Telegraph : Plot to destroy Brooklyn Bridge

Friday, September 08, 2006

Plot to destroy Brooklyn Bridge

By David Rennie in Washington | June 20, 2003

Al-Qa'eda terrorists plotted to bring down Brooklyn Bridge in a co-ordinated assault on New York and Washington months after the September 11 attacks, a leading American government official said yesterday.

John Ashcroft said the case highlighted al-Qa'eda's determination to use American citizens

John Ashcroft, the attorney-general, gave details of a string of thwarted plots involving Iyman Faris, a Pakistani lorry driver.

In a secret deal only revealed yesterday, Faris, who often made deliveries to cargo aircraft at American airports, pleaded guilty last month to two counts of providing "material support" to al-Qa'eda and conspiring to provide such support.

That included researching ultralight aircraft for al-Qa'eda, trying to procure gas cutters for severing bridge cables and trying to buy tools to derail trains.

Faris's American citizenship had allowed him to live a "secret double life", Mr Ashcroft said.

Last year Faris, 34, was ordered to reconnoitre the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Manhattan with Brooklyn. He later sent a coded email to al-Qa'eda leaders, telling them: "The weather is too hot."

This apparently indicated his view that the plan would fail because of tight security and the robust construction of the bridge.

The 120-year-old bridge has been regarded as a key terrorist target since Abu Zubaidah, a Palestinian al-Qa'eda leader captured in Pakistan last year, told interrogators that Osama bin Laden wanted to bring down "the bridge in the Godzilla movie".

It is one of a series of symbolic, economic or emotional targets believed to be at the top of al-Qa'eda's list, including the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Although none of the plots involving Faris reached fruition, Mr Ashcroft said the case highlighted al-Qa'eda's determination to use American citizens. "It knew that Faris, wrapped in his cloak of American citizenship and protected by the liberties of our free nation, could travel unfettered and undetected from country to country, from state to state and from city to city here at home."

Faris, born in Kashmir, obtained American citizenship in 1999. The following year, Mr Ashcroft said, he travelled to Afghanistan, where he met Osama bin Laden. At the request of one of bin Laden's lieutenants, he used an internet cafe in Pakistan to find out about ultralight aircraft. Mr Ashcroft pointedly declined to describe the second half of the thwarted attack, on Washington, citing national security.

He also refused to say where and when Faris was arrested, although public records unearthed by Newsweek magazine appear to show him paying a speeding fine in Delaware as recently as last month. Newsweek, drawing on extensive briefings by justice department officials, said this week that Faris urged al-Qa'eda to consider a plot to drive a small lorry laden with explosives on to an airfield for detonation under an airliner.

Mr Ashcroft said that at a meeting with an unnamed "terrorist leader" early last year Faris had provoked particular interest when he described his ability to enter American airports, driving right up to cargo aircraft. The terrorist leader was interested in such aircraft because they "hold more weight and more fuel", Faris is said to have told interrogators.

His other activities included acting as a courier, changing airline tickets for al-Qa'eda operatives wanting to travel to Yemen, or carrying cash and mobile phones to a senior al-Qa'eda leader.

Mr Ashcroft said that he also "helped to procure 2,000 sleeping bags that were shipped to Afghanistan for use by bin Laden and al-Qa'eda".

Government sources said that Faris was under the direct control of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the al-Qa'eda chief of operations who was detained in Pakistan in March.

In addition to the cutting tools, he was assigned to obtain tools to bend railway tracks to derail a speeding passenger train. He was told to refer to the cutting tools as "gas stations" and to the derailment tools as "mechanics shops".

He was coached in how to pass messages to his commanders via internet cafes.

Faris's ex-wife is reported to have expressed concern about the hours that he spent studying magazines about ultralight aircraft. She said he was also keen to learn how to fly.

Intelligence documents described to Newsweek said that the order to research ultralights - small motorised hang-gliders that are relatively cheap to buy and hard to detect in flight - came directly from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Faris is to be sentenced early in August. Officials told CNN television that he could face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of £150,000.

Critics of Mr Ashcroft have accused him of exaggerating the importance of relatively low-level al-Qa'eda operatives. They say that he is intent on securing unprecedented powers for the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.