Zacarias Moussaoui, a former al-Qaida operative sometimes referred to as the "20th hijacker" involved in the 9/11 attacks, claims that members of the Saudi royal family supported the terrorist organization.
In sworn testimony given last October from a Colorado federal prison where he is serving a life sentence, Moussaoui alleged that in the late 1990s he was directed by Osama bin Laden to create a digital database of al-Qaida's donors.
“Sheikh Osama wanted to keep a record who give money ... who is to be listened to or who contributed to the jihad," Moussaoui said, according to a transcript of the deposition filed in federal court in New York on Monday and published Wednesday by the New York Times.
Among them: Prince Turki Al-Faisal, then the Saudi intelligence chief; Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the longtime Saudi ambassador to the United States; and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a prominent billionaire investor.
Moussaoui — a French national who was detained in Minnesota weeks before 9/11 and pleaded guilty to six terror-related charges in 2005 — also alleged that he once delivered letters from bin Laden to King Abdullah's brother, Prince Salman, and other members of the Saudi royal family. Abdullah died last month, and Salman was installed as king.
In a statement, the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington dismissed Moussaoui's allegations.
"There is no evidence to support Moussaoui's claim. The Sept. 11 attack has been the most intensely investigated crime in history, and the findings show no involvement by the Saudi government or Saudi officials," the statement read. "Moussaoui is a deranged criminal whose own lawyers presented evidence that he was mentally incompetent. His words have no credibility. [Moussaoui's] goal in making these statements only serves to get attention for himself and try to do what he could not do through acts of terrorism — to undermine Saudi-U.S. relations."
In 2004, the 9/11 Commission concluded there was no evidence that the Saudi government funded al-Qaida.
"It does not appear that any government other than the Taliban financially supported al-Qaida before 9/11, although some governments may have contained al-Qaida sympathizers who turned a blind eye to al-Qaida's fund-raising activities," the commission's report said. "Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of al-Qaida funding, but we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization."
Moussaoui's deposition was taken as part of a motion to dismiss a civil lawsuit filed against Saudi Arabia by relatives of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
During his 2006 sentencing, Moussaoui tried to fire his lawyers, who argued that he had a mental illness. But a judge ruled that he was fully competent.
And Sean P. Carter, a lawyer who participated in the October deposition, told the Times, “My impression was that he was of completely sound mind — focused and thoughtful."
In his testimony, Moussaoui also described in detail a planned truck-bomb attack on the American Embassy in London, as well as plotting attacks using crop-dusters.
Additionally, Moussaoui said that he had been directed to meet with an official in the Islamic Affairs Department of Saudi Arabia's embassy in Washington to explore "the feasibility of shooting Air Force One."
“I was supposed to go to Washington ... find a location where it may be suitable to launch a Stinger attack [on Air Force One] and then, after, be able to escape,” he said.
Anong sinabi ng SAF troopers nang makaharap si PNoy?
Pelicans halt Hawks' 19-game winning streak
Anthony Davis had 29 points and 13 rebounds to help New Orleans win for the sixth time in seven games, a stint which includes victories over several contending squads including Dallas and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Jeff Teague scored 21 for Atlanta, but the Hawks fell behind by double digits in the first quarter and failed to even tie it.
Eric Gordon scored 20 points for New Orleans, while Tyreke Evans scored 15 points and tied a season high with 12 assists for the fourth time in five games.
Cleveland's Kyrie Irving scored 24 points, and LeBron James added 18 points and 11 assists as the Cavaliers staggered to their 11th straight win 97-84.
The winning streak is Cleveland's longest since reeling off 13 in a row — a franchise record — in 2010, the last season of James' first stint with the club. The Cavs had trouble putting away the young Philadelphia Sixers, who did all they could to stay close but don't have the firepower to keep up with Irving, James and one of the NBA's hottest teams.
At Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook's second triple-double of the season and 10th of his career helped the Thunder defeat the Orlando Magic 104-97 without the injured Kevin Durant.
Westbrook, an All-Star point guard, had 25 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds.
Durant sat out with a sprained big toe on his left foot.
Victor Oladipo scored 22 points and Nikola Vucevic scored 20 points for the Magic, who lost their ninth straight.
The Charlotte Hornets downed the Washington Wizards 92-88 after Al Jefferson had 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist added 13 points and 13 rebounds, Brian Roberts scored 18 points, and Gerald Henderson put in 17 for the Hornets.
In other games, Khris Middleton scored 25 points, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 12 points and 12 rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Toronto Raptors 82-75, the Brooklyn Nets edged the Los Angeles Clippers 102-100, the Dallas Mavericks downed the Minnesota Timberwolves 100-94 and the Memphis Grizzlies narrowly beat the Phoenix Suns 102-101.
In Toronto, Khris Middleton scored 25 points, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 12 points and 12 rebounds, and the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks snapped a six-game losing streak against the Toronto Raptors.
