Posted on 04/26/2004 1:53:03 PM PDT by TexKat
AMMAN, Jordan (Reuters) - Jordanian state television aired Monday what it said were confessions by captured militants tied to al Qaeda who said they had planned deadly chemical attacks that could have killed thousands of people.
Authorities had already reported the plot earlier this month, but the confessions shown on a prime-time broadcast provided further details of the planned attacks.
The arrested militants, who included Syrians, said they were ordered by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, accused by Washington of being a top al Qaeda supporter, to attack targets that included the heavily fortified U.S. embassy and intelligence headquarters.
The head of the group, Azmi Jayousi, said that he first met Zarqawi during his training in an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and met him again in Iraq without giving any dates.
"I pledged allegiance to Zarqawi and after the fall of Afghanistan I met him again in Iraq," said Jayousi, who had clearly identifiable bruises on his face and palm.
"Zarqawi commissioned me to go to Jordan to wage military action," Jayousi said in the 20-minute broadcast where he calmly recounted how he carefully planned with his accomplices the chemical attacks using trucks.
A narrator, without any detailed explanation, said at least 80,000 people would have been killed in the attack by toxic fumes spreading over a radius of more than three miles. The high figure cited was symptomatic of the high tension prevailing in the kingdom, with wide media coverage of raids and street checks.
Jayousi said he set up a chemical factory near the northern city of Irbid, close to the Syrian border, and received $170,000 in financing and logistic aid along with fake passports and forged banknotes from Suleiman Darwish, an alleged Zarqawi aide living in Syria.
The broadcast showed graphic pictures of the location of the alleged chemical plants and the trucks that were to be used in the attacks. It did not say what type of chemical explosives were being prepared.
Another captured militant shown on television was a Syrian national, Annas Sheikh Amin, 18, who said he went to Afghanistan where he was trained at a Qaeda camp before heading to Jordan.
Jordanian Hussein Sharif said he was driven by a fervent belief that the attacks would promote the cause of Muslims.
"I agreed to this operation because I thought it would serve Islam," a bearded Sharif said.
Security sources said al Qaeda had sought to punish Jordan for supporting Washington's efforts to pacify post-war Iraq, and was incensed over covert aid Jordan had given to the U.S. military campaign there.
Jordanian officials said ten days ago they had found explosive-carrying cars believed to have been loaded by an underground group linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
Jayousi said he planned the attack with trucks laden with 20 tons of explosives. King Abdullah said after the arrest of the group earlier this month that it had had saved "thousands of lives"
Jordanian intelligence officials have often boasted in recent years that their efforts have foiled plots by al Qaeda-linked militants to launch deadly attacks on Western targets and government installations.
Jayousi said he set up a chemical factory near the northern city of Irbid, close to the Syrian border, and received $170,000 in financing and logistic aid along with fake passports and forged banknotes from Suleiman Darwish, an alleged Zarqawi aide living in Syria.
"I agreed to this operation because I thought it would serve Islam," a bearded Sharif said.I hear you, dude. I thought using a super-soaker to spray hydrochloric acid on school girls would serve Islam. Boy was I wrong. I should have tortured them with red-hot pokers first.
....OMGOSH...this will seriously contaminate the jury pool!! (/sarcasm)
Don't hold your breath waiting for the mainstream press to cover this.
A birdie tells me that the bad stuff came originally from Iraq, and the plot was being implemented through Al Queada operatives based in Iraq, beginning with Al-Zarqawi, Al Queada's man in Iraq apparently at least since the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
If I wasn't such a cynic, I would further guess that this part of the story is being suppressed in the United States because it makes Bush look great and his political opponents (including especially the "mainstream" media) look, well, not so great.
One of them on the Jordanian Govt. Video stated that this was to be the first of Al Queda chemical attacks.
I think that everyone was waiting on the Jordanian government to get all their ducks in a row regarding the matter and bam here today we get the info. CNN just showed clips of the head guy and some of the raid.
CNN's Aaron Brown is scheduled to have a special on the matter tonight.
This image grab from the official Jordanian TV shows a combo of 10 members of a terrorist cell, four killed and six arrested recently in Jordan, according to the official television station.(AFP/JORDANIAN TV)
This image grab from the official Jordanian TV shows 'chemicals that terrorists from Al-Qaeda were trying to make explosives with', according to a taped testimony by arrested members of a terrorist network in Jordan aired by the official television station.(AFP/JORDANIAN TV)
This image grab from the official Jordanian TV shows one of the workshops where members of a terrorist cell in Jordan were preparing 'chemicals that terrorists from Al-Qaeda were trying to make explosives with', according to a taped testimony aired by the official television station.(AFP/JORDANIAN TV)
This image grab from the official Jordanian TV shows one of the cars purchased by a terrorist cell in Jordan who were planning a huge attack in Amman, according to a taped testimony by members of the cell aired by the official television station.(AFP/JORDANIAN TV)
A portrait of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden burns after protestors set alight his effigy during a protest against terrorism. Jordan foiled a chemical attack linked to Al-Qaeda against the intelligence services with trucks loaded with 20 tons of explosives that could have killed 80,000 people, security officials said.(AFP/File/Mandel Ngan)
In a videotape shown on Jordanian TV, Hussein Sharif said he was recruited as a suicide bomber.
See the suspected terrorists' taped confessions on CNN's NewsNight with Aaron Brown at 10 pm ET.
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