November 22, 2008
Other targets in mind
Officials say mastermind behind plot to bomb tunnels considered other possibilities, including the Brooklyn Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Before Assem Hammoud and his associates decided to try to bomb New York's PATH trains, they had considered several other targets: the Brooklyn Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge and the forests of California, where they would set a huge fire, Lebanese security officials told Newsday.
They eventually settled on the tunnels under the Hudson River, plotting to send suicide bombers to kill thousands of commuters and devastate the U.S. economy, according to two security officials who spoke yesterday on the condition of anonymity.
"They studied different possibilities and they decided to move ahead with an attack on the train tunnels," one official said. "They thought that would be the most viable plan."
Lebanese investigators found maps and other information about the two bridges and California forests when they raided Hammoud's home in Beirut after his arrest on April 27, the official said.
Hammoud, 31, is the alleged mastermind of the plot by eight al-Qaida followers scattered across six countries. He is being held in Lebanon. U.S. and Lebanese officials unraveled the plan by monitoring Internet chat rooms used by Islamic extremists - long before any of the suspects tried to secure financing or explosives. None had even visited the United States.
U.S. officials said Friday that two other plotters were in custody but refused to say where. The Lebanese officials said that Hammoud was in contact with militants in Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Denmark and Canada, and that the other suspects are in those countries. The five plotters still at large are a Saudi, a Yemeni, a Palestinian, a Jordanian and an Iranian Kurd, according to the officials.
Although Lebanese and U.S. authorities said Hammoud was an al-Qaida operative who had sworn allegiance to Osama bin Laden, they did not outline his alleged ties to that group - or its leaders - when they first announced his arrest on Friday. That led some analysts to speculate that Hammoud was part of a new trend in global terrorism: small, localized cells that don't necessarily take orders from bin Laden or other al-Qaida leaders.
"This is the lone-wolf phenomenon, where a small band of like-minded extremists decide to take action on their own," said Diaa Rashwan, a leading expert on Islamic militancy at the al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. "They might draw inspiration from al-Qaida and bin Laden, but they might not be following direct orders."
The security officials told Newsday that Hammoud had contact with at least two of 13 men who were arrested by Lebanese authorities in December for belonging to al-Qaida and planning attacks from Lebanon. The officials said Hammoud was in touch with Hassan Nabaat, a Lebanese, and Hany Shanti, who has both Lebanese and Jordanian nationalities. But Lebanese officials have provided few details about those arrested, their relationship to al-Qaida and what attacks they were plotting.
Investigators moved to arrest Hammoud in late April - after keeping him under surveillance for three months - because they concluded that he had obtained a visa to Pakistan and was getting ready to leave. After his arrest, the officials said, he confessed he was to undergo four months of training in Pakistan at an al-Qaida-linked camp.
The officials said Hammoud also had applied for a tourist visa at the Canadian Embassy in Beirut. He had traveled several times to Canada and studied business administration at a university in Montreal in the mid-1990s. Once he entered Canada this time, an official said, Hammoud planned to go to the United States and organize the train attacks in October or November.
The son of a wealthy Sunni Muslim family from Beirut, Hammoud taught economics and management at Lebanese International University, a private college. He is fluent in Arabic, English, French and German, relatives said.
In militant chat rooms, he was instructed not to grow a beard, wear Islamic clothing or show any outward sign of religious devotion. He was told to act like a typical Lebanese young man so he could avoid suspicions.
Hammoud did not disappoint his militant handlers, living a fast life in Beirut, according to his family and Lebanese officials. He frequently went out to nightclubs and cafes. He traveled around the Middle East, Europe and Canada. He drank and dated women. He even drove a red sports car - an MG convertible.
Before his arrest, he was planning to take part in a car race this summer, according to his mother, Nabila Qotb, 58. In an interview at the family's home in an upscale Beirut neighborhood, she insisted her son had no connection to al-Qaida or any militant group.
"He's very well educated. He speaks several languages. He likes to enjoy life, to go out and play sports," she said, sitting in a living room with flower print couches. "Why are people making these accusations against him? My son is innocent. ... I'm certain that he has no connection to al-Qaida. Absolutely none at all."
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