A German investigator testified Friday that authorities identified al-Qaeda links to the leader of a German-based terrorist cell, but could not back U.S. claims that the man was also in contact with Saddam Hussein. Testifying at the trial of Shadi Abdellah, accused of plotting attacks in Germany for the radical Palestinian group Al Tawhid, federal agent Manfred Ehlenz said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the leader of the group and also believed to be the "leader of a wing within al-Qaida." In his February speech to the U.N. Security Council U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said al-Zarqawi was being harbored by Iraq and proved an al-Qaida connection to Saddam. Ehlenz said the Bundeskriminalamt — Germany's equivalent of the FBI — had linked al-Zarqawl to Hamas and Hezbollah, but never to Saddam.
| Ummm... How about through his links with Ansar al-Islam? |
"We never came up with an indication of that in our investigation," he testified. Abdellah, 26, was one of nine alleged Islamic extremists detained in April 2002 on suspicion of plotting imminent terror attacks, but the only one to be charged so far. He has testified that the Essen-based Al Tawhid cell had planned to attack Jewish targets to emulate al-Qaida, and also told of training in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and serving briefly as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard. |