PART THIRTEEN OF EIGHTEEN:

E. A Subject of the Investigation in the Philippines.

A subject of the FBI and Grand Jury investigation ("Suspect I") has been linked personally by a Filipino terrorist to convicted international terrorists Ramzi Yousef[21] and Abdul Hakim Murad[22] as well as Philippine terrorist groups.

The defense has learned of evidence suggesting a direct, personal link between a suspect of the investigation and Ramzi Yousef, the "mastermind" of the World Trade Center bombing according to a New York federal grand jury indictment. D.E. 2482 at 1-2. The defense has recently learned, within the last week, that three FBI agents are in the Philippines and have contacted the Philippine National Police Intelligence. The FBI is investigating Yousef's activities in the Philippines, including reports of terrorist training in Batansas.

Defense counsel have interviewed in the Philippines a known terrorist in the custody of the Philippine government. The purpose of the inquiry was to determine his knowledge of foreign "mail-to-order bride" businesses[23] and any links between that group and criminal activity in the Philippines and/or terrorism.

• a. There were definite criminal connections to the mail-to-order bride business in the Philippines;
• b. He was able specifically to identify a photograph of an individual engaged in smuggling activities;
• c. He identified terrorist training as coming from the International Islamic Academy at Peshawar Pakistan which has been funded in the past by Saudi Arabia and other countries;
• d. Targets of the Academy are "rich nations in Europe and Asia and the U.S.";
• e. The contact between foreign terrorists and local Muslims was generally initiated when local Muslim students came to know students from other schools at various international academies;
• f. He stated that Ramzi Yousef is also known as Abdul Basit and he identified two other members of Ramzi Yousef's organization including Abdul Hakim Murad, a codefendant of Ramzi Yousef, who told a security officer at the detention center in New York that the Liberation Army was responsible for the bombing in Oklahoma City (see D.E. 2482 Exhibit "M");
• g. He specifically identified J.S., an individual that the defense has learned knew or knows a subject of the investigation and has visited in the subject's home in the Philippines. J.S. has been identified as an arms dealer for the Moro Liberation Front, a terrorist organization in the Philippines;
• h. He was specifically interrogated as to what other bombing incidents after New York were attributed to Muslim terrorists and he specifically cited the bombing in Oklahoma City and the Saudi Arabia bombings;
• I. He also told counsel he knows personally a subject of the investigation. He met the subject and J.L sometime in 1992 or 1993 at the vicinity of Del Monte labeling factory in Davao, Philippines. This was before the New York City bombing. He (identified in the report as "No. 3") said that the subject introduced himself as a "farmer." At that time, he said that his companions were Abdul Basit (Ramzi Yousef), Wali Khan and Abdul Hakim Murad. They all conferred with J.L and the subject." Yousef, Khan, and Murad were convicted on September 5, 1996, in New York of conspiracy to blow up 12 U.S. jetliners in a plot planned in the Philippines;
• j. Because the person interviewed (No. 3) identified himself as knowing that the subject of the investigation "introduced himself as a farmer," he was asked to reduce his statement to writing and he did so. A copy of the written statement is found at D.E. 2482 (Exhibit "N"). His written statement identified three subjects discussed at the meeting where Ramzi Yousef and the subject of the investigation among others were present. These subjects were 1) bombing activities; 2) providing firearms and ammunition; and 3) training in bomb making and handling;
• k. He was also asked about the statement of Abdul Hakim Murad that the Oklahoma bombing was the handy work of the Liberation Army. Mr. Murad was a codefendant to Ramzi Yousef in the Philippine airline bombing case in federal court in New York. (Ramzi Yousef was also charged by separate indictment as the leader of the attack on the World Trade Center bombing which involved a Ryder truck carrying a fertilizer bomb). Specifically, He was asked "What was the identification of Liberation Army referred to by Murad?" See D.E. 2482 (Exhibit "M"). He stated, according to the interview, "It was the Palestine Liberation Army and/or the Islamic Jihad which Murad was referring to. . . . This army is associated with Hamas and based in Lebanon, he added." Id.
• l. He also placed the meeting of the subject and J.L with Murad and Ramzi Yousef in Davao and noted, "It was also the place where Muslims were taught in bomb making." This statement tends to be corroborative of the truthfulness of the Filipino terrorist because the defense has interviewed two individuals who claimed that the subject asked them if they knew anyone who made bombs, and one individual confirmed to a friend of his that the subject had with him a book on making explosives. See D.E. 2482 (Exhibit "K" at 10, 12);
• m. There are a number of factors that indicate that the Filipino's statement is truthful. First, he has no reason to lie as he is a cooperating witness with the Philippine investigation, and there is sufficient documentation to indicate that he was the co-founder and second-ranking member in Ramzi Yousef's organization, Abu Sayyaf. See D.E. 2482 (Exhibits "S" and "M"). His statement that Muslims were being trained in Pakistan at a charitable organization through the international Islamic academy is consistent with the intelligence information of the Saudi Arabian General that Iraq had hired Pakistanis who might not know they were actually operating on behalf of Iraq. The use of an intermediary, i.e. the International Islamic Academy, and Islamic charity organizations would certainly disguise the role of Iraq. See D.E. 2482 (Exhibit "U").

