.Chicago terror case's troubling implications
WASHINGTON - It is a worrisome first: an American accused of going to Europe to plot a terrorist attack there. That is the most striking aspect of a Chicago case in which a Pakistani-American businessman allegedly planned an attack on a Danish newspaper targeted by Islamic extremists for printing cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed. The businessman, David Coleman Headley, was arrested by the FBI this month after a year-long investigation.
The case is the latest example of a U.S. suspect allegedly gaining direct access to high-level extremist leaders. It indicates that Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani group accused in last year's Mumbai attacks, still shares Al Qaeda's determination to strike the West. And with officials saying additional arrests are possible, the case also reiterates a surprising reality: One of the world's most likely targets of terrorism today is placid Denmark, population 5.5 million. "We never thought it could be persons from the U.S. coming here to commit attacks," said Hans Jorgen Bonnichsen, a former chief of Denmark's police security intelligence service, in a telephone interview. "This shows a new tendency." The evolving threat shows the need for close teamwork with law enforcement in other countries, he said."Until yesterday, the threat was mainly from homegrown groups," Bonnichsen said. "This case shows a very strong connection to Al Qaeda groups in Pakistan. That is really a challenge and we can only handle it by depending on good international cooperation."
Denmark has confronted a barrage of propaganda and threats since 2005, when the Jyllands Posten newspaper published caricatures of the Prophet Mohamed -- an act condemned by Muslim groups and defended by advocates of free speech. In a 2007 raid on a bomb factory in a Copenhagen apartment, police arrested two South Asians who later were convicted of training with Al Qaeda in Pakistan for a bomb attack.
In February, 2008, police broke up an alleged homegrown plot in which three suspects planned to assassinate the newspaper's cartoonist. Publications reprinted the Mohamed cartoons in solidarity with the victim, triggering an "absolutely berserk" surge of threats, said a Danish intelligence official who requested anonymity.
Four months later, a car-bombing at the Danish embassy in Islamabad killed six people and Al Qaeda declared the attack was revenge on Denmark. Danish security forces keep close watch on their surprisingly fierce extremist underworld. But they had not expected the likes of Headley, an American who admits visiting the newspaper's offices in January and July on the pretext of wanting to advertise his immigration consulting company in Chicago, according to an FBI complaint.
Headley, 49, filmed video of potential targets during an alleged scouting mission in Copenhagen and Aarhus for what officials say may have been a commando-style raid, like the Mumbai attack. In addition to his passport and profession, Headley was older than most extremists. Police are still trying to determine if he had any Danish accomplices.
"This is what Danish intelligence was most scared of," said Morten Skjoldager, author of "The Threat Within," a new book about terrorism in Denmark. "The extremist environment in Denmark is so small that, if you get in touch with someone in that world, it will be noticed by the intelligence services. But so far, it seems he had no connections with Denmark."
Headley's travels represent the reverse of a trend feared by U.S. authorities: terrorists forged in Europe's large militant communities taking advantage of limited visa requirements to enter the United States.
Radicalization among U.S. Muslims remains rare compared even to small countries like Denmark. With Al Qaeda determined to strike on U.S. soil, Western officials assume that Americans will be used for attacks here. European police generally devote less scrutiny to U.S. visitors than to some of their citizens of immigrant descent returning from South Asia or North Africa.
"It's a bit surprising," said Louis Caprioli, an executive at the GEOS security firm in Paris and former French anti-terror chief. "It's the first time we talk about an American leaving for Europe for a terrorist act."
Headley was born Daood Gilani in the United States and attended military school in Pakistan, his family homeland. He admits changing his name in 2006 to "raise less suspicion" when traveling, the federal complaint says. It suggests that his business was a cover. "Notwithstanding his apparent lack of financial resources and substantial employment, Headley has engaged in extensive international travel" to destinations including the militant bastion of Waziristan, the complaint says. He admits to training with Lashkar and working with the group for at least three years, authorities say.
Created by Pakistani security forces as an arm in the struggle for Indian-occupied Kashmir, Lashkar funnels recruits to Al Qaeda and participates in plots against the West. Lashkar's slick English propaganda appeals to aspiring holy warriors in North America and Britain. Foreigners find it easier to reach Lashkar training camps because they are tolerated -- or supported -- by elements of Pakistan's security forces, according to Western anti-terror officials.
Headley developed the Denmark plot with a Lashkar operative in Pakistan and with Ilyas Kashmiri, a notorious militant chief who runs a training camp in Waziristan and has become a close Al Qaeda ally, the complaint charges. As evidence, it cites surveillance and Headley's confession. Headley allegedly met Kashimiri and communicated with him through the Lashkar operative. Calling Kashmiri "his spiritual guide," Headley wrote anguished e-mails after inaccurate news reports that the leader had died in an air strike, the complaint says. Learning that Kashmiri was alive, the complaint says Headley wrote: "Buddy, if this is true, then I will say 100 prayers." FBI agents arrested him Oct. 3 at the airport as he began a trip to Pakistan to meet with Kashimiri, the complaint says.
In other recent cases, authorities similarly accused young Americans of going to Pakistan and gaining access to top bosses of Al Qaeda, who enlisted them for U.S. plots. U.S. air strikes, aided by spies on the ground, have made Al Qaeda increasingly wary of Westerners, European officials say. But militant groups remain eager for U.S. recruits, investigators say.
Headley's handlers made the most of his value as an undercover operative, at one point communicating with him about switching from Denmark to a plot in India, the complaint says. During the exchanges, Headley allegedly used code substituting business for terrorism and companies for terror groups. "The main thing is the business must go on," he wrote on Sept. 20, according to the complaint. "I don't care [if] I am working for Microsoft or I am working [for] GE or Philips."
