This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/20/nyregion/abu-ghaith-terror-trial.html

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Bin Laden Son-in-Law, in Testimony, Tells of Cave Meeting on 9/11 Bin Laden Son-in-Law, in Testimony, Tells of Cave Meeting on 9/11
(about 3 hours later)
In the days and weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith served as a spokesman for Osama bin Laden, amplifying some of the Al Qaeda leader’s pronouncements, and giving voice, prosecutors say, to a broad recruitment drive for fighters committed to wage war on the United States. It was some hours after the World Trade Center towers had been toppled when Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was summoned to a meeting with Osama bin Laden. He recalled a three-hour or so drive into the night, finding the leader of Al Qaeda in a cave amid the mountains in Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, Mr. Abu Ghaith gave voice to his own cause, unexpectedly taking the stand in a federal courtroom in Manhattan, defending himself against charges that include conspiring to kill Americans and providing material support for terrorists. Bin Laden wanted his opinion on what would happen next, Mr. Abu Ghaith recalled on Wednesday. He said he told Bin Laden that he was not a military analyst, but Bin Laden pressed him.
Mr. Abu Ghaith is the most senior Bin Laden adviser to be tried — let alone testify — in a civilian court in the United States since the attacks, and he offered an extraordinarily intimate look at Bin Laden at the time of the attacks, taking jurors inside his cave in Afghanistan. Mr. Abu Ghaith said he told him that “America — if it was proven that you were the one who did this — will not settle until it accomplishes two things: to kill you and topple the state of Taliban.
Mr. Abu Ghaith, a 48-year-old Kuwaiti-born cleric, said he was summoned by the Qaeda leader on the night of the Sept. 11 attacks. “I found him in the cave, inside a mountain, in a rough terrain,” Mr. Abu Ghaith testified. “He said, ‘You are being too pessimistic.’
“He said, ‘Come in, sit down.’ He said, ‘Did you learn about what happened?' ” “I said, ‘You asked my opinion, and this is my opinion,’ ” Mr. Abu Ghaith testified.
Bin Laden wanted his opinion on what would happen next, Mr. Abu Ghaith recalled on the stand. He said he told the Qaeda leader that he was not a “military analyst,” but Bin Laden pressed him. In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Abu Ghaith served as a spokesman for Bin Laden, amplifying some of his pronouncements, and giving voice, prosecutors say, to a broad recruitment drive for fighters committed to wage war on the United States.
Mr. Abu Ghaith said he told Bin Laden that if it were “proven that you were the one that did this,” the United States would not stop until it accomplished two things: killed Bin Laden and toppled the Taliban state. On Wednesday, Mr. Abu Ghaith gave voice to his own cause, unexpectedly taking the stand in a federal courtroom in Manhattan to defend himself against charges that include conspiring to kill Americans and providing material support to terrorists.
“He said, ‘You are being too pessimistic.’ I said, ‘You asked my opinion, and this is my opinion,' ” Mr. Abu Ghaith testified. Mr. Abu Ghaith is the most senior Bin Laden adviser to be tried — let alone testify — in a civilian trial in the United States since the attacks, and he offered an extraordinarily intimate look at Bin Laden at the time of the attacks, taking jurors inside his cave in Afghanistan.
Mr. Abu Ghaith would then make videotaped speeches the next day and in later weeks, in which he praised the attacks and warned of others; he said those speeches were based on talking points from Bin Laden. After the long drive from Kandahar, Mr. Abu Ghaith testified that he found Bin Laden “in a cave, inside a mountain, in a rough terrain.”
Asked by his lawyer, Stanley L. Cohen, whether he had ever taken part in any plan to kill Americans or anyone else, Mr. Abu Ghaith said no. “He said, ‘Come in, sit down.’ He said, ‘Did you learn about what happened?’ ”
His decision to testify will give federal prosecutors a rare chance to cross-examine someone who was so close to Bin Laden; most accused terrorists agree to plea deals before trial, and those who do not invariably refuse to testify. Bin Laden told him that “we are the ones who did it,” the defendant recalled in response to questions posed by his lawyer, Stanley L. Cohen.
Mr. Abu Ghaith has told federal agents that he and Bin Laden had a “personal agreement” that Mr. Abu Ghaith would “do anything he could within his capabilities as a religious scholar and experienced orator to assist” Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, according to an F.B.I. summary of his interrogation aboard the airplane that brought him to the United States last year. The decision by Mr. Abu Ghaith, a 48-year-old Kuwaiti-born cleric, to testify came two weeks into his trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan, where, late on Wednesday, the defense rested its case. The jury is expected to begin deliberations early next week.
In the statement, he denied any knowledge or involvement in terrorist plots, planned or executed. Mr. Abu Ghaith had been in Afghanistan for several months in 2001, where he was delivering religious lectures in Qaeda training camps, he said. On the morning of Sept. 12, he testified, Bin Laden asked him “to deliver a message to the world.”
