WaPo : Prosecutors Insist on Al-Qaeda Link as Padilla Case Goes to Jury

Prosecutors Insist on Al-Qaeda Link as Padilla Case Goes to Jury

By Peter Whoriskey | Washington Post Staff Writer | August 15, 2007

MIAMI, Aug. 14 -- No one disputes that, in early September 1998, Jose Padilla picked up and moved to Egypt.

The question at the heart of his trial is why.

Jurors will begin deliberating on Wednesday whether Padilla, who came to prominence as a "dirty bomb" suspect in 2002, is guilty of participating in an unrelated conspiracy to commit murder overseas as a member of an al-Qaeda cell.

In closing arguments on Tuesday, prosecutors and defense attorneys clashed over what exactly propelled Padilla to take off for Egypt. Did he go there to study the Koran or to learn to be a terrorist? To find him guilty, the jury must decide not only that he agreed with others to harm people overseas, but also that he intended to do so while in the United States.

"There is no evidence to show that he was on a religious journey," Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Frazier told the jurors. Padilla "trained to kill. That is why this is a murder conspiracy."

Citing wiretapped phone calls from 1996 until his departure, prosecutors said Padilla, a convert to Islam, traveled overseas to wage "violent jihad" to establish strict Islamic governments there. He worked some of the time at a fast-food chicken restaurant.

"Jose Padilla was a mujaheddin recruit and al-Qaeda terrorist trainee," Frazier told jurors on Monday. Padilla and his two co-defendants "would not settle for just one Islamic government in Afghanistan. They wanted Islamic governments wherever Muslims lived."

Padilla's defense attorneys, however, portrayed him as a devout Muslim who moved only to improve his Arabic, the language of the Koran, and to further his Islamic studies. They noted that some people referred to him as "slow."

His attorneys also pointed jurors to those portions of the wiretapped calls that show Padilla and his co-defendants talking about studying.

"Focus on Jose's words, not on the words of others, and you'll see that he had the intent to study, not to murder," defense attorney Michael Caruso told jurors.

The prosecution case against Padilla was built, Caruso suggested, because this is a time "when fear runs high and political convenience causes our government to overreach," adding: "During this trial, you have been witness to such government overreaching."

After Padilla was picked up upon his return to the United States in May 2002, federal authorities said that he wanted to detonate a radioactive bomb in the United States. They then detained him without charges as an "enemy combatant" for 3 1/2 years.

When the U.S. Supreme Court said it would hear arguments challenging Padilla's enemy-combatant designation, the government shifted tactics and indicted him on charges including conspiracy to commit murder. He stands trial with two other men, accused of forming an al-Qaeda support cell.

For three months, prosecutors and defense attorneys have sifted through dozens of wiretapped conversations among Padilla, his co-defendants and other men. They are among thousands recorded over several years.

Not surprisingly, there are snippets that support both views of Padilla.

At times, Padilla speaks of studying and of learning Arabic. But his co-defendants appear to speak in code in the phone conversations. The code, an FBI agent testified, included terms for jihad such as "tourism," "football" and "breathing fresh air." One man on the calls, who refers to Padilla as his "partner," appears to visit sites where Muslims are fighting and being attacked.

The central piece of physical evidence against Padilla is a document labeled "Mujahideen Data Form." Prosecutors say it was recovered from an al-Qaeda training camp and, filled out with Padilla's personal information, shows that he attended terrorist training.

The fact that Padilla attended the training camp shows that he was linked with al-Qaeda, prosecutors argued, and they say that in itself is a murderous conspiracy. By one defense count, the name of the terrorist group was mentioned more than 100 times in prosecutors' closing arguments.

While questioning the authenticity of the form, defense attorneys argued that attendance at the camp does not prove that Padilla wanted to become a coldblooded killer. One of the main prosecution witnesses who attended the same camp testified that he got the training to defend Muslims if necessary, not to become a terrorist.