  His statement that the United States is a target country is hardly surprising. The dates that he claims to have seen the subject of the investigation are consistent with the subject being in the Philippines (see D.E. 2482 (Exhibit "V')), and his statement that the subject identified himself as a "farmer" is likewise corroborative. Perhaps most important the fact that he saw them near a place where Muslims make bombs is consistent with statements by other witnesses who claim that the subject had a book on bomb making with him and wanted to know how or where he could find someone that knew how to make bombs. See D.E. 2482 at 25. In addition, the Filipino identified correctly Yousef's real name as Abdul Basit. See D.E. 2482 (Exhibit "W").

Finally, the arrest of McVeigh and Nichols is not necessarily inconsistent with this report. The district court has correctly summarized in the past that the defense theory is that once McVeigh was arrested, the government ceased pursuing an international connection because the arrest of McVeigh, and later Nichols, would seem to preclude a foreign involvement. However, material the defensne [sic] has submitted to the district court, indicates that there is a relationship between neo-Nazis in this country and foreign terrorist groups in Iraq and the Philippines. Moreover, the subject's actions as articulated at D.E. 2482 (Exhibit "AA") are entirely consistent with his seeking to find assistance in the Philippines on how to make a bomb.

The fact that Murad, while in custody, is a co-defendant and a close associate of the alleged ringleader of the bombing on the World Trade Center (and not incidently [sic] also the federal building in Manhattan) were a Ryder truck was used to carry a fertilizer bomb is also highly relevant. The materials also indicate that terrorist groups in the Philippines have been trained in Pakistan, and that some of these same Pakistanis fought in Afghanistan. See D.E. 2482 (Exhibit "X").

The revelations by the New York Times that the FBI was pulling out of the investigation in Saudi Arabia because of lack of cooperation by the Saudi government further tends to support this intelligence information. See D.E. 2482 (Exhibit "Y"); see also Exhibit "Z" (discussing the anti-American climate in Saudi Arabia). The Saudis would be greatly embarrassed if it should develop that either directly or indirectly they have been financing a training area of terrorists in Pakistan, which may have led to deaths of Americans, or they may simply fear that they will be upsetting Iran or Iraq if the finger of suspicion of the investigation should point specifically to those two governments.

The important point is these reports from the Philippines inferentially support the Saudi intelligence report. The arrest warrant of Abraham Ahmad as a material witness makes reference to three Middle Eastern men running from the Murrah building shortly after the explosion. See D.E. 2482 (Exhibit "EE" at 1).

Several eye witnesses, including the next to last survivor pulled from the wreckage, have identified an "olive complected" dark haired man (variously described as Middle Eastern, Indian, Hawaiian) as being the driver and/or occupant of a Ryder truck shortly before the explosion and seen outside the Murrah Building. The FBI authorized an All Points Bulletin ("APB"), which was broadcast on police radio, seeking information about a full-size brown pickup truck occupied by Middle Eastern males. See D.E. 2406 (Exhibit "C").

The subject of the investigation was present in the Philippines in November, 1994 until January, 1995. During this same period of time, Ramzi Yousef was also in the Philippines. See D.E. 2763 at 22. Yousef and two co-defendants, Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin Shah, were convicted on September 5, 1996 in New York City with conspiring to blow up eleven (11) United States jetliners. Yousef is generally regarded as the mastermind behind the World Trade Center bombing and the government plans to try him for that crime. Id. at 15.

Vince Cannistraro, the former Chief of Counterterrorism for the CIA (D.E. 2406 (Exhibit "B")), authored an article which appeared in The Boston Globe in April of 1995, suggesting the probability of foreign terrorist involvement, particularly Iraq, in the Oklahoma City bombing, while observing its similarity to the World Trade Center bombing. Cannistraro wrote, "Yousef had carefully prepared his escape, leaving under another name from New York the evening of the bombing. He abandoned his comrades to the police. If the Oklahoma bombing follows the same pattern, the foreign sponsors will have covered their trail carefully, leaving only the support cells of local adherents to face the prosecutor." D.E. 2406 at 3.

