Accused Bomber Was Businessman, Not Terrorist, Defense Lawyer Says

NEW YORK — The lawyer for a naturalized U.S. citizen charged in the bombing of two American embassies in East Africa told a jury Thursday his client served Islamic militant Osama bin Laden as a business advisor and not as a terrorist.

“The government has taken dots that don’t have numbers and connected it into a picture they want,” defense attorney Sam A. Schmidt said in closing arguments on behalf of Wadih El-Hage.

“Mr. El-Hage was working like a dog to make money for Bin Laden,” Schmidt said. “His job was business, not jihad.”

El-Hage, 40, is one of four defendants on trial here in U.S. District Court. They are accused of joining a plot to bomb embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, on Aug. 7, 1998. The blasts killed 224 people.

The four men have denied involvement, but federal prosecutors allege they are followers of the fugitive Bin Laden who plotted the attack at his behest.

Schmidt conceded Thursday that El-Hage--who is not charged as a direct participant in the embassy attacks--acted as Bin Laden’s secretary while the Saudi millionaire’s organization was based in the Sudan. El-Hage was born in Lebanon and later became a U.S. citizen and moved to Arlington, Texas.

“I ask you to reject the government’s description of Mr. El-Hage as a gatekeeper,” Schmidt told the jurors. “. . . What did he do? He made appointments. He knew appointments were made by someone else that were secret.

“He was involved in the business. He was trying to make the business work. Wadih El-Hage never agreed with anybody to kill Americans.”

During the three-month trial before U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand, El-Hage mounted the most vigorous defense.

Attorneys for Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, a 27-year-old native of Tanzania, and Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-’Owhali, 24, of Saudi Arabia, called no witnesses.

Prosecutors allege that Mohamed helped purchase a vehicle used in the Tanzanian attack and then photographed the explosion; al-’Owhali is accused of riding in the truck carrying the bomb that shattered the Nairobi embassy. Authorities allege he threw stun grenades at embassy guards so the truck could move closer to the target. Both are charged with murder and, if convicted, may face death sentences.

Like El-Hage, the fourth defendant, Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 35, a citizen of Jordan, could face life in prison if found guilty. Odeh is accused of setting up a fishing business in Kenya that acted as a front for terrorist activities.

Bin Laden also has been indicted in the bombings and is believed to be in Afghanistan. The U.S. government has offered a $5-million reward for his capture.

On Thursday, Schmidt sought to refute the government’s claim that El-Hage lied before a grand jury and sought to protect Bin Laden’s network.

He said the businessman had traveled through 10 time zones to the United States for one grand jury appearance. The lawyer said his client was questioned by the FBI upon landing and it was midnight when he finally was taken to a hotel.

“Inaccurate, mistaken answers are not perjury,” Schmidt said. “. . . The government has responsibility to ask clear and precise questions to get clear and precise answers. When the government asks questions that are compound and hard to answer, it is not perjury.

“It is not easy to be a witness and testify. Nobody should be trapped into a false answer. . . . All the answers he gave were relevant and material answers.”

Government lawyers contend El-Hage lied about knowing a number of Bin Laden’s associates, among other issues.

Schmidt also sought to attack the credibility of a key government witness, Jamal Ahmed Al-Fadl, who told jurors he was a founding member of Bin Laden’s organization and that he had worked with El-Hage in Sudan. “He [Al-Fadl] is saying what he thinks the United States government wants,” Schmidt charged, denying the two men worked together.

The lawyer stressed there was a great difference between disliking Americans and wanting to kill U.S. citizens.

“Lots of people in the world don’t like the United States,” Schmidt said, referring to his client. “Complaining about something doesn’t mean you are going to kill.”

Throughout the trial and in closing arguments, prosecutors sought to portray El-Hage not only as a liar but also as a “facilitator” for Bin Laden’s terrorist organization.

Government lawyers charged he helped establish, and, for a time, supervised, a terrorist cell in Kenya, arranged forged passports and in 1997 visited Bin Laden in Afghanistan. Prosecutors alleged he returned to Africa with a message to “militarize” operations in Kenya.

Schmidt denied his client met with Bin Laden in 1997. He told the jury El-Hage went to Pakistan but not Afghanistan.

“I think it can be said Mr. Bin Laden did not take a cab from Afghanistan to Pakistan to meet with Mr. El-Hage,” Schmidt told the jury.