The airport shuttle driver accused of plotting a bombing in New York had contacts with al-Qaida that went nearly all the way to the top, to an Osama bin Laden confidant believed to be the terrorist group's leader in Afghanistan, U.S. intelligence officials told The Associated Press.Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, an Egyptian reputed to be one of the founders of the terrorist network, used a middleman to contact Afghan immigrant Najibullah Zazi as the 24-year-old man hatched a plot to use homemade backpack bombs, perhaps on the city's mass transit system, the two intelligence officials said.
| I imagine that means we now have contact information for the gentleman. How nice. |
Al-Yazid's contact with Zazi indicates that al-Qaida leadership took an intense interest in what U.S. officials have called one of the most serious terrorism threats crafted on U.S. soil since the 9/11 attacks.
| Yet another Al Q. failure, that, thanks to the superior skills of the Americans... like the last attempt in Britain failed thanks to the superior skills of the Brits, and the last attempt in Germany failed thanks to the superior skills of the Germans... Really, Al Q. really ought to admit to themselves they add more value to the organization as a figurehead, leaving the actually work of terrorizing to local affiliates to plan and execute with complete independence. |
| That's certainly how the Al Q. core see it. |
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the case remains under investigation, declined to describe al-Yazid's specific interaction with Zazi, who has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. But one senior U.S. intelligence official said the contact between Zazi and the senior al-Qaida leader occurred through an intermediary.
Just weeks before U.S. intelligence officials identified Zazi as a possible terrorist threat in late August, John Brennan, President Barack Obama's top domestic terrorism adviser, told a Washington audience that "another attack on the U.S. homeland remains the top priority for the al-Qaida senior leadership."
U.S. intelligence officials and prosecutors have said that Zazi was recruited and trained by al-Qaida. They say he and others traveled last year to Pakistan to receive the training.
Prosecutors say Zazi, during meetings with federal investigators before his arrest last month, "admitted that he received instructions from al-Qaida operatives on subjects such as weapons and explosives" during his trip to Pakistan.
Arthur Folsom, Zazi's Denver lawyer, said Wednesday he was not aware of a claim that his client had contact with al-Yazid or any other senior al-Qaida leader. He said Zazi told investigators he met with a number of people while in Pakistan.
"He may well have talked to someone at a coffee shop who had some type of connection he wasn't aware of," Folsom said. "Under those grounds, guess what? I have a connection to al-Qaida and so do you."
| None of them had me called from Pakistan to see how I was coming along. I'm starting to feel unloved. |