Ramzi Yousef was a Pakistani terrorist based in the Philippines. D.E. 2763 at 15-16. The Philippines is also the base camp for the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). Id. Abu Sayyaf consists of between 500 and 600 fighters and is funded by radical Middle Eastern Muslims. D.E. 2191 at 21; see general) D.E. 2763.

ASG was formed in 1991 and is based on the Philippine island of Mindanao, which is a largely Muslim region which has been for all intents and purposes at war with the Philippines for regional autonomy. Abu Sayyaf has been linked to an international terrorist cell which is alleged to have plotted the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II when he visited the Philippines in January, 1995. Ramzi Yousef made contact with the Abu Sayyaf Group in the Philippines through his "Afghan connections." Id.

It has been reported reliably by Jane's Intelligence Review, a highly respected source for intelligence information, that "by all accounts, [Yousef] had ambitious plans to intensify his own Jihad against the U.S.A." In addition to the plot to assassinate the Pope, Yousef and his team, together with Abu Sayyaf support, were planning to attack the U.S. Embassy and other facilities throughout Asia. The bombing of Philippine Airlines Flight 434 on December 11, 1994 was simply a "test run" to smuggle a bomb through the Manila Airport. Id.

Abu Sayyaf's funding includes support from Muslim billionaires in the Persian Gulf including Osama bin Laden. Id.; see also D.E. 2763 at 17. Arab intelligence sources report that Osama bin Laden's funding of Islamic terrorist groups is "considerable" and is conducted through several companies he owns in Africa, Europe and the Arab world. During the Afghan War, Bin Laden was a "driving force" behind recruiting young Muslim zealots to join the Mujhedeen and he operated out of the northwest frontier province of Pakistan along the Afghanistan border. Bin Laden became a close associate of Sheikh Omar Abdullah Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric who has been tried in New York and whom U.S. authorities believe is a kingpin in an international Islamic terrorist network. Id.

In February, 1995, United States authority named bin Laden and his Saudi brother-in-law, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, among 172 unindicted co-conspirators with the eleven (11) Muslims charged for the World Trade Center bombing and the associated plot to blow up other New York landmarks. At the time Khalifa was linked to the World Trade Center bombing, he was already in prison in San Francisco because his visa was revoked on the grounds that he had failed to disclose when he obtained it in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia and that he was wanted in Jordan for a series of bombings carried out in Amman in 1993. Incredibly, Khalifa's presence in California went unnoticed until Abu Sayyaf attacked the Christian town of Ipil in April, 1995. Id.

Philippine intelligence documents indicate that Khalifa, who had at one time ran a Muslim religious center in the Philippines, was linked to Islamic organizations in a number of countries, including Iraq and Jordan. Khalifa was deported to Jordan and was cleared of all charges. Id. at 22.

While the brother-in-law of one of the financier's of Abu Sayyaf was being deported by the Americans after spending time in solitary confinement in a prison in San Francisco, one of Ramzi Yousef's co-defendants, Abdullah Hakim Murad, then on trial in New York City for conspiracy to blow up American airliners, readily admitted to a prison guard that he was a member of the Liberation Army, and that the Liberation Army was responsible for the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. Id. at 22-23.

The prison guard had asked Hakim Murad what he thought about the bombing when it was reported on the radio, and, according to a FBI 302, Murad responded to the guard's question by stating that the Liberation Army was responsible for the bombing and, a short time later, confirmed in writing that the Liberation Army was responsible for the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. Id.

The manager of the Great Western Inn at Grandview Plaza, Kansas, told the FBI that he observed the composite sketches of John Doe #1 and #2 when they were released, and stated that one of the sketches looked like a man who had checked into the motel on Monday, April 17, 1995 or Tuesday, April 18, 1995, the same time Tim McVeigh was staying at the Dreamland Motel. According to Mistry, the man was driving a Ryder rental truck which he parked in front of the motel and the man reminded Mistry of a "Moslem" and had a Middle Eastern accent. Mistry advised the FBI that the composite sketch of John Doe #2 "looked just like the man he described as having checked into the Great Western Inn on April 17, 1995 or April 18, 1995." D.E. 2191 at 23.

[CONTINUED IN PART FOURTEEN]

[21] Ramzi Yousef was convicted in September in New York City of a conspiracy to blow up 12 American jumbo jets in one day and he is currently awaiting trial on an indictment charging him as the "mastermind" of the World Trade Center bombing.

[22] Murad is a co-defendant of Yousef and told the FBI on April 19, 1995, a Muslim group, the Liberation Army in the Philippines was responsible for the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.