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| Europe | |
| French trial links 3/11 and Casablanca bombings | |
| 2004-04-07 | |
| In 1997 David Courtailler, a Frenchman trying to kick a drug habit in the seaside town of Brighton, found the answer to his personal demons in the teachings of Islam. He converted at the local mosque, and a few days later was approached by a mysterious man "who persuaded him to go to Afghanistan to undergo military training", says a French indictment. "This man paid for his airline ticket, gave him 1,000 pounds and a telephone number in Pakistan." Thus began an adventure in the Islamic militant underworld with strands that reach across Britain, France, Spain, Holland, Morocco, Algeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- but which ended when he was caught stealing a pair of shoes in a Normandy port. His lawyer says the 28-year-old was just a loner on the fringes of society who became unwittingly caught in a vast militant underground network beyond his understanding. Courtailler knew key figures who have been linked to both the Madrid and Casablanca attacks, and his case ties those figures to extensive networks in Britain, France and elsewhere. But it has become clear that before March 11, Spanish police missed clues that a Moroccan network linked to the Casablanca strikes was also plotting to kill in Spain. A Reuters investigation into the Courtailler case shows that police forces in other European countries also held extensive pieces of the puzzle. David Courtailler's lawyer, Philbert Lepy, describes him as a down-and-out naif who entered the world of Islamic militants in a quest to find himself. "He's a bit of an odd sort of guy. Actually at the time he had had a lot of problems in France. He'd had trouble finding work, he was a drug addict," Lepy told Reuters. "He could just as well have ended up in a sect or something else. He sort of saw the light in the mosque and and that lit up his life." As for the militants he met along the way: "He admits having met them, but he never took part in their activities. Obviously he was in a paramilitary training camp, and there he saw people training for war. But at the time, which was 1998, everyone in Afghanistan had weapons." Whether Courtailler was a willing militant or an innocent convert caught in over his head, he would have been an ideal recruit for an underground movement planning attacks. "This is exactly the sort of people that are really worrying the security services now," said Kevin Rosser, terrorism expert at consultancy Control Risks Group. "European passport, non-Middle Eastern appearance, and no reason why he would come to the attention of the security services unless they happened to be investigating the militant groups he was in contact with." Rosser drew parallels with "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, a Briton drawn to Islamic radicals in London who tried to blow up an airliner with explosives in his shoes, and "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, recruited by militants while studying Arabic in Yemen and captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan. "These are people who are just sort of lost."
Abu Qatada was in regular contact with Abu Dahdah, the top al Qaeda suspect held in Spain. Abu Dahdah's mobile phone number was found at the home of Madrid bombing suspect Jamal Zougam. Details of Courtailler's Brighton bank account were found in a book of bank transfers at the home of "E", another of the detainees now held under British emergency powers, French court documents say. "E", a suspected recruiter for Algeria's Armed Islamic Group militants cannot be named in this report because of a British court order banning the naming of most emergency detainees. French documents say "E" spoke frequently by telephone with Abu Zubaida -- a senior lieutenant of al Qaeda leader bin Laden -- about recruits for Afghan training camps. When he was detained, "E" also had the Madrid address of a one-eyed Bosnian war veteran living in the Spanish capital under the name "David Burgess". French authorities believe "Burgess" is actually an alias of one of the Benyaich brothers, a wealthy Moroccan clan whose sons are blamed for the Casablanca attacks. It was this family which hosted David Courtailler on his next travels. | |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 --"These are people who are just sort of lost."-- Then join the Moonies. You don't go killing people because you've stared at your navel for far too long. |
| Posted by: Anonymous2U 2004-04-07 4:59:45 PM |