The true meaning, according to the complaint: Headley did not care which group he worked for as long as he could help carry out attacks.
BaltimoreSun
The case is the latest example of a U.S. suspect allegedly gaining direct access to high-level extremist leaders. It indicates that Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani group accused in last year's Mumbai attacks, still shares Al Qaeda's determination to strike the West. And with officials saying additional arrests are possible, the case also reiterates a surprising reality: One of the world's most likely targets of terrorism today is placid Denmark, population 5.5 million. "We never thought it could be persons from the U.S. coming here to commit attacks," said Hans Jorgen Bonnichsen, a former chief of Denmark's police security intelligence service, in a telephone interview. "This shows a new tendency." The evolving threat shows the need for close teamwork with law enforcement in other countries, he said."Until yesterday, the threat was mainly from homegrown groups," Bonnichsen said. "This case shows a very strong connection to Al Qaeda groups in Pakistan. That is really a challenge and we can only handle it by depending on good international cooperation."
Denmark has confronted a barrage of propaganda and threats since 2005, when the Jyllands Posten newspaper published caricatures of the Prophet Mohamed -- an act condemned by Muslim groups and defended by advocates of free speech. In a 2007 raid on a bomb factory in a Copenhagen apartment, police arrested two South Asians who later were convicted of training with Al Qaeda in Pakistan for a bomb attack.
In February, 2008, police broke up an alleged homegrown plot in which three suspects planned to assassinate the newspaper's cartoonist. Publications reprinted the Mohamed cartoons in solidarity with the victim, triggering an "absolutely berserk" surge of threats, said a Danish intelligence official who requested anonymity.
Four months later, a car-bombing at the Danish embassy in Islamabad killed six people and Al Qaeda declared the attack was revenge on Denmark. Danish security forces keep close watch on their surprisingly fierce extremist underworld. But they had not expected the likes of Headley, an American who admits visiting the newspaper's offices in January and July on the pretext of wanting to advertise his immigration consulting company in Chicago, according to an FBI complaint.
Headley, 49, filmed video of potential targets during an alleged scouting mission in Copenhagen and Aarhus for what officials say may have been a commando-style raid, like the Mumbai attack. In addition to his passport and profession, Headley was older than most extremists. Police are still trying to determine if he had any Danish accomplices.
"This is what Danish intelligence was most scared of," said Morten Skjoldager, author of "The Threat Within," a new book about terrorism in Denmark. "The extremist environment in Denmark is so small that, if you get in touch with someone in that world, it will be noticed by the intelligence services. But so far, it seems he had no connections with Denmark."
Headley's travels represent the reverse of a trend feared by U.S. authorities: terrorists forged in Europe's large militant communities taking advantage of limited visa requirements to enter the United States.
Radicalization among U.S. Muslims remains rare compared even to small countries like Denmark. With Al Qaeda determined to strike on U.S. soil, Western officials assume that Americans will be used for attacks here. European police generally devote less scrutiny to U.S. visitors than to some of their citizens of immigrant descent returning from South Asia or North Africa.
"It's a bit surprising," said Louis Caprioli, an executive at the GEOS security firm in Paris and former French anti-terror chief. "It's the first time we talk about an American leaving for Europe for a terrorist act."
Headley was born Daood Gilani in the United States and attended military school in Pakistan, his family homeland. He admits changing his name in 2006 to "raise less suspicion" when traveling, the federal complaint says. It suggests that his business was a cover. "Notwithstanding his apparent lack of financial resources and substantial employment, Headley has engaged in extensive international travel" to destinations including the militant bastion of Waziristan, the complaint says. He admits to training with Lashkar and working with the group for at least three years, authorities say.
Created by Pakistani security forces as an arm in the struggle for Indian-occupied Kashmir, Lashkar funnels recruits to Al Qaeda and participates in plots against the West. Lashkar's slick English propaganda appeals to aspiring holy warriors in North America and Britain. Foreigners find it easier to reach Lashkar training camps because they are tolerated -- or supported -- by elements of Pakistan's security forces, according to Western anti-terror officials.
Headley developed the Denmark plot with a Lashkar operative in Pakistan and with Ilyas Kashmiri, a notorious militant chief who runs a training camp in Waziristan and has become a close Al Qaeda ally, the complaint charges. As evidence, it cites surveillance and Headley's confession. Headley allegedly met Kashimiri and communicated with him through the Lashkar operative. Calling Kashmiri "his spiritual guide," Headley wrote anguished e-mails after inaccurate news reports that the leader had died in an air strike, the complaint says. Learning that Kashmiri was alive, the complaint says Headley wrote: "Buddy, if this is true, then I will say 100 prayers." FBI agents arrested him Oct. 3 at the airport as he began a trip to Pakistan to meet with Kashimiri, the complaint says.
In other recent cases, authorities similarly accused young Americans of going to Pakistan and gaining access to top bosses of Al Qaeda, who enlisted them for U.S. plots. U.S. air strikes, aided by spies on the ground, have made Al Qaeda increasingly wary of Westerners, European officials say. But militant groups remain eager for U.S. recruits, investigators say.
Headley's handlers made the most of his value as an undercover operative, at one point communicating with him about switching from Denmark to a plot in India, the complaint says. During the exchanges, Headley allegedly used code substituting business for terrorism and companies for terror groups. "The main thing is the business must go on," he wrote on Sept. 20, according to the complaint. "I don't care [if] I am working for Microsoft or I am working [for] GE or Philips."
The true meaning, according to the complaint: Headley did not care which group he worked for as long as he could help carry out attacks.
BaltimoreSun
posted by madtom at 9:56 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home