Badawi told
Yemeni investigators that he was trained in Afghan camps run by
Mr. bin Laden and that he had fought with Mr. bin Laden's
forces in Bosnia.
Mr. Badawi had previously been identified by Yemeni officials as
having helped to procure the fiberglass skiff that was used to
carry at least a third of a ton of high explosives in the attack
on the Cole, which blew a 40-by-60-foot hole at the ship's
waterline, causing what the Navy has estimated at $240 million in
damage.
Much of the information about the links between Mr. bin Laden's
organization and the Cole bombing was first reported last night
by ABC News.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani told The
Associated Press that the ship bombing had reached far beyond
Yemen, involving what he called "international terrorist
elements."
Mr. Iryani identified these elements as so-called "Arab
Afghans," Arabs who fought in the guerrilla war against Soviet
forces in Afghanistan in the 1980's and subsequently spread out
across much of the world in a loosely linked terrorist network.
The latest disclosures come as the Clinton administration is
mounting a campaign to broaden and toughen economic and political
sanctions against the Taliban government of Afghanistan, where
Mr. bin Laden has been living since 1996.
The United States and Russia asked the United Nations Security
Council yesterday to approve new measures that would cut the
country off from most contact with the rest of the world, except
for relief workers.
The Taliban spokesman in New York reiterated the ruling group's
position that Mr. bin Laden was a "guest and the upholder of the
Afghan holy war." Afghanistan, he said, would not be pressured
into expelling him.
The Clinton administration has been careful not to assign blame
for the bombing of the Cole to Mr. bin Laden or his
organization, saying that the investigators have not found a
smoking gun that directly links the bombing to either the Saudi
millionaire or his militant Islamic network.
For their part, Yemeni officials were even more cautious about
whether Mr. Harazi had present or past links with Mr. bin
Laden.
Mr. Harazi, the man named as the main organizer of the attack
from within Yemen, was born in the Harazi mountains, about 60
miles west of Sana, the Yemeni capital. Like many thousands of
people in this poverty-stricken country, including Mr. bin
Laden, the Harazi family migrated to Saudi Arabia, where Mr.
Harazi gained his citizenship.
Officials in the Federal Bureau of Investigation say that Mr.
Harazi has been identified as having inspired or directed several
terrorist attacks on American targets over the past decade.
Mr. bin Laden has been indicted in one attack against Americans,
the 1998 bombings of the embassies in East Africa. A federal
trial of alleged conspirators in the embassy bombings is
scheduled to begin in Manhattan in early January.
The telephone records and other links emerging between the
suspects in the attack on the Cole and those associated with the
East Africa bombings are likely to increase the administration's
determination to take tougher action to close down the sanctuary
that Afghanistan has provided to Mr. bin Laden and his group,
and to other Muslim militants.
A former counterterrorism official in the Clinton administration
said it was important not to assume the White House would endorse
military action against Mr. bin Laden or the Taliban if direct
evidence of firm links continues to mount.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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