U.S. Indicts Terror Suspect Bin Laden

The United States indicted Saudi militant Osama bin Laden and his top military commander Wednesday on 224 counts of conspiracy to commit murder for their alleged involvement in the August bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. U.S. officials offered a $5-million reward for information leading to the suspects’ capture.

The grand jury also charged Bin Laden in an October 1993 attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, that killed 18 U.S. soldiers and for allegedly planning a wide range of terrorist activities that included efforts to obtain the components of chemical and nuclear weapons.

The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in New York, states that Bin Laden’s organization, Al Qaida, or The Base, cooperated with terrorists in Sudan, Egypt, Iran and other nations.

Prosecutors charge that Bin Laden reached an “understanding” with Iraq in which his organization agreed to not work against the Baghdad government and to help Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in weapons development.

The indictment alleges that Bin Laden also forged alliances with representatives of the government of Iran to work against the United States.

Bin Laden and his military commander, Mohammed Atef, could face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted. Both men are believed to be in Afghanistan, where they have received protection from the ruling Taliban movement.

Vincent Cannistraro, a former CIA counter-terrorism expert, said that the Pentagon’s Delta Force has been training for an operation to “snatch” Bin Laden and that the preparations began well before the embassy bombings.

But some terrorism experts said extricating Bin Laden from his suspected hideaway in the remote Afghan mountains is a formidable task that could require a major military operation with potentially high casualties.

“He is surrounded by well-trained religious zealots who consider him a hero,” Cannistraro said. “Beyond that, he is surrounded by Taliban soldiers, and he’s in mountainous, rugged terrain, where putting an infrastructure on the ground would be extremely difficult.”

Cannistraro also questioned the effectiveness of the $5-million reward.

“This is no secular terrorist,” he said. “This is a different guy. Money is not going to be an incentive to betray someone who you believe is doing God’s work. . . . He’s a hero to a lot of Afghans and a lot of radical Islamists around the world.”

Bin Laden, Atef and four alleged co-conspirators are charged with murdering those killed in the Aug. 7 bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The 224 victims, including 12 Americans, were listed as separate murder counts.

U.S. government officials viewed Wednesday’s indictment as a milestone.

“This is an important step forward in our fight against terrorism,” Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said in a statement. “It sends a message that no terrorist can flout our laws and murder innocent civilians.”

Said U.S. Atty. Mary Jo White in New York, where trials in the bombings would take place: “Osama bin Laden and his military commander, Mohammed Atef, are charged with the most heinous acts of violence ever committed against American diplomatic posts.

“All those responsible for these brutal and cowardly acts, from the leaders and organizers to all of those who had any role in these crimes in East Africa, will be brought to justice,” she said.

The indictment charges that Bin Laden, his top aide, the four alleged co-conspirators and other suspected members of Al Qaida formed an international terrorist conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens.

The alleged co-conspirators are Wadih Hage, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Mohammed Saddiq Odeh and Mohammed Rashed Daoud Owhali.

Prosecutors charge that targets included U.S. soldiers in Saudi Arabia and Somalia and embassy personnel in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.

“The United States was regarded as an infidel because it was not governed in a manner consistent with the group’s extremist interpretation of Islam,” court papers charge.

“The United States was viewed as providing essential support for other infidel governments and institutions, particularly the governments of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the nation of Israel and the United Nations organization, which were regarded as enemies of the group.”

The indictment charges that Bin Laden opposed not only U.S. involvement in the 1991 Persian Gulf War but also the continuing presence of U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia.

To further its terrorist aims, prosecutors said, Al Qaida established front companies, provided false identification and travel documents, sent coded messages and provided training camps and guest houses in countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia and Kenya.

As early as 1989, Bin Laden sought to recruit U.S. citizens to deliver messages and engage in financial transactions and other activities designed to further terrorism, the indictment says.

It charges that Bin Laden worked with other terrorist groups that operated under Al Qaida’s “umbrella,” including the Islamic Jihad in Egypt; the Islamic group Gamaa al Islamiya, once led by Egyptian Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman; and a number of other organizations in countries including Sudan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Tunisia, Lebanon, the Philippines, India and Russia.

“Al Qaida also maintained cells and personnel in a number of countries to facilitate its activities, including in Kenya, Tanzania, the United Kingdom and the United States,” court papers say.

Abdel Rahman, a blind Egyptian cleric, is serving a life sentence in prison after being convicted in federal court in New York of plotting to blow up the United Nations, two commuter tunnels linking Manhattan with New Jersey and the New York building containing the field office of the FBI.

The indictment explains that the grand jury investigation into Bin Laden’s activities began in 1996 and soon focused on Al Qaida’s structure, operational status, tactics, targets and code names, the aliases of members and its ties to U.S. citizens.

“At various times from at least as early as 1993, Osama bin Laden and others known and unknown, made efforts to obtain the components of nuclear weapons,” prosecutors charge.

Government lawyers said Bin Laden also tried to produce chemical weapons, but no details about these programs were supplied in the indictment.

But the indictment does allege that the wealthy Bin Laden operated a network of companies designed to raise funds for operations, serve as a cover and purchase land for terrorist training camps.

U.S. Atty. White refused to comment on a sealed indictment filed in New York against Ali Mohamed, a former U.S. Army sergeant suspected of helping Bin Laden.

Goldman reported from New York and Ostrow from Washington.