Reid’s Link May Not Be to Al Qaeda

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials disclosed Thursday that they are investigating whether Richard Reid’s attempt to blow up a transatlantic airliner last year was part of an effort by an Islamic militant group other than Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network to wage war against America.

Separately, authorities said in a court filing that Reid, a British vagabond, all but confessed to the terrorist act two days before boarding a Miami-bound American Airlines flight Dec. 22. He was arrested after allegedly trying to ignite explosives hidden in his sneakers.

“What I am doing is part of the ongoing war between Islaam [sic] and disbelief,” Reid wrote in a Dec. 20 e-mail “will” to his mother. “I didn’t do this act out of ignorance nor did I do [it] just because I want to die, but rather because I see it as a duty upon me to help remove the oppressive American forces from the Muslim land and that this is the only way for us to do so as we do not have other means to fight them.”

The court documents also charge that Reid had at least one accomplice in his alleged attempt to blow up the crowded American Airlines jetliner--someone who helped construct the professional and extremely powerful plastic explosive devices.

But it is Reid’s potential involvement with a terrorist group other than Al Qaeda--or in conjunction with it--that has authorities scrambling.

They said in interviews that Reid’s visits to the Gaza Strip and other locations during his extensive travels, the particular type of explosives he possessed when arrested, his own comments and other information gained in their investigation have all raised significant questions about whether Al Qaeda or another group was the primary force behind Reid’s planned attack.

“They are damn sure he was part of a terrorist organization,” one federal law enforcement official said of Reid, citing the professional explosives and Reid’s global travels without any visible income. “One could reasonably assume that Al Qaeda is not the only group that is being looked at.”

Reid’s lawyers did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.

Reid faces nine counts, including a charge of attempting to murder the 197 passengers and crew members on the flight.

Justice Department officials have accused Reid of being a soldier in Bin Laden’s network, saying in his indictment that he trained in Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.

He also appears to be the Al Qaeda operative whose name is contained in a computer left behind at an Al Qaeda safe house that was later sold to the Wall Street Journal and turned over to the FBI.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III also said recently that the FBI believes “an Al Qaeda bomb maker” constructed the shoe bombs, and the court documents released Thursday say Reid, 28, has been ruled out as the source of a human hair and palm print found in the bombs.

Reid’s British passport also reveals two trips to Pakistan in 2001, possibly so he could attend Al Qaeda training camps in neighboring Afghanistan, the new documents show.

But in an interview, the federal law enforcement official confirmed that authorities are now looking particularly hard at whether two Palestinian terrorist organizations--Hamas and Hezbollah--were also somehow involved, which would mark a dramatic shift in the agendas of both groups.

At a minimum, authorities believe, Reid may represent a new kind of hybrid terrorist, with links to Al Qaeda as well as Hamas, Hezbollah or other major terrorist organizations. Either way, they said, such links would dramatically expand the threat against Americans because of the global reach and sophisticated tactics of both groups.

Traditionally, Hamas and Hezbollah have not sought to attack Americans on U.S. soil or even on U.S. airplanes, limiting their activities mostly to attacks on Israeli targets in the Middle East. Hezbollah has attacked and kidnapped Americans, but never on U.S. soil, and not for many years, authorities and terrorism experts said.

A Bush administration official said the FBI and CIA have found no formal organizational links between Al Qaeda and either Hamas or Hezbollah, but that the groups have informally “bled” into each other in recent years.

Hamas and Hezbollah have sent soldiers to Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, he said, and Hamas has provided training, particularly expertise in explosives, to Al Qaeda.

“There is certainly evidence to indicate that there are links and contacts between them; they are like-minded organizations that hate the U.S. and are tapping into a broader pool of resources and people,” said the official.

“But I wouldn’t say the Palestinian rejectionist organizations [like Hamas and Hezbollah] are linking up with Al Qaeda and going to war against us. We’re not there yet.”

Nevertheless, that official--like other authorities--said Reid represents “a wild card” because of his travels and affiliations.

One recently retired Justice Department counter-terrorism specialist confirmed that the Reid investigation has broadened to include other terrorist organizations, particularly Hamas and Hezbollah.

Of particular note, he said, were Reid’s trips to Gaza, a Hamas headquarters, and his possession of an extremely powerful and unstable explosive known as TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, which has been used almost exclusively by Hamas suicide bombers.

“The fact that he’d made several trips to Israel and other areas in the Middle East is one reason why they’re looking at a Hamas connection,” said the former official. “But Al Qaeda could very well be working in some capacity with Hamas.”

Still other authorities believe Reid may have been working in connection with Hezbollah, which has a history of recruiting in Europe, and of sending non-Arab militants in reconnaissance missions to Israel, according to Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism consultant to European governments and assistant director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at Scotland’s St. Andrews University.

In particular, authorities are trying to nail down whether Reid contacted Hamas, or Hezbollah’s military wing, known as Islamic Resistance, during the five days he spent in Israel in July.

Neil Herman, a former FBI counter-terrorism supervisor, said any connection between Reid and groups beyond Al Qaeda would be significant and troubling.

“If he had any connection with either Hamas or Hezbollah, it would certainly be a unique twist in a pattern of terrorism that we had not seen from these groups,” Herman said. “Those groups have historically never demonstrated the need to conduct such operations in this country; that’s been their track record for over 20 years.”

Reid told authorities after his arrest that he acted because of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan, and that he hoped his planned attack would cause Americans to stop traveling, leading to a downturn in the economy, prosecutors said in their memo.

Authorities said they were actively searching for accomplices in the attempted bombing. The legal brief was filed in opposition to Reid’s motion to lift restrictions on his communications with his lawyers. The next hearing in the case is set for June 3.