Reduced to nine players when guard Brandon Knight was ruled out before the game with a sore right quadriceps muscle, Milwaukee lost another body when guard O.J. Mayo was ejected after picking up a double technical at 4:07 of the second.
Jonas Valanciunas had 12 points and 13 rebounds, DeMar DeRozan scored 16 and Lou Williams 12 for the Raptors, who had won six straight overall.
In New York, Jarrett Jack made a tiebreaking jumper with 1.3 seconds left, and the Brooklyn Nets used a late rally to beat the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Nets ended a seven-game home losing streak by erasing a nine-point deficit in the final 1:35, getting two 3-pointers from Alan Anderson — one a four-point play — one from Joe Johnson and another from Deron Williams in his return from an 11-game absence.
After Chris Paul's layup tied it at 100 with 8.6 seconds to go, Jack lofted a jumper over 6-foot-11 center DeAndre Jordan.
Brook Lopez scored 24 points and Johnson had 22 for the Nets, who snapped an overall four-game skid and won at home for the first time since beating Sacramento on Dec. 29.
Jordan executes 2 terrorists after IS kills pilot
The Jordanian military confirmed the death of 26-year-old Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh, who was captured by the extremists in December when his F-16 crashed while he was flying a mission as part of the US-led air campaign against the Islamic State group. He was the first airman participating in the US-led bombing raids against Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq to be captured by the militants.
In Washington, Jordan’s King Abdallah II and President Barack Obama vowed in a hastily arranged White House meeting not to let up in the fight against Islamic State. Jordan, a staunch Western ally, is a member of the coalition.
Sajida Al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman, was executed before daybreak Wednesday, along with another prisoner, Zaid Al-Karbouly, also linked to Al-Qaeda, said government spokesman Mohammed Al-Momani. Another official said they were executed by hanging.
The executions took place at Swaqa prison about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of the Jordanian capital of Amman. At sunrise, two ambulances carrying the bodies of Al-Rishawi and Al-Karbouly drove away from the prison with security escorts.
Over the past week, Jordan had offered to trade Al-Rishawi, a failed suicide bomber, for the pilot, but froze any swap after failing to receive any proof that the pilot was still alive. Jordanian TV said the pilot was killed as long ago as Jan. 3.
Al-Rishawi had been sentenced to death after her 2005 role in a triple hotel bombing in Amman that killed 60 people. Al-Karbouly was sent to death row in 2008 for plotting terror attacks on Jordanians in Iraq.
Al-Kaseasbeh had fallen into the hands of the militants in December when his F-16 crashed near Raqqa, Syria, the de facto capital of the group’s self-styled caliphate.
In the 20-minute video purportedly showing his killing, he displayed signs of having been beaten, including a black eye. Toward the end of the clip, he is shown wearing an orange jumpsuit. He stands in an outdoor cage as a masked militant ignites a line of fuel leading to it.
The video, which threatened other purported Jordanian pilots by name, was released on militant websites and bore the logo of the extremist group’s Al-Furqan media service. The clip featured the slick production and graphics used in previous Islamic State videos. The video could not immediately be confirmed independently by The Associated Press.
The killing of the 26-year-old airman appeared aimed at pressuring the government of Jordan — a close US ally — to leave the coalition that has carried out months of airstrikes targeting Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq. But the extremists’ brutality against a fellow Muslim could backfire and galvanize other Sunni Muslims in the region against them.
At their White House meeting, the Jordanian monarch and Obama affirmed that “the vile murder of this brave Jordanian will only serve to steel the international community’s resolve to destroy ISIL,” said White House spokesman Alistair Baskey, using an acronym for the extremist group.
Abdullah, who was on a previously scheduled trip to Washington, arrived after nightfall Tuesday and made no remarks to reporters as he and Obama sat side by side in the Oval Office.
In a statement before his meeting with Abdullah, Obama vowed the pilot’s death would “redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of our global coalition to make sure they are degraded and ultimately defeated.”
Abdullah has portrayed the campaign against the extremists as a battle over values.
But Jordan also faces increasing threats from the militants. Jordan borders areas of Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq, while there are have been signs of greater support for the group’s militant ideas among Jordan’s young and poor.
The video was released three days after another video showed the purported beheading of a Japanese journalist, Kenji Goto, who was captured by Islamic State in October. The militants had linked the fates of the pilot and the journalist. A second Japanese hostage was apparently killed earlier last month.
In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the pilot’s killing as “a despicable terrorist activity.”
“From our hearts, we express solidarity with the Jordanian government and people,” Abe said, reading a statement.
“We will not give in to terrorism,” he added. “Our country will actively contribute, along with the international community, and we will fulfil our responsibility in the international community to fighting terrorism.”
___
Laub reported from Jerusalem.
PANOORIN: 'Ballet show' sa himpapawid ng Israel
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