American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us by Steven Emerson
Authors: Steven Emerson
Tags: Non-Fiction, Politics
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too much money. While feds had suspected that the bombing was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Persian Gulf war, in fact it had occurred because “the rent was due at the end of the month” 8 and Yousef was anxious to leave the country. After parking the van on Level B-2 and setting the timing device, Yousef, Salameh, and Abouhalima had become trapped behind a truck in Abouhalima’s Town Car and feared they wouldn’t get out of the garage before the bomb went off.
Eventually they stood on the Jersey City waterfront viewing the carnage. They were disappointed. Yousef had hoped Tower One would fall sideways into Tower Two, knocking over both and killing 250,000 people. When asked his motives, Yousef told Secret Service agent Brian Parr he was retaliating against U.S. aid to Israel. “When I asked why he didn’t select Israeli targets, he said they were too difficult to attack. ‘If you cannot attack your enemy, you should attack the friend of your enemy.’” 9 The purpose was to let Americans know they were “at war.”
Commenting on the verdict, Henry J. DePippo, a former federal prosecutor who helped try the first case, said he doubted the convictions would influence future terrorists. “These are people who are trying to make a statement,” he said. “So the punishment, however severe, wouldn’t be a deterrent.” 10
* * *
The biography of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef that emerged at the trials says a lot about the origins and sophistication of the new terrorists. Yousef is the son of a Pakistani mother and a Palestinian father; he grew up in a working-class Kuwait City suburb. Like many recent terrorists, he is extremely well educated. Yousef speaks Urdu, Arabic, and English, and he studied engineering at Swansea University in Wales from 1986 to 1989. He then went to Afghanistan to be trained in guerrilla fighting at the camps of Osama bin Laden. In 1991 he moved to the Philippines and joined an extreme Muslim group known as Abu Sayyaf. A former deputy commander of the group remembered him as a bitterly anti-American militant who wanted to wage a war of terrorism around the world.
Using a false Iraqi passport, he had come to the United States with a cover story claiming that he was seeking political asylum. He was released pending a hearing. He immediately made contact with the followers of Sheikh Rahman and began seeking recruits in Jersey City. Through the mosque he met Salameh, Ayyad, and Abouhalima and began plotting. Two weeks before the bombing Yousef also called Eyad Ismoil, a Palestinian boyhood friend living in Dallas. Ismoil agreed to come to New York to join the plan. Ismoil was driving the Ryder truck when the group went through the Holland Tunnel on February 26, 1993.
Once he had fled the country Yousef returned to the Philippines, where he became involved in another plot: to kill Pope John Paul II when he visited Manila. He also participated in a plan to blow up eleven American jetliners within 48 hours—a disaster that was only barely avoided by chance. Yousef was experimenting with explosives in his Manila apartment in December 1994 when an accident forced him to flee as smoke billowed everywhere. He left behind a computer with encrypted plans for the hijackings, which experts were able to decode. He was eventually tried and convicted on these charges as well. Although he obviously had enormous financial assistance in buying explosives and circling the globe, Yousef has adamantly refused to tell prosecutors where he got the money.
* * *
These interconnected plots from the early 1990s tell us at least two things about the new generation of jihadists. First, its aims are broad: the jihadists hate the United States. And as Yousef’s membership in a radical Philippine group suggests, they also detest secular or moderate regimes within the Islamic world.
Second, it tells us something about the shifting and elusive nature of terrorists’ networks. There are
Eventually they stood on the Jersey City waterfront viewing the carnage. They were disappointed. Yousef had hoped Tower One would fall sideways into Tower Two, knocking over both and killing 250,000 people. When asked his motives, Yousef told Secret Service agent Brian Parr he was retaliating against U.S. aid to Israel. “When I asked why he didn’t select Israeli targets, he said they were too difficult to attack. ‘If you cannot attack your enemy, you should attack the friend of your enemy.’” 9 The purpose was to let Americans know they were “at war.”
Commenting on the verdict, Henry J. DePippo, a former federal prosecutor who helped try the first case, said he doubted the convictions would influence future terrorists. “These are people who are trying to make a statement,” he said. “So the punishment, however severe, wouldn’t be a deterrent.” 10
* * *
The biography of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef that emerged at the trials says a lot about the origins and sophistication of the new terrorists. Yousef is the son of a Pakistani mother and a Palestinian father; he grew up in a working-class Kuwait City suburb. Like many recent terrorists, he is extremely well educated. Yousef speaks Urdu, Arabic, and English, and he studied engineering at Swansea University in Wales from 1986 to 1989. He then went to Afghanistan to be trained in guerrilla fighting at the camps of Osama bin Laden. In 1991 he moved to the Philippines and joined an extreme Muslim group known as Abu Sayyaf. A former deputy commander of the group remembered him as a bitterly anti-American militant who wanted to wage a war of terrorism around the world.
Using a false Iraqi passport, he had come to the United States with a cover story claiming that he was seeking political asylum. He was released pending a hearing. He immediately made contact with the followers of Sheikh Rahman and began seeking recruits in Jersey City. Through the mosque he met Salameh, Ayyad, and Abouhalima and began plotting. Two weeks before the bombing Yousef also called Eyad Ismoil, a Palestinian boyhood friend living in Dallas. Ismoil agreed to come to New York to join the plan. Ismoil was driving the Ryder truck when the group went through the Holland Tunnel on February 26, 1993.
Once he had fled the country Yousef returned to the Philippines, where he became involved in another plot: to kill Pope John Paul II when he visited Manila. He also participated in a plan to blow up eleven American jetliners within 48 hours—a disaster that was only barely avoided by chance. Yousef was experimenting with explosives in his Manila apartment in December 1994 when an accident forced him to flee as smoke billowed everywhere. He left behind a computer with encrypted plans for the hijackings, which experts were able to decode. He was eventually tried and convicted on these charges as well. Although he obviously had enormous financial assistance in buying explosives and circling the globe, Yousef has adamantly refused to tell prosecutors where he got the money.
* * *
These interconnected plots from the early 1990s tell us at least two things about the new generation of jihadists. First, its aims are broad: the jihadists hate the United States. And as Yousef’s membership in a radical Philippine group suggests, they also detest secular or moderate regimes within the Islamic world.
Second, it tells us something about the shifting and elusive nature of terrorists’ networks. There are
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