Mr. Abu Ghaith said that he often quoted Al Qaeda’s statements but did not feel that he was talking “on behalf of Al Qaeda.” He said Bin Laden had not asked him to become a spokesman and that there was no such position at the time. Mr. Abu Ghaith recalled saying that he was “new in this field.” He said Bin Laden replied, “I am going to give you some points and you build around them that speech.”
Mr. Abu Ghaith’s testimony is expected to continue Wednesday afternoon. In those videotaped speeches, the first delivered on Sept. 12, 2001, as he sat beside Bin Laden, Mr. Abu Ghaith praised the Sept. 11 attacks and warned of others to come.
Mr. Abu Ghaith’s decision to testify gave federal prosecutors a rare chance to cross-examine someone who was so close to Bin Laden, and the government took full advantage of the opportunity.
Mr. Abu Ghaith had said under direct examination, for example, that Bin Laden wanted him to lecture in the Qaeda camps because the trainees had a “hard life.”
“I need you to change that,” Bin Laden told him, Mr. Abu Ghaith recalled. He said Bin Laden wanted him to offer them a “merciful heart.”
Seizing on that moment, a prosecutor, Michael Ferrara, later asked Mr. Abu Ghaith: “You’re telling this jury that Bin Laden asked you to speak at those training camps where men were armed and learning how to use guns because he wanted you to talk about mercy?”
“Yes,” Mr. Abu Ghaith replied.
Mr. Abu Ghaith had also testified on direct examination that he had no idea “specifically” that the Sept. 11 attacks would occur, saying he only learned of them from news reports.
But on cross-examination, he admitted that in the training camps, he had heard that “something” might happen.
“You knew something big was coming from Al Qaeda?” Mr. Ferrara asked.
“Yes,” Mr. Abu Ghaith replied.
Until he took the stand, Mr. Abu Ghaith’s lawyers gave no indication that they were going to have their client testify. The defense’s strategy had been to obtain the testimony of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of the Sept. 11 attacks; the defense had argued that testimony from Mr. Mohammed, given his vast knowledge of Al Qaeda’s operations, would help clear their client.Until he took the stand, Mr. Abu Ghaith’s lawyers gave no indication that they were going to have their client testify. The defense’s strategy had been to obtain the testimony of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of the Sept. 11 attacks; the defense had argued that testimony from Mr. Mohammed, given his vast knowledge of Al Qaeda’s operations, would help clear their client.
But the judge presiding over the case, Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court, would not allow Mr. Mohammed’s testimony, ruling on Tuesday that there had been no showing by the defense, with some rare exceptions, that Mr. Mohammed “has personal knowledge of anything important to this matter.” But the judge presiding over the case, Lewis A. Kaplan, would not allow Mr. Mohammed’s testimony, ruling on Tuesday that there had been no showing by the defense, with some rare exceptions, that Mr. Mohammed “has personal knowledge of anything important to this matter.”
Mr. Abu Ghaith testified on Wednesday that he had met Mr. Mohammed but that they had engaged only in “casual talk.” He denied that he and Mr. Mohammed had ever discussed terrorist plots. Asked by Mr. Cohen whether he had ever taken part in any plan to kill Americans or anyone else, Mr. Abu Ghaith said no. He also said he had met Mr. Mohammed but only engaged in “casual talk” with him. He denied that he and Mr. Mohammed had ever discussed terrorist plots.
Prosecutors have not accused Mr. Abu Ghaith of helping to plan or carry out the Sept. 11 attacks. But prosecutors have said that Mr. Abu Ghaith knew of the Qaeda plot in which Richard C. Reid tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic airplane with explosives in his shoes. Prosecutors have not accused Mr. Abu Ghaith of helping to plan or carry out the Sept. 11 attacks. But prosecutors have said that Mr. Abu Ghaith knew of the Qaeda plot in which Richard C. Reid tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic airplane with explosives in his shoes — an assertion he denied on Wednesday.
Mr. Abu Ghaith appeared with Bin Laden in videos after Sept. 11, and made speeches in which he praised the attacks and warned that the “storm of airplanes” would not abate, which prosecutors say is evidence that he had advance knowledge of the shoe-bomb plot. The government has said in court papers that as part of his role in the conspiracy and the support he provided to Al Qaeda, Mr. Abu Ghaith spoke on behalf of the terrorist group, “embraced its war against America,” and attempted to recruit others to join in that conspiracy.
Mr. Abu Ghaith, in his testimony on Wednesday, denied having any knowledge of that attack or of having met Mr. Reid. Mr. Abu Ghaith responded calmly as he was questioned; at one point, as the government played a video of one of his fiery speeches, he rested his head on his hand and appeared to be watching impassively on a monitor on the witness stand.
During the questioning by Mr. Cohen, Mr. Abu Ghaith said that he had hoped that his speeches and videos would have led the United States to say, “Let’s go and sit down and talk and solve this problem.”
Mr. Ferrara pressed the defendant about the message he delivered in his speeches.
“It was your intention to deliver a message you believed in, right?” the prosecutor asked.
Mr. Abu Ghaith said yes.
“Your words carried weight, didn’t they?” Mr. Ferrara added.
“The listener will have to be the judge of that,” Mr. Abu Ghaith said. “I cannot judge my own words.”