Posted on 06/23/2005 9:27:17 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A federal grand jury added four new charges against a man authorities say fought with the Taliban, shared a meal with Osama bin Laden and wired money to people he met in Afghan training camps.
Mohammed Warsame, 31, was charged last year with conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaida. Wednesday's new indictment added a count of providing material support to the terrorist group and three counts of making false statements to the FBI.
Warsame has been held without bail since his 2003 arrest. An arraignment date on the new charges had not been set, said Karen Bailey, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Warsame's attorney, David C. Thomas of Chicago, told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis he believes the new charges were filed because Warsame stopped cooperating with the government.
"He feels like he was taken advantage of," Thomas said.
The new indictment alleges Warsame lied when he told FBI agents that since 1995 he has traveled only to Saudi Arabia and Somalia. Prosecutors say he also traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001 to attend military training camps.
The indictment also alleges Warsame lied when he told investigators he had no contact with people he met in the camps after he left. Finally, Warsame is charged with telling agents he didn't send money to people he met in Afghanistan. The indictment claims he sent $2,000 to an associate in Pakistan.
Warsame, a Somali with Canadian citizenship, was arrested in Minneapolis in December 2003. He had been living in Minnesota since 2002 with his wife and daughter.
An FBI agent's affidavit filed last year said Warsame claimed to have twice seen combat with front line units of the Taliban. He also said he saw bin Laden on several occasions at training camps and once ate with the al-Qaida chief.
"He feels like he was taken advantage of," Thomas said.
This sure doesn't make any sense to me. What is the lawyer complaining about, exactly? If the Feds had already charged Wassisname with everything they could possibly charge him with, then what incentive would he have had to cooperate? And if, after he ceased cooperating, they had not filed additional charges, then what incentive would any suspect have for cooperating under a similar deal?
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