You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Europe
Al-Qaeda suspect tells of Kleine Brogel bomb plot
2003-05-28
EFL
An alleged Islamic militant has told a Belgian court how he plotted to bomb a military base on an al-Qaeda mission. Nizar Trabelsi, a former Tunisian professional footballer, told how Osama Bin Laden's network sent him two years ago to Belgium to bomb the Kleine Brogel base, which houses nuclear missiles. He is one of 23 alleged Islamic militants on trial. Only eight of them are in custody, while five are still on the run and the others face lesser charges.
Since it's Brussels, probably much lesser charges...
The plot was foiled after Mr Trabelsi's arrest in Brussels just two days after the 11 September attacks. A list of chemicals to make a bomb was found in his possession. Mr Trabelsi, 32, and another Tunisian, Tarek Maaroufi, face the most serious charges in the trial. On Tuesday, Mr Trabelsi told how he was instructed by al-Qaeda to plant a bomb into the canteen of the Kleine Brogel base, where American troops are deployed.
He said he was helped in organising the attack by a US soldier, who allegedly sold pictures of the base to an al-Qaeda operative. "It was an American working at the base. I think he was a smoker of dope. He was given $50,000," said Mr Trabelsi, who was questioned for three hours. However, he offered no proof and did not produce the pictures.
The sale of the pictures would have been before the September 11th attack. We were fat, dumb, and happy then, and I don't doubt that you could have bought pictures of the base from someone who needed money. Bet they had a good cover story.
If they were offering $50,000, they didn't need a cover story. The guy had to know there was something illegitimate up. I do hope Nizar's given the guys name, and preferably his address and phone number. There are some FBI guys who want to take him on a little trip. To Morocco.
Mr Trabelsi said he had decided to become a martyr for Bin Laden and carry out the attack after seeing pictures of a Palestinian baby girl who was killed in the Gaza Strip in 2001. "It (the bomb) was 850 kilograms of nitrates and 100 kilograms of sulphur," he said. "I intended to go in with the picture of the little Palestinian girl and press the detonator." Mr Trabelsi said he had met Bin Laden personally during a visit to Afghanistan in 2001. After his arrest, Mr Trabelsi renounced all violence, saying that the 11 September attack "was not the solution".
Most everyone renounces violence after they are arrested.
Belgium has no specific anti-terrorism laws. If found guilty Trabelsi and Maaroufi face up to 10 years in prison.
Posted by:Steve

#2  I posted a link to it here yesterday.
Posted by: Paul Moloney   2003-05-28 19:37:21  

#1  By the way, U.S. News and World Report's June 2 issue has a very good cover story on the success that America, Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt and others have had in rooting out al-Qaeda. This is a must read and the strong (but generally unpublicized until now) support of Jordan is quite interesting. Guess who lags in cooperation? Yep, our "friends" the Saudis.
Posted by: ColoradoConservative   2003-05-28 11:00:41